Book Review

The Coldest Winter by David Halberstam

The Korean War (Jun 15, 1950 – Jul 27, 1953) was an unusual and distant war
that was supposedly a United Nations police action but was driven by the US
involvement. It was a series of miscalculations, that resulted in three years of grim
fighting over relatively unimportant isolated territory to affirm the right of Republic of
Korea (ROK) below the 38th parallel to exist in conjunction with its northern neighbor,
Northern People’s Republic of Korea (NR). We lost over 54,000 soldiers because of our
commitment while even larger numbers died of both civilian and military in the NR,
ROK and Peoples Republic of China who heavily supported the NK.

It was a war stumbled into, mismanaged and suffered through by the military
soldiers standing knee deep in the freezing snow of the mountainous wastelands. It was
ideologically a struggle between communism and democracy played out on the bleeding
body of Korea. We were ill equipped and poorly trained initially as well as ineffectively
commanded. In the United States mainland, it erupted into a major conflict between the
military general in command and President Truman. It was settled when he relieved of
the renown Second World War General Douglas MacArthur of duty. It taught us about
police actions, brain washing, deserters, peace talks, and POW repatriations. Fortunately
it was fought for only three years but the problem remains as ongoing issue between the
two countries.

In his outstanding book, and final work the author comprehensively covers it all
from start to finish. It is sweeping study of egos, rugged terrain, ruthless determination
and political negotiation at a time when we were not prepared for such grim
determination from the People’s Republic of China nor North Korea. It draws on the
individual accounts of the participants and provides the most comprehensive review of
the event available. It was an orphan war, unwanted at home that we reluctantly fought
out of an international comment with vague goals and a mediocre outcome. A must read
for understanding the later United Sates history.

Halberstam, David The Coldest Winter, Hyperion: New York, 2007. 669 pages.

Rating: 7

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Type: War History

December 3, 2009