Customer Reviews

The Korean War (Essential Histories)

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This is by far the best book I have ever read on the Korean war. It is just the right length to give an easy to follow strategic overview, that is complete in essentials for that level. And for those readers desiring a look at the "little people" involved, there are two sections, one about a soldier's experiences, and another about a Korean family's experiences. There are more than an adequate number of maps, making it easy to follow the ebb and flow of battle. The writing flows along in a nice, easy to read manner. The author is a student of wars of attrition, and his interest and expertise show on every page.

This summary covers all the bases of the Korean conflict: political, tactical, strategic, cultural and does it well within an Osprey format. It was a war fought on two levels. The lower level was fought between the two Korean countries wanting to unify their whole country under their political control. On the larger scale, it was a war fought among the three super powers for ideology, prestige and the expansion of world dominance.
North Korea was under the influence of Stalin and the Soviet Union was training and equipping the NKPA to invade the south while the US was marginally helping the South Koreans. Its been said that the speech Dean Acheson gave on 1/12/1950 that implied the US was letting go of South Korea, excluding it from the US sphere was the prime motivator for the invasion.

The introduction presents a brief history of Korea going back to 1905 when Japan took it over and mistreated the Koreans until the end of WWII when the Soviet Union liberated the northern half and the US the southern half. The narrative continues to describe the friction between the US and Communist China after the world war as well as the alliance formed between Stalin and Mao. The author talks about the political atmosphere of the day and how these countries are linked together. Its all basic information but if you're new to the Korean War, its invaluable to understand how the war started, why the PRC got involved and why the UN forces stayed the course. There were critical implications that could effect the world if a third world war or a nuclear war had ignited. It was the first time in the Cold War that the Superpowers were indirectly fighting each other.
Mr Malkasian includes a good chronology that spans the entire war that will be helpful as a guide to follow the battle action and political events.

The invasion of the south began on June 25th, 1950 when columns of T34 tanks spearhead the assault along the border. For the next two and half months the ROK and meager US forces had a very tough time being pushed back to the Pusan Perimeter until enough reinforcements were brought in to stop the NKPA at the Naktong River. MacArthur devised the Inchon landings in mid September which turned everything around, causing the NKPA to flee to the north. UN Forces followed past the 38th parallel inciting Mao to counterattack, dramatically escalating the war.

The key engagements are covered and each has its own color map. There are 12 maps which greatly help to understand the dialog. The maps show the dispositions of all the key players: US, ROK, PRC, NKPA and UN. The maps include the initial invasion, the Pusan Perimeter, the major PRC offensives, the Chosin Resivoir battle, Mig Alley. In addition to the tactiacal coverage on the ground, off the coast as well as the air war, the author explains the civilian migration and hardship, the Communist insurgency in the south, the quarrelous "peace" negotiations, POW issue, prison riots and much more. There are mini profiles of MacArthur, Ridgeway, Clark. The story ends with describing the human and economic costs of the war and how the different countries survived and responded from the bitterness of the war.
There are also many fine photos to study. A Bibliography and Index round out the book.
This is an excellent primer and a good starting place before you read the full length books. Its highly recommended. Also, a good companion book to this one would be "US Army Forces in the Korean War 1950-53" by Donald Boose. Its one of Osprey's Battle Orders series and it expands on the organizational aspects.

War history is story telling, and good story telling requires a good thesis. The main thesis of this book, which is also the author's PhD thesis, is that Korean War is the first modern "limited war" as the major geopolitical players feel their ways into optimal strategies and tactics in the nuclear-dominated Cold War era. I think this point of view is quite valid and appropriate. Thus the book, although short, is still quite worthy, as it covers all the important events related to its main theme.

Some colorful and interesting details of the Korean War are necessarily brushed over, given the book's limited length. For example, Task Force Faith is not mentioned in the text at all but appears only on the map of Chosin reservoir. Compounding this shortcoming is the fact that the author is British and selects his anecdotes mainly from the combat history of the Commonwealth troops. While the American perspective is not hard to find in most books on this subject, a better coverage on Chinese and/or Korean sources would have definitely improved this work.

The language in the book is not dry but, well, "patient", by which I refer to the feeling I get about the author talking to a young audience. Indeed, my 8-year-old son has no problem going through the book entirely on his own. He thoroughly enjoys it, but probably misses most of the deeper and broader discussions in the book. Overall, I consider this a strength of the book, as it is deep enough for grown-ups and easy enough for kids.

Having been a Korea veteran during the 1950--1953 conflict era, I found the book to present the important facts of this era without details that a non-orthodox historian would not be concerned about.

Carter Malkasian succeeds in providing a complete-feeling overview of the Korean War within the very limited Essential Histories format. In only 96 pages, this book provides adequate background, chronology, and geopolitical implications of the Korean War. This includes discussions on why this war was fought on a limited basis, the importance of the war for each involved party, the often devastating effects of the war on Korea, and the War's contribution to the evolution of warfare. Paying more attention to the politics behind the war than on individual battles, Malkasian keeps the focus of this book on the broader picture of the conflict between ideologies, rather than the soldier's perspective of the war on the ground. That is not to say that important battles aren't discussed in a fair amount of detail here, just not to the same level that individual battles receive in some other Essential Histories I've read. Malkasian's approach works very well here, as the Korean War in particular really was a proxy war between superpowers where the focus was very much on politics and attrition, rather than total victory.

Many aspects of the Korean War make it stand out as being a vehicle for change in the way wars are fought. Inflicting casualties in an effort to gain bargaining chips for diplomacy was perfected here. Jet airplanes were first used broadly as fighters/bombers. Helicopters proved their usefulness in transportation and evacuation. The threat of nuclear annihilation became the US's most powerful deterrent to escalation. Also important was the emergence of the United Nations as a vehicle for diplomacy and for legitimizing war. This was the first time the UN supported the invasion of another country in order to maintain future peace. Malkasian does a remarkable job in laying out the many unique aspects of the Korean War.

While this war might not have turned out that way either side had hoped (particularly Koreans), we must be thankful to some degree that it ended when it did. This book makes it quite apparent how close the world came to a third World War during this conflict. Both the United States and the Soviet Union were apparently very close to escalating this war, which would have undoubtedly had devastating results for Southeast Asia, and very likely for the rest of the world.

Read this book, help yourself remember the forgotten war.