Vietnam War

“North Vietnam, officially recognized and supported by most Communist countries, is engaged in massive insurgency operations against the government of South Vietnam. Elements from the ground, air and sea forces of North Vietnam have directly engaged corresponding forces of South Vietnam and its supporters in combat operations. During the period of research and writing, North Vietnamese Government authorities were in the process of carrying out several major domestic programs designed to solve some of their most pressing problems …”

"Vietnam, a country with 2,000 years of cultural and political history, forms the eastern flank of the Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered to the North by China, to the east and south by the China Sea and to the west by Laos and Cambodia. Late in the nineteenth century, Vietnam became a part of the French colonial empire. For nearly 80 years it remained under French domination, and not until 1954, when the Geneva Agreement ended 8 years of warfare against France, did Vietnam gain full independence. As a result of the Agreement the country was partitioned at the Demarcation Line near the 17th parallel, dividing it into two distinct political entities, each claiming to be the legitimate government of the entire country. To the south is the Republic of Vietnam, aligned with the Western powers of the Free World; to the north of the Line the country is governed by the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, firmly aligned with the Communist countries. "

"The current study focuses on the years between 1975 and the mid-1980s, when a nascent and newly reunified nation struggled to develop a postwar identity. It was a period marked by a change in leadership, as Vietnam's first generation of communist leaders began to retire in favor of younger technocrats; by the introduction of significant economic reforms, including the preservation of private enterprise in the South; and by major foreign policy developments, particularly the Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation signed with the Soviet Union, the invasion and occupation of Cambodia, and the 1979 border war with China."

The Vietnam War remains a major point of reference in discussions of U.S. foreign policy and national character. The lessons and legacies of the most divisive event in U.S. history in the twentieth century are hotly debated to this day. Written by a renowned scholar of the conflict, The Columbia Guide to the Vietnam War provides students and researchers with the materials to think seriously about the conflict's many paradoxes and ramifications.

Now in its second edition, this comprehensive study of the Vietnam War sheds more light on the longest and one of the most controversial conflicts in U.S. history. * Includes many photographs and illustrations that bring the Vietnam War to life * Contains more than 200 primary sources in a separate documents volume, with full introductions for each * Presents an extensive chronology of historic events and a glossary of terms * Provides cross-references and bibliographies that facilitate further research

Extensive collection of digitized maps, including topographical, historical, and Central Intelligence Agency maps.

Maps cover Indochina 1954, The Battle of Ap Bac 1963, Situation 1964, NVA Plan for 1965, Battle of la Drang 1965, Tet Offensive 1968, South Vietnam 1970, Cambodia 1970, South Vietnam 1971, Lam Son 1971, Spring Offensive 1972, Final Days 1975

The collections contained within the Ike Skelton Combined Arms Research Library Digital Library are largely composed of digital versions of paper documents from the Ike Skelton CARL collections and student papers produced at the US Army Command and General Staff College. We have recently partnered with several Army educational and historical organizations whose collections appear here also. The collections of digitized materials are uploaded in the CONTENTdm® Digital Collection Management System which allows for greater search and retrieval of the individual documents.

This category contains maps showing campaigns of major military conflicts including troop movements, defensive structures and groundworks, roads to and from sites of military engagements, campsites, and local buildings, topography and vegetation. Some of the maps are manuscripts drawn on the field of battle, while others are engraved including some that have manuscript annotations reflecting the history of the battle or campaign. A significant number of battle maps provide information about the locality that is not available elsewhere such as the location of plantations, the names of landowners in the area, the configuration of small towns and villages, and indications of prior settlement by native Americans.

The Center of Military History (CMH), which reports to the Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of the Army, is responsible for the appropriate use of history throughout the United States Army. Traditionally, this mission has meant recording the official history of the Army in both peace and war, while advising the Army Staff on historical matters.

The archive has collected millions of pages of material and tens of thousands of photographs, slides, maps, periodicals, audio, moving images, and books related to the Vietnam War, Indochina, and the impact of the war on the United States and Southeast Asia.