America, the Vietnam War, and the World: Comparative and International Perspectives

by Edited by Andreas W. Daum , Lloyd C. Gardner , Wilfried Mausbach

• ISBN13: 9780521810487
• ISBN10: 0521810485
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-07-21
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This book presents new perspectives on the Vietnam War, its global repercussions, and the role of this war in modern history. The volume reveals 'America's War' as an international event that reverberated all over the world: in domestic settings of numerous nation-states, combatants and non-combatants alike, as well as in transnational relations and alliance systems. The volume thereby covers a wide geographical range - from Berkeley and Berlin to Cambodia and Canberra. The essays address political, military, and diplomatic issues no less than cultural and intellectual consequences of 'Vietnam'. The authors also set the Vietnam War in comparison to other major conflicts in world history; they cover over three centuries, and develop general insights into the tragedies and trajectories of military conflicts as phenomena of modern societies in general. For the first time, 'America's War' is thus depicted as a truly global event whose origins and characteristics deserve an interdisciplinary treatment.

Table of Contents

Contributors	ix
Preface
Detlef Junker	xi
Introduction: America's War and the World
Andreas W. Daum, Lloyd C. Gardner, and Wilfried Mausbach	1	(26)
PART ONE RELOCATING VIETNAM: COMPARISONS IN TIME AND SPACE
1 A Colonial War in a Postcolonial Era: The United States' Occupation of Vietnam
Michael Adas	27	(16)
2 Visions of the Asian Periphery: Vietnam (1964-1968) and the Philippines (1898-1900)
Fabian Hilfrich	43	(22)
3 The Challenge of Revolutions and the Emergence of Nation-States: British Reactions to the Foundation of the United States and American Responses to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, 1780-1980
T. Christopher Jespersen	65	(24)
4 Peripheral War: A Recipe for Disaster? The United States in Vietnam and Japan in China
John Prados	89	(16)
5 The Panmunjom and Paris Armistices: Patterns of War Termination
Jeffrey Kimball	105	(18)
6 Versailles and Vietnam: Coming to Terms with War
Sabine Behrenbeck	123	(28)
PART TWO INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND THE DYNAMICS OF ALLIANCE POLITICS
7 Who Paid for America's War? Vietnam and the International Monetary System, 1960-1975
Hubert Zimmermann	151	(24)
8 America Isolated: The Western Powers and the Escalation of the War
Fredrik Logevall	175	(22)
9 Bamboo in the Shadows: Relations Between the United States and Thailand During the Vietnam War
Arne Kislenko	197	(24)
10 The Strategic Concerns of a Regional Power: Australia's Involvement in the Vietnam War
Peter Edwards	221	(16)
11 People's Warfare Versus Peaceful Coexistence: Vietnam and the Sino-Soviet Struggle for Ideological Supremacy
Eva-Maria Stolberg	237	(22)
PART THREE RECASTING VIETNAM: DOMESTIC SCENES AND DISCOURSES
12 The Center-Left Government in Italy and the Escalation of the Vietnam War
Leopoldo Nuti	259	(20)
13 Auschwitz and Vietnam: West German Protest Against America's War During the 1960's
Wilfried Mausbach	279	(20)
14 The World Peace Council and the Antiwar Movement in East Germany
Günter Wernicke	299	(22)
15 All Power to the Imagination! Antiwar Activism and Emerging Feminism in the Late 1960's
Barbara L. Tischler	321	(20)
16 Vietnam: Many Wars?
Lloyd C. Gardner	341	(16)
Index	357