The Origins of the Vietnam War

364 Pages·1989·11.284 MB·English

by  A. Short

THE ORIGINS OF THE VIETNAM WAR
ORIGINS OF MODERN WARS
General editor: Harry Hearder
Titles already published:
THE ORIGINS OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR
lames loll
THE ORIGINS OF THE ARAB-ISRAELI WARS
Ritchie Ovendale
THE ORIGINS OF THE RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR
Ian Nish
THE ORIGINS OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTIONARY WARS
T. C. W. Blanning
THE ORIGINS OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR IN EUROPE
P. M. H. Bell
THE ORIGINS OF THE KOREAN WAR
Peter Lowe
THE ORIGINS OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR IN ASIA AND THE PACIFIC
Akira Iriye
THE ORIGINS OF THE VIETNAM WAR
Anthony Short
THE ORIGINS OF
THE VIETNAM WAR
Anthony Short
1
~ Routledge
~ ~ Taylor & Francis Group
LONDON AND NEW YORK
First published 1989 by Longman Group Limited
Published 2013 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group,
un informa business
Copyrighl © 1989, Taylor & francis.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or repro
duced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or
other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photo
copying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval
system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Nolices
Knowledge and best practice in this field are constantly changing.
As new research and experience broaden our understanding,
changes in research methods, professional practices, or medical
treatment may become necessary.
Practitioners and researchers must always rely on their own experi
ence and knowledge in evaluating and using any information,
methods, compounds, or experiments described herein. In using
such information or methods they should be mindful of their own
safety and the safety of others, including parties for whom they
have a professional responsibility.
To the fullest extent of the law, neither the Publisher nor the au
thors, contributors, or editors, assume any liability for any injury
and/or damage lo persons or properly as a maller of producls lia
bility, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any
methods, products, instructions, or ideas contained in the material
herein.
ISBN 13: 978-0-582-49081-9 (pbk)
BRITISH LIBRARY CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION DATA
Short, Anthony
The origins of the Vietnam War. -
(Origins of modern wars)
1. Vietnamese wars, 1954-1975. Causes
I. Title II. Series
959.704'2
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Short, Anthony.
The origins of the Vietnam War.
(Origins of modern wars)
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. Vietnamese Conflict, 1961-1975-0rigins.
2. Vietnam-History-20th century. 3. United States
Foreign relations-Vietnam. 4. Vietnam-Foreign
relations-United States. 5. United States-Foreign
Relations-1945- I. Title. II. Title: Origins
of the Viet Nam War. III. Series.
DS557.6.S53 1989 959.704'32 88--27194
Set in 10/11 pt Linotron Times
CONTENTS
Editor's Foreword ix
Preface and Acknowledgements xiii
Map xvi
Prologue 1
Chapter 1. Ho Chi Minh and the French: National 21
Communism? 1920--1946
The nature of French colonial rule 21
The influence of Japan and China on Vietnamese
nationalism 25
Ho Chi Minh 27
Abortive revolution 30
Patriotism and the peasantry 32
China and the United States: sponsors of Viet-
namese independence 36
The Japanese coup 38
The August revolution 41
Conflict in the south 45
Freedom and the French Union 47
Agreement or disagreement? 49
Flashpoints 54
Chapter 2. Acheson and the entangling alliance: 1946--1952 62
The inclination to intervene: hope of a negotiated 62
settlement
The French connection 65
Division in the State Department? 70
A communist offensive in South-East Asia? 73
The Chinese connection 75
No alternative: the Bao Dai solution 78
v
The Origins of the Vietnam War
Aid to Indo-China 79
The Melby-Erskine Mission 84
The Chinese shadow 87
One war? 87
De Lattre's comet 93
Chapter 3. Dulles at the brink: 1952-1954 102
Replacing the French 102
Identifying the target 107
Visions of victory 110
Congressional interests 118
War plans 124
Dien Bien Phu and the question of intervention 128
Bluff? 131
China: the sufficient cause? 133
The British obstacle 137
The case for intervention 145
No acceptable settlement 147
Chapter 4. The Ashes of Geneva: 1954 153
Intervention still an option 157
The United States v. China 159
Mendes France arrives 163
A salvage operation 165
Seven conditions for a settlement 167
Ngo Dinh Diem 170
An imposed agreement 172
Curiosities of the Final Declaration 174
Elections and responsibilities 176
Chapter 5. Diem and the National Liberation Front: 186
1954-1960
The status of South Vietnam 187
Sponsored opportunity 190
Sympathy for Diem 193
Doubts and commitment 195
The Collins mission 197
'A synthetic strong man' 198
Diem on the rocks 199
A reprieve 206
Advisers and critics 207
South Vietnam as an American dependency 211
'Adverse trends' 216
VI
Contents
Emergence of the NLF 217
Decision in Hanoi 221
Chapter 6. Kennedy's Frontier: Wars of National Liberation: 227
1961-1963
Laos 227
Khrushchev's challenge? 233
Kennedy's commitment 236
Johnson goes to Vietnam 242
Pragmatic resolve and limited partnership 246
Rusk and McNamara agree 248
Kennedy's doubts 251
Counter-insurgency 254
Strategic hamlets 258
Irreducible optimism 260
The problem of Diem 263
The coup 266
Chapter 7. Johnson's Choice: 1963-1965 278
The Khanh coup 282
Debate and decision in Hanoi 284
'The most critical situation' 287
War plans 288
Tonkin Gulf 292
How to help the South 303
'Off to the races' 305
Was the US at war? 310
The point of no return 313
Consensus 317
Conclusion 326
Sources and Further Reading 332
Index 336
vii
This page intentionally left blank.
EDITOR'S FOREWORD
With the publication of this, the eighth, volume in the series, the
short lull which has followed Akira lriye's The Origins of the Second
World War in Asia and the Pacific is over, and it seems likely that a
second wave of volumes is beginning. It is therefore an appropriate
moment for the editor to reiterate the aims of the series, and perhaps
he will be forgiven for indulging in the first person.
When I first had the idea of editing a series of books on the
causes of individual wars - long before I fouad a publisher who was
wise enough to undertake the project - I was asking myself why it
was that academics in other disciplines - political science, sociology,
psychology, even zoology - were prepared to speculate on the causes
of wars in general, while historians were inhibited from doing so. T.
C. W. Blanning, in his The Origins of the French Revolutionary Wars,
discussed shrewdly and amusingly the speculations of anthropologists,
ethnologists, sociologists and psychologists. It seemed to me that what
historians could contribute were specific analyses of the origins of
individual wars, using a knowledge and understanding which the
other social scientists would inevitably lack. Historians (whether they
teach in departments of History, Politics or International Relations,
or are, indeed, outside the academic world altogether) would bring
to bear on the problem their scholarship and their research into the
history of various countries and societies, and their understanding
of the operation of international relations in the immediate, and
not so immediate, past. In doing so they would contribute to a
revival of what used to be called 'diplomatic history', by placing it
into a much deeper perspective than it had enjoyed in the writings
between the wars. That 'diplomatic history' has something to offer
in this deeper perspective, which can better be termed 'international
history', can hardly be doubted. Already in 1965 Jacques Godechot
referred to 'the lack of favour which has unjustly been shown towards
diplomatic history in recent years' (Les revolutions 1770-1799, Presse
Universitaire de France). The injustice is now being to a great extent
eliminated.
ix