The Korean War was a significant turning point in the Cold War. This book explains how the conflict in a small peninsula in East Asia had a tremendous impact on the entire international system and the balance of power between the two superpowers, America and the Soviet Union. Through the conflict, the West demonstrated its resolve to thwart Communist aggression and the armed forces of China, the Soviet Union and the United States came into direct combat for the only time during the Cold War. Leading historians from around the world have been commissioned to write 42 accessible and definitive guides to every major war throughout history, with an emphasis on the people who fought and the impact on the world at large. Eyewitness accounts are used to give a soldier's-eye view of the conflict and expose the reality of the battlefield. Illustrated with colour photographs and maps throughout, Essential Histories will provide for a deepened understanding of the nature of war and human history.