The Korean War: History in an Hour

History In An Hour

by Andrew Mulholland

Love history? Know your stuff with History in an Hour.

Bringing together the military mights of the Soviet Union, China, North Korea, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the United Nations States, the Korean War raged for three years from 1950 to 1953. Not only the result of a carving of Korean territories following the Pacific conflicts of the Second World War, it was also a battle of ideologies as General MacArthur’s American military forces occupied the southern half and Stalin’s Soviet forced supported the northern half.

Initiated by infantry movements and air raids, the region gradually became mired in a static trench war by July 1951, and would continue to cost both sides in both morale and human lives. The Korean War: History in an Hour is the concise story to one of the most bitter and enduring conflicts of the post-war era.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Audiobook, Military Fiction

Audible Audio

First published November 7, 2013

Reviews

[Dr. Appu Sasidharan (Dasfill)]

The Korean war was from 1950-1953. It was a war involving North and South Korea and the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Andrew Mulholland has done a great job in giving a vivid picture of this “Forgotten War.”


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[Jessica]

Interesting short recap of some important historical events.

[Aaron Lambert]

An interesting overview, but not very well written. Grammar and syntax were about on the level of a 9th or 10th grade English student who just got a new thesaurus. Many times the writer's personal opinions about the war were evident by his writing, which isn't necessarily good or bad - just know they are there. One of the best parts of the book was the large appendix at the end about the key people involved in the war. I came away from this book with a little better understanding of the war, but probably won't read it again.

[Chip]

Really concise and interesting. I enjoyed this. Narration was authoritative and book was long enough to cover major points but short enough to hold my attention.

[Omar Kassem]

صورة بسيطة و مختصرة عن الحرب الكورية التي امتدت بين عامي 1950-1953 ولا تزال آثاراها باقية إلى الآن من خلال العداء المستحكم بين طرفيها ، هذه الحرب المنسية تقريبا على مستوى العالم لم يكن أطرافها الكوريتين فقط وإنما شارك فيها الاتحاد السوفييتي والصين وبريطانيا
نقل الكتاب صورة حية و نابضة عن هذه الحرب التي لم اعرف عنها من قبل إلا القليل..

[Lukasz]

O wojnie w Korei bardzo mało wiedziałem. Poznałem kiedyż Amerykanina, którego ojciec walczył w tej wojnie, wiem z relacji mojego znajomego, że udział w wojnie pozostawił trwały ślad na psychice jego ojca. Po tej lekturze muszę stwierdzić, że była to naprawdę dość instensywna wojna. Pochłonęła w ciągu trzech lat ponad trzy miliony ofiar w ludziach.
Dzięki książce lepiej zrozumiałem też sytuację geopolityczną półwyspu Koreańskiego. Od wielu, wielu lat, wręcz od paru stuleci na przemian Japonia, Chiny, Rosja walczyły o wpływy nad Koreą. Ze względu na swoje położenie kultura, język Koreański jest dość specyficzny. Język oraz kultura, mimo, że azjatycka, nie ma większych spokrewnień z kulturą chińską, czy japońską. Ludność w Korei przez wiele stuleci aż do ekspansji wyżej wspomnianych imperiów była miejscem mocno odizolowanym od świata bez większych wpływów z zewnątrz.
Na początku XX wieku Chiny, Japonia, Rosja jednak mocno walczyły o wpływ na Koreą. Po Drugiej Wojnie światowej półwysep Koreański został podzielony na dwie strefy okupacyjne, radziecką i amerykańską. Trzy lata po wojnie oba mocarstwa wycofały się instalując lokalną marionetkową władzę. Już wtedy w 1948 roku zaczęły kształtować się dwa osobne koreańskie państwa, których granica przebiegała wzdłuz 38 równoleżnika.
W 1950 zaatakowała niespodziewanie komunistyczna północ. Dla mnie nową informacją było to iż wojna w Korei była wojną prowadzoną przez ONZ. ONZ był oficjalnie stroną w wojnie, oczywiście Amerykanie dowodzili wojskom ONZ. Rosja, Chiny, mimo iż mieli juz wtedy stałe miejsce w radzie bezpieczeństwa zbojkotowali posiedzenia rady bezpieczeństwa ONZ. Chiny i Rosja nie były oficjalnie na początku stronami w wojnie. Chiny w trakcie trwania wojny oficjalnie sie zaangażowały w wojnę. Amerykanie w ramach ONZ mocno zaangażowali się w wojnę, wiedzieli, że jeśli nie stawią czoła komunistycznej inwazji, komunizm może opanowac cały region. Przez pewien czas USA rozważały użycie broni nuklearnej, w desperacji. Jednak ze względów strategicznych powstrzymali się od tego kroku. Groziła bowiem eskalacja konfliktu na cały świat, łącznie z wybuchem Trzeciej Wojny Światowej. Podczas trwania wojny front zmieniał swoje położenie wiele razy. Raz Północ miała przewagę terytorialną, raz Południe. W efekcie wojna zaczęła pochłaniać ogromne ilości zasobów, w tym ludzkich, ponieważ zaczęła przypominać wojnę okopową dobrze znaną z Pierwszej Wojny Światowej, obie strony postanowiły zawrzeć zawieszenie broni, które obowiązuje do dziś. De facto wojna koreańska nigdy się nie skończyła, do dziś obowiązuje tylko zawieszenie broni.

[Robert]

I bought for my daughter to help with her GCSE History curriculum (The Korean War seems to be absent from most of the study guides), but thought i'd give it a go.

I know nothing about the Korean War and I therefore have no benchmark for testing the accuracy of the information in the book, but I found it to be informative; easy to read; clear; and well structured. I also feel that I now know something about a war i'd barely heard of before.

The book is broken down into a pre-war summary of the relevant history of Korea and the state of the play with the world powers. In then goes into chapters and sub chapters which cover key political and military developments throughout the war to conclusion. It doesn't go into a massive level of detail or strategies or tactics or the ins-and-outs of the politics but it gives a good general overview.

The appendices go on to give a short biography of many of the key actors along with a useful timeline and other information.

The book also has a number of photographs that help to give a better idea of what it was like.

I'm not entirely convinced that many would read this in as little as an hour and absorb the content, but it is a concise and well received introduction.

The only real downside is that it could have done with a nice map.

[David]

The Korean War: History in an Hour by Andrew Mulholland is part of the History In An Hour series that can vary from just under an hour to a little over two hours to read. It gives a compact account of the Korean War, sometimes referred to as the Forgotten War. From the initial surprise attack by the North Koreans that took the South by complete surprise to the almost complete success in conquering the entire peninsula before being pushed back by United Nations troops comprised largely of Americans almost to the northernmost border with China. This prompted China to send hundreds of thousands of troops south to help North Korea that once again pushed the UN forces back. The North was being supplied and supported by China and Russia while the South was backed by the UN forces. The back and forth was fought eventually to a standstill around the 38th Parallel line where an armistice is finally agreed to. It was the first war where jet fighter planes were used to fight against each other. Quick overview of the key facts of the Korean War, the lead up, the action, and the closure.

[Magnús]

Ágæt yfirferð á stríðstíma sem ég vissi lítið um fyrir. Það er mikið vísað í Kóreustríðið í amerískum bókmentum og kvikmyndum, en lítið fjallað um stríðið sjálft. Þó bókin sé í flokki þar sem farið er á hundavaði yfir efnið (svo það sé hægt að komast yfir að lesa það á rúmum klukkutíma eða svo), þá er yfirferðin fróðleg en textinn mætti vera aðeins líflegri.
Það er áhugavert að velta fyrir sér heimsmyndinni ef þessi púðurtunna hefði sprungið með stærri hvelli og átökin breiðst út í Þriðju heimstyrjöld.

[Kenneth J. Olsen]

Great overview

The "Forgotten War" label seems appropriate, as searching for a detailed Whistory of the Korean War wasn't successful. The "One Hour" version proved to fulfill my void of knowledge on the subject. Just wish the Brit's and us Yank's could agree on how to spell words, like color!

[Mehrannisa Sadiq]

Good read to get down to the basics of the Korean War. Simply written and not too much (obvious) bias. It took me over an hour but that’s because I would extend my research every time a battle/historical figure/agreement was mentioned as to be expected the book was unable to cover everything if trying to remain concise. Will read more from this collection for sure 😊

[Ayushi]

Enlightening. It did its job of listing the hows and the whys of the Korean War. A must read for beginners who are looking for quick information on the Korean War and its history. The language is average and the book is suitable as a one time read.

[Chip]

Really concise and interesting. I enjoyed this. Narration was authoritative and book was long enough to cover major points but short enough to hold my attention. It was cheap too, recommend outright purchase rather than credits.

[Jbussen]

Exactly what the title says. Except the hour part. Maybe two or more. My history lessons pretty much skipped the Korean war. I wanted to know what went down in brief. I got what I wanted.

[Stephen]

7/10

[Duane]

Nice recap of the Korean War.

[Wesley and Fernie]

This was my first History in an Hour book and now I am hooked. Perfect for getting a bird’s eye view of an important historical event. I’ll have to use some of them in my classroom.

[Chris Passingham]

A good introduction into what is becoming rather a forgotten and neglected conflict but was incredibly important in world history.

[Court Paige]

Not interesting and refers to China and Russia as she/her which is... Off-putting
Incredibly short but still couldn't hold my attention.

[Ali]

This was a great overview of a conflict that isn’t taught enough in the west, I've studied history at uni and this was barely even mentioned.

[Syakireen]

a good read if you want to get to know the basics of Korean War

[Adeela]

I read this book as part of the course I did for History A-levels. It has information that you can use and its great to give you an overview of the war. If you want something quick and brief, then this is good.

[Erik]

Ugh. I found the writing in this very confusing.

The author will often say things like "this would allow them to..." and it's not immediately clear whether that means that was their intention, and it didn't actually happen, or whether that is what happened. He jumps forward and back in time sentence-to-sentence. The text is also spirnkled with tpyos.

Forget this. Just go read the Wikipedia article.

[blueisthenewpink]

Az talán túlzás, hogy egy óra alatt végezni lehetne vele, de nagyon jó, világos, érthető, jól olvasható összefoglalója a háborúnak. Nem csak az eseményekre, hanem az összefüggésekre is ki tudott térni. A végén életrajzokkal, és tényleg hasznos információval a függelékben, nem végeláthatatlan adathalmazzal. Fényképek is voltak benne, pedig e-könyv. Nem vagyok nagy történelemrajongó, de ez tetszett. Úgy izgultam közben, mintha kalandregényt olvasnék (és nem tudnám, mi lesz a vége).

[Tim]

Clear and concise, but perhaps a bit too brief, especially in terms of actual battles that occurred. 3.5/5 (Audiobook edition - actually over two hours long, in spite of the title!)

[Derek Emerson]

As expected, this book gives a very quick overview of the Korean War. If you are looking for a quick introduction, this will work.

[Patrick]

Good entry if you never heard about the forgotten war from 1950-1953 between North Korea and South Korea with involvement of the U.S ,Soviets , China and U.K

[Derek Mcknight]

Pretty clear and concise account of the Korean conflict, though quite dry. It does give a good overview of the political side and the big picture, but despite it's length (this is not history in an hour!) it skates over most of the details. A few snippets for interest but okay for an overview

[Lona Manning]

As title promises, this is a brief overview of the Korean War, sometimes referred to in Canada as the "forgotten war." One can only imagine how war-weary everyone was at the end of World War II, when suddenly, North Korea invaded the South and Truman had to head up a UN effort to fight back the Communist tide. The author is not neutral about the comparative evils of capitalism versus communism, and the fact that the war refugees all fled in the same direction -- South to get away from the crushing brutality of the new Kim regime, and captured Chinese and North Korean soldiers asked to stay in the South. A good refresher or orientation for understanding what led up to today's situation.