Abstract
The Korean War is an immensely important event in twentieth century history. The first shooting war of the Cold War, the first United Nations War, and the only time that two major military powers have clashed on the battlefield since World War II, it has been largely forgotten by all—save for the Koreans, for whom the war continues. Although it began in June 1950, its roots extend back to the Japanese takeover of Korea in 1910 and the partition of the Peninsula at the end of World War II. In this concise yet analytical account, the author discusses the inability of the major powers to agree on a Korean government and the partition of Korea into two hostile regimes. He treats the factors prompting the North Korean invasion and the reasons for Soviet and Chinese support, the military balance at the start of the war, the factors prompting U.S. intervention, and the course of the war to include the Chinese intervention and the transition from a war of maneuver into one of stalemate. He also addressed the factors delaying an armistice agreement, assesses the costs and wide-reaching consequences of the war, and identifies areas for possible further study.
Notes
1. .For the general background see Allan R. Millett, The War for Korea, 1945–1950: A House Burning (Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 2005) and Robert A. Scalapino and Lee Chong-Sik, Communism in Korea, 2 vols. (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1973). Of numerous military histories of the Korean War, see especially Clay Blair, The Forgotten War: America in Korea, 1950–1953 (New York: Times Books, 1987). For the Korean perspective, see Kim Chum-Kon, The Korean War, 1950–1953 (Seoul: Kwangmyong, 1980), also Korean Institute of Military History, The Korean War, 3 vols. (Republic of Korea: Ministry of National Defense, 1997–1999).
2. For an unvarnished portrait of Syngman Rhee, see Richard C. Allen, Korea's Syngman Rhee: An Unauthorized Portrait (Rutland, VT: Charles E. Tuttle, 1960).
3. On the North Korean leader see Bong Bai, Kim Il Sung: A Political Biography, 3 vols. (New York: Guardian Books, 1970) and Dae-Sook Suh, Kim Il Sung: The North Korean Leader (New York: Columbia University Press, 1988).
4. Millett, The War for Korea, 142.
5. Among others see Bruce Cumings, The Origins of the Korean War, 2 vols. (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1981, 1990); Korea's Place in the Sun: A Modern History (New York: W.W. Norton, 1997); and The Korean War (New York: The Modern Library, 2010).
6. Youngho Kim, Han'guk Choonjaeng ui Kiwon kwa Chongae kwajong [The Origins andDevelopment of the Korean War] (Seoul: Dure Publications, 1998), 54–8.
7. Sergei Goncharov, John W. Lewis and Xue Litai, Uncertain Partners: Stalin, Mao and the Korean War (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1993).
8. On the U.S. domestic front, the best study remains Paul G. Pierpaoli, Jr., Truman and Korea: The Political Culture of the Early Cold War (Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 1999).
9. On the U.S. Korean Military Advisory Group see Robert K. Sawyer, Military Advisors in Korea: KMAG in Peace and War (Washington, D.C.: Office of the Chief of Military History, U.S. Army, 1962).
10. See Dae-Sook Suh, Kim Il Sung.
11. On the Soviet role see Eric Van Ree, Socialism in One Zone: Stalin's Policy in Korea, 1945–1947 (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1988) and William W. Stueck, Jr., Rethinking the Korean War: A New Diplomatic and Strategic History (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2004).
12. Xiaobing Li, A History of the Modern Chinese Army (Lexington, KY: The University Press of Kentucky, 2007), 81.
13. On the U.S. decision to intervene, see Glenn D. Paige, The Korean Decision, June 24–30 (New York: Free Press, 1968).
14. Truman's version of events may be found in his memoir: Harry S. Truman, Memoirs, 2 vols. (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1955–1956).
15. Kim Youngho, Hanguk Chonjaeng ui Kiwon gwa Chongae Kwajong [The Origins and Development of the Korean War] (Seoul: Ture, 1998). See also Kim Youngho, ‘‘Korea, Democratic People's Republic of, Invasion of the Republic of Korea (June 25, 1950),’’ Encyclopedia of the Korean War, 3 vols. Revised edition, ed. Spencer C. Tucker. (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO Publishers, 2010), I, 445.
16. Spencer C. Tucker, ‘‘Osan, Battle of,’’ Encyclopedia of the Korean War, II, 654–6.
17. On the struggle for the Busan Perimeter and indeed the period to November 1951, see RoyE. Appleman, United States Army in the Korean War: South to the Naktong, North to the Yalu (Washington, D.C.: Office of the Chief of Military History, 1961) and Uzal E. Ent, Fighting on the Brink: Defense of the Pusan Perimeter (Paducah, KY: Turner, 1996).
18. On the landing, see Paul G. Edwards, The Inchon Landing, Korea, 1950 (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1994) and Lynn Montross and Nicholas A. Canzona, U.S. Marine Operations in Korea 2, The Inchon-Seoul Operation (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Marine Corps Historical Branch, 1954–1957).
19. See Robert R. Simmons, The Strained Alliance: Peking, Pyongyang, Moscow, and the Politics of the Korean War (New York: Columbia University Press, 1975); and Goncharov, Lewis, and Xue Litai, Uncertain Partners. On the role played by Soviet air power, see Mark A. O'Neill, ‘‘The Other Side of the Yalu: Soviet Pilots in Korea.’’ (Ph.D. dissertation, Florida State University, 1996).
20. The U.S. Army's official history on the period from November 1950 to July 1951 is Billy C Mossman, United States Army in the Korean War: Ebb and Flow, November 1950–July 1951 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Army, Center of Military History, 1990).
21. The best study of this is John W. Spanier, The Truman–MacArthur Controversy and the Korean War (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 1959).
22. On the ‘‘stalemate’’ period, see Walter Hermes, Jr., United States Army in the Korean War: Truce Tent and Fighting Front (Washington, D.C.: Office of the Chief of Military History, 1966).
23. On the negotiations, see Rosemary Foot, A Substitute for Victory: The Politics of Peacemaking at the Korean Armistice Talks (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1990); and Hermes, United States Army in the Korean War.
24. On the armistice, see Sydney D. Bailey, The Korean Armistice (New York: St Martin's Press, 1992).
25. Casualty figures have been widely disputed. The best analysis is Allan R. Millet, ‘‘Casualties,’’ Encyclopedia of the Korean War, I, 112–15.