A Different Sort of War by Richard Trembath
The Korean War, 1950-1953, occupies a doubtful position in contemporary history and also in Australian military tradition. Its scale, measured in terms of destruction and casualties, is impressive enough. It involved the death, dislocation or injury of millions. It threatened to escalate into a nuclear conflict and a third world war, only a few years after the cessation of the bloodiest war in history. It marked the first exercise of collective will by the new United Nations, a huge exercise in coalition forming under the political and military leadership of the United States. Chinese and Western troops clashed directly in combat for the first and last time.
For Australia, the Korean War meant having to make difficult choices about participation and the scale of our participation. These issues are similar to those faced by Australia in a different conflict in 2003.
Despite the political significance of the Korean War, and the ferocity of the conflict, it has struggled to occupy a prominent place in Australia’s collective memory. This book explores the reasons why Korea has so often been called “the forgotten war.”
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