Korea and Vietnam wars

Hard Rock Ag-elujah

Hard Rock Ag-elujah

User
Pronouns
He/Him
Joined
Aug 3, 2009
Messages
236,136
I've never dipped my toes into either of these. They've always struck me as quite grubby American affairs. As much as I find American history fascinating, I'm just not a war historian and I've just discovered I will be teaching said subjects from the new year.

Obviously I know the basics and will do plenty of research before teaching it, but I thought I'd query Moopy first to see if anyone had any pointers.
 
Korea I know fuck all about.

Early 50s. The UK were involved. Korea split. I feel like Truman was connected. Its a bit forgotten.

Vietnam is far more ingrained into popular culture. I probably know more about the impact on the American psyche than the specific ins and outs.
 
I’m not much of a war … fan(?) but I weirdly got sucked into the documentary series “21st century battlefields” from about ten or so years ago with John Snow and his hot son. All on YouTube I think, fairly sure both of these wars got a look in as a well
 
They're both a product of the cold war but there's far more to it than that. When you read into it, it makes you realise how much East/West Germany could have gone such a different way, and that was right on our doorstep.
 
This is anecdotal, and I’ve talked about my father on here enough today??, but he was in university during the Vietnam war and one of his semesters was cancelled because of the protests. Last year, when COVID and BLM protests were happening, he said the country felt the same as it did at that time
 
Diddy said:
I’m not much of a war … fan(?) but I weirdly got sucked into the documentary series “21st century battlefields” from about ten or so years ago with John Snow and his hot son. All on YouTube I think, fairly sure both of these wars got a look in as a well
Click to expand...
I listen to Dan Snow's podcasts. He will almost definitely have something on this.
 
funky said:
They're both a product of the cold war but there's far more to it than that. When you read into it, it makes you realise how much East/West Germany could have gone such a different way, and that was right on our doorstep.
Click to expand...
Oh yes they were total proxy wars. I remember discovering the international spread of Communism was far wider than I ever knew. So many Communist governments across Latin America, Africa and Asia, at various points.
 
No idea why and how but somehow we were involved and there was a generation of people who "had fought in Korea" but it's not on school curriculum and i know nothing about it. There is also a saying that stayed from this period and means hell broke loose which is "egine tis koreas" literally "what happened is of korea" (magnitude). That's all i know. :shy:
 
Queen of the Bay said:
No idea why and how but somehow we were involved and there was a generation of people who "had fought in Korea" but it's not on school curriculum and i know nothing about it. There is also a saying that stayed from this period and means hell broke loose which is "egine tis koreas" literally "what happened is of korea" (magnitude). That's all i know. :shy:
Click to expand...
You're Greek right? Their presence seems unlikely. I guess it was about whoever was in government wanted to kiss someone's arse.
 
Ag said:
I listen to Dan Snow's podcasts. He will almost definitely have something on this.
Click to expand...

The tv series really is a greatest hits of 21st century conflicts, with maps too, lovey

And Dan Snow a bit of alright too
 
There was a lot of grubby shit that went down during the Korean War, but it was probably less grubby overall in terms of the US position than the Vietnam War given it started with an active invasion of the South by the North. Also on the basis that the two states now couldn't be closer to night and day in terms of where they've ended up (although the South had a lot of rotten authoritarian stretches for much of the Cold War)
 
Diddy said:
The tv series really is a greatest hits of 21st century conflicts, with maps too, lovey

And Dan Snow a bit of alright too
Click to expand...
Yeah he's hot.

He has a history streaming service that he's always pushing. Could easily be tempted ar some point. There's virtually no decent history from the normal ports of call lately.

Netflix is trash history and iPlayer seems to have dried up.
 
Douglas MacArthur (big shot US general who was basically the viceroy of Japan after the war for a few years) was a pretty interesting figure when it came to the Korean War - Truman basically tanked his popularity sacking him because he kept being insubordinate and wanted to end the Korean War by dropping a load of nukes (!!) at a time when Hiroshima/Nagasaki were still quite recent and there was a lot of uncertainty around exactly when and under what circumstances it might be okay to use them. Attlee got quite worried and tried invoking a WW2 agreement where the US couldn't use nukes without UK consent.
 
Penelope said:
Oh, and also the Korean War is the reason we have to pay for dentistry on the NHS. The thing Attlee gave up to be able to afford to fight it :basil:

(WORTH IT FOR PARASITE AND BLACKPINK)
Click to expand...
I literally heard about that SOMEWHERE (no recollection where) very recently.
 
Penelope said:
Douglas MacArthur (big shot US general who was basically the viceroy of Japan after the war for a few years) was a pretty interesting figure when it came to the Korean War - Truman basically tanked his popularity sacking him because he kept being insubordinate and wanted to end the Korean War by dropping a load of nukes (!!) at a time when Hiroshima/Nagasaki were still quite recent and there was a lot of uncertainty around exactly when and under what circumstances it might be okay to use them. Attlee got quite worried and tried invoking a WW2 agreement where the US couldn't use nukes without UK consent.
Click to expand...
I'm not sure if he was right or wrong, knowing what came after.
 
As a history geek, I don’t really care much for these two wars, they don’t have as many actors involved as say Middle Eastern or European conflicts/wars.
 
RaspberrySwirl said:
As a history geek, I don’t really care much for these two wars, they don’t have as many actors involved as say Middle Eastern or European conflicts/wars.
Click to expand...
As I said before the cultural backdrop and changes at the time that were interwoven with Vietnam are far more interesting.
 
  • Like
Reactions: RS
Sadly my historical knowledge is through a very European lens. There is a move in educational circles to start telling two sided historical narratives, which is obviously great. It's a constantly evolving process.
 
French colonialism
JFK
The Viet Cong
Ho Chi Minh and his trail
Bay of Tonkin
Johnson
Agent Orange
Tek Offensive
Protests
Racism
Nixon
Cambodia
Evacuation of Saigon

I think I'm ready.
 
All credit to my NEW FIRESTICK for sourcing the material. It really hasn't come up trumps with Korea though.

I'm thinking of ordering a military history book about Korea for teenagers.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 1 (members: 0, guests: 1)
Back
Top Bottom