The Cold War and Vietnam
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12129223 |
|---|---|
| Authors | George C Herring (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2004 |
| Volume | 18 |
| Issue | 5 |
| Pages | 18-21 |
| Publication date | 2004-10-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | OAH Magazine of History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0882-228X • E-ISSN: 1938-2340 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1093/maghis/18.5.18 |
| OpenAlex | W2334985030 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
The cold war and the American war in Vietnam cannot be disentangled. Had it not been for the cold war, the U.S., China, and the Soviet Union would not have intervened in what would likely have remained a localized anticolonial struggle in French Indochina. The cold war shaped the way the Vietnam War was fought and significantly affected its outcome. The war in Vietnam in turn influenced the direction taken by the cold war after 1975. The conflict in Vietnam stemmed from the interaction of two major phenomena of the post-World War II era, decolonization—the dissolution of colonial empires—and the cold war. The rise of nationalism in the colonial areas and the weakness of the European powers after the Second World War combined to destroy a colonial system that had been an established feature of world politics for centuries. A change of this magnitude did not occur smoothly, and in Vietnam it led to war. When France fell to Germany in 1940, Japan imposed a protectorate upon the French colony in Vietnam, and in March 1945 the Japanese overthrew the French puppet government. In August 1945, Vietnamese nationalists led by the charismatic patriot Ho Chi Minh seized the opportunity presented by Japan's surrender to proclaim the independence of their country. Determined to recover their empire, the French set out to regain control of Vietnam. After more than a year of ultimately futile negotiations, a war began in November 1946 that would not end until Saigon fell in April 1975
Ancient history · Asymmetric warfare · Colonialism · Decolonization · Economic history · Empire · Fell · Geography · Independence (probability theory · Interwar period · Nationalism · Political science · Politics · Protectorate · Spanish Civil War · Surrender · Vietnam War · World War II · French Historical and Cultural Studies · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies · History · Law
| Citations per year | 0.19 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2010 - 2025 (16) |
| Highly cited | No |