Uncertain Partners: Stalin, Mao, and the Korean War (Studies in International Security and Arms Control)

the Authors Use Major New Documentary Sources, Including Cables And Letters Between Mao Zedong And Stalin, To Tell For The First Time The Inside Story Of The Creation Of The Sino-soviet Alliance And The Origins Of The Korean War. publishers Weekly this Major Scholarly Study Sheds Important New Light On The Origins Of The 1950-1953 Korean Conflict And The Cold War In Asia. Featuring Primary Source Material That Includes Cable Communications Between Josef Stalin And Mao Zedong And Texts Of Secret Agreements Between Their Governments, The Book Reveals That In Late 1949 Moscow And Beijing Were Confronted With North Korean Leader Kim Il-sung's Determination To Attack The South; That The June 1950 Invasion Was Directly Assisted By Stalin And Reluctantly Backed By Mao At The Soviet Dictator's Insistence; That Mao Had His Own Forces Deployed To Intervene On Behalf Of The North Koreans Weeks Before The September 1950 Inchon Landing. The Authors Conclude That The Decision To Declare War Against South Korea And Later Against The U.s. Cannot Be Ascribed Soley To Kim's Adventurism, Pressure From Stalin, Or A Conspiratorial Agreement Among The Three Communist Leaders. The Armed Conflict Came About ``in Bits And Pieces,'' They Argue. ``it Was Reckless Warmaking Of The Worst Kind,'' And Much Of The Documentation Is Published Here For The First Time. Goncharov Is A Member Of The Russian Ministry Of Foreign Affairs; Lewis Is A Professor Of Chinese Politics At Stanford; Xue Litai Is A Research Associate At Stanford. Photos. (jan.) "Uncertain partners tells for the first time the inside story of the creation of the Sino-Soviet alliance and the origins of the Korean War. Using major new documentary sources, including cables and letters between Mao Zedong and Stalin, and interviews with key Russian, Chinese, and Korean participants, the book focuses on the domestic and foreign policy decision-making in all three countries from 1945 through October 1950. The authors examine the complex relations between Stalin, Chiang Kai-shek, and Mao during the last year of the Chinese civil war and the emergence of the Cold War. They show how the interplay of perceptions, national security policies, and personalities shaped those relations and were used by the North Korean leader Kim Il Sung to win backing for the invasion of South Korea. The authors also examine the Sino-Soviet alliance, drawing on hitherto unknown secret protocols and understandings and the records of high-level planning that led to the invasion and to the Chinese intervention in Korea. The book is illustrated with 42 photographs and two maps and is the fourth volume in the series, Studies in International Security and Arms Control, sponsored by the Center for International Security and Arms Control at Stanford University." / Produktbeschreibung Like the imperial Russian rulers before him, Joseph Stalin after the Second World War strove to dominate the periphery of the Soviet Union and to recover lost lands and influence in Asia, as well as in Europe and the Middle East. Using major new sources, including cables between Mao and Stalin and interviews with key actors, this book tells the inside story of the Sino-Soviet alliance and the origins of the Korean War