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On February 22nd, 1946 George Kennan, the
Deputy Head of the American Mission in Moscow sent a
coded message to Washington D.C. which became known as
the Long Telegram. In this analysis of Soviet
expansionist ambitions Kennan recommended that the U.S.
and it's allies must resists Soviet pressure wherever it
was exerted in the world. This policy was called the
Doctrine of containment and predicted that if Soviet
growth were contained within it's current boarders it
would eventually recede and the Soviet threat would
shrink.
On January 12, 1950
the American Secretary of State, dean Acheson, in a
speech to the National Press Club, seemed to fail to
include South Korea as a part of the vital defence
perimeter for the United States. On the 25th of June,
1950 a massive surprise attack was launched by against
South Korea. Although it is still debateable, many
believe that the Soviet Union and China believed that
the U.S. would not respond militarily.
The Soviet Union had
decided to boycott United Nations Security Council
meetings in January of 1950 as a protest against a
Security Council seat being held by the Republic of
China or Taiwan, rather then the people's republic of
China, the Soviet Communist alley. Due to their absence
during the debate on the Korean invasion, the U.S. and
the other western powers were able to pass UNSC
resolution 82 which accused North Korea as being the
aggressor in the conflict and offered U.N. military
support to South Korea. president Truman ordered
immediate military help to South Korea on June 27th.
On June 28th Lester
Pearson, Canada's ambassador to the United Nations
voiced his support of the resolution. Canada stepped up
to offer 3 destroyers and an air transport squadron for
the United Nations force being assembled to defend South
Korea. This was later increased to a larger land force
which began with the 2nd battalion of the PPCLI. By the
end of the war in 1953, South Korea had been defended
and the United Nations had regained most of the
territory initially taken by North Korea. Of the 21,940
army personnel and 3600 naval personnel who served in
Korea 312 were killed in action, and 1202 were wounded.
Although the Soviet Union would insure
that they were no longer absent form Security Council
Meetings, the principle of collective security with the
United States in the lead was established. The Canadian
ambassador, Lester Pearson would use this experience to
design a plan to halt military action in the middle east
through the intervention of UN troops in 1957, for which
he would later be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize. |
