If the founding of New China made the Chinese people stand up from now on, then the victory of the Korean War was to make the whole world look at the Chinese people from now on.
The victory in the War of Resistance Against Japan meant that we defeated Japan, a former vassal state, and the victory in the Korean War meant that we defeated the United States, which was then known as the "world's first power."
In the twentieth century, no local war caused as much of a sensation to the world as the Korean War.
In the eyes of world leaders, this means that a poor and backward country has defeated what everyone thinks is a world leader, and the huge impact of this contrast has deeply touched people's hearts.
The volunteer army entered the Korean War
The people of the world can't help but ask: Isn't the United States the number one power? What's going on?
The American people can't help but indignant: Don't mention the Korean War to me, that's our shame!
The Japanese people were incredulous: Didn't the American monarch sweep the battlefields of World War II? How did it end up losing to China in North Korea?
The impact of the Korean War on the world is like graphite powder floating to all corners of various countries, which involves changes in all aspects, far from being summed up in a few words, so what are these effects?
The United States was furious and determined north Korea, but it did not expect to break its teeth
In 1950, after many military frictions, large-scale military clashes between North and South Korean forces on the Korean Peninsula began on June 25, and the Korean War began.
Relying on the military assistance of the United States, the South Korean troops thought that they could unify the Korean Peninsula in one fell swoop, but they did not expect to be defeated by the North Korean People's Army in just a few days, and they sadly asked the Big Brother of the United States for help.
Ignoring the opposition of the international community, the United States openly forced the adoption of a bill at the United Nations to establish a so-called United Nations army to intervene in the situation in Korea and gradually push the front line on the Korean Peninsula northward by virtue of its superiority in weapons and equipment.
Originally, the Soviet Union had long planned to intervene in the Korean battlefield, because after all, North Korea was also a socialist country, and the Soviet Union, as the big brother of the socialist camp, had no reason not to help.
However, at that time, the Soviet Union was still inferior in military strength compared with the US military, far from reaching the deterrent power formed by the United States at the peak of the Cold War, so the Soviet Union refused to send troops to Korea out of jealousy, so as to avoid direct military conflicts with the US military.
While the U.S. military was secretly happy about the Soviet Union's retreat, the U.S. government underestimated the strong will of the Chinese people and the determination to defend the country.
Once the Korean People's Army is defeated by the United Nations Army, the US sphere of influence will be directly advanced to the Yalu River, and the security of the mainland's northeastern frontier will be seriously threatened.
After some deliberations, Chairman Mao quickly made a decision: to set up a Chinese Volunteer Army to invade Korea.
As soon as the news was sent, many leaders around the world were deeply surprised, believing that China's tit-for-tat confrontation with the UNITED Nations army led by the United States on the Korean Peninsula was like hitting an egg with a stone.
At that time, the United States claimed to be the world's largest power, and its most proud was its strong military strength, and the heavy industrial system used to produce weapons was far ahead in the world, with 260 million tons of oil production and nearly 9 million tons of steel production per year, which was the sum of several countries that followed.
The large number of weapons and ammunition produced by the United States every year is far from exhaustive for its own troops, and a considerable part of the remaining part is sold abroad as arms commodities.
At that time, no country could match such weapons and equipment.
In contrast, at that time, China had just ended more than a century of war and turmoil, the society was in ruins and waiting to be revived, especially the heavy industry used to support the war was quite weak, the weapons and equipment in the army were mixed, most of them were captured on the battlefield, and the naval and air force forces were basically blank.
On the eve of the Chinese Volunteer Army's entry into the Korean War, the United States has invested more than 300 warships of various kinds, more than 1,200 bombers and fighters, and more than 1,000 tanks into the Korean battlefield.
The Chinese Volunteer Army had only ground troops, and the number of tanks was pitifully small, and even the dry food and cotton clothes used for the winter in the march were extremely scarce.
The vast difference in weapons and equipment between China and the United States has made all countries in the world believe that New China is afraid of planting a big heel on the Korean battlefield, and even the Soviet Union cannot find any reason to believe that China can win this war.
MacArthur, the commander-in-chief of the United Nations army at the time, did not pay attention to this situation when he heard that China might intervene in the Korean battlefield, and he confidently said in public many times: Before Thanksgiving Day in 1950, the US military can end the war against North Korea, and then it is completely possible to let the boys who participated in the war go home for Thanksgiving, which is also known as MacArthur's "Thanksgiving Offensive".
MacArthur
However, the subsequent development of the situation in the Korean battlefield made MacArthur hit him in the face.
Every soldier on the mainland who entered the Korean War was determined to regard death as a homecoming in order to defend his family and defend the country, and the whole country was united in one heart and mind, and there was not enough food and clothing on the front line, so the people of the whole country cut down on food and clothing to support the Korean front.
Many people took the initiative to make fried noodles for the front line as dry food for volunteer soldiers, and for a while there was a wave of fried noodles in the whole country, and even Premier Zhou rolled up his sleeves and sweated in front of the wok after work.
Zhou Enlai
In October 1950, the Chinese Volunteer Army crossed the Yalu River with great vigor and rapidly launched its first campaign against the United Nations forces entrenched in the northern part of the Korean Peninsula.
Soon after, our army took advantage of the victory to pursue and launched a second campaign, driving all the United Nations troops south of the 38th Parallel, by which time MacArthur's "Thanksgiving Offensive" had long been in vain.
MacArthur was furious, and he did not want to believe that the United Nations army, which had the superiority in land, sea and air weapons and numbers, would not be able to defeat the poorly equipped and ill-equipped Chinese army.
In a fit of rage, MacArthur drew up a nuclear strike plan for Korea and China, which would undoubtedly draw the United States into a larger war, and was fiercely opposed by the U.S. government and the public, many believing that MacArthur lacked ability and simply wanted to cover up his incompetence by using nuclear weapons.
In a wave of impeachment in the US Congress, MacArthur was dismissed by US President Truman and took off his military uniform, and the United States earnestly hoped that Ridgway, who succeeded MacArthur, could learn a lesson, let the US military turn defeat into victory on the Korean battlefield, and save the face of the United States as the world's first power.
MacArthur
However, the result was not as the Americans expected, and after the continuous fierce fighting of the third, fourth, and fifth battles, the United States not only failed to achieve its strategic goal of unifying the Korean Peninsula, but suffered more and more personnel losses on the Korean Peninsula, and finally had to sit at the negotiating table and sign an armistice agreement with China.
After nearly three years of fighting, the mainland won the Korean War.
As soon as the news came out, the country was full of jubilation, and the mainland directly defeated the so-called world's first military power under extremely unequal conditions, and this victory completely washed away the shame of the Chinese nation being bullied by foreign powers for a hundred years.
The leaders of other countries in the world were deeply surprised by this result, and the perseverance and tenacity of the Chinese army on the Korean battlefield shocked the people of the world, and no country dared to easily provoke China.
In stark contrast to the atmosphere of joy in China, there is a long-lingering loss and sorrow in American society.
The myth of America's "first" is shattered, leaving permanent scars
The US government has been criticized for this defeat, and the voices of opposition from the people have been higher than the waves, and the American people do not want the United States to be involved in a new war after experiencing World War II.
Clark, the commander of the U.S. Army at the time, wrote in his memoirs: "This is the most humiliating thing of my military career, signing an armistice agreement that did not lead to victory for the first time in American history." ”
The New York Times commented: "The United States has fought two wars in North Korea, one defeating North Korea and the other losing to China." ”
The U.S. military, which has always been invincible, has completely lost the will to continue to fight in front of the Chinese army, and former US President Hoover once said:
"The United Nations army was defeated by the Chinese army in the Korean War, and from then on no country in the world dared to confront China militarily."
Hoover
At that time, both the US military and the American people were secretive about the Korean War, and the five-star general MacArthur, who had never been defeated, not only suffered defeat in this war, but also came to an end in his military career.
When US Secretary of State Marshall had to express his views on the Korean War in a conversation with people, he also said with helplessness: "The myth that has always existed has been shattered, and the United States is no longer the world power that people think of." ”
Marshall
The world is reacquainted with China
In addition to the strong reaction of American society, the results of the Korean War also caused an uproar in Japan.
When China decided to enter the Korean War, the Japanese government generally believed that China's move was self-destructive, and some Japanese politicians even clamored for a share of the future when the United States seized the resources of the war against China when it seized the resources of the war against China.
However, the results of the war caused a sudden uproar in Public Opinion in Japan, and officials at all levels, including Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida, were incredulous for a while, and the big brother of the United States, on which Japan had always relied, was planted in the hands of Chinese.
Shigeru Yoshida
But the repeated silence of U.S. officials on the matter finally made them accept this fact, and Japanese politicians soberly realized that China was no longer the country that had been bullied by others in the past.
The militarists who did not thoroughly reflect after the war of aggression against China were also like being poured a basin of cold water on their heads, and the leftists who tried to wait for an opportunity to launch a war of aggression again in the future were like being hit in the head, and their hopes for the revival of militarism were shattered.
In various official Japanese documents, all kinds of insulting words that were insulting to China were gradually deleted and replaced by words such as "Zhonghua" and "China".
After the mainland won victory in the Korean War, not only the United States and Japan and other countries reacted fiercely, but even the leaders of the Soviet Union, the big brother of the socialist camp at that time, were stunned and full of disbelief: "We, as the big socialist brothers, do not dare to confront the United States, and you China dare to fight with the United States, and you China even dare to fight with the United States, and still win the war!" ”
Stalin
Since then, the Soviet Union has attached greater importance to China's interests, and the military occupation rights in certain areas in the northeast that it won when it sent troops to the northeast were all returned to China.
Not only that, the Soviet Union has since significantly increased its assistance to China, and soon after the end of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, China and the Soviet Union entered a ten-year honeymoon period, and with the equipment and technical assistance of the Soviet Union, the mainland's industrial level has rapidly made great progress.
In addition, third world countries have also re-recognized China's military strength. Especially India, which borders China.
Nehru's "non-alignment policy" gradually made India a bounty for both the United States and the Soviet Union.
Nehru
Although it ostensibly claims non-alignment, India, after receiving all kinds of assistance from the United States, will still fall to the United States when it comes to American interests.
Therefore, when China considered whether to send troops to North Korea, the Indian government tried to dissuade it, so as to help the United States safeguard its interests in North Korea.
However, India failed to do so in the end, and the Chinese army not only directly confronted the US army, but also achieved the final victory.
India, which has always called itself a great power in Asia, was also in a panic at this time, and the Indian government, full of a sense of crisis, began to be highly vigilant against China like a frightened bird. The Indian people have just woken up from a dream, and the original weak China has long been reborn and become the awakened oriental master.
On the one hand, the Korean War caused the Western world's worship of the United States to plummet, and on the other hand, China's international status rose and soared.
Later, when the mainland developed diplomatic relations, France in the Western camp took the lead in establishing diplomatic relations with the mainland in spite of the opposition of the United States, which greatly angered the US leaders.
The favor of developing countries in Africa and other places for China has also soared rapidly, and the "black brothers" have competed for China in the international community, and later the mainland restored its legitimate seat in the United Nations in 1971, and the fraternal countries of the third world have played a very important role in it.
It turns out that strength is the best criterion for everything.
Under extremely backward conditions, the revolutionary ancestors built the Great Wall of Steel of the Republic with their flesh and blood, brought us a peaceful and stable happy life with sweat and blood, and won the international dignity of the mainland as a great power.
Salute to the great revolutionary ancestors!