The Dynamics Of Defeat: The Vietnam War In Hau Nghia Province

by Bergerud,Eric M

• ISBN13: 9780813318745
• ISBN10: 0813318742
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 1993-08-31
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Some of the most active debate about the Vietnam War today is prompted by those who believe that the United States could have won the war either through an improved military strategy or through more enlightened social policies. Eric Bergerud takes issue with both of these positions. Carefully analyzing the entire course of the war in a single key province,The Dynamics of Defeatshows that the Vietnam War was a tragedy in the true sense of the word: American policy could not have been much different than it was and could only have led to failure.Examining the war at the operational level, where political policy is translated into military action,The Dynamics of Defeatprovides a case study of the efficacy on the ground of policies emanating from Washington. Many of the policy alternatives now proposed in hindsight were actually attempted in Hau Nghia to one degree or another. Bergerud is able on that basis to critique these policies and to offer his own conclusions in a thought-provoking but utterly unpolemical fashion.Based on extensive research in U.S. Army archives and many personal interviews with those who experienced the war in Hau Nghia,The Dynamics of Defeatis a story full of violence, frustration, and numbing despair, but also one rich with lessons for American foreign policy.

Author Biography

Eric M. Bergerud is professor of military and American history at Lincoln University in San Francisco and the author of Touched with Fire: The Land War in the South Pacific, Red Thunder, Tropic Lightning and The Dynamics of Defeat.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. xi
Introduction	p. 1
A Note on Primary Sources	p. 7
The Challenge of Insurgency: South Vietnam, 1954-1965	p. 11
The Diem Regime	p. 11
Americans and Diem	p. 23
Strategic Hamlets	p. 33
Chaos After Diem	p. 38
The Front Victorious: Hau Nghia Province Through 1965	p. 45
The Creation of a Province	p. 45
The Party, the Front, and Revolutionary Struggle	p. 54
Futile Efforts to Stem the Revolutionary Tide	p. 68
Prospects for War: On the Eve of American Intervention	p. 85
The U.S. Army Confronts a Dilemma	p. 85
Revolutionary Military Forces	p. 93
South Vietnamese Assets	p. 102
The American Strategic Debate	p. 105
Search and Destroy: The Big-Unit War, 1966-1967	p. 117
War Begins for the 25th Division	p. 117
The Military Environment	p. 127
Sword and Shield: Pacification Efforts, 1966-1967	p. 141
"Revolutionary" Development	p. 141
The U.S. Army and the Village War	p. 147
Continued American Frustrations	p. 155
A Violent Struggle	p. 167
Battle: The Tet Offensive, 1968	p. 193
The Origins of the Tet Offensive	p. 193
The Tet Offensive in the Saigon Area	p. 199
The Tet Offensive in Hau Nghia Province	p. 205
The Results of the Tet Offensive	p. 215
The Accelerated Pacification Campaign	p. 223
A Change in Allied Strategy	p. 223
Attitudes Toward Friend and Foe	p. 226
The Political Status of the GVN	p. 234
Battle: The Tet Offensive, 1969	p. 241
The One-War Concept	p. 241
A New Offensive	p. 242
The Front Wounded in Hau Nghia	p. 247
The Pacification of Hau Nghia Province, 1969	p. 255
The Phoenix Program	p. 255
Strengthening Regional and Popular Forces	p. 262
Village Development	p. 268
Allied Discord	p. 272
High Tide for the Allies: 1970	p. 283
An Early-Year Lull	p. 283
The Cambodian Invasion	p. 286
The Departure of the 25th Division	p. 289
Rural Security	p. 293
GVN Land Reform	p. 298
The Front Reacts	p. 300
Last Battles: 1971-1973	p. 309
A Year of Preparation	p. 309
The 1972 Offensive	p. 315
The Last Act	p. 319
Reflections on the War	p. 323
Notes	p. 337
Glossary of Terms, Abbreviations, and Acronyms	p. 357
Selected Bibliography	p. 361
About the Book and Author	p. 365
Index	p. 367
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