The Vietnam War
F 2020

Description

Vietnam was the Western World's most distressing modern conflict, leading to a battlefield humiliation for France in 1954 and then a monumental defeat for the US in 1975. The war began as a last gasp of French colonialism as it returned to Vietnam following World War II.  The French were then confronted with a  guerrilla war of attrition and despite ever-greater financial support from the US, the French  suffered a military  disaster at Dienbienphu.  Vietnam was then divided by the Geneva Accords into communist North Vietnam and US-dependent South Vietnam.  In what some deem a Cold War proxy conflict,  South Vietnam was unable to combat a guerrilla war in the South fueled by North Vietnam, leading to gradually increasing US military involvement, beginning with US "advisors" and escalating to more than one half million troops and over 50,000 deaths of US military personnel.  The  core book  is VIETNAM, An Epic Tragedy, 1945-1975, by Max Hastings, a book deemed "Monumental" by the New York Times and "Magnificent" by the Times (London).  Hastings weaves first-person accounts from both sides into a compelling and readable account encompassing all aspects of the conflict.  We will examine the political, cultural, military and social factors that produced one of the most divisive and disastrous conflicts in American history.

Weekly Topics

1.  Chapters 1 & 2, Chapter 3, Part 1.  France clings to empire; "dirty war" begins; Dienbienphu strengthened. 


 2.  Chapter 3, Part 2, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Part 1.  Dienbienphu falls; Partition at Geneva; Two Tyrannies established.

3.  Chapter 5, Parts 2, 3 & 4, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Part 1.  Diem survives, financed by US; Le Duan named party secretary; North Vietnam consolidates; US active military role begins.

4.  Chapter 7, Parts 2 & 3, Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Part 1.  Johnson mulls strategy; McNamara flexes; Enter Westmoreland; Gulf of Tonkin incident.

5.  Chapter 9, Part 2, Chapter 10, Chapter 11, Part 1.  Hawks ascend, Escalate; US troops undertake responsibility; Ky and Thieu in charge. . March on Washington, April 1965 http://michiganintheworld.history.lsa.umich.edu/antivietnamwar/exhibits/show/exhibit/the_teach_ins/national_teach_in_1965

6.  Chapter 11, Part 2, Chapters 12 & 13.  Large number of US troops Deployed, Disillusioned; Search and Destroy; Corruption Rampant.

7.  Chapters 14 & 15, Chapter 16, Part 1.  Rolling Thunder; North Vietnam Takes the Pain; Peaceniks Emerge. . Levitate the Pentagon https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2017/10/19/the-day-anti-vietnam-war-protesters-tried-to-levitate-the-pentagon/

8.  Chapter 16, Parts 2, 3 & 4, Chapter 17.  Warniks react; Soldiers hunker down; Both Sides Suffer.

9.  Chapter 18, Chapter 19.  Tet; US Reels. .  Johnson withdraws https://www.npr.org/2018/03/25/596805375/president-johnson-made-a-bombshell-announcement-50-years-ago

10. Chapter 20, Chapter 21, Parts 1, 2, & 3.  War drones on; Nixon elected. Democratic Convention Chicago 1968 https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/1968-democratic-convention-931079/

11.  Chapter 21, Part 4, Chapters 22 & 23, Chapter 24, Part 1.  Vietnamization; American position erodes; North Vietnam forces the pace.   Moratorium march on Washington https://madison.com/wsj/archives/photos-1969-national-moratorium-anti-vietnam-war-protests/collection_09f16b20-3ade-5697-af04-015286e8a5a9.html#1.

12.  Chapter 24, Parts 2 & 3, Chapter 25.  South Vietnam tenuous; "Peace is at hand;" 1972 Election; Christmas Bombing.  Seymour Hersh on My Lai https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1972/01/22/coverup.

13.  Chapters 26 & 27  Final stages.

14.  Chapter 28.  Afterward.   

READING IS APPROXIMATELY 54 PAGES PER WEEK.

Bibliography

VIETNAM: An Epic Tragedy, 1945-1975 by Max Hastings, Harper Perennial (2018).