The Korean War, 1950 - 1953

The Korean War was the first armed conflict since the end of the second World war. The way it played out is interesting because it is the first of many conflicts that stem from the Cold War’s main pillar: Capitalism vs. Communism. Korea was split into to sides (go figure), North and South Korea from the collapse of the Japan Empire. The Northern half was backed by Communist China and Soviets, the South backed by NATO, which actually had to form a military structure for the first time because of it. Another interesting thing was that right away both sides of this conflict knew from the get go that nuclear weapons were not an option. Instead they resorted to the exact same thing as they did in the last war: Machine guns, grenades, mortars, etc. However, there was debate on both sides if it was a good idea to use the A-bomb or not. The war itself in terms of where enemy lines were drawn, and fighting went back and forth over the three years, both sides constantly losing or gaining ground, never able to hold onto it (right). In the end it was seen as a draw. But more importantly it was seen as a good sign that the weapons that were being used were conventional weapons.
    Given that Korea is such a small territory, I think it would be tough to say if either side used the atomic bomb in the Korean War, that it would bring the end of the world. But what I would argue is that it would just be ground zero for the rest of the world to start using nuclear weapons, which would be a bad precedent to set, which would’ve made a nuclear apocalypse more likely or imminent.