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Title: A Short History of the Korean War by James L. Stokesbury ISBN: 0-688-09513-5 Publisher: Quill Pub. Date: 01 December, 1989 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.57 (7 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Stokesbury is priceless
Comment: I 've read all of James Stokesbury's short history series and every one is a concise gem. He distills complicated battles and political background to the essentials, and his beautiful unbiased prose is a pleasure to read. I discovered A Short History of The Korean War quite by accident, and it compelled me to read everything that he has written. I can only hope that he is working on the Viet Nam war.
Rating: 5
Summary: Good
Comment: When I found this book I did not have much interest in the Korean conflict, but since I enjoyed this author's history of WWII very much, I gave this book a try. I am glad I did. It explained the politics, the negotiations, the battles, some personalities and it was an enjoyable read. After reading this book, I read Henry Kissinger's Diplomacy. (Actually, I'm only about 2/3rds of the way through now. By the way, that is a truly excellent book.) The chapter in that book on the Korean War includes a discussion of the perspectives of the Chinese, Stalin, and N. Korea and the relations between these parties, whereas Stokesbury's book is basically just about the American goals, fears, etc. It is a pity that Stokesbury did not really explore these topics in this book, because it would have added so much more to our understanding of the story. Why did the Chinese get involved?; Could that have been prevented? What role did the Soviet Union play in encouraging the invasion? How did this conflict affect Sino-Soviet relatons? Whose idea was it to invade S. Korea anyway?; etc. Maybe the role of the Korean conflict in the overall containment of communism could also have been explored. Still, a very good book that accomplishes what it sets out to do very well.
The Korean conflict seems so contemporary in a way that earlier American wars do not. Think of N. Korea as Saddam's Iraq and you have a very contemporary story of trying to contain a dangerous rogue state, even if American leaders thought of their job more as containing communism.
Rating: 5
Summary: A Good Survey of the Korean War
Comment: "A Short History of the Korean War" provides the reader with an excellent overview of the War, without becoming bogged down in details. Stokesbury adequately covers all aspects of the war, including political, military, naval, air and the peace negotiations.
The Korean war is portrayed as one into which both sides, essentially, blundered. Numerous American officials had sent the message that Korea lay outside the United States' Asian perimeter of defense. In response to these signals, the Communists took what they thought was an easy pick and were surprised when the U.S. did respond militarily to the invasion.
The pre-war situation in South Korea under the Rhee administration is amply covered. One reason that South Korea was so ill-prepared to respond to the invasion was that the U.S. had deliberately limited the Republic of Korea (ROK) forces because of a fear that President Rhee would launch his own invasion of the North if the ROK was strong enough to do so.
The initial North Korean invasion lead to a rout of South Korean defenders and, initially, the Americans sent to their aid. Ultimately, the build-up of United Nations' Forces, the bombardment of Communist forces by U.N. air power and the limitations of the North Korean supply system saved the U.N. forces from being driven into the sea. The weakness in the Communist supply system was an inability to maintain the supply of the troops once an offensive was begun. When a Communist offensive exhausted its stored supplies it tended to run out of steam. This was the situation at the time of the Inchon landing which lead to the collapse of the North Korean invasion and the U.N. advance to the Yalu.
At this point the U.N. was at a critical juncture. Despite Chinese warnings, the U.N. continued its drive to unite Korea all the way to the Yalu. The unanswered question remains as to whether a more modest advance which occupied some of North Korea, while allowing a remnant North Korea to remain as a buffer between South Korea and China would have permitted the war to have ended much sooner and on terms more satisfactory to the U.N.
Restraint was not the rule of the day and the Chinese did enter the war and, again, threatened to drive the U.N. into the sea. Again, it was U.N. determination and air power which stemmed the tide and allowed the war to degenerate into a stalemate which lead to the commencement of peace talks. Unfortunately, the talks were to drag on for two years while men froze, and bled and died over No Name hills.
Eventually the peace talks became bogged down over the issue of repatriation of POWs. The problem was that many of the Communist POWs did not want to be repatriated to North Korea or Red China. Many, ultimately, were repatriated to South Korea or Nationalist China.
Stokesbury gives the reader an introduction to the role of air and naval power as well as the contributions of other U.N. members. The truth is that about two-thirds of U.N. members contributed to the war effort in some way or another. The political problems arising out of this international effort are also explored.
At the end of this book I felt that I had a good, general understanding of the Korean War and a whetted appetite to read more.
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Title: A Short History of World War II by James L. Stokesbury ISBN: 0688085873 Publisher: Quill Pub. Date: 01 January, 1980 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: A Short History of World War I by James L. Stokesbury ISBN: 0688001297 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 01 February, 1981 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: A Short History of the American Revolution by James L. Stokesbury ISBN: 068812304X Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 27 January, 1993 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: A Short History of the Civil War by James L. Stokesbury ISBN: 0688151299 Publisher: Quill Pub. Date: 01 April, 1997 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: The Korean War: How We Met the Challenge : How All-Out Asian War Was Averted : Why Macarthur Was Dismissed : Why Today's War Objectives Must Be Limi (Da Capo Paperback) by Matthew B. Ridgway ISBN: 0306802678 Publisher: Da Capo Press Pub. Date: 01 March, 1986 List Price(USD): $16.50 |
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