ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the relationships between crises and war. Crises are crucial turning points in the relations among states, those points that determine if subsequent relations will be more or less hostile than before. Two aspects of crisis research are of interest in the analysis of crisis escalation: crisis decision making and crisis management. When President Truman ordered the direct intervention of the United States in Korea, he thought he was doing it to prevent Third World War. The original war aim in Korea as defined by the United Nations was to restore the status quo ante bellum, that is, to repel the North Korean army and reestablish the 38th parallel as the border between the two Koreas. The turning of the tide of battle in Korea and the apparent intention of the United States to expand the war to the north put the Chinese communists on the spot.
