---
title: The Vietnam War
description: The Vietnam War was a decades-long conflict over Vietnam's independence and unification. You will learn its roots in French colonial rule, American escalation, how the war was fought, home-front politics, and its consequences for Vietnam, the United States and the Cold War.
category: humanities
subcategory: history
difficulty: beginner, intermediate, advanced
url: /subject/the-vietnam-war
---

# The Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was a decades-long conflict over Vietnam's independence and unification. You will learn its roots in French colonial rule, American escalation, how the war was fought, home-front politics, and its consequences for Vietnam, the United States and the Cold War.

## Available Resources

3 Books • 1 Courses • 1 Websites

## Websites

### 1. The Pentagon Papers (Report of the OSD Vietnam Task Force)

The complete declassified Pentagon Papers, a secret history of US decision-making in Vietnam from 1940 to 1968 commissioned by Robert McNamara. It is the key primary source on how the US escalated in Vietnam. The collection runs to about 7,000 pages, organized by period and theme, with free PDF downloads.

**Difficulty:** Advanced | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free

**Link:** https://www.archives.gov/research/pentagon-papers

**Tags:** pentagon papers, primary sources, us foreign policy, vietnam war, cold war

## Courses

### 1. History U: The Vietnam War (Fredrik Logevall)

**Author:** Fredrik Logevall

A free, self-paced course of 23 video sessions taught by Harvard historian Fredrik Logevall. It covers the struggle for Vietnam from 1940 to 1975: French colonization, the fight for independence, American escalation, US domestic politics, the Cold War context, and the war's legacy.

**Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free

**Link:** https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-u/the-vietnam-war

**Tags:** vietnam war, us history, cold war, decolonization, video lectures

## Books

### 1. Hanoi's War: An International History of the War for Peace in Vietnam

**Author:** Lien-Hang T. Nguyen

A history of North Vietnamese war and peace strategy based on Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs archives. It argues that Le Duan and Le Duc Tho, rather than Ho Chi Minh or Giap, directed policy, and it follows the diplomacy through Moscow, Beijing, Saigon and Paris. It supplies the authoritative Vietnamese-perspective scholarship and covers Hanoi's decisions and the Cold War diplomacy that US-centered histories leave out.

**Difficulty:** Advanced | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid

**Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/146962835X?tag=edmonddante07-20

**Tags:** vietnam war, north vietnam, diplomacy, cold war, paris peace accords

### 2. Embers of War: The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America's Vietnam

**Author:** Fredrik Logevall

A Pulitzer Prize-winning history of the French war in Indochina from 1940 to 1959, based on newly opened diplomatic archives. It traces the path from Dien Bien Phu to the American policy choices that committed the United States to Vietnam.

**Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid

**Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0375756477?tag=edmonddante07-20

**Tags:** first indochina war, french colonialism, dien bien phu, us foreign policy, vietnam war

### 3. The Vietnam War: A Concise International History

**Author:** Mark Atwood Lawrence

It is the best short overview from a recognized scholar and looks at every side of the war, not just the American one. A short history of the war from 1945 to 1975, drawing on archives from several countries. It covers French colonialism, the American escalation, the motives of Hanoi and its Soviet and Chinese allies, the peace talks, and the war's legacies.

**Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid

**Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0199753938?tag=edmonddante07-20

**Tags:** vietnam war, international history, cold war, survey

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