Vietnam War

The Vietnam War is an outstanding collection of primary documents related to America's conflict in Vietnam which includes a balance of original American and Vietnamese perspectives, providing a uniquely varied range of insights into both American and Vietnamese experiences.

Includes substantial non-American content, including many original English translations of Vietnamese-authored texts which showcase the diversity and complexity of Vietnamese experiences during the war
Contains original American documents germane to the continuing debates about the causes, consequences and morality of the US intervention
Incorporates personal histories of individual Americans and Vietnamese
Introductory headnotes place each document in context
Features a range of non-textual documents, including iconic photographs and political cartoons

Edward Miller is Associate Professor of History at Dartmouth College. His research uses archival collections in the US and Vietnam to examine both sides of the Vietnam War experience. His first book, Misalliance: Ngo Dinh Diem, the United States, and the Fate of South Vietnam, will be published in 2013.

Autorentext

Edward Miller is Associate Professor of History at Dartmouth College. His research uses archival collections in the US and Vietnam to examine both sides of the Vietnam War experience. His first book, Misalliance: Ngo Dinh Diem, the United States, and the Fate of South Vietnam, will be published in 2013.

Klappentext

Through a collection of carefully-selected primary documents, The Vietnam War provides a varied range of both American and Vietnamese perspectives and experiences of this critical international conflict. The text features documents that foster discussion on the continuing debates about the causes, consequences and morality of the US intervention. It also looks at the human side of the war, its impact on ordinary soldiers and civilians, and the deep and enduring fissures that the war created within US society.

A guided tour of primary documents from both countries, the text introduces each source with a brief background summary to help the reader situate it in the context of the period. The text draws on recent scholarship and Miller's own expertise in Vietnamese history and Vietnamese archival sources to examine the motives and experiences of Vietnamese groups and individuals. The author includes several original translations of Vietnamese documents not previously available in English. Documents have been selected with the most important and exciting recent trends in scholarship in mind, and include personal histories from individuals involved.

Zusammenfassung

The Vietnam War is an outstanding collection of primary documents related to America's conflict in Vietnam which includes a balance of original American and Vietnamese perspectives, providing a uniquely varied range of insights into both American and Vietnamese experiences.

• Includes substantial non-American content, including many original English translations of Vietnamese-authored texts which showcase the diversity and complexity of Vietnamese experiences during the war
• Contains original American documents germane to the continuing debates about the causes, consequences and morality of the US intervention
• Incorporates personal histories of individual Americans and Vietnamese
• Introductory headnotes place each document in context
• Features a range of non-textual documents, including iconic photographs and political cartoons

Leseprobe
Introduction

In a city full of monuments, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC stands apart. Compared with the majestic structures around it, this memorial appears simple and understated. Its central feature is a long, low wall of black granite that is set into the earth and stands only ten feet high at its apex. However, the simplicity of "the wall" belies its extraordinary emotional power. Its reflective panels display the names of more than 58,000 American military personnel who died or went missing while serving in Indochina (the countries of Vietnam, Cambodia, or Laos) between 1959 and 1975. Every year, around three million people visit the memorial. Many of them come to find a particular name, or to remember a friend, loved one, or fallen comrade-in-arms. Others come to reflect on questions about war, peace, and America's place in the world.

On the other side of the world from Washington, another memorial stands in the city of Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is located on the edge of Ba Dinh Square, part of an elaborate collection of monuments built by the Vietnamese state and its ruling Vietnamese Communist Party (VCP). Although the tomb is less visually dramatic than the nearby mausoleum of VCP founder and hero Ho Chi Minh, it features a strikingly beautiful archway, similar in some respects to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. Unlike many other monuments to unknown soldiers, this one does not contain any human remains. This is because it is dedicated to the uncounted "nameless" ( vô danh ) Vietnamese soldiers who died in the fight against the United States, and whose final resting places remain unknown even today. In Hanoi and throughout Vietnam, these soldiers are remembered as "martyrs" who sacrificed themselves on behalf of Vietnam's national struggle against American imperialism.

Back across the Pacific Ocean, in the city of Westminster in southern California, stands a third monument to fallen soldiers. Known simply as the Vietnam War Memorial, it was constructed mostly with funds donated by Vietnamese Americans and dedicated in 2003. In contrast to its counterparts in Washington and Hanoi, this memorial explicitly honors the wartime service of both Americans and Vietnamese. Its central element is a statue that depicts a US soldier standing back-to-back with a soldier of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN), the main military force of the anti-communist state of South Vietnam.

Although separated by thousands of miles, the three memorials in Washington, Hanoi, and Westminster are all part of the complex historical legacy of the conflict known as the Vietnam War. Even in comparison to other twentieth-century wars, the Vietnam War was bloody and costly. Over nearly two decades, it claimed perhaps as many as three million lives and consumed billions of dollars. But mere statistics alone cannot reveal the larger historical forces that gave rise to the war, or capture the diverse human experiences that it produced.

For people in Vietnam and the adjacent countries of Cambodia and Laos, the Vietnam War was part of the ongoing process of decolonization in Indochina. As they saw it, the war was a continuation of the political and military conflicts that began in Indochina during the century-long period of French colonial rule. Following the dismantling of the colonial state in 1954, the most obvious axis of conflict within Indochina was the rivalry between communist North Vietnam and anticommunist South Vietnam. However, the communist-anticommunist divide was not the only fault line running through Vietnamese society. Other points of friction had to do with region, religion, social class, and ethnic identity, as well as deep disagreements over what kind of postcolonial nation Vietnam ought to be. Vietnamese therefore perceived the Vietnam War as a civil war, despite the massive involvement of the United States and other foreig

Inhalt
Series Editors' Preface x Acknowledgements xii

Introduction xiii

Chapter 1 Colonialism, Nationalism, and Communism 1

1.1 Tam Lang, I Pulled a Rickshaw (1932) 1

1.2 The Trial Testimony of Phan Boi Chau (1925) 5

1.3 Ho Chi Minh, The Path which Led Me to Leninism (1960) 7

1.4 Nguyen Ai Quoc (Ho Chi Minh), Appeal Made on the Occasion of the Founding of the Vietnamese Comm…