Australia in the Korean War 1950–53
Australia in the Korean War 1950–53 is the official history of Australia's involvement in the Korean War. The series consists of two volumes covering Australia's strategy and diplomacy in the war and the Australian military's combat operations respectively. Both volumes were written by Robert O'Neill, and they were published in 1981 and 1985.
20th-century events
Two wars and a near-war in the 1950s became the focus for capitalist versus communist struggle. The first war was the Korean War, fought between People's Republic of China-backed North Korea and mainly United States-backed South Korea. The Korean Peninsula was a Japanese colony between 1910 and 1945, when Soviet and American troops invaded and divided it along the 38th parallel. A communist government controlled the territory north of the border and a capitalist one controlled the South, with both authorities considering the other one illegitimate and claiming sovereignty over the entire peninsula. North Korea's invasion of South Korea on June 25, 1950 led to United Nations intervention. General Douglas MacArthur led troops from the United States, Canada, Australia, Great Britain, and other countries in repulsing the Northern invasion. However, the war reached a stalemate after Chinese intervention pushed U.N. forces back, and an ended hostilities in July 1953, leaving the two Koreas divided and tense for the rest of the century.