2 September 16 – The Korean War: An Overview

• Steven Hugh LEE, “Decolonization and the Cold War through an Asian Lens“
• *Allan MILLETT, “Introduction to the Korean War,” 921-935
• Memory of Forgotten War: Four Deeply Personal Accounts of the Korean War (2013)
• Images of the Korean War (optional; available soon)

As indicated in the title, the aim of Thursday’s class is to gain an overview of the Korean War (1948-1953), including:

• why Korea was divided into North Korea and South Korea (1945-1948)
• the relevance of Japanese colonialism (1910-1945) to the Korean War
• how the Korean War connected to other events of world history in the mid-20th century
• the impact of the Korean War on ordinary people in the Koreas

I’m assigning two videos and one essay, as well as the first homework assignment, due by 11:59 pm Central Time on Wed., Sept. 15. The homework assignment will help you prepare for our Thursday class. On Thursday, we will start with another fishbowl discussion, followed by discussion in full group and in breakout rooms. Note: Typically, the years for the Korean War are shown as 1950-1953. However, in parallel with the Lee video, I use the years 1948-1953 because the civil war conflict between contending Korean groups was well underway in 1948.

• The Lee video provides a good introduction to the place of the Korean War in mid-20th century world history by positioning in relation to the Vietnam War. He wraps up his presentation by going over the three primary dimensions of this complex, but commonly misunderstood, war. Grasping these three dimensions will help you to understand…
• The Millett essay. Millett is a military historian who has done quite a bit of research on the Korean War. The way he writes is a bit outdated, but I assign this piece because he covers a variety of bases with regards to national division and the Korean War: the context of decolonization in world history, the relevance of the colonial era, and competing Korean perspectives. After reading the Millett essay, work through the questions posed in Tips for Critical Reading.
• Finally, Memory of Forgotten War is valuable because it provides a more in-depth look into the perspectives of ordinary people who were impacted by the events of 1948-1953. It contains excerpts of interviews done with Korean Americans who, prior to immigrating to the US, lived through division and war.