This study examines the origins of the Vietnam War itself, going back to the nature of French colonial rule in the early 20th century. It investigates the original conflict between France, as well as the United States, and the forces of Vietnamese nationalism and communism. It argues that it was probably a mistake for the United States to internationalize the war in 1954 and it discusses the American commitment to the war, directed as much against China as against North Vietnam and the ideological hostility to communism.

“An indispensable tool for college students and general readers, the only available text that treats Vietnamese history in its entirety, from its beginning to the twenty-first century, as it places Vietnam within the regional and global context. SarDesai’s Vietnam looks at Vietnam as a country and not just as a war. The text has also benefited from its author’s decades-long expertise on Southeast Asia as reflected in the comprehensive bibliography and use of the latest works.” —NGUYEN THI DIEU, Ph.D., Temple University

In this study of the encounter between Vietnam and the United States from 1919 to 1950, Mark Bradley fundamentally reconceptualizes the origins of the Cold War in Vietnam and the place of postcolonial Vietnam in the history of the twentieth century. Among the first Americans granted a visa to undertake research in Vietnam since the war, Bradley draws on newly available Vietnamese-language primary sources and interviews as well as archival materials from France, Great Britain, and the United States. Bradley uses these sources to reveal an imagined America that occupied a central place in Vietnamese political discourse, symbolizing the qualities that revolutionaries believed were critical for reshaping their society. American policymakers, he argues, articulated their own imagined Vietnam, a deprecating vision informed by the conviction that the country should be remade in America's image. Contrary to other historians, who focus on the Soviet-American rivalry and ignore the policies and perceptions of Vietnamese actors, Bradley contends that the global discourse and practices of colonialism, race, modernism, and postcolonial state-making were profoundly implicated in--and ultimately transcended--the dynamics of the Cold War in shaping Vietnamese-American relations.

For more than 30 years, National Security Law has helped create and shape an entire new field of law. It has been adopted for classroom use at most American law schools, all of the military academies, and many non-law graduate programs. The Eighth Edition of this leading casebook provides an up-to-date, user-friendly survey of this extremely dynamic field. Relying heavily on original materials and provocative notes and questions, this book encourages students to play the roles of national security professionals, politicians, judges, and ordinary citizens. And, by showing the development of doctrine in historical context, it urges them to see their responsibility as lawyers to help keep this country safe and free. Like earlier editions, the new book deals with basic separation-of-powers principles, the interaction of U.S. and international law, the use of military force, intelligence, detention, criminal prosecution, homeland security, and national security information — more than enough to provide teachers with a rich menu of readings for classes. The Eighth Edition also addresses dramatic new security threats from without and within. New to the Eighth Edition: The COVID pandemic and its national security implications; Efforts to subvert the results of the 2020 presidential election, culminating in the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, including the criminal liability of participants, and the possible criminal liability, immunity, and disqualification of former President Trump; Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine; Espionage Act prosecution of former President Trump in the Mar-a-Lago documents case; The October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel by Hamas fighters based in the Gaza Strip; Climate change and its growing threat to world security.

Insurgency-based irregular warfare typifies armed conflict in the post-Cold War age. For some years now, western and other governments have struggled to contend with ideologically driven guerrilla movements, religiously inspired militias, and systematic targeting of civilian populations. Numerous conflicts of this type are rooted in experiences of empire breakdown. Yet few multi-empire studies of decolonisation's violence exist. Decolonization and Conflict brings together expertise on a variety of different cases to offer new perspectives on the colonial conflicts that engulfed Europe's empires after 1945. The contributors analyse multiple forms of colonial counter-insurgency from the military engagement of anti-colonial movements to the forced removal of civilian populations and the application of new doctrines of psychological warfare. Contributors to the collection also show how insurgencies, their propaganda and methods of action were inherently transnational and inter-connected. The resulting study is a vital contribution to our understanding of contested decolonization. It emphasises the global connections at work and reveals the contemporary resonances of both anti-colonial insurgencies and the means devised to counter them. It is essential reading for students and scholars of empire, decolonization, and asymmetric warfare.

This book gives an overview of the conflict starting with Ho Chi Minh's revolt against the French. It recounts the important events and the issues that developed during the conflict.