The impressive Second Edition of this standard study incorporates important new evidence on the origins of the war from Chinese and Russian archives. It reveals that Stalin encouraged the attack on South Korea, but also confirms that the original initiative came from North Korea. Peter Lowe has also written an extended conclusion with a discussion of the Koreas in the late 1990s, and the challenges involved in securing their reunification.
Since this famous study first appeared in 1986 a wealth of new scholarship has been stimulated by the new material made available by the fall of the Soviet Union and the partial release of archives in China. To take account of these new perspectives xxx; which particularly affect the roles of the Soviet Union, China and Korea itself xxx; Dr Lowe has substantially rewritten and expanded his text.
