Korean War

Communist North Korea invaded the democratic South Korea in 1950
South Korea was a US ally and the US, concerned about the 'domino effect', became involved in the war
'Domino effect' was the belief if South Korea fell, communism would spread to other Asian countries
North Korea was backed by China and USSR
US became involved in a costly war, that ended in a stalemate
The war demonstrated that the US and USSR would fight each other but not directly
The war lasted three years and led to 1.4 million deaths
Truman sacked General Douglas MacArthur for requesting that nuclear weapons be used against China

Stalin passed away at the end of the Korean War and the new Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev criticised many of Stalin's actions and called for peaceful co-existence with the West.