Vietnam (Paperback)

A concise, analytical survey of Vietnamese military history that concentrates on the French and American 20th-century wars. Former US Army captain Tucker (Military History/Virginia Military Institute) presents a readable, fact-filled examination of the military history of Vietnam. He begins with a brief history of the Southeast Asian nation, starting with its legendary founding in the third century B.C. Tucker clearly shows that the dominant feature of Vietnam's first thousand years was nationalist rebellion against Chinese domination. Tucker offers detailed examinations of the French colonization of Vietnam and the 1946-1954 French Indochina War-two areas that most American Vietnam War histories treat perfunctorily at best. His treatment of the American war takes up more than half the book. Tucker sticks mainly to military matters in his analysis of that controversial, highly political war. He makes a case that, from the beginning, the American military strategy was flawed because it focused on conventional warfare and paid too little attention to counterinsurgency. The "inability" of the American military establishment "to forecast the [guerrilla] military threat" in the late 1950s "was the first great US military mistake in Vietnam," he says. Tucker strongly criticizes commanding general William Westmoreland and "officials in Washington" - especially President Richard Nixon and his national security adviser Henry Kissinger - for drastically underestimating the will of the North Vietnamese. Westmoreland's attrition strategy, Tucker says, was particularly ill suited against "the Communist strategy of protracted warfare." Tucker uses a good deal of statistical information throughout this well-documented book. A military historian's approach to Vietnam's wars. (Kirkus Reviews)

A comprehensive overview of warfare in Vietnamese history from the early efforts to free themselves from Chinese control, through the Indo-China and Vietnam Wars, the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia, up to the Sino-Vietnamese War in 1979. Concentrating on the Vietnam War, the author explores the conflict from the Vietnamese perspective, demonstrating how for many Vietnamese the war was merely one of a long series of struggles against foreign domination. Encompassing socio-political, economic, diplomatic and cultural issues, this text provides an introduction to Vietnam's military history and will be of interest to students of 20th century American and Asian history.

General

Imprint:	Routledge
Country of origin:	United Kingdom
Series:	Warfare and History
Release date:	November 1998
Authors:	Spencer C. Tucker
Dimensions:	234 x 156mm (L x W)
Format:	Paperback
Pages:	254
ISBN-13:	978-1-85728-922-0
Categories:	Books > Social sciences > Warfare & defence > General Books > Humanities > History > Asian / Middle Eastern history > General Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > International relations > General Books > History > Asian / Middle Eastern history > General Promotions
LSN:	1-85728-922-6
Barcode:	9781857289220

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