Britain And America In The Korean War

The Korean war is the first large-scale armed struggle between the eastern and western groups; it is the first and only anti-communism hot war that Britian and America both participated during the cold war.As the core partnership in the western group, Anglo-American relation inevitablely turns into an important factor which influenced the process and outcome of the Korean war.In the early time of the cold war, the war-time alliance established between Britain and America during the Second World War was maintained and improved in the form of a new military alliance through the establishment of NATO. Wide-range international strategic co-operation was held between the two countries, and high-level harmony and agreement were also achieved on the issues concerning Europe, the area which was regarded as the most important anti-Russia battle-field by the two countries.However, as to Asian issues, harmony and agreement were not achieved as easily as they were on European issues between the two countries. Asia was an area where Anglo-American tensions appeared. Conflicts emerged specifically around the policies towards Korean war and China. Britain was worried that if political and military resources of the West shifted from Europe to east Asia, the decline of the American involvement into European issues may weaken the European anti-Russia collective defence. Hence, the goal of the Britain in the Koean War was to avert the up-grading of the war, in order to prevent it from a global war. Britain adopted a more flexible and realistic policy towards China compared with that of America and tried its best to prevent the expansion of the war into China. Throughout the Korean War, from China's entry to the armistice negotiation, Britain was alert and suspicious of American behaviours that may irritate China.Britain had a bigger influence than any other western countries participating in the war on America and was able to restrain the extremely venturous acts of America to a certain extent due to its status as America's chief alliance. The leaders and staff of the two countries had regular discussion on foreign affairs since the Second World War. This essay argues that Britain played a positive role in limiting the scale of the war and in promoting the armistice.It should be noted that Briain depended on America more than America did on Britain owing to the disparity of strength of the two countries. This had a limitation on Britain's influence on the USA. When divergences and conflicts emerged between the two countries during the Korean war, Britain usually had to make concession to America in order to prevent the breakdown of Anglo-American relations.