See these casahistoria sites for further background:
In recent years, there has been an enormous growth in US sites
dedicated to the Vietnam conflict. Most are linked to military
aspects of the war, however many examine the documentary background
to events. There are a number reasons for this: the recent Iraq
conflict & occupation (see casahistoria Iraq & the West
site for links), and a greater US military self confidence, release
of official archive material, less inhibitions by veterans to
write about their war and not least the opening up of Vietnam
itself to tourism. Welcome as this is, it has served to overwhelm
users of the web and cloud key issues. The aim of this page is to
focus on those sites of most interest and value to the student of
the period and to place them within a (hopefully) clear structure.
In addition gamer sites are proliferating - not all are as
academically valuable as the French
Indochine site.
-
Vietnamese History: Centuries of Struggling for Independence
A general outline history, currently a work in progress but is
well worth using for background biographies to the pre European
imperial period.
-
Vietnam Not a history site, but one that gives you a
tourist insight into a country opening more and more to tourism.
This includes sections on: 'The History of Vietnam', 'Location,
Geography and Climate', 'Vietnamese Culture' and 'Vietnamese
People'. A full account of current Vietnam can be found at the
CIA World Factbook site.
-
Vietnam: A Television History PBS Transcripts from the US TV
series is a 13-part documentary film series produced for
public television by WGBH Boston, in cooperation with Central
Independent Television/United Kingdom, and Antenne-2/France.
Useful especially for first hand interviews, but also:
-
Lessons of the Vietnam War -- A Curriculum from the Center
for Social Studies Education. US curriculum guide and materials
for High School teachers (and students).
2.
Background to the US involvement
-
The Pentagon Papers One of the most important sources of
information about the war is the collection of documents,
with analysis, commonly known as "The Pentagon Papers."
Nobody has ever published the whole collection as it was
originally compiled inside the Defense Department between
1967 and 1969: a long and detailed history of U.S. policy
toward Vietnam from 1945 to about March of 1968, plus about
4,000 pages of the actual texts of some of the most
important documents dealing with Vietnam found in Defense
Department files. Only partial versions have been released
to the public. These are links to several of these original
documents in facsimile form.
-
The United States Advisory Experience, 1954-1965. A
University of Richmond course outline but with interesting
links to the earliest period of US involvement.
-
Cold War in the Far East Lecture which gives a brief,
but valuable overview of the impact and influence of the
Cold war in the Far east and its contribution to conflicts
there, of which Vietnam is the last. By Professor Gerhard
Rempel, Western New England College.
Geneva, 1954 and its
aftermath
-
 Indochina
and Vietnam: Causes of French & US involvement, events of
each conflict, outcomes. A casahistoria netguide in
lecture note format. For more casahistoria netguide revision go
to IB/Alevel/K12 revision in the
young casahistoria section.
-
 Geneva Conference useful day by day info from the excellent
set of detailed chronologies of the
Vietnam War Timetable compiled by Ray Sarlin
-
The Geneva Accords in 1954 &
The Aftermath of the Geneva Accords (1954-1961) Brief
descriptions by Ed Moise. From the electronic version of his
The Vietnam Wars. §
-
Geneva Accords; Agreement on the Cessation of Hostilities in
Vietnam (July 20, 1954) The actual documents
-
Chronology 1950-1964 From the Avalon Project at Yale Law
School. Also has a Indochina - Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos search
engine.
- The
Importance to the U.S. of the Security and Progress of Viet-Nam
Address by President Eisenhower, Gettysburg College, Gettysburg,
Pennsylvania, April 4, 1959 (Excerpt)
-
Ed Lansdale's Black Warfare in 1950s Vietnam Edward
Lansdale, working undercover as an assistant air attache at
Saigon's U.S. Embassy in the mid-1950s, led the CIA's Saigon
Military Mission to apply psychological warfare campaigns, such
as rumors and black leaflets, against Viet MInh Communists. 2010
article by Marc D. Bernstein
-
The Second Indochina War 1954-60 from the excellent set of
detailed chronologies of the
Vietnam War Timetable compiled by Ray Sarlin
-
The Program of the National Liberation Front (1962)
translation from Viet Cong by Douglas Pike (Cambridge,
Massachusetts: 1966).
Here ( §) is a fuller version from
Vassar College.
Diem
Kennedy and Vietnam
-
Senator John
F. Kennedy, Speaking about Indochina, April 6, 1954
§
-
-
General Maxwell Taylor's Mission to Vietnam: JFK's Early Indecision
Article on the background to the 1961 Taylor report, which
called for a significant increase in American participation in the war.
Peter Kross argues that JFK's tentative response to the report had unintended consequences for the course of the
war. Click for the complete
"Report of McNamara-Taylor Mission to South Vietnam". It was
fundamental to National Security Action Memorandum, approved by JFK on
October 5, 1963
-
The Vietnam War: Why It Was Impossible for the U.S. to Stay Uninvolved
Looks at US position in 1962-3. HistoryNet item by Colonel William
Wilson, U.S. Army and originally published in Vietnam Magazine
-
North Vietnam's Master Plan Article by Merle L. Pribbenow
of Vietnam Magazine describing a number of crucial secret
actions taken by the North Vietnamese leadership before President John F.
Kennedy's November 1961 decision to increase American involvement in South
Vietnam. This was to substantially escalate North Vietnam's direct
participation in the conflict in South Vietnam. Unknown to U.S.
policy-makers at the time, these decisions provided the Vietnamese
Communists with the means they needed to counter the effects of Kennedy's
decision and thereby maintain their strategic initiative in South Vietnam.
-
Idealism and pragmatism in American foreign
policy rhetoric: The case of John F. Kennedy and Vietnam
From Presidential Studies Quarterly (1994)
Denise Bostdorff (Purdue University), Steven Goldzwig (Marquette
University)
-
Was John Kennedy Going to Pull Out of
Vietnam? interview done with
Robert Kennedy in April, 1964 by the John F. Kennedy Library.
-
Early Covert
Action on the Ho Chi Minh Trail Article about the 1961 and 1962
CIA- trained and -sponsored 1st Observation Group formed to counter
Communist operations along the trail. By Ken Conboy and James Morrison.
Article from
HistoryNet
-
The Secret War Against Hanoi (Now retitled An account of
American terrorism in Vietnam....) Kennedy's and Johnson's Use
of Spies, Saboteurs, and Covert Warriors in North Vietnam,
Useful Review article of Richard H. Shultz's book on the World
Socialist Web Site.
LBJ and Tonkin
3. The US (Vietnam) War: Events & key campaigns
Chronologies
-
 Advisory American War, 1962-69 a series of very detailed and
useful chronologies from the
Vietnam War Timetable compiled by Ray Sarlin
-
Vietnam Timeline A less detailed
chronological overview than the Ray Arlin, but gives more of an
overview to key phases.
-
Vietnam Chronology A
comprehensive timeline of events from 1945-1975, listing each
battle and its length. §
-
Chronology of U.S.-Vietnamese Relations
A basic timeline of events from 1930 to the present,
but with good links to related areas. Not all are active now as
this is the archived version of the chronology. Still worthwhile
though. §
-
Interactive guide Produced on the 30th anniversary by the UK
Guardian, this provides an interactive timeline from the 1920's
to 1975.
General
Specific campaigns
The Ho Chi Minh Trail
- Ho Chi Minh
Trail and new highway construction. informative article with
maps from vietquoc site
- Cu-Chi Tunnels:
My Lai Massacre
4. Allies of the
US
Australia:
Canada:
New Zealand:
ARVN - The South Vietnamese
forces
-
Heroic Allies Sympathetic article on the ARVN by Harry F.
Noyes III for Vietnam Magazine/PRIMEDIA History Group.
-
ARVN: Toward Fighting Trim 1968 article from TIME on the
role and work of the ARVN
- The
Strength and Weakness of the ARVN interesting 1972 analysis
by Jack Foisie of The Los Angeles Times in Saigon, and also
published in the Pacific Stars and Stripes.
-
'The Most Brilliant Commander': Ngo Quang Truong Detailed
2007 bio of his role in the ARVN by James H. Willbanks and
originally published in Vietnam Magazine
-
Let the Tigers Fight "With the arrogant, take-charge
attitude of many American advisers, too often the South
Vietnamese opted to 'sit on a mountain to watch tigers fight."
by Bartholomew King. looks at the reasons for the often passive
role of the ARVN. (§ be patient - slow
to load!!)
- "America's
Most Loyal Allies" Website dedicated to the The Montagnards,
the aboriginal hill tribes of southeast Indochina
-
Caught in the Crossfire: Montagnard Stories Descriptions of
the involvement of the hill tribes in support of the US & South.
By Robert E. O'Melia from Vietnam magazine. (§
be patient - slow to load!!)
5. Weapons
6. Women at War
7. Veteran
and witness accounts
- The Virtual Wall
A digital interactive legacy memorializing the men and women who
gave their lives during the Vietnam War. This extensive site
offers veteran profiles, remembrances, chat rooms, reunion
postings, name rubbings, custom reports, and much more. A
fascinating site and one of the best anywhere on the internet
for this type of research.
Collections:
-
 Reflections From PBS, a
collection of first-person accounts from both sides in the
conflict.
- Vietnam Veterans
The website provides "an interactive, on-line forum for Vietnam
veterans and their families and friends to exchange information,
stories, poems, songs, art, pictures, and experiences in any
publishable form."
-
Vietnam Stories The 'Vietnam Stories' site is designed
as a gathering place for personal stories and a forum for
opinions on the war. The 'Add Your Story' page enables visitors
to add their own stories, images, etc. to the vast databank of
information on the war. 'The Stories' page contains excerpts of
selected stories and is changed regularly. A search engine
enables the visitor to investigate all the narratives that have
been submitted to 'Vietnam Stories'.
-
West Point's Collection of Letters from the Vietnam War
Looks at the letters from Vietnam stored at the US Officers
College. 2002 article by Lt. Col. James Jay Carafano, for
Vietnam Magazine.
- Remembrance:
Reflections, Memories and Images of Vietnam Past. The
website is a collection of galleries containing stories, poems,
songs, maps and narratives about the Vietnam War. The website
also contains listings of all US, Australian and New Zealand
casualties of the Vietnam War
Individual accounts:
-
Recollections of Lieutenant Commander Bobbi Hovis, NC, (Ret.)
concerning the coup d'etat on 1 November 1963 that overthrew
President Ngo Dinh Diem of the Republic of [South] Vietnam
-
Recollections of Command Anthony R. DeMarco, USNR (Ret.) who
served as a combat historian with Naval Forces, Vietnam during
1967-68.
-
Images of My War
Ron Heller's complete story of his tour of duty - a well written
account.
-
Letters Home from Vietnam A moving
collection of ten months of a soldier's letters to his family
and family commentary, until his death.
-
White Shirts and Ties: IBM's Bachelor Computer Experts
Account by an ex IBM employee of the work of IBM in the south
during the conflict. By Dan Feltham. (§
currently put offline by history.net but the article is linked
here from the Wayback Archive, but be patient - slow to load!)
-
Unorthodox Practice: An American Doctor in Vietnam Lawrence
H. Climo, M.D. describes his experiences as a young U.S. Army
doctor who tried to strike a balance between clashing cultures
and the obligations of his Hippocratic oath. From Vietnam
magazine
-
Prisoners of War - Report Some Experiences Reported by the
Crew of the USS Pueblo and American Prisoners of War from
Vietnam. Presented at, and to be published in the Proceedings of
the International Conference on Psychological Stress and
Adjustment in Time of War and Peace, Tel Aviv, Israel,
1975. Very thorough report
Accounts linked to US
military units
- History
Central Vietnam War Links Look at the "Units" section midway
down the page for a very comprehensive list of military unit
accounts. The "Personal Accounts" Section is also comprehensive.
- A-1 Skyraider Combat
Journal This site is a journal written by an A1
Skyraider airplane pilot. Information on other aircraft
used in the Vietnam War can be found at the (Dayton, Ohio)
United States Air Force Museum.
- The Vietnam Helicopter
Flight Crew Network (VHFCN)is a non profit veterans
organization dedicated to the fulfillment of the following
purposes: To provide a forum for recreational communications
amongst a fraternity of aircrew members who served in Vietnam
during the period 1961-75. Topics cover the entire spectrum from
Vietnam to reunions and everything in between. This is their
website, complete with sound effects...
8. North
Vietnamese and Viet Cong
-
 America's Enemy (1954-1967) The war Americans seldom saw:
the view from North Vietnam, featuring the perspectives of
communist leaders, Vietcong guerrillas and American prisoners of
war. PBS Transcripts from the US TV series
Vietnam: A Television History. Useful especially for first
hand interviews
-
In Viet Cong Country, Villagers Are the Key US reporter
writes about live in an VC controlled village (after the US
withdrawal in 1973) Jacques Leslie This article appeared
in the Los Angeles Times, February 4, 1973 §
Ho Chi Minh
Vo Nguyen
Giap
9. The
Vietnamese viewpoint
-
Reflections From PBS, a
collection of a dozen first-person accounts from Americans and
Vietnamese.
- Viet Quoc
This is the website of the Vietnamese Nationalist Party.
This (politicised) website includes a whole range of articles on
the Vietnam War including: 'The 1968 Tet offensive', 'The
Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces', 'The Forgotten Victims in
Vietnam', 'Vietnamese Independence and Ho Chi Minh', 'Unmasking
Ho Chi Minh', 'Twenty-Two Years Under Communism' and 'South
Vietnamese Disabled Veterans'.
-
Communist Propaganda from North Vietnam Project (University
of Wisconsin)
-
Children of Vietnam War 1969-70 Background, Oral History
Project, Photo Album, & award-winning photographs of the exhibit
"Children of Vietnam War", a part of the permanent collection of
the National Vietnam Veterans Art Museum in Chicago, Illinois.
The original site has been removed so this is a archived
version. Valuable, but slow to load – be patient… §
See this casahistoria site for further links to the Vietnam War:
other casahistoria post 1945 conflict core sites:
Indochina: the French experience
in Indochina
Vietnam War, Part One: US Involvement
and campaigns
Vietnam War, Part Two: opposition,
contagion & US withdrawal
Decolonisation
in Africa, British southeast Asia & India, Dutch East Indies
The
Malvinas/Falklands War 1982 UK-Argentina conflict in
the South Atlantic
Arab-Israeli Conflict 1947-79
The British in
Mesopotamia/Iraq for links to 20th century events
before independence
Iraq, Hussein, the West & War for links
to the history of Iraq up to and including the Gulf Wars
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