Korean War
Dates: 1950-1953
American soldier deaths: 54,246
The three-year Korean conflict exemplifies what military scientists call a proxy war: The direct combatants (North and South Korea) were really acting out tensions between dueling external powers (Communist China and the USSR on one hand, and the United Nations, particularly the United States, on the other). Official minutes from a meeting between President Truman and his top advisers on June 25, 1950, crystallize the situation:
"General Bradley said that we must draw the line [against Communist expansion] somewhere. The President stated he agreed on that. General Bradley said that Russia is not yet ready for war. The Korean situation offered as good an occasion for action in drawing the line as anywhere else."
Here, two South Korean soldiers re-enact a battle to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the victory over North Korea on Sept. 3, 2010.