Vietnam 1946 How the War Began [Hardcover]

Based on multiarchival research conducted over almost three decades, this landmark account tells how a few men set off a war that would lead to tragedy for millions. Stein T?nnesson was one of the first historians to delve into scores of secret French, British, and American political, military, and intelligence documents. In this fascinating account of an unfolding tragedy, he brings this research to bear to disentangle the complex web of events, actions, and mentalities that led to thirty years of war in Indochina. As the story unfolds, T?nnesson challenges some widespread misconceptions, arguing that French general Leclerc fell into a Chinese trap in March 1946, and Vietnamese general Giap into a French trap in December. Taking us from the antechambers of policymakers in Paris to the docksides of Haiphong and the streets of Hanoi,Vietnam 1946provides the most vivid account to date of the series of events that would make Vietnam the most embattled area in the world during the Cold War period.

Stein T?nnesson was Director of the International Peace Research Institute in Oslo, Norway, from 2001 to 2009. He is author ofThe Vietnamese Revolution of 1945: Roosevelt, Ho Chi Minh and de Gaulle in a World at Waramong other books.

Vietnam 1946is a masterful narrative of the immediate origins of the first Vietnam War. It is, by turns, vivid and shocking; it is always immensely revealing. T?nnesson brings forensic clarity to crucial events about which, even now, some sixty years later, fundamental misapprehensions exist. An outstanding work of scholarship of major international importance. Martin Thomas, author ofEmpires of Intelligence

T?nnesson captures brilliantly the 1946 confrontation between two republics: France determined to redeem itself from Axis humiliation by regaining Indochina; Vietnam equally determined to retake independence after eighty years of colonial servitude. T?nnesson also demonstrates,ls8