Many people I have spoken to from the West seem to have a blind spot about the ideological differences within Communism which lead to a massive fracturing of the Communist world. Some think that the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China were a united monolith. Nothing could be further from the truth. The purpose of this blog is to focus on Vietnam, which a large part of this article is dedicated to. Occasionally, that requires us to take a step back and look at regional geopolitics to understand how the moves of other powerful countries in the region ultimately affect Vietnam.
The Communist regimes in all of these countries tried to rewrite and paper over the shared history of these various nations and pretend that they no longer mattered to them as members of the international communist movement. One of my contributions to anti-war protests on my campus was to talk about this real history and how it undercut the narrative pushed in Washington DC to justify the American involvement. People still ignore this history today when talking especially about Russia and China, between which there is no love lost but only the hunt for advantage. The balance between them has drastically shifted and China still remembers.
Great article. Two other significant events in the Communist bloc's civil war: the Cambodian theater of the Second Indochina War and the Battle of Vi Xuyen. After Lon Nol came to power while Sihanouk was in France, the DRV was in an extremely uneasy position vis-a-vis the Khmer Rouge. The DRV was pro-Sihanouk since he was friendlier than Lon Nol, but the Khmer Rouge were trying to overthrow him, so tensions between the CPK and the VWP intensified under the radar while they remained formal allies. The PRC leaned towards the CPK to try to prevent future DRV dominance in Indochina. Lien-Hang T. Nguyen details it extensively in "Hanoi's War." After the 79 border clash, the PAVN and PLA had another notable clash in 1984 at Vi Xuyen (and some smaller ones later).
It appears I have another book to add to my book wish list. I will look for this in several weeks during my next book store run. I just loaded up on books yesterday, so it may be a while before I head back. Thank you!
One thing for sure you can tell the story without it being so involved I would give up reading. Not a good story but one that people need to understand.
This one was a tough ending. I had another ending which described lessons from the period, but I decided to scrap the entire page long ending because it started getting political. I thought it best to just let it end in a sudden sad whimper, similar to actual events.
That gives me an idea for an article. A quick Ho Chi Minh biography about his trip to the West. I may have some pictures I took somewhere of the hotel where he made Boston creme pies.
Excellent read! A forgotten history…especially in the West.
The Communist regimes in all of these countries tried to rewrite and paper over the shared history of these various nations and pretend that they no longer mattered to them as members of the international communist movement. One of my contributions to anti-war protests on my campus was to talk about this real history and how it undercut the narrative pushed in Washington DC to justify the American involvement. People still ignore this history today when talking especially about Russia and China, between which there is no love lost but only the hunt for advantage. The balance between them has drastically shifted and China still remembers.
Great article. Two other significant events in the Communist bloc's civil war: the Cambodian theater of the Second Indochina War and the Battle of Vi Xuyen. After Lon Nol came to power while Sihanouk was in France, the DRV was in an extremely uneasy position vis-a-vis the Khmer Rouge. The DRV was pro-Sihanouk since he was friendlier than Lon Nol, but the Khmer Rouge were trying to overthrow him, so tensions between the CPK and the VWP intensified under the radar while they remained formal allies. The PRC leaned towards the CPK to try to prevent future DRV dominance in Indochina. Lien-Hang T. Nguyen details it extensively in "Hanoi's War." After the 79 border clash, the PAVN and PLA had another notable clash in 1984 at Vi Xuyen (and some smaller ones later).
It appears I have another book to add to my book wish list. I will look for this in several weeks during my next book store run. I just loaded up on books yesterday, so it may be a while before I head back. Thank you!
One thing for sure you can tell the story without it being so involved I would give up reading. Not a good story but one that people need to understand.
This one was a tough ending. I had another ending which described lessons from the period, but I decided to scrap the entire page long ending because it started getting political. I thought it best to just let it end in a sudden sad whimper, similar to actual events.
Although it was much earlier than the death of Stalin, the US's ignoring Ho Chi Minh's plea for help from Harry Truman to repel the French might be an appropriate footnote? Had Truman's State Department not ignored it (reports are that Truman never knew of its existence), Uncle Ho may have not turned to the Soviets. https://history.iowa.gov/history/education/educator-resources/primary-source-sets/cold-war-vietnam/letter-ho-chi-minh-to
That gives me an idea for an article. A quick Ho Chi Minh biography about his trip to the West. I may have some pictures I took somewhere of the hotel where he made Boston creme pies.