Danatt, Richard/Lyman, Robert Korea. War Without End

The book examines the confrontation between East and West in Korea that ultimately defined the second half of the 20th century. It offers a critical analysis of the West's lack of preparation for war, the results of the North Korean invasion in June 1950, MacArthur's counterattack in September and then the strategic overreach that led to the involvement of Communist China on the North Korean side, and the rapid escalation to the point of considering the use of nuclear weapons. By carefully analysing all the source material, this book reveals the chaos of political decision-making at the beginning of the war and as it progressed. The Korean War was not planned as a communist offensive against the West. The East, on the other hand, did not understand the principle underlying the Western response to Kim Il-sung's aggression, namely the refusal to appease an aggressor - the main mistake that the West saw as the cause of the rise of Nazi Germany and militarist Japan in the 1930s. "Korea. War Without End" also looks at the impact of the fighting on the civilian population. Although the war was a proxy war between East and West, the Korean population suffered immensely, with around 3 million war dead and a higher proportion of civilian casualties than in the Second World War. This is the definitive history of the conflict, which is long overdue.