Discussion Questions for 11 May

1. Of the wars studied so far in this course, which ones seem to be most like the Korean War? Are there lessons that policymakers could have learned from those wars to avoid the Korean War?



2. How important were misperceptions as a cause of the Korean war, and its escalation? How important were security concerns and the nature of the international system as a cause of the war? In other words, was the war driven more by misperceptions or by the security dilemma?



3. Based on your reading of events surrounding the Korean War (and past wars we've studied, if you like), how significant are blunders, mistakes and accidents in causing war, and/or its escalation?



4. Would the Korean War have occurred in the absence of the Cold War? If so, do you think it would have looked any different (for example, larger or smaller) in the absence of a Cold-War superpower rivalry? Are there lessons we can learn from the Korean war for preventing other wars in today's post-Cold War world?

Dean Acheson
Acheson's "American Defense Perimeter" Speech, January 1950
June 25, 1950
McCarthyism
Inchon
Douglas MacArthur
38th parallel
Pannikar
Yalu
December 1950-Summer 1953
Mao Tse-Tung