The Vietnam War 1956–1975

by Wiest, Andrew; Wiest, Andy

• ISBN13: 9781841764191
• ISBN10: 1841764191
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-11-13
• Publisher: Osprey Publishing

Summary

The Vietnam War was arguably the most important event, or series of events, of the "American Century." America entered the brutal conflict certain of its Cold War doctrines and certain of its moral mission to save the world from the advance of communism. As this book explains, however, the war was not at all what the United States expected. Outnumbered and outgunned the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces resorted to a guerrilla war based on the theories of Mao Zedong of China. This was war reduced to its most basic level - find the enemy and kill him.

Author Biography

Andy Wiest is presently a Professor of History at the University of Southern Misssissippi, and serves as director of the Vietnam Studies Program and co-director of the university's Center for the Study of War and Society. He has authored several articles and book chapters on Great War history and the history of Vietnam, including ‘Passchendaele and the Royal Navy’ (Greenwood Press, 1995), ‘The Illustrated History of the Vietnam War’ (with Chris McNab, Amber Books, 2000) and ‘The Illustrated History of World War I’ (Amber Books, 2000).

Table of Contents

Introduction	7	(3)
Chronology	10	(2)
Background to war
The Cold War	12	(7)
Warring sides
Superpower versus guerrilla forces	19	(5)
Outbreak
An undeclared war	24	(5)
The fighting
Battles of attrition	29	(30)
Portrait of a soldier
John Young	59	(4)
The world around war
A nation divided	63	(12)
Portrait of a civilian
Kim Herzinger	75	(5)
How the war ended
US withdrawal	80	(5)
Conclusion and consequences
Legacies of victory and defeat	85	(8)
Further reading	93	(1)
Index	94