The Korean War in Britain : Citizenship, Selfhood and Forgetting

The Korean War in Britain explores the social and cultural impact of the Korean War (1950–53) on Britain. Coming just five years after the ravages of the Second World War, Korea was a deeply unsettling moment in post-war British history. 

When North Korea invaded South Korea in June 1950, Britons worried about a return to total war and the prospect of atomic warfare. As the conflict progressed, British people grew uneasy about how the war was conducted. From allegations about American use of germ warfare, to anxiety over Communist use of brainwashing, the Korean War precipitated a series of short-lived panics in 1950s Britain, but by the time of its uneasy ceasefire in 1953, the war was becoming increasingly forgotten, with more attention paid to England’s cricket victory in the Ashes than to returning troops. 

Using Mass Observation surveys, letters, diaries and a wide range of under-explored contemporary material, this book charts the war’s changing position in British popular imagination, from initial anxiety in the summer of 1950 through to growing apathy by the end of the war. Built around three central concepts – citizenship, selfhood and forgetting –The Korean War in Britain connects a critical Cold War moment to post-war British history, calling for a more integrated approach to Britain’s Cold War past. It explores the war from a variety of viewpoints – conscript, POW, protestor and veteran – to offer the first social history of this forgotten war. It is essential reading for anyone interested in Britain’s post-1945 history.