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Digital Media Repository, Military History

Introduction

A postcolonial civil war between Korean political factions that began in 1945, the Korean War became an international struggle in June 1950. The conventional war ended with an armistice in July 1953, with Korea divided. A Communist government under Kim Il Sung (1912-1994) ruled on one side of the demilitarized zone (DMZ), and an authoritarian, capitalist regime under Syngman Rhee (1875-1965) on the other. The war gave a global dimension to the Cold War by introducing American troops into Asia. The cost in lives made the war one of the worst since 1945: three million Korean civilian and military deaths (out of thirty million Koreans), one million Chinese soldiers, and about thirty-eight thousand battlefield deaths for the American and non-Korean military personnel of United Nations Command (UNC).

Source: The Reader's Companion to Military History. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1996. s.v. "Korean War."

DMR Subject Search

Use links below to search military subjects across the entire Digital Media Repository.

DMR Collections

The Ball State University Libraries Digital Media Repository contains the collection listed below pertaining to the Korean War, 1950-1953. To browse all Korean War materials in the DMR click here.