When Diplomacy Fails Podcast

Episode 43: Peace Talks, Almost presents the situation on the frontlines as it stood in spring 1951, following some promising offensives by General Ridgeway which effectively crushed the Chinese capacity to launch another great offensive again. This incapacitation of the Chinese by no means meant that the communists were ready to roll over; indeed, the Chinese were still determined to hold on. As the allies crossed the 38th parallel for the second time, indeed, there was no genuine desire to push the envelope either, and to advance once more to the Yalu River. To have done so may well have escalated the situation, and caused the Chinese to declare an open war against the allies. Neither Washington nor its allies wanted this, but what the allies wanted above all was an end to the war after so many difficult months, and Washington was forced to listen to this request.As certain initiatives were approached, the real star of the peace-making game loomed into view. The Indian delegation in the United Nations held