The book under review, In which the Domino Fell: The us and Vietnam by James S. Olson and Randy Roberts, provides a comprehensive account with the wars in Vietnam since 1945 and some significant glimpses of Vietnam's modern history, beginning during the end on the Second Globe War, continuing through to the Vietnam War (or the “American War in Vietnam” as several Vietnamese prefer to call it) itself. In addition, the book also covers the very first and second Indochina War, and then discusses the consequences with the Vietnam War today. The purpose of Wherever the Domino Fell is to provide readers a comprehensive and unbiased perspective with the Vietnam War. This paper briefly summarizes the content in the book, reviews its strengths and weaknesses, and states the timely importance of this jobs by Olson and Roberts.
Before we begin our review and analysis of Exactly where the Domino Fell, it's important first to take into account the developments ahead of the war, during the war, and after the war. Within the early 20th century, Vietnam, in addition to Laos and Cambodia had been under French control. In the Second World War, the Japanese took control of Vietnam until it surrendered in 1945. The same year, the Alliance for your Independence of Vietnam (a communist-controlled alliance) obtained control of North Vietnam under Ho Chi Minh, forming the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. In spite if the colossal military assist provided by america military for the French forces, France was eventually beaten by the Vietminh in 1954.
In 1954, Vietnam was divided into 2 separate zones – Ho Chi Minh’s federal government would eat control in the Democratic Republic of North Vietnam, which was supported by China and also the Soviet Union; over a other hand, Bao Dai would head the Nation of Vietnam in South Vietnam, which was strongly supported by the US. However, from the following year, Bao Dai went into exile following his Prime Minister, Ngo Dinh Diem, engineered a referendum that abolished the monarchy. The 1956 free elections did not happen, and fearing that Ho Chi Minh would prevail, Diem as well as the US refused to implement the Geneva Accords.
The founding in 1960 from the National Liberation Front (NLF), composed of opponents in the South Vietnamese regime, ignited the Second Indochina War. With much more recurrent armed attacks on South Vietnamese villages, Diem’s federal government progressively turned to undemocratic policies. He was assassinated in 1963, but right here corrupt Saigon governments failed in establishing credibility in the general population. Held in contempt by the People in america they served, they remained primarily methods for ratifying American directives. In 1965, the government was not consulted on a US choice to commit massive ground forces as the conflict among North and South Vietnam worsened.
By 1968, over half a million American troops occupied South Vietnam. However, advanced firepower, and fighting together with half a million South Vietnamese soldiers, American forces did not succeed to overpower the NLF, backed by the North Vietnamese. This was due to American troops’ lack of knowledge of terrain, an inability to distinguish among friend and foe, failure to counter the tactics of guerilla warfare effectively, and political reasons (domestic and international). The 1973 Treaty of Paris called for your withdrawal of all US and allied troops from South Vietnam. On 30 April 1975, Saigon fell on the forces with the NLF and Vietnam was unified at last, independent, and communist. On A couple of July 1976, the 2 Vietnams became as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
Before we begin our review and analysis of Exactly where the Domino Fell, it's important first to take into account the developments ahead of the war, during the war, and after the war. Within the early 20th century, Vietnam, in addition to Laos and Cambodia had been under French control. In the Second World War, the Japanese took control of Vietnam until it surrendered in 1945. The same year, the Alliance for your Independence of Vietnam (a communist-controlled alliance) obtained control of North Vietnam under Ho Chi Minh, forming the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. In spite if the colossal military assist provided by america military for the French forces, France was eventually beaten by the Vietminh in 1954.
In 1954, Vietnam was divided into 2 separate zones – Ho Chi Minh’s federal government would eat control in the Democratic Republic of North Vietnam, which was supported by China and also the Soviet Union; over a other hand, Bao Dai would head the Nation of Vietnam in South Vietnam, which was strongly supported by the US. However, from the following year, Bao Dai went into exile following his Prime Minister, Ngo Dinh Diem, engineered a referendum that abolished the monarchy. The 1956 free elections did not happen, and fearing that Ho Chi Minh would prevail, Diem as well as the US refused to implement the Geneva Accords.
The founding in 1960 from the National Liberation Front (NLF), composed of opponents in the South Vietnamese regime, ignited the Second Indochina War. With much more recurrent armed attacks on South Vietnamese villages, Diem’s federal government progressively turned to undemocratic policies. He was assassinated in 1963, but right here corrupt Saigon governments failed in establishing credibility in the general population. Held in contempt by the People in america they served, they remained primarily methods for ratifying American directives. In 1965, the government was not consulted on a US choice to commit massive ground forces as the conflict among North and South Vietnam worsened.
By 1968, over half a million American troops occupied South Vietnam. However, advanced firepower, and fighting together with half a million South Vietnamese soldiers, American forces did not succeed to overpower the NLF, backed by the North Vietnamese. This was due to American troops’ lack of knowledge of terrain, an inability to distinguish among friend and foe, failure to counter the tactics of guerilla warfare effectively, and political reasons (domestic and international). The 1973 Treaty of Paris called for your withdrawal of all US and allied troops from South Vietnam. On 30 April 1975, Saigon fell on the forces with the NLF and Vietnam was unified at last, independent, and communist. On A couple of July 1976, the 2 Vietnams became as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
The human toll with the Vietnam War is unimaginable. In between 1954 and 1975, the war killed an estimated eight million people, mostly civilians. Millions have been also injured and about half a million men and women are even now missing. Though American soldiers have been placed in entire body bags and flown household for an honorable funeral, Vietnamese soldiers and civilians were buried in mass graves. As much as now, quite a few Vietnamese families are nevertheless searching for their relatives. The economic cost of the war can be massive. Livestock and crops, to which most Vietnamese men and women get their living, have been destroyed. From the US, it was estimated how the financial price with the war towards nation reached $140 billion. Another lasting legacy with the war was the landmines, which continue to kill or injure thousands of individuals today. The lasting effects of chemicals dropped on Vietnam have killed millions of people, and caused tens of thousands young children between 1975 and 1985 to become born deformed. Furthermore, the environmental destruction directed by the united states was so extensive that half of Vietnam's forests had been destroyed.
At present, there are thousands of books about the Vietnam War, and there's today strong national debate within the United States relating to lessons for a far better future. The publication of In which the Domino Fell reveals the not surprising fact that interest in the Vietnam War continues up to now, despite the official pronouncement that the United States has kicked the Vietnam syndrome. As this book by Olson and Robert demonstrates so capably, the Vietnam War will continue being studied as the climacteric of the cold war.
The title of Olsen and Robert’s book is a reference towards write-up World War II theory in US foreign policy, suggesting that if 1 region fell to communism others would follow. The domino theory dominated the united states foreign policy considering during the 1970s and was a major argument used by the American administration to justify the involvement of the US military inside Vietnam War. Applying the domino theory towards case of Vietnam War, it was argued that if the communists had taken control of South Vietnam, then the other Southeast Asian countries like Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, and Thailand would follow.
Although neither Olson nor Roberts has published monographic studies from the war based on archival research, they have a concrete grasp in the secondary facts inside field. The authors write in In which the Domino Fell a well-organized, incredibly readable interpretative text in the Vietnam War and its legacy. Right after a short prologue, where Olson and Roberts relate Vietnam War towards 1991 Gulf War, they follow a conventional chronological pattern, commencing with an account with the “Vietnamese Heritage”, concluding with some thoughts on a legacy from the war since 1975.
The heart with the book – the important period in between 1954 and 1975 – is really a modified “Presidential Synthesis,” with significant emphasis on a methods US presidents (Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon) dealt in the Vietnam situation. Olson and Roberts also include in their book a rich collection of material on combat experience, tactics and strategy, the history in the antiwar movement, and also the essential role of minorities. These materials are all carefully integrated to the text instead of put into separate sections or chapters However, the book just isn't just a chronicle. Unlike other books on a Vietnam War, which insipidly places some thing after another, Wherever the Domino Fell operates from an interpretative framework, that's observed exactly inside the “left-liberal” agreement about the Vietnam War. Olson and Roberts argue that “for the united states the Vietnam War was the wrong war within the wrong place at the wrong time” (vii). You'll find probably quite a few factors behind america involvement during the Vietnam War, but I agree in the author’s views that American leaders embarked on a war since of a rigid mind-set of obsolete and inapplicable beliefs. As Olson and Roberts thing out within the book, the war, inside the US perspective, was a wrong one due to the fact the American federal government saw only communism, not nationalism. The authors had been neither pacifists nor war mongers; they do not see the war as being a noble venture or some sort of imperialist agenda. Instead, the authors argue how the war “was unwinnable simply because america in no way decided what it was trying to achieve politically” (p. vii).
However, Olson and Roberts’ good book just isn't without shortcomings. Whilst the authors take substantial efforts in taking interpretative stands over a military and political items on the Vietnam War, their analysis is lacking regarding the movement to oppose the war. In about fifteen pages dedicated for the antiwar movement, Olson and Roberts failed to evaluate its decisive impact. However, the authors keep that “[a]lthough most Americans did not identify with antiwar activists,…the antiwar movement…[did] retain Johnson's Vietnam policies at the forefront of public debate” (175). A minor flaw of Exactly where the Domino Fell, which so concerns readers who are a great deal into the detail, will be the misspelling of the name of poet/veteran W. D. Ehrhart and mislabel his memoir Vietnam-Perkasie as being a “novel” (1).
Nonetheless, despite the major and minor flaws, Wherever the Domino Fell is incredibly useful, especially for those educators who teach courses on American history during the Vietnam War period. In fact, this book is designed for use within the classroom. Several educators have employed this book with great success, since their students discover the writing of Olson and Roberts incredibly engaging. Moreover, the book is synoptic, offering outstanding summaries from the already enormous scholarship on the Vietnam War. This text is also of significance to the readers as it is interpretative and keeps away within the textbook sin of boring readers to death.
At present, there are thousands of books about the Vietnam War, and there's today strong national debate within the United States relating to lessons for a far better future. The publication of In which the Domino Fell reveals the not surprising fact that interest in the Vietnam War continues up to now, despite the official pronouncement that the United States has kicked the Vietnam syndrome. As this book by Olson and Robert demonstrates so capably, the Vietnam War will continue being studied as the climacteric of the cold war.
The title of Olsen and Robert’s book is a reference towards write-up World War II theory in US foreign policy, suggesting that if 1 region fell to communism others would follow. The domino theory dominated the united states foreign policy considering during the 1970s and was a major argument used by the American administration to justify the involvement of the US military inside Vietnam War. Applying the domino theory towards case of Vietnam War, it was argued that if the communists had taken control of South Vietnam, then the other Southeast Asian countries like Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, and Thailand would follow.
Although neither Olson nor Roberts has published monographic studies from the war based on archival research, they have a concrete grasp in the secondary facts inside field. The authors write in In which the Domino Fell a well-organized, incredibly readable interpretative text in the Vietnam War and its legacy. Right after a short prologue, where Olson and Roberts relate Vietnam War towards 1991 Gulf War, they follow a conventional chronological pattern, commencing with an account with the “Vietnamese Heritage”, concluding with some thoughts on a legacy from the war since 1975.
The heart with the book – the important period in between 1954 and 1975 – is really a modified “Presidential Synthesis,” with significant emphasis on a methods US presidents (Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon) dealt in the Vietnam situation. Olson and Roberts also include in their book a rich collection of material on combat experience, tactics and strategy, the history in the antiwar movement, and also the essential role of minorities. These materials are all carefully integrated to the text instead of put into separate sections or chapters However, the book just isn't just a chronicle. Unlike other books on a Vietnam War, which insipidly places some thing after another, Wherever the Domino Fell operates from an interpretative framework, that's observed exactly inside the “left-liberal” agreement about the Vietnam War. Olson and Roberts argue that “for the united states the Vietnam War was the wrong war within the wrong place at the wrong time” (vii). You'll find probably quite a few factors behind america involvement during the Vietnam War, but I agree in the author’s views that American leaders embarked on a war since of a rigid mind-set of obsolete and inapplicable beliefs. As Olson and Roberts thing out within the book, the war, inside the US perspective, was a wrong one due to the fact the American federal government saw only communism, not nationalism. The authors had been neither pacifists nor war mongers; they do not see the war as being a noble venture or some sort of imperialist agenda. Instead, the authors argue how the war “was unwinnable simply because america in no way decided what it was trying to achieve politically” (p. vii).
However, Olson and Roberts’ good book just isn't without shortcomings. Whilst the authors take substantial efforts in taking interpretative stands over a military and political items on the Vietnam War, their analysis is lacking regarding the movement to oppose the war. In about fifteen pages dedicated for the antiwar movement, Olson and Roberts failed to evaluate its decisive impact. However, the authors keep that “[a]lthough most Americans did not identify with antiwar activists,…the antiwar movement…[did] retain Johnson's Vietnam policies at the forefront of public debate” (175). A minor flaw of Exactly where the Domino Fell, which so concerns readers who are a great deal into the detail, will be the misspelling of the name of poet/veteran W. D. Ehrhart and mislabel his memoir Vietnam-Perkasie as being a “novel” (1).
Nonetheless, despite the major and minor flaws, Wherever the Domino Fell is incredibly useful, especially for those educators who teach courses on American history during the Vietnam War period. In fact, this book is designed for use within the classroom. Several educators have employed this book with great success, since their students discover the writing of Olson and Roberts incredibly engaging. Moreover, the book is synoptic, offering outstanding summaries from the already enormous scholarship on the Vietnam War. This text is also of significance to the readers as it is interpretative and keeps away within the textbook sin of boring readers to death.
Personally, I like the book as a result of the authors’ strange ability to hunt useful anecdotes and useful quotations that position their jobs well around most texts in terms of interest level. Additionally, what draws me into Exactly where the Domino Fell is its much less stridently antiwar and additional balanced characteristic compared to other books on a Vietnam War. It makes a first-rate addition to course bibliographies, as well as a vital source for lecture material. It would be correct for upper-division and particularly graduate courses. Overall, minor flaws aside, Where the Domino Fell is an important contribution for the study and teaching in the Vietnam War, especially in this supply period wherever folks even now have not learned the lessons of the Vietnam War.
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