korean war?

Question

was china holding back its full potential during the korean war? could they have sent more soldiers to help the north koreans?

Answer 1

China sent thousands of soldiers, and to have sent any more, they would have been too closely grouped together.

Korea is remember a narrow peninsula.

Answer 2

By tacit mutual agreement between all parties, Korea was a limited engagement. Hence the PRC restrained its actions in order to avoid undue provocation of the US; the US in turn removed MacArthur from command to eliminate the nuclear threat.
The major mistake by the Communists lies in Moscow's assumption that South Korea would fall quickly, and that the US wouldn't intervene. Stalin never wanted a general war, and gauged its support accordingly.
The Chinese sent enough soldiers to fight the war it chose to fight. A mass infantry was about its major military weapon. What more it could have done was not in Korea, but to extend the battleground elsewhere, chiefly to threaten Taiwan and to entangle the US forces in a much wider war.
So too the timing of the PRC's intervention was about optimal, within four months after the conflict's start, and at the most vulnerable point of the UN forces advance into North Korea.

Answer 3

Sure, they could have sent more. But after a certain point it doesn't help any. Eventually you have enough troops that any more are simply a huge reserve. Also, they already outnumbered the UN force fairly heavily. The other consideration is that China still had to maintain it's military presence in other parts of China, so there's only so much they could send to Korea at any one time.

Answer 4

y would they? ever heard Gen McAuthor n his crave for nuclear power? China understand their situation and not 2 pushed their limit. btw n i hearded they send over more then a million soldiers...isn't it enough compare 2 the Korean overall population at that time?

Answer 5

The Chinese sent more than enough troops and they were fully committed. I do not think they held anything back