Fearing the Worst - How Korea Transformed the Cold War

About the author

Samuel F. Wells, Jr, is a Cold War Fellow in the History and Public Policy Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. He is the coauthor of The Ordeal of World Power: American Diplomacy Since 1900 (Little, Brown, 1975), and coeditor of Economics and World Power: An Assessment of American Diplomacy Since 1789 (Columbia University Press, 1984), Limiting Nuclear Proliferation (Ballinger, 1985), and Strategic Defenses and Soviet-American Relations (Ballinger, 1987).

Summary

After World War II, the escalating tensions of the Cold War shaped the international system. Fearing the Worst explains how the Korean War fundamentally changed postwar competition between the United States and the Soviet Union into a militarized confrontation that would last decades.

Samuel F. Wells Jr. examines how military and political events interacted to escalate the conflict. Decisions made by the Truman administration in the first six months of the Korean War drove both superpowers to intensify their defense buildup. American leaders feared the worst-case scenario—that Stalin was prepared to start World War III—and raced to build up strategic arms, resulting in a struggle they did not seek out or intend. Their decisions stemmed from incomplete interpretations of Soviet and Chinese goals, especially the belief that China was a Kremlin puppet. Yet Stalin, Mao, and Kim Il-sung all had their own agendas, about which the United States lacked reliable intelligence. Drawing on newly available documents and memoirs—including previously restricted archives in Russia, China, and North Korea—Wells analyzes the key decision points that changed the course of the war. He also provides vivid profiles of the central actors as well as important but lesser known figures. Bringing together studies of military policy and diplomacy with the roles of technology, intelligence, and domestic politics in each of the principal nations, Fearing the Worst offers a new account of the Korean War and its lasting legacy.

Product details

• Authors: Dr. Samuel F. Wells, Samuel F. Wells
• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 26.11.2019
• EAN: 9780231192743
• ISBN: 978-0-231-19274-3
• No. of pages: 600
• Series: Woodrow Wilson Center Series
• Subjects: Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; USA, Korea, Postwar 20th century history, from c 1945 to c 2000, 20th Century, POLITICAL SCIENCE / History & Theory, military history, 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000, HISTORY / United States / 20th Century, POLITICAL SCIENCE / World / Asian, HISTORY / Military / United States, 20th century, c 1900 to c 1999, Political science & theory, United States of America, USA, History of the Americas, Political science and theory, Military history: post-WW2 conflicts, C 1945 To C 1960, 1950–1953 (Korean War period), Korean War, HISTORY / Wars & Conflicts / Korean War