1950 was the beginning of the Korean War - the first serious conflict to erupt since the end of World War 2. After the war, the Red Army occupied the northern part of the Korean peninsula and the Americans took over in the south. Like in Germany, the country was ruled by two governments. Wartime camaraderie between the Soviet Union and the United States was already crumbling and so were the relations between North and South Korea. By 1949 the Soviet and American troops had vacated their zones of responsibility and elections were held on both sides of the demarcation line. On June 25, 1950, the North Korean army crossed the 38th parallel and started surging southward. The United States quickly obtained a UN resolution denouncing the Northern onslaught as an act of aggression and calling for international support for the South. In accordance with a pertinent resolution by the Security Council, UN forces, whose main strength was American, landed on the peninsula at the start of the Korean War which continued, with fluctuating fortunes, until 1953.
Previously we talked about the initial phase of the Cold War triggered by the so-called Truman Doctrine initiated in 1947. The confrontation between countries with different social and political systems continued to deepen and growing militaristic sentiment started giving a whole new dimension to politics. Everything was now being assessed from a military point of view depending on the exact number of tanks, warplanes and nuclear warheads deployed on both sides of the Great Divide. In a glaring contrast with the UN Charter, the threat of force had become the mainstay of post-war politics. The arms race bloated absolutely out of proportion the military-industrial complexes in both the Soviet Union and the United States, incorporating the armed forces, defense industries and research establishments churning out ever new types of deadly weapons. The political role of related ministries and departments was growing every day, men in uniform were being lionized and people in both countries were being taught to hate either the merciless and cheating Communist on the one side and the equally ruthless and greedy Imperialist on the other. Mass culture on both sides of the Atlantic was heavily permeated with reciprocal hatred and the more traditional police stories were now taking a back seat to the more fashionable spy novels.
The Cold War was devouring countless billions spent on arms and engineers developing ever new types of weaponry. The arms race also resulted in some really great scientific and technological breakthroughs. It also encouraged strides in nuclear physics and space exploration preparing the ground for a worldwide revolution in electronics and new materials. The arms race eventually bled white the Soviet economy and made the US economy less competitive in the world.
The year 1950 was the start of the Formula One auto race which has since gained worldwide popularity with the race pilots enjoying the status of national heroes in many countries. Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost, Mikki Hakkinen, Michael Schumacher and many others have forever gone down in the world sporting history.
Another famous athlete was born in 1950 - Princess Anne, the second daughter of the British Queen Elizabeth the Second. A formidable horseback rider, the Princess is the proud winner of the 1976 Olympics. One has to be a very kind person to love animals the way she does. Small wonder that the Princess devotes so much time to charity mainly helping hapless children around the world .

THE 20th CENTURY:YEAR AFTER YEAR series of historical programs is prepared by Vladimir Zhamkin.


BACK TO MAIN PAGE