South Korea,
Australia,
Belgium,
Canada,
Colombia,
Ethiopia,
France,
Greece,
Luxembourg,
Netherlands,
New Zealand,
Philippines,
South Africa,
Thailand,
Turkey,
United Kingdom,
United States
Medical staff:
Denmark,
Italy,
Norway,
Sweden
North Korea,
China,
Soviet Union
Chung Il-kwon,
Paik Sun-yup,
Douglas MacArthur,
Matthew Ridgway,
Mark Wayne Clark
Choi Yong-kun,
Van Len,
Kim Chaek,
Mao Zedong,
Peng Dehuai
USA 480,000,
Britain 63,000,
Canada 26,791,
Australia 17,000,
The Philippines 7,000,
Turkey 5,455,
The Netherlands 3,972,
France 3,421,
New Zealand 1,389,
Thailand 1,294,
Ethiopia 1,271,
Greece 1,263,
Colombia 1,068,
Belgium 900,
South Africa 826,
Luxembourg 44
Total: 941,356–1,139,518
China 780,000,
Soviet Union 26,000
Total: 1,066,000
Note: All figures may vary according to source. This measures peak strength as sizes changed during the war.
United States:
36,516 dead (including 10,395 non-combat)
92,134 wounded
8,176 MIA
7,245 POW
United Kingdom:
1,109 dead
2,674 wounded
1,060 MIA or POW
Turkey:
721 dead
2,111 wounded
168 MIA
216 POW
France:
300 KIA or MIA
Total: Over 474,000
China
(Chinese estimate):
114,000 killed in combat
34,000 non-combat deaths
380,000 wounded
21,400 POW
(US estimate):
400,000+ dead
486,000 wounded
21,000 POW
Soviet Union:
315 dead
500+ wounded
Total: 1,190,000-1,577,000+
The Korean War began as a civil war fought between 1950–1953 on the Korean Peninsula, which had been divided by the post-World War II Soviet and American occupation zones. The civil war began on June 25, 1950, when North Korea attacked South Korea. The civil war was greatly expanded when the United Nations, led by the United States, and later China entered the conflict. The conflict ended when a cease-fire was reached on July 27, 1953.
The principal support on the side of the North was the People's Republic of China, with limited assistance by Soviet combat advisors, military pilots, and weapons. South Korea was supported by United Nations (U.N.) forces, primarily from the United States, although many other nations also contributed personnel. When the conflict began, North and South Korea existed as provisional governments competing for control over the Korean peninsula after the Division of Korea by the United States and the Soviet Union.
In South Korea, the war is often called 6·25 (war)(Korean:6·25 (전쟁)), from the date of the start of the conflict or, more formally, Han-guk Jeonjaeng (Korean: 한국전쟁, literally “Korean War”). In North Korea, while commonly known as the Korean War, it is formally called the Fatherland Liberation War (조국해방전쟁). In the United States, the conflict was officially termed a police action — the Korean Conflict — rather than a war, largely in order to avoid the necessity of a declaration of war by the U.S. Congress. The war is sometimes referred to outside Korea as The Forgotten War because it is a major conflict of the 20th century that gets far less attention than World War II, which preceded it, and the controversial Vietnam War, which succeeded it. In China, the conflict was known as the War to Resist America and Aid Korea (抗美援朝), but is today commonly called the “Korean War” (朝鮮戰爭, Chaoxian Zhanzheng).