Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15800 in VHS
• Released on: 1999-11-30
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Formats: Box set, Black & White, Color, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of tapes: 4
• Running time: 200 minutes

Amazon.com
When North Korea surged across the 38th Parallel into the south on July 25, 1950, it marked the first full-scale confrontation of the cold war. In the years to come, Korea's divided country would became a global political chessboard with the communists backing the offensive North and the U.S. and United Nations supporting the defensive South. What would follow were among the most brutal battles in the history of global warfare: the Pusan Perimeter, the Inchon Invasion, Pork Chop Hill, the Iron Triangle, and Heartbreak Ridge.

The Korean War: Fire and Ice, the four-part History Channel series, explores the historical factors, political entanglements, and military strategies of this pivotal struggle in exceptional detail. Rare black-and-white footage is combined with a diverse and knowledgeable group of veterans to paint a gripping, complete perspective of the Korean conflict. From its politically intertwined beginnings through the brutal battles and the unsettling truce that would leave more than 2 million lives in its wake, the Korea conflict would set the standards of East and West relations for the next 50 years. In spite of its political, historical, and military significance, the Korean War remains one of the least examined incidents in modern warfare. The Korean War: Fire and Ice is an excellent telling of military history as it was encountered by those who were there. --Rob Bracco

From the back cover
The names of its battlegrounds are seared into the American consciousness. Pork Chop Hill. The Iron Triangle. Heartbreak Ridge. Its toll on American Forces would equal the losses of Vietnam. Before an uneasy truce, it would claim more than 2,000,000 military and civilian lives. But even now, as more than half a century has past, this deeply significant, brutally dramatic conflict remains one of the least examined episodes in the history of modern warfare. Now, this comprehensive explores the origins, conduct, military strategies and political struggle in unprecedented detail. Rare archival film footage combined with a remarkably diverse group of on-camera Korean War veterans create a stirring, front-line perspective. These eye-witness experiences, from breathtaking heroics to some of the war's most darkest moments, bring to life the extraordinary impact of what it meant to be a G.I. in the trenches of this grueling conflict. With Key insights offered by prominent writers and historians, this is the untold story of the first full-scale clash of the Cold War. A clash that would set the rules of East/West engagements for the next half-century and bringing the world closer to the edge of global nuclear Armageddon than it has ever before been revealed.

Customer Reviews

The Korean War / Fire & Ice
A very good documentary for anyone who is unfamiliar with this military endeavor. The details of politcal strategy are lacking, but the military strategy is revealed. Highly recommendable.

One of the Best
This is one of the best war documentary series arround.
I collect documentaries and this series is A+

Remembering the "forgotten war" in Korea
I suspect that most Americans have what scant knowledge they have about the Korean War from watching "M*A*S*H," so the idea that this was the "forgotten war" is not an exaggeration. The subject was never covered in history classes, which never managed to get beyond World War II by the time the semester ended, and I actually got most of what I know about the Korean War from "Frontline Combat" and "Two-Fisted Tales," a pair of war comics put out by EC and edited by Harvey Kurtzman, who put a high premium on accuracy. There is something to be said for learning about the Korean War from comic books that were read by the actual soldiers who fought in the war, and who sent in letters to the editor praising the fidelity of these stories. But there is also something to be said for "The Korean War: Fire and Ice," the four-part documentary produced by the History Channel.

The Korean War was the first military confrontation of the Cold War, and half a century later the Korean peninsula is still a political hot spot with nuclear implications. The focus in this documentary is certainly on the military aspects rather than the political, but that strikes me as being rather appropriate. The dramatic clash between President Harry Truman and General Douglas MacArthur fading away is clearly remembered more than Heartbreak Ridge and MIG Alley, and the point of this documentary is to remember what the troops went through.

The documentary breaks down the war into four parts: (1) "Making of a Blood Bath" covers the first stage, when the unexpected attack by the North Koreans drove United States and United Nation forces back to the Pusan Perimeter; (2) "Triumph to "Tragedy" begins with MacArthur's brilliant counteroffensive of the landing at Inchon and ends with Chinese troops crossing the Yalu River to up the ante on the war; (3) "Retreat From Hell" tells of the retreat of the UN forces from Chinese troops during a brutal winter; and (4) "Bitter Standoff" traces the two-year stalemate that end with a negotiated peace and everybody right back where they started, with the 38th Parallel dividing Korea.

"The Korean War: Fire and Ice" combines historic black & white footage with a virtual army of talking heads, consisting of veterans and historians, who put the war in both historical and personal perspective. The four-part division works perfectly with the Korean War, which clearly had four distinct stages. However, in addition to providing a clear sense of the ebb and flow of the war, "Fire and Ice" fills in the details with personal recollections and concise analysis. Part of it might be that I had only a basic knowledge of this "police action," but I certainly learned a lot from watching this documentary this morning.