The Origins of the Korean War Essay Example for Free

The Origins of the Korean War Essay The Korean peninsula used to be a unified nation until the Korean War. The book, The Origins of the Korean War by Peter, published in 1981 was among Lowe’s series of books, which among others take the Korean War or any other World War II event for his topic. In this book, the second edition of ‘The Origins of Korean War’, Lowe was convinced that the war was in fact ignited by North Korea when it initiated the attacks to South Korea. However, after a thorough discussion of the events that lead to the war, including the influences from neighboring nations like China and Russia, Lowe ended the book with a discussion of how, the two separated countries of Korea (North Korea and South Korea) were able to settle their differences and resolved the conflicts despite the war. Clearly, in opposition to the common beliefs of many, the Korean War, had long been blamed upon the South Koreans. But with this book, Lowe discussed the various events that surrounded and led to the war. It clarified the notion that the war between the nations resulted from the influences of other countries. According to Lowe (135), the Korean War, started on April 3, 1948 when the Communist attacked the civilian government that led to the two long years of conflict and more than thirty thousand lives lost. However, Lowe (135) also argued that the conflict reached its peak only on June 25, 1950. From its very title, Peter Lowe tried to prove how the Korean war originated. In this book, Lowe claims that the Korean War was a result of the â€Å"combination of animosity† between the Koreans, the indecisiveness of the Americans and the duplicity of the Russians (Lowe 135). With the intervention of then more powerful nations like the United States an, China and Russia, Korea was left divided in parts as North Korea and South Korea and remained in conflict even after the wars. From Lowe’s narrations and circumstantial evidence, the Korean War was initiated by North Korea and led to what has then been known as â€Å"the ‘forgotten war’ or the ‘war before the Vietnam ’ (Lowe 135). One of the more important parts of the book and explanations by Lowe is the part that considers the Korean War, more of a war caused by the international conflict and more importantly of the Second World War instead of the unstable civil society. The domestic factors, although contributed and facilitated the war, the Korean War is more of a war between non-Koreans than Koreans. Because the Korean war did not only involved the Koreans, but also the United States, Russia and China, Lowe discussed the various claims as to how the war originated by stating how each of these countries, their then leaders, have been involved with Korea and the war. After which, Lowe, as well as his evidence, with how presented the chronology of event that led to the Korean War, that it was in fact the North Koreans that started the attacks. It was however not clear whether the attack was purely of Korean prerogative or based upon influences from any of the other huge nations involved. Lowe’s book on the origin of the Korean War, clearly gave meaningful insights on how the conflict started once and for all. This is very informative especially among Koreans, who, for the past years have not been so eager to know the reasons behind the war. For some time, the Korean War remained in the dark, and surrounded by myths regarding its origin. After the long discussion on the origin of the war, Lowe concluded by sharing how North Korea and South Korea was able to settle the dispute and how eventually the war ended. I agree with Lowe in saying, that even after twenty years in war, the Korean peninsula was reunited, although, it cannot be denied that until today, wounds caused by the war permanently marked with scars the relations between the two nations. Although the violent wars have stopped, it cannot change the fact that it left Korea in agony. Until today, communist movements still persist in the Korean peninsula. The book likewise validates the claim that it was communism that caused the war, and not for some influence or direct orders of attack from other nations like Russia. In fact, just recently, the threats of nuclear war and the debate on the use of nuclear weapons started with the admission that the Koreans are holding nuclear weapons. Korea remained one of the most feared nations, especially when it comes to war and combat. In the book, contradictions are evident. First, Lowe concluded that the North Koreans initiated the Korean War, but, later in his discussion, he also intimated that the Korean War was due to some peripheral hostility from stronger nations like Russia. He only reconciled these opposing claims when he clarified that the attack was initiated by the North, while the pending aggression from outside the peninsula forced and caused for the North Koreans to believe than an attack to the south is the best thing to do. Before this Lowe’s book, the truth about the origins of the Korean War has vaguely been debated on internationally. However, when Lowe published this book, he was able to explain and present pieces of evidence that will discount and strengthening various points in the debate. For example, he discussed the arguments as to the Americans to have provoked the war, same with how the Russians and the Chinese did. The Korean War is one of the vaguely and rarely talked about conflicts. With Lowe’s book, with perspectives from the Americans, the Chinese and the Russians, the Koreans, and more importantly, the readers are apprised of the near truth about the Korean War.