2017-18_MC_Catalog

THE VIETNAM WAR CONSTITUTES A DEFINING MOMENT IN MODERN HISTORY.

Starting from 1945 and lasting to 1975, The war pitted

the Communists of Vietnam, supported by China and

the USSR, against a number of opponents, including

first the French and second the South Vietnamese and

Americans, the latter supported by a number of allies.

U.S. involvement began when the anti-Communist

government of South Vietnam sought American aid, and

this grew steadily from technical support, weapons, and

equipment to the initial limited involvement of U.S. This

opened the floodgates, and in the mid 1960s ever-larger

numbers of U.S. troops were poured into South Vietnam

as U.S. air power struck at North Vietnam. But the

Americans could never fully come to grips with the

psychology and tactics of the communists.

U.S. forces departed Vietnam in 1973. The USA was

free of this commitment, but its failure in the Vietnam

War was a body blow to U.S. cohesion and belief in

itself.

Set ISBN ..........978-1-4222-3887-5

Hardcover Set Price ...........$166.35

$124.75 (S&L)

Hardcover List Price ..............33.27

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Multi-User eBook List Price ...42.60

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Full color • Library bound

Trim Size: 8 x 9½ • 80 pages

Grade Level: 7-12

MILITARY CONFLICTS

V I E T NAM WAR

HBK ISBN E-ISBN

Stalemate: U.S. Public Opinion of

the War in Vietnam...............................................-3891-2 -7901-4

The Escalation of American Involvement

in the Vietnam War...............................................-3889-9 -7899-4

The Fall of Saigon and The End Of

The Vietnam War..................................................-3892-9 -7902-1

The Origins of Conflict in the VietnamWar ................... -3888-2 -7898-7

The U.S. Ground War in Vietnam 1965 – 1973........... -3890-5 -7900-7

Mason Crest

an Imprint of National Highlights

To l l -Fr e e 8 6 6 . 6 2 7 . 2 6 6 5

F a x 6 1 0 . 5 4 3 . 3 8 7 8

lsoknownas theSecond

IndochinaWar and theUSWar

inVietnam, theVietnamWar lasted

from 1965 to theCommunistvictory

onApril 30,1975,but is sometimes

dated to a start

in1959.Of

the several

othernames associatedwith this

conflict, theonemost generallyused is

theVietnamWar. It isworthnoting,

however, that theappellationSecond

IndochinaWar isuseful in

contextualizing the conflict in relation

to theFirst IndochinaWar that

resulted in thedepartureof the

French as the colonialpower,and

linking theVietnamWarwith the

other conflictsbeing fought inSouth-

EastAsiaatvarious timesduring this

period: thusVietnam,Laos,and

Cambodia canbe seen as the theaters

inwhicha larger Indochinese conflict

was fought,between the endof the

SecondWorldWar in1945and the

Communistvictory in 1975.

The termVietnamConflict is

usedprimarily in theUSA to

indicate thatCongressnever formally

declaredwaronNorthVietnam,and

that inpurely legal terms thepresident

madeuseof his constitutionally

mandated authority,onmany

occasions supplementedby

resolutions in theCongress, tohave

theUS forces fightwhatwasdescribed

asa “police action.”

The termVietnamWar is that

which ismostgenerallyused in the

English-speakingworld,but falsely

suggests that itwas foughtwholly

LEFT:

Vietnam 1949.TheFrench

position isoverrun by theVietnamese

aftera five-hour fightduring theBattleof

PhoRang innorth-easternVietnam.

OPPOSITEABOVE:

French troopsat

the commencementof insurgent action in

theTonkinarea in 1947.

OPPOSITEBELOW:

Frencharmored

troops clearing countrysidenearSaigon

inOctober1945.

ChapterOne

ALONGLEGACY

Words toUnderstand

Defoliant:

Chemicals applied to plants causing their leaves

to drop off, often to remove cover from an enemy inwar.

Guerrilla:

Apersonwho engages in irregularwarfare, harassing

the enemy by sabotage or surprise raids.

Indochina:

Peninsula in south-easternAsia comprising six

countries.

VIETNAMWAR

Origins of theConflict inVietnam1stEdit.qxp_Layout1 01/03/2017 09:23 Page12

inside the twoVietnams, and so tacitly

ignores the fact that the conflict

spilledover intoCambodiaandLaos.

Finally, the termmostgenerally

used inNorthVietnam,and in the

unified countryuntil recent times, is

theResistanceWaragainst the

Americans toSave theNation.This is

more apropaganda slogan thana real

name, and inmanywaysmirrors the

USSR’suseof the termGreat

PatrioticWar todescribe itspart in

theSecondWorldWar.

On the finaldayof thewar, the

Communist forcesunderNorth

Vietnamese leadership tookSaigon,

the capitalof SouthVietnam, evenas

the lastUS forceswerebeingpulled

outby air tovesselsawaitingoffshore,

sealing theNorthVietnamesemilitary

victory aftermore than 15yearsof

increasinglyopenwarfare.The

VietnamWarwas the firstmajor

militarydefeat sufferedby theUnited

StatesofAmerica,andas suchwasa

very considerablepsychologicaland

emotionalblow to anation

accustomed to success,butalready

socially and culturally rivenby the

anti-warmovement, in themediaas

wellasamongmajor segmentsof the

Americanpopulation,whichhad

played such a significantpart in

undermining the resolveof the

American forces inSouth-EastAsia.

Something in theorderof 1.4

millionmilitarypersonnel,aboutone

in17of themAmerican, lost their

lives in thewar, and civiliandeaths

havebeen estimated variouslyas

between 2and 5millionor slightly

more for the twoVietnams, towhich

have tobeaddedup to 700,000

Cambodian and 50,000Laotian

civilians.Thewarwas foughtbetween

theDemocraticRepublicofVietnam,

generallyknownasNorthVietnam,

and theRepublicofVietnam,known

asSouthVietnam.The latterwas

supportedby theUSA and, atvarious

TheOrigins ofConflict in theVietnamWar

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