Military history of the Korean War that combines battlefield level detail with command-level history as well as the domestic and international political dimensions of the war. The Korean war was a turning point in the ideolgoical struggle between Communism and the West; Cold War turned into Hot War, the first all-out armed conflict between the world's superpowers. This book is a masterwork of military history that combines battlefield-level detail with command-level history as well as the domestic and international political dimensions of the war. It explores every phase of the war: the slaughter of the first undertrained troops to arrive in Korea; the Eighth Army's desperate early retreat to the Pusan Perimeter and its heroic stand there; The dramatic amphibious landing at Ichon; the massive entry of the Chinese Communist forces; the controversial retreat of the Eighth Army and its eventual victorious comeback. As in all American wars, the main weight of the fighting was carried by the infantry: Army soldiers and U.S. Marines. The contributions of the Marines has been generously told in other books and films. The far greated and decisive contribution of the Army soldiers, who suffered 85 percent of the casualities, has never been told in full, until this book, which tells the whole story of the Army's first crucial year in Korea. Every noteworthy battle is described in vivid detail, listing mistakes as well as the triumphs. Also described are troop movements and tactics, along with the personalities and characters of the commanders at all levels, and how these influenced the progress of the war. This book is sheds new light on every aspect of the Korean war, and stands as the definitive account of the American Army in Korea. -- Publisher description