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U.S. History EOC Assessment Videos 64 videos

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The Forgotten War 7983 Views


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Description:

Let us tell you about the Korean War. It was this war where...well, what happened was...huh. Isn't that the craziest thing.

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:10

The Forgotten War.

00:15

Oh, gee, thanks -- a present? For me?

00:20

My birthday was last month, but that's okay.

00:24

I'm used to things I do being forgotten.

00:28

So I won't hold a grudge. For long.

00:36

Back in the fifties, I fought in the Korean War.

00:39

The what-huh war?

00:41

Yeah. Exactly.

00:46

History remembers World War II from a decade earlier, of course...

00:50

...and we recall the Vietnam War of the following decade...

00:53

because it's always easy to dwell on one's mistakes...

01:03

...but the Korean War, waged between 1950 and 1953, we call The Forgotten War.

01:10

Tough to imagine anyone could forget an entire war.

01:19

I mean... we put up sticky notes and everything.

01:22

Most likely, the reason the Korean War has vanished so much into oblivion

01:26

is that both its beginning and ending are a little... foggy.

01:34

Many people don't believe it was necessary for us to have even gotten involved over there...

01:42

...that it was just a knee-jerk reaction to Cold War hysteria.

01:49

Oh, not you... don't be so sensitive.

01:54

The war was fought along the 38th parallel.

01:59

You can find it on a globe, but it's not like there was an actual line drawn in the

02:03

sand where the battles were fought.

02:05

Although that certainly would have made it easier to see who was on your side and who wasn't.

02:14

That line divides North and South Korea.

02:21

It's sort of Korea's "Mason-Dixon" line.

02:23

But without all the roadside fruit stands.

02:33

The Soviet Union was backing North Korea and providing them with oodles of weaponry.

02:41

We couldn't let the reds win, so we fought in support of South Korea...

02:46

...helping to defend them against the Northern aggressors.

02:57

With all the deep-seated hostility, everyone was afraid that

03:00

the Korean War would trigger World War III.

03:05

And we'd already had enough major world wars to last us a while, thank you very much.

03:12

Fortunately, North and South Korea signed armistice agreements...

03:17

...in which they agreed to at least pause their fighting.

03:20

Even if they both felt they still had some unfinished business.

03:24

Too bad Chuck Norris wasn't a soldier around then to write a decisive finish to things.

03:37

Unfortunately... nothing was really resolved.

03:41

To this day, there's a "cease-fire" between North and South Korea, even though

03:44

they're still technically at war.

03:50

Kind of like when you and your brother declare a "cease-fire" in the back seat on the

03:54

way to grandma's house...

03:55

...even while you are both desperately trying to give the other an atomic wedgie.

04:01

I'll say this for the war though. The ceasefire between the two sides may have calmed everybody down.

04:14

The fear of a global war diminished somewhat...

04:18

...and people thought, "Hey... maybe communists aren't trying to take over the world."

04:24

Which helped some of us sleep at night.

04:29

That whole area is still in limbo though.

04:33

There remains a demilitarized zone around the 38th parallel...

04:39

...and the country is still divided into North and South Korea.

04:43

And they both forgot my birthday.

04:45

So... I guess the more things change, the more they stay the same.

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