history

The Vietnam War in light of the Western strategy for containing communism
Clive Christie

9781909644960 The Vietnam War was the major hot war of the Cold War era. This book examines the war, both from the strategic and the ideological perspective, in the context of the Western attempt to contain communism globally. It provides a clear historical framework for the competing voices of the war, and an analysis of the consequences of the failure of America to achieve its strategic goals in Vietnam. Among these were the prolonged devastation inflicted on Indochina; the consequent crippling of the Western claim to moral superiority over communism; the consolidation of anti-American sentiment worldwide; and the collapse of Western liberal morale. America's defeat in Vietnam provided a major boost to the communist cause throughout the 'Third World'.
Published:1st Feb 2016
Paperback:344 pages
Price:£12.50
ISBN:9-781909-644960

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However, this book also demonstrates that the Americans did succeed in their ultimate regional objective: the containment of communism in East and Southeast Asia. During the war, America was able to contain the communist advance within the Indochina region, thus allowing economically and politically resilient non-communist states to emerge across Asia by the time of the communist victory in Vietnam. The victorious communist states of Indochina, by contrast, descended rapidly into ideological conflict, economic collapse, and internecine war. By 1980, Asian communism had lost ideological credibility to such an extent that, effectively, the Cold War had ended in East Asia long before the collapse of the Berlin Wall.

Clive J. Christie gained a doctorate at Cambridge University before embarking on an academic career. He retired as a Senior Lecturer in Southeast Asian History at the University of Hull in 2004, and he is now a Senior Research Associate at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. His main interest is in the period of nationalist awakening, decolonisation, regional conflict in the post-independence period, and the impact of the Cold War on twentieth-century Southeast Asia. His publications include the following books: A History of Modern Southeast Asia: Nationalism and Separatism