The 25-Year War

The 25-Year War
Author: Bruce Palmer
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
Total Pages: 354
Release: 2014-04-23
Genre: History
ISBN: 0813146429

An American army general presents an insider's history of the Vietnam War with “a tough, dispassionate, common-sense analysis” of what went wrong (Baltimore Sun). On April 30, 1975, Saigon and the government of South Vietnam fell to the communist regime of North Vietnam, ending twenty-five years of struggle for American military forces. This is the story of what went wrong there militarily, and why. General Bruce Palmer experienced the Vietnam War in the field and in the highest command echelons. America's most serious error, he believes, was committing its armed forces to a war in which neither political nor military goals were ever fully articulated by our civilian leaders. Our armed forces, lacking clear objectives, failed to develop an appropriate strategy, instead relinquishing the offensive to Hanoi. Yet an achievable strategy could have been devised, Palmer believes. Moreover, our South Vietnamese allies could have been bolstered by appropriate aid but were instead overwhelmed by the massive American military presence. Compounding these errors were the flawed civilian and military chains of command. The result was defeat for America and disaster for South Vietnam. “Perhaps the best single account of the Vietnam War by a military man.” —Baltimore Sun

25-year War

25-year War
Author: Bruce Palmer
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2002-09-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780613998222

"Will stand for years to come as an indispensable resource for students of the war and the American defense establishment that has survived it." -- The New York Times Book Review "If you read only one book about Vietnam, this should be it." -- The Washingtonian "A brilliant post mortem -- a clear summary of a complex autopsy of a victim who died of multiple, avoidable, unintended self-inflicted wounds." -- Armed Forces Journal "Perhaps the best single account of the Vietnam War by a military man. A tough, dispassionate, common-sense analysis of America's military role in Vietnam." -- The Baltimore Evening Sun "An absolute must for any officer who considers himself a military professional." -- Harry G. Summers Jr. in Parameters

The Twenty-five Year Century

The Twenty-five Year Century
Author: Quang Thi Lâm
Publisher: University of North Texas Press
Total Pages: 449
Release: 2001
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1574411438

For Victor Hugo, the nineteenth century could be remembered by only its first two years, which established peace in Europe and France's supremacy on the continent. For General Lam Quang Thi, the twentieth century had only twenty-five years: from 1950 to 1975, during which the Republic of Vietnam and its Army grew up and collapsed with the fall of Saigon. This is the story of those twenty-five years. General Thi fought in the Indochina War as a battery commander on the side of the French. When Viet Minh aggression began after the Geneva Accords, he served in the nascent Vietnamese National Army, and his career covers this army's entire lifespan. He was deputy commander of the 7th Infantry Division, and in 1965 he assumed command of the 9th Infantry Division. In 1966, at the age of thirty-three, he became one of the youngest generals in the Vietnamese Army. He participated in the Tet Offensive before being removed from the front lines for political reasons. When North Vietnam launched the 1972 Great Offensive, he was brought back to the field and eventually promoted to commander of an Army Corps Task Force along the Demilitarized Zone. With the fall of Saigon, he left Vietnam and emigrated to the United States. Like his tactics during battle, General Thi pulls no punches in his denunciation of the various regimes of the Republic, and complacency and arrogance toward Vietnam in the policies of both France and the United States. Without lapsing into bitterness, this is finally a tribute to the soldiers who fell on behalf of a good cause.

Book Analysis: The 25-Year War: America's Military Role in Vietnam, by General Bruce Palmer, Jr

Book Analysis: The 25-Year War: America's Military Role in Vietnam, by General Bruce Palmer, Jr
Author: Irvin L. Cakerice
Publisher:
Total Pages: 27
Release: 1988
Genre:
ISBN:

The author chose the book analysis as his project because it allowed him the opportunity to read additional material related to the military. He chose The 25-Year War; America's Military Role in Vietnam by General Bruce Palmer, Jr. In order to determine if the lessons learned were sound, the author compared the lessons with the principles of war studied in this school. The book, On Strategy: The Vietnam War in Context, by Colonel Harry G. Summers, Jr. was used as the primary source to support General Palmer's assessment of the war. The project is organized in four chapters: Chapter One provides background information on General Palmer and examines his military experiences. This insight helps identify any bias in the author. Chapter Two is a synopsis of the American involvement in Vietnam and develops the framework for the reader to use in understanding the author's assessment of the year. Chapter Three summarizes the author's assessment of the operational performance of the military forces, the strategy and by the US, and finally the lessons learned. This chapter also compares General Palmer's views of the war with other sources, particularly, Colonel Summers. Chapter four is a brief conclusion to the project.

The 25-Year War

The 25-Year War
Author: General Bruce PalmerJr.
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
Total Pages: 264
Release: 2014-04-23
Genre: History
ISBN: 0813146410

On April 30, 1975, Saigon and the government of South Vietnam fell to the communist regime of North Vietnam, ending—for American military forces—exactly twenty-five year of courageous but unavailing struggle. This is not the story of how America became embroiled in a conflict in a small country half-way around the globe, nor of why our armed forces remained there so long after the futility of our efforts became obvious to many. It is the story of what went wrong there militarily, and why. The author is a professional soldier who experienced the Vietnam war in the field and in the highest command echelons. General Palmer's insights into the key events and decisions that shaped American's military role in Vietnam are uncommonly perceptive. America's most serious error, he believes, was committing its armed forces to a war in which neither political nor military goals were ever fully articulated by our civilian leaders. Our armed forces, lacking clear objectives, failed to develop an appropriate strategy, instead relinquishing the offensive to Hanoi. Yet an achievable strategy could have been devised, Palmer believes. Moreover, our South Vietnamese allies could have been bolstered by appropriate aid but were instead overwhelmed by the massive American military presence. Compounding these errors were the flawed civilian and military chains of command. The result was defeat for America and disaster for South Vietnam. General Palmer presents here an insider's history of the war and an astute critique of America's military strengths and successes as well as its weaknesses and failures.

The 25-year war

The 25-year war
Author: General Bruce Palmer (Jr)
Publisher:
Total Pages: 236
Release: 1984
Genre: Vietnam War, 1961-1975
ISBN:

Vietnam

Vietnam
Author: John Prados
Publisher:
Total Pages: 704
Release: 2009
Genre: History
ISBN:

The first major synthesis of the war since 2001, drawing upon a host of newly declassified documents, presidential tapes, and overlooked foreign sources to give the most comprehensive look to date of the war that still haunts America.

Our Year of War

Our Year of War
Author: Daniel P. Bolger
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Total Pages: 368
Release: 2017-11-07
Genre: History
ISBN: 0306903245

Two brothers--Chuck and Tom Hagel--who went to war in Vietnam, fought in the same unit, and saved each other's life. They disagreed about the war, but they fought it together. 1968. America was divided. Flag-draped caskets came home by the thousands. Riots ravaged our cities. Assassins shot our political leaders. Black fought white, young fought old, fathers fought sons. And it was the year that two brothers from Nebraska went to war. In Vietnam, Chuck and Tom Hagel served side by side in the same rifle platoon. Together they fought in the Mekong Delta, battled snipers in Saigon, chased the enemy through the jungle, and each saved the other's life under fire. But when their one-year tour was over, these two brothers came home side-by-side but no longer in step--one supporting the war, the other hating it. Former Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and his brother Tom epitomized the best, and withstood the worst, of the most tumultuous, shocking, and consequential year in the last half-century. Following the brothers' paths from the prairie heartland through a war on the far side of the world and back to a divided America, Our Year of War tells the story of two brothers at war--a gritty, poignant, and resonant story of a family and a nation divided yet still united.

Intervention in the Caribbean

Intervention in the Caribbean
Author: General Bruce PalmerJr.
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2014-07-11
Genre: History
ISBN: 0813150027

The 1965 U.S. intervention in the Dominican Republic remains a unique event: the only time the Organization of American States has intervened with force on a member state's territory. It is also a classic example of a U.S. military operation that drew in America's hemispheric allies. Finally, its outcome was that rare feat in the annals of diplomacy -- a peaceful political settlement of a civil war. Here for the first time is the full story of that action, as told by one of its leading participants. General Palmer was the U.S. Army's operations chief in Washington in April 1965 when the Dominican crisis broke, and was placed in command of U.S. forces deployed to the Republic. His perspective thus reflects both the perceptions of Washington officials and those of the U.S. commander on the scene. Palmer's instructions from President Johnson were to prevent another Cuba. Although the intervention remains controversial today, especially with Latin Americans, it was successful both politically and militarily, bringing unprecedented stability to the long-troubled Dominican Republic. The lesson Palmer draws is that success in such a venture comes only when political and military actions are orchestrated toward a common political goal. Palmer concludes with an assessment of the current situation in the broader Caribbean area, including a comparison of the 1965 Dominican and 1983 Grenadian interventions, and an analysis of the situation in Panama with its implications for the Canal Treaty. His book is a timely contribution to the history of the Caribbean that enlarges our understanding of this region's vital importance to the United States.

Vietnam

Vietnam
Author: Michael Lind
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 434
Release: 2013-07-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 1439135266

Michael Lind casts new light on one of the most contentious episodes in American history in this controversial bestseller. In this groundgreaking reinterpretation of America's most disatrous and controversial war, Michael Lind demolishes enduring myths and put the Vietnam War in its proper context—as part of the global conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States. Lind reveals the deep cultural divisions within the United States that made the Cold War consensus so fragile and explains how and why American public support for the war in Indochina declined. Even more stunning is his provacative argument that the United States failed in Vietnam because the military establishment did not adapt to the demands of what before 1968 had been largely a guerrilla war. In an era when the United States so often finds itself embroiled in prolonged and difficult conflicts, Lind offers a sobering cautionary tale to Ameicans of all political viewpoints.