The Korean War

An early crisis in the Cold War, known as the period of U.S.-Soviet tensions, from 1947 until the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, occurred in Korea, a country that had been divided at the end of the Second World War. In June 1950, the army of Communist North Korea invaded U.S.-supported South Korea. President Harry S. Truman committed American troops to defend South Korea, and the U.S. made up the largest part of a United Nations force in that country. North Korea, meanwhile, received aid from two Communist countries, China and the Soviet Union, which had interests in the region. The bloody Korean War lasted for three years. This book in the MAJOR U.S. HISTORICAL WARS series examines the events that led up to the Korean War. It discusses the political and military strategies that the American, UN, North Korean, and Chinese forces employed, and provides information about key people, battles, and events. Although an armistice was signed in 1953, the war has never truly ended. Tensions have continued between the North and the South for more than 60 years.