Read complete books and articles on: Korean War

Korean War - conflict between Communist and non-Communist forces in Korea from June 25, 1950, to July 27, 1953. At the end of World War II, Korea was divided at the 38th parallel into Soviet (North Korean) and U.S. (South Korean) zones of occupation. In 1948 rival governments were established: The Republic of Korea was proclaimed in the South and the People's Democratic Republic of Korea in the

Relations between them became increasingly strained, and on June 25, 1950, North Korean forces invaded South Korea. The United Nations quickly condemned the invasion as an act of aggression, demanded the withdrawal of North Korean troops from the South, and called upon its members to aid South Korea. On June 27, U.S. President Truman authorized the use of American land, sea, and air forces in Korea; a week later, the United Nations placed the forces of 15 other member nations under U.S. command, and Truman appointed Gen. Douglas MacArthur supreme commander.

In the first weeks of the conflict the North Korean forces met little resistance and advanced rapidly. By Sept. 10 they had driven the South Korean army and a small American force to the Busan (Pusan) area at the southeast tip of Korea. A counteroffensive began on Sept. 15, when UN forces made a daring landing at Incheon (Inchon) on the west coast. North Korean forces fell back and MacArthur received orders to pursue them into North Korea.

On Oct. 19, the North Korean capital of Pyongyang was captured; by Nov. 24, North Korean forces were driven by the 8th Army, under Gen. Walton Walker, and the X Corp, under Gen. Edward Almond, almost to the Yalu River, which marked the border of Communist China. As MacArthur prepared for a final offensive, the Chinese Communists joined with the North Koreans to launch (Nov. 26) a successful counterattack. The UN troops were forced back, and in Jan., 1951, the Communists again advanced into the South, recapturing Seoul, the South Korean capital.

After months of heavy fighting, the center of the conflict was returned to the 38th parallel, where it remained for the rest of the war. MacArthur, however, wished to mount another invasion of North Korea. When MacArthur persisted in publicly criticizing U.S. policy, Truman, on the recommendation of the Joint Chiefs of Staff removed (Apr. 10, 1951) him from command and installed Gen. Matthew B. Ridgway as commander in chief. Gen. James Van Fleet then took command of the 8th Army. Ridgway began (July 10, 1951) truce negotiations with the North Koreans and Chinese, while small unit actions, bitter but indecisive, continued. Gen. Van Fleet was denied permission to go on the offensive and end the "meat grinder" war.

The war's unpopularity played an important role in the presidential victory of Dwight D. Eisenhower, who had pledged to go to Korea to end the war. Negotiations broke down four different times, but after much difficulty and nuclear threats by Eisenhower, an armistice agreement was signed (July 27, 1953). Casualties in the war were heavy. U.S. losses were placed at over 54,000 dead and 103,000 wounded, while Chinese and Korean casualties were each at least 10 times as high.

Bibliography

See R. E. Appleman, South to the Nakong, North to the Yalu (1961); D. Rees, Korea (1964); B. I. Kaufman, The Korean War (1986); I. F. Stone, The Hidden History of the Korean War (1988); C. Blair, The Forgotten War (1989); S. Weintraub, MacArthur's War: Korea and the Undoing of an American Hero (2000).

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16 of the Best Books and Articles on: Korean War

as selected by Questia librarians

1.

The Korean Conflict » Read Now
by Burton I. Kaufman. 193 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

A neglected war in the history of the United States, the Korean conflict played a key role in greatly expanding America's commitments worldwide and contributed to the U.S. decision to engage in direct military action in Vietnam fifteen years later. This up-to-date, readable analysis and...
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A neglected war in the history of the United States, the Korean conflict played a key role in greatly expanding America's commitments worldwide and contributed to the U.S. decision to engage in direct military action in Vietnam fifteen years later. This up-to-date, readable analysis and ready-reference guide to the Korean War is designed to help students and interested readers understand the causes, events, and implications of the War and to provide a wealth of material for student research. Materials include a detailed timeline of events, six topical essays on various aspects of the war and its impact, seventeen lengthy biographical profiles of key players, the text of fifteen important primary documents, a glossary, and a comprehensive annotated bibliography.
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2.

The Korean War: No Victors, No Vanquished » Read Now
by Stanley Sandler. 330 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

This text analyzes the course of the war, assesses the role of North and South Korea and allied forces, and goes beyond the battlefield to evaluate the contribution of UN naval forces and the impact on the homefront.
3.

Rethinking the Korean War: A New Diplomatic and Strategic History » Read Now
by William Stueck. 274 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

"This is a fresh, comprehensive, and balanced study that anyone interested in the Korean War--and, more broadly, in the development of the global Cold War--will find the need to read. Supported by insights gained from new sources and demonstrating a high sensitivity toward the international nature...
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"This is a fresh, comprehensive, and balanced study that anyone interested in the Korean War--and, more broadly, in the development of the global Cold War--will find the need to read. Supported by insights gained from new sources and demonstrating a high sensitivity toward the international nature of the conflict in Korea, it is of great scholarly significance."--Chen Jian, University of Virginia
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4.

The Korean War, Vol. 1 » Read Now
by Allan R. Millett. 934 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library
5.

The Korean War, Vol. 3 » Read Now
by Allan R. Millett. 820 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library
6.

The Korea Knot: A Military-Political History » Read Now
by Carl Berger. 210 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library
7.

History of United States Naval Operations: Korea » Read Now
by James A. Field Jr. 499 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

...that have shaken our times. In the Korean War it was the foundation for successes...Korea. Americans think of the Korean War as death and hardship in the bitter...could not...
8.

Truman, MacArthur, and the Korean War » Read Now
by Dennis D. Wainstock. 190 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

A general history of the critical first year of the Korean War, this study deals primarily with relations between General Douglas MacArthur and President Harry S. Truman from June 1950 to April 1951, a period that defined the war's direction until General Mark Clark, the final U.N. Commander, signed...
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A general history of the critical first year of the Korean War, this study deals primarily with relations between General Douglas MacArthur and President Harry S. Truman from June 1950 to April 1951, a period that defined the war's direction until General Mark Clark, the final U.N. Commander, signed the Armistice two years later. Although the ever-changing military situation is outlined, the main focus is on policymaking and the developing friction between Truman and MacArthur. Wainstock contradicts the common view that MacArthur and Truman were constantly at odds on the basic aims of the war. In the matter of carrying the fight to Communist China, MacArthur and the Joint Chiefs differed only on timing, not on the need for such action.
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9.

Korea and the Theory of Limited War » Read Now
by Allen Guttmann. 120 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

...necessary. Without it, neither the Korean War of 1950-1953 nor the present war...and about its application in the Korean War, brought the United States to the...clarify the...
10.

The Korean War: On What Legal Basis Did Truman Act?, in American Journal of International Law » Read Now
by Louis Fisher. 19 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library

...THE KOREAN WAR: ON WHAT LEGAL BASIS DID TRUMAN ACT...military action by the President. V. THE KOREAN WAR With these safeguards supposedly in...news conference, Truman again...
11.

Truman and Korea: The Political Culture of the Early Cold War » Read Now
by Paul G. Pierpaoli Jr.. 261 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

Detailing for the first time the story of America's domestic mobilization during the Korean War, Truman and Korea fills an important gap in the historical scholarship of the postwar era. Paul Pierpaoli analyzes the political, economic, social, and international ramifications of America's first war...
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Detailing for the first time the story of America's domestic mobilization during the Korean War, Truman and Korea fills an important gap in the historical scholarship of the postwar era. Paul Pierpaoli analyzes the political, economic, social, and international ramifications of America's first war of Soviet containment, never losing sight of the larger context of the cold war. He focuses on how and why the Truman administration undertook a bloody, inconclusive war on the Korean peninsula while permanently placing the nation on a war footing.
Truman and Korea illuminates the importance of the Korean conflict as a critical turning point in the cold war by examining both the immediate and the long-term domestic and foreign policy effects of the conflict. Pierpaoli addresses such important topics as presidential war powers and debates concerning the Defense Production Act; the inner workings of the many war mobilization agencies; the operations and politics of nationwide price and wage controls; the decisions,surrounding the militarization of NATO and the rearmament of Western Europe; and the evolution of national security policy.
Pierpaoli shows that President Truman's decision to intervene in the Korean War quickly became subsumed by larger cold war concerns. By the autumn of 1950 the Korean mobilization program had become the nation's de facto cold war preparedness program, which would come to span nearly forty years and eight presidential administrations. After 1950 the cold war not only continued to significantly shape political and ideological discourse in the United States but also began to reshape aggregate economic policy. By doing so, it altered the nation's industrial andeconomic contours, giving birth to the concept of an institutionalized "national security state", which in turn spawned the cold war military-industrial-scientific complex.
Based upon extensive research in the papers and offi
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12.

The Battle for Pusan: A Korean War Memoir » Read Now
by Addison Terry. 240 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

Addison Terry served in the defence of the Pusan perimeter, in what was to become one of the most perilous conflicts of the Korean War. His memoirs tells the story of how a team of poorly equipped, inexperienced soldiers coped with battle.
13.

Korean War Order of Battle: United States, United Nations, and Communist Ground, Naval, and Air Forces, 1950-1953 » Read Now
by Gordon L. Rottman. 231 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

Using historical files kept by each of the armed services and nations involved in the Korean War, Rottman provides information on unit backgrounds, organization, manning, periods of service, insignia, weapons, casualties, and major commands including the Western, North Korean, Communist Chinese, and USSR forces.
14.

Communist Logistics in the Korean War » Read Now
by Charles R. Shrader. 288 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

This book describes the logistical systems and requirements of the North Korean People's Army and Chinese Communist forces during the Korean War. The author examines the performance of the Communist logistical system from June 1950 to July 1953, explaining the failure of the United Nations air...
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This book describes the logistical systems and requirements of the North Korean People's Army and Chinese Communist forces during the Korean War. The author examines the performance of the Communist logistical system from June 1950 to July 1953, explaining the failure of the United Nations air interdiction campaign in terms of the constant improvement of Communist logistical capabilities. The author concludes that the United Nations air force damaged, but was unable to destroy, the Communist distribution system. The North Koreans and Chinese Communists were able to supply their front line units sufficiently to enable them to conduct a strong static defense, which prevented a United Nations victory, and in the last months of the war, to mount strong, sustained offensive actions.
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15.

The Korean War: Handbook of the Literature and Research » Read Now
by Lester H. Brune, Robin Higham. 464 pgs.

Collections: History, Literature, Entire Library

This comprehensive assessment by experts of the significant literature and research about the Korean War has been designed for students, teachers, and researchers at various levels and for broad interdisciplinary use. Edited by Brune, this one-volume research tool evaluates traditional...
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This comprehensive assessment by experts of the significant literature and research about the Korean War has been designed for students, teachers, and researchers at various levels and for broad interdisciplinary use. Edited by Brune, this one-volume research tool evaluates traditional interpretations and recent findings and trends and points to studies that are still needed on various topics. Twenty-three topical chapters cover the historical background and general references, international aspects of the war and the role and perspectives of major combatants, military policies and the strategies and tactics of the various armed forces, the Korean unification struggle after the war, and the relationship of the U.S. homefront to the Korean War. The book is fully indexed and is easily accessible.
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16.

To Acknowledge a War: The Korean War in American Memory » Read Now
by Paul M. Edwards. 184 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

Historians often refer to the Korean War as "the forgotten war," but Edwards argues that in many respects it is a conflict that has been deliberately ignored for the past fifty years. This broad look at the war examines how Americans have attempted to remember and commemorate the confrontation which...
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Historians often refer to the Korean War as "the forgotten war," but Edwards argues that in many respects it is a conflict that has been deliberately ignored for the past fifty years. This broad look at the war examines how Americans have attempted to remember and commemorate the confrontation which played such a major role in America's Cold War experience. As a United Nations effort or Police Action, the hazy identification of the war has in part contributed to a lack of public understanding of what happened in Korea. This book considers the American response to the "loss" in Korea, and how this response played out as a failure to remember.
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