1st Edition
The Second Indochina War The Vietnamese Communists’ Perspective
Drawing upon Vietnamese, Chinese, former Soviet, and American sources, Ang Cheng Guan provides an updated and concise account of the Vietnam War (1954–1975) from the Vietnamese communists’ perspective.
In the last few decades, discourse on the Second Indochina War has shifted towards the South and its allies. To mark the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon, Ang revisits the experiences of the North. Focusing on scholarship published within the last 30 years, the book reexamines the 1954 Geneva Conference, the end of the First Vietnam War through the Second Vietnam War to the 1975 Fall of Saigon, bringing readers up to date on the current state of the field.
This book is a valuable resource for scholars and students of history, war studies, peace and conflict studies, as well as for those interested in the historical and contemporary implications of the Vietnam War.
Acknowledgements
State of the Field
PART I Prelude to a War
1 Decolonisation Meets the Cold War, 1948
2 From Geneva 1954 to the Resumption of Armed Struggle, 1959
3 Towards the Establishment of the National Liberation Front for South Vietnam, 1960
4 Laos Takes Centre Stage, 1960–1962
PART II Making of a Limited War
5 The Armed Struggle Intensifies, 1962–1966
6 Secret Peace Initiatives – “Marigold”, “Sunflower”, “Pennsylvania”, 1966–1967
7 The Siege of Khe Sanh and the Tet Offensive, 1968
PART III Ending the Vietnam War
8 The Start of Negotiations, 1968
9 Fighting and Negotiating, 1969–1970
10 Secret Negotiations in Paris between Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho, 1971–1973
11 From the Paris Peace Agreements, January 1973 to the End of the War, April 1975
Selected Bibliography
Index
Biography
Ang Cheng Guan is Professor of International History of Southeast Asia and Associate Dean of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He researches the international history of contemporary Asia, with a focus on Southeast Asia.
