Peter Lowe on Cold War

In his contribution, Peter Lowe summarizes some of the latest scholarship dealing with the relationship between Stalin, Mao and Kim Il Sung, particularly for the light it throws on North Korean behaviour in 1950. Rather than being the pliant instrument of Communist expansionism controlled by Moscow, as in traditional accounts, such work confirms that Kim had his own agenda and had to work hard to win the support of a cautious Stalin for his reunification plans. Essay writing service for busy students: do not skip your opportunity to try Essay writing service with discount of 5%! Unique offer! Only following the North Korean setbacks in the wake of UN landings at Inchon did Kim, backed by Stalin, turn to an equally cautious Mao for assistance. Lowe's primary concern, however, is with another aspect of the war, which has also generated scholarly discussion, particularly since documentary materials became available under the British thirty year rule: the ways in which the conflict affected Anglo–American relations.Lowe focuses on four issues: the debate over the crossing of the 38th parallel in the autumn of 1950; the role, influence and objectives of the UN Commander in Korea, General Douglas MacArthur; the deadlock in the armistice talks during the autumn of 1952; and the subsequent prospects for both an end to the conflict in Korea and a broader East–West détente. In common with other historians, he finds British policy to have been informed by a complex of motives. In backing Washington's decision to use armed force in Korea (and subsequently to cross the 38th parallel) under the umbrella of the United Nations, for example, London not only sought to defend the UN Charter, support collective security, punish unprovoked aggression and resist Communist expansion (explanations cited by policy-makers at the time and thereafter). Perhaps to a greater degree, both Labour and Conservative governments were also motivated by the conviction that the future viability of the Atlantic alliance – and Britain's status within it – necessitated British support, diplomatic and military, for American action. This support was not, however, unqualified: qualms about distraction, over-commitment and a potentially wider war in Asia, the motives and behaviour of General MacArthur, and the influence of domestic American politics in general (and an isolationist Republican right wing in particular) all informed thinking in Downing Street and Whitehall. Compounding the difficulties experienced by a Truman administration under pressure from both its political opponents at home and its military adversaries and allies in Korea, the resultant British anxieties, dissatisfaction with and occasional alarm about US policy only added friction to the Anglo–American alliance.
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