Korean War 1950-3

US Successes

Achieved objective of containing Communist aggression: the tide of Communist advances of 1945-50 in Europe and Asia had been halted
Prosperity and demoracy of SK compared with NK today suggests the war was worthwile
Less than 37,000 US soldiers were killed compared with over 200,000 NK's (according to US estimates) and over 400,000 Chinese
Support of the UN and 16 ther countries showed solidarity against Communism and the prestige and power in the world which the USA then enjoyed - USA gained credibility with its NATO allies
Ridgeway turned things round in 1951: repelling the Chinese advance and restoring the morale of the UN forces
Drove a wedge between China and the USSR; China resented the fact that the USSR didn't send significant military aid until Autumn 1951 and insisted on payment
USA saved Taiwan: NK invasion of SK prompted Truman to guarantee US support for the Nationalist (KMT) regime in Taiwan 2 days later
Helped Japan to recover economically from WW2 and therefore (indirectly) helped US trade
Successful compared with Vietnam: the USA could not regard Vietnam as a victory because they hadn't saved SV as they saved SK

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1st war that the USA had ever failed to win and showed there wre limits to US power despite its victory in WW2 and its economic dominance. NK has been a problem ever since, currently because it is trying to build nuclear weapons
US lives were needlessly sacrificed: nearly 37,000 soldiers killed and around 100,000 wounded (nearly half of these casualties occuring after the peace talks had started)
Short term: the war bought China and the USSR together, with the USSR supplying military aid to China from 1951 onwards
Communist China showed that she was a great power and had to be taken seriously - threat
US soldiers were unclear of what they were fighting for and the public at home did not regard it as a victory
British experience of the Korean War may have contributed to her refusal to send in troops to Vietnam later
USA learnt the wrong lessons from Korea: thinking it could successfully defend an unpopular and incompetent anti-Communist regime at tolerable cost and that its superior firepower would always defeat an Asian enemy
USSR and China learnt not to give USA a moral justification like the NK invasion and not to fight them head on but indirectly as in Vietnam

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