In a matter of weeks, the North Korean troops nearly drove the newly arrived, mostly inexperienced, under-equipped American forces and South Korean troops into the Sea of Japan until the United Nations (UN) regrouped near Pusan on the southeast tip of the peninsula. On JNorth Korean troops invaded the south (the original 38 th parallel) and immediately routed the ROK (Republic of Korea) troops. Halberstam goes to great length to explain these political dynamics in China and the United States. China then shifted its attention to Korea, monitoring the Soviet influence and the global intentions of the United States. This Chinese civil war raged for several years after World War II and though the Americans supported the Nationalists against global communism – coaxed by the media empire of Henry Luce ( Time magazine) - Chiang Kai-Shek was pushed off the mainland to Taiwan. In China meanwhile, the civil war between the Mao-Zedong-led communist forces versus the American-supported Nationalist troops led by General Chiang Kai-shek diverted American interest in Korea. In the final months of World War II, Russia declared war on Japan, (a decision supported by the United States military) and used the declaration as a stepping stone to its influence in the northern half of Korea. Japan invaded and controlled most of Korea before World War II. The current geopolitical situation began in 1904 when the Japanese fleet defeated the Russian navy in the Battle of Tsushima Straits. As one Japanese politician put it, “Korea sticks out like a dagger pointed towards the heart of Japan.” This has meant centuries of conflict. As Halberstam writes, Korea has “the misfortune to lie in the path of three infinitely, larger, stronger and more ambitious powers - Japan, China, and Russia.” Japan however feels itself vulnerable. You Cannot Talk About Korea Without Talking About Chinaįundamentally, the history of Korea is a geographical issue. Here are just a few of my takeaways worth sharing. But because reading is a serendipitous act, we often learn different things than we initially sought, and in that department, The Coldest Winter did not disappoint. Reading Halberstam’s 650-page tome did not provide me with any immediate insights to the current situation between North Korea and the United States.
![battle of the bulge masstransit battle of the bulge masstransit](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/13/36/c1/1336c1925ceb12f486928c5717cfb407--military-history-lux.jpg)
![battle of the bulge masstransit battle of the bulge masstransit](http://www.nww2m.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/hannan-jeep-mass-crop1-300x240.jpg)
The latter was particularly disturbing considering that the most I have hoped for with the Trump administration was that they didn’t blow up the world. He regularly reminds me that I should “walk straight, with shoulders back like a marching Korean soldier.” Of course, there is the recent news cycle of President Donald Trump’s summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, which was preceded by threats of mutual nuclear destruction. citizen, and has rescued me from back surgery.
![battle of the bulge masstransit battle of the bulge masstransit](http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-E-Ardennes/img/USA-E-Ardennes-p446.jpg)
On a personal level, I am always indebted to my good-natured chiropractor who came from South Korea, has now become a U.S. citizens are from Korea -the United States has the second largest population of Koreans living outside of Korea (China is first). We drive Korean automobiles such Hyundai and Kia, buy electronics from Samsung and LG and many U.S.
![battle of the bulge masstransit battle of the bulge masstransit](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/141210-battle-of-bulge-wwii-09.jpg)
Summer and Winter Olympics aside, there is ongoing Korean influence in our daily lives. In fact, much of the first year of the war, which Halberstam focuses on, was fought in sub-zero temperatures on icy and snowy mountaintops. But there was no snow swirling around those 20 th Century Fox studio lots and frigid weather is one of the first facts I learned while reading David Halberstam’s The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War (2007). There was an anti-war sentiment in the series, callouts against racism towards Asians and a few episodes where it is cold and windy. Like me you might be mildly entertained, though some of Hawkeye Pierce’s sexual advances towards the nurses makes everyone uncomfortable.
#BATTLE OF THE BULGE MASSTRANSIT SERIES#
Then there was the long running M*A*S*H television series (1972-1983) starring Alan Alda, and you find it regularly on your favorite Rehash Channel. Though set in a medical unit in Korea, the motion picture is considered more to be a metaphor for the insanity of Vietnam.
#BATTLE OF THE BULGE MASSTRANSIT MOVIE#
I am familiar with the 1970 Robert Altman movie M*A*S*H, starring Donald Sutherland, Elliot Gould, Sally Kellerman, and Robert Duvall. It wasn’t all martinis (and it wasn’t really about Korea either but never mind…)Įven though I pride myself on being an American history buff, my knowledge of the Korean War had been limited.