In 1950,
North Korea invaded South Korea. Sixteen nations
fought on behalf of South Korea; two (the People's
Republic of China and North Korea itself) on behalf
of North Korea. By the time the fighting stopped,
three years later, nearly two million military, and
an estimated three million civilians had lost their
lives, with one-half of Korean industry, and
one-third of Korean homes destroyed. For two of the
three years that the war was under way, both sides
were trying to negotiate a peace.
Canadian
governments know that official Washington usually
does not appreciate Canadian advice on management of
the world. Ottawa responds by joining multinational
organizations, where it attempts to persuade other
governments to establish a common front. The common
front may then try, by force of numbers, to influence
the White House and the State Department. One such
multinational organization is the Commonwealth, five
of whose eight members (the United Kingdom, Canada,
Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa) had combat
forces in Korea. Using sources from Australia,
Canada, China, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom,
the United Nations, and the United States, Mount and
Laferriere have used the Korean War as a case study.
When did the Commonwealth belligerents agree with
each other but not with official Washington, and what
success did they have in changing U.S. policies?
Mount
argues convincingly that, while a united
Commonwealth might have had some influence on the
American-dominated politics and strategy of the
Korean War, in practice the Commonwealth was
rarely united. The great strength of the book is
in the wealth of detail with which Mount charts
the course of policy-making in each of the
Commonwealth capitals, the very limited
coordination between them, and the way in which
their individual strategic needs inevitably led
to differing policy positions on Korea. Fifty
years on, the relationship of coalition with
superpower is as relevant as ever.
--Peter Londey, Historian, Australian War
Memorial, Canberra
A
praiseworthy addition to the published material
on the Korean War. Graeme Mount has written a
volume that is interesting, readable, and
exceedingly well documented. I found it
fascinating.
--John Melady, author of Korea: Canada's
Forgotten War
Drawing
on new and comprehensive research, The Diplomacy
of War both assesses previous histories and
presents its own judicious findings. It advances
our understanding of the Korean War and makes
complex diplomatic history accessible.
--Hank Nelson, Professor Emeritus, Australian
National University, Canberra
Table of Contents
Graeme S.
Mount teaches history at Laurentian University in
Sudbury, Ontario. He is author of Invisible and
Inaudible in Washington: American Policies Toward
Canada during the Cold War and of Chile
and the Nazis: From Hitler to Pinochet.
Andre
Laferriere teaches history at the William G. Davis
Sr. Public School in Brampton, Ontario.
224 pages,
6x9, bibliography, index, photographs
Paperback ISBN: 1-55164-238-7 $24.99
Hardcover ISBN: 1-55164-239-5 $53.99
History / Asian Studies
February
2004
