The Korean War

[ComradeFlyer]

I'm working on a timeline that would see the armistice line in the Korean War drawn at the northernmost UN advance during 1950, just prior to the Chinese intervention...

However, is it plausible to think that a more agressive US stance, possibly a nuclear ultimatum, could deter the Chinese from entering the war?

to preciptate the more agressive US stance, I am toying with making the POD being a Soviet invasion of Hokkaido and the ensuing "Democratic Republic of Japan."

Is any of this plausible.

comments and suggestions are very welcome.

 

[gtrof]

The North Koreans would have to have been smart enough to surrender while they were on the run, Kim Il Sung had been favorable of the invasion of the South since the division after WWII. Plus I not sure how much Russia and China had influnced or control of the NK leadershup.

The nuclear threat to China was already out there after they attacked with McGrather shooting his mouth off, and it didn't stop them. Now an offical US threat may have worked. It depends on how much Mao wanted to show off to Stalin and how much he cared about China being attacked. Plus a Nuclear threat could have brought Russia into the equation by threatening Europe with the same.

 

[ComradeFlyer]

well, what I am looking at is a strong official statement from the US gov't saying that if any Chinese forces cross the Yalu River the US will consider it an act of war and will retaliate on the PRC will all available resources, IE Nuclear Weapons.

 

[gtrof]

well, what I am looking at is a strong official statement from the US gov't saying that if any Chinese forces cross the Yalu River the US will consider it an act of war and will retaliate on the PRC will all available resources, IE Nuclear Weapons.

Okay but I bet ya the Russians would do the same threatening 'Grave Conquesnces' for American Allies in Europe. We threaten the USSRs allies, they threaten ours. Then you have a greater risk of WWIII which what was Truman was trying to avoid. Plus it may work if Mao is able to work without Stalin's threat. American intervention has stopped China from taking Tawian after the ROC fell back to the island, so it may have worked.

 

[Wendell]

Would this rump Noirth Korea be added to the PRC?

 

[ComradeFlyer]

Would this rump Noirth Korea be added to the PRC?

i figured that would be the case, and perhaps we'ed end up having a DMZ between the PRC and the ROK. The next step for me is the establishment of a NATO like organization in East Asia.

 

[Wendell]

i figured that would be the case, and perhaps we'ed end up having a DMZ between the PRC and the ROK. The next step for me is the establishment of a NATO like organization in East Asia.

Depending on your POD, Taiwan could end up (staying) Japanese, without any capuitalist China, well, unless Hainan becomes independent...

 

[ComradeFlyer]

Depending on your POD, Taiwan could end up (staying) Japanese, without any capuitalist China, well, unless Hainan becomes independent...

wow, its funny you mention that but I was thinking about the US leaving Taiwan part of a democratic Japan, and instead having the Nationalists flee to Hainan. Which itself begs the question, how would the Republic of China developed on the tropical island of Hainan instead of on Taiwan?

 

[Wendell]

wow, its funny you mention that but I was thinking about the US leaving Taiwan part of a democratic Japan, and instead having the Nationalists flee to Hainan. Which itself begs the question, how would the Republic of China developed on the tropical island of Hainan instead of on Taiwan?

Or, might Hainan just try to be a Republic of Hainan rather than that of China. Of course, one or two Chinese dialects would be official.

 

[Dave Howery]

I had a similar idea a while back.... WI the allies stopped their attack on the 50th parallel or so and annexed what they held to SK. Would China intervene to save part of NK? My idea was basically that NK was limited to the mountainous north, shorn of most of it's population and arable land. It'd have an even unhappier history than in OTL, and that's saying something....

 

[Wendell]

Or, might Hainan just try to be a Republic of Hainan rather than that of China. Of course, one or two Chinese dialects would be official.

And maybe this Hainan Republic would rule over the Spratly Islands, after some wrangling by the U.S.?

 

[wkwillis]

The US could have drafted all our veteran soldiers from the second world war, armed them with leftover WWII weapons, and sent them to Korea. We had several months to tool up, we had recovered industrially from the Depression, we had most of the world's gold for finance, and we could have put several times as many troops in Korea and an equivalent force in Europe.
Of course, if Democratic president Harry Truman had done that in 1951 then the Democrats would have had a foreign policy success to their credit.
Not that that helped Bush Sr. He still lost.
Who would have won in 1952 if we had sent enough troops to Korea to get a farther north defensible border with Korea? Would there be a separate Chinese and Russian North Korea on the Yalu and Tumen watersheds?