Koreansk pige med et barn på ryggen foran en amerikansk M-26 tank, i Haengju, Korea, 9. Juni 1951. licensed under CC BY 2.0 With her brother on her back, a war-weary Korean girl trudges by a stalled M-26 tank, at Haengju, Korea. on June 9, 1951. The Korean War was one of several military conflicts that occurred during the Cold War, as the United States and its allies attempted to stop the spread of communism. This conflict began on June 25, 1950, when North Korea, a communist nation, invaded South Korea. Prior to World War II’s conclusion, North and South Korea had been a single country known as Korea. After the war, Korea became two countries. By invading South Korea, North Korea hoped to reunite the two nations as a single country under communism. With North Korea’s invasion of South Korea, the United States feared the spread of communism. Determined to stop North Korea, the United States sought permission from the United Nations to support the South Korean government military. The United Nations granted permission to the United States to send troops to the two Koreas to free South Korea from North Korea’s military occupation. Although many of the soldiers sent to South Korea were members of the United States military, they were under the direct control of the United Nations. Because of this and because the United States never formally declared war on North Korea, many people contend that the Korean War should be called the Korean Conflict rather than referred to as a war. Technically, these people are right from the American perspective, yet North and South Korea were clearly engaged in a war. The American troops, as well as those from other countries, were hoping to protect South Korea from communism and thus were participating in the Koreans’ war. With the arrival of United Nations forces in South Korea with the Inchon Invasion, the tide of the war quickly turned against the North Koreans. The United Nations forces and the South Koreans qui