The Korean War: Prologue

When Diplomacy Fails Podcast

Zack Twamley

Phd, International Relations, Korean War, European History, 17th Century, 18th Century, Politics, 20th Century, Thirty Years' War, History, 19th Century, War, First World War

4.8 • 773 Ratings

🗓️ 5 January 2018

⏱️ 15 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Korean War was fought from 1950-1953, and while many of us today have a rough idea of how it went, to most it is those two lines in a textbook, an irrelevant blip on the Cold War radar. An unimportant, unappreciated event in the crowded literature of the 20th century. To me, the Korean War is many things, and over the last few months I have been working tirelessly to create the most comprehensive, authentic and accurate account of the diplomatic and political origins of this conflict.

Not only that, but I will also be dropping some controversial conclusions and hypothoses on you guys, as we follow the trend of projects like the July Crisis and 1916 by giving you a fresh, revisionist take. Not merely for the sake of it, of course, but because I have come to be persuaded to see this war in a certain light, and I have come to understand its cause and effect formula in a different way to most conventional narratives.

If you will let me then, I hope you take you on something of a journey. Make sure to look out for the other two introduction episodes, yes TWO, but for now, try to place yourself in the era of the post-war world, as we go somewhere WDF has never gone before. I hope you enjoy it, and that you are excited to finally explore the Korean War.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm You were listening to the prologue of When Diplomacy Fells's series on the Korean War.
1:02.0	Let it be stressed again that subjectively these men probably did not seek absolutism for its own sake. They doubtless believed and found it easy to believe that they alone knew what was good for society,
1:07.0	and that they would accomplish that good once their power was secure and unchallengeable.
1:13.3	But in seeking that security of their own rule, they were prepared to recognize no restrictions
1:17.9	either of God or man on the character of their methods. And until such time as that security
1:23.2	might be achieved, they placed far down on their scale of operational priorities, the comforts
1:29.1	and happiness of the peoples entrusted to their care. American expert of Soviet affairs,
1:36.9	George Kennan, writing under a pseudonym in his 1947 article, The Sources of Soviet Conduct.
1:46.5	In the 50s, Americans are being induced to think that the world's ills are all caused by
1:51.7	communism and that communism must therefore be crushed. In the 40s it was fascism. What will
1:57.0	it be in the 60s and the 70s? Can't we get to the bottom of this? Both the communist and the fascist attempts at world conquest
2:04.1	must be feeding on some deep-rooted human problems,
2:07.3	and the destruction of the one or the other of the major world powers
2:11.0	will not solve the problems.
2:14.8	Historians see Clyde Mitchell, writing in the International Journal in late 1950.
2:22.2	Individuals need not believe all these mystifications, but they must behave as though they did,
2:27.1	or they must at least tolerate them in silence or get along well with those who work with them.
2:31.9	For this reason, however, they must live within a lie.
2:36.3	Czech political dissident and dramatist Vaklav Havel, writing in his 1978 essay, The Power of the Powerless.
2:47.6	In 1979, as part of a contingent of Americans traveling to North Korea for reasons of a table tennis world championship, Bradley K. Martin arrived in Pyongyang to find a world completely removed from reality.
3:03.7	By that stage, deeply entrenched in the myth of their demi-god, the consistent presence of
3:09.2	Kim Il-sung was easy to dress up and glorify.
	...

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