The Korean War

Paper Summary:

The paper relates that for the United States, the Korean War was the first limited war of the twentieth century that required painful learning and difficult adjustment. The paper describes how Korea became a bloody stalemate; the thirty-seven months of fighting had resulted in over 550,000 casualties. The paper explains how the Korean War was a key history-shaping event of the twentieth century, for it was a war that resonated worldwide and recast the international structure of Northeast Asia. It also led to significant changes in the U.S. national security system and was the proving ground for many of the doctrinal concepts. The paper concludes that the Korean War provided many lessons that are directly relevant to the conduct of joint and coalition warfare today.

From the Paper:

"Although the Truman administration and the United States military, as well as the Central Intelligence Agency, were somewhat concerned about the possibility of further armed conflict between the Democratic People's Republic of (North) Korea and the Republic of (South) Korea, the majority of U.S. military planners had concluded that the R.O.K. was indefensible (Sandler 1999). Moreover, the United Sates was focused on Western Europe, since the North Atlantic Treaty Organization had been founded the previous year in 1949, a year which also had witnessed the termination of the Berlin Airlift and the Soviet's first explosion of a nuclear weapon (Sandler 1999)."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Boose, Donald W., Jr. 2002. Perspectives on the Korean War. Parameters. June 22. HighBeam Research Library Web site. (accessed May 12, 2006).
• Drew, Col. Dennis M.; Snow, Dr. Donald M. 1990. The Eagle's Talons: Chapter 6A Korean War. U.S. History. HighBeam Research Library Web site. (accessed May 12 2006).
• Matlof, Maurice. 1990. American Military History: Chapter 25 The Korean War: 1950-1953. U.S. History. HighBeam Research Library Web site. (accessed May 12, 2006).
• Porter, Lee Ann. 2000. Truman's Firing of General Douglas MacArthur During the Korean War. Social Education. November 01. HighBeam Research Library Web site. (accessed May 12, 2006).
• Sandler, Stanley. 1999. The Korean War: No Victors, No Vanquished. London: UCL Press. Pp. 2, 3.

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