Backed by the Soviet Union and China, North Korea launches a surprise attack on the south. The invasion forces President Truman to make a high-stakes choice: will he defend South Korea or sacrifice an ally to the rising tide of global communism?
General Douglas MacArthur boldly decides to land U.S. troops at the port of Inchon on Korea's West Coast. In a daring and dangerous operation, MacArthur turns the tide of the war, driving North Korean forces to the Chinese border.
America and its allies seem poised for victory as U.S. airpower punishes North Korea's industrial base. But Chinese leader Mao Zedong throws his army into the war, unleashing a massive counterattack from the north that forces an American retreat.
Truman sacks MacArthur to pursue a peace deal, but Soviet leader Joseph Stalin maneuvers to keep the U.S. mired in bloody trench warfare, stalling negotiations.
The war technically never ends as the combatants agree to an armistice, not a peace treaty. North Korean leader Kim Jung Il-Sung's grandson continues the family's iron rule over an impoverished nation that now threatens the world with nuclear weapons.