Book Review one: Embers of War, Fredrik Logevall
Logevall’s book, Embers of War looks at the two and a half decades preceding Americas war in Vietnam. The book discusses the political motivations that ended Frances attempt to re-colonize the country, and Americas political and later military involvement in Indochina. Logevall’s major argument throughout the book is based around the idea that America could have avoided involvement in the Vietnam war. This repeated theme is clearly represented through his use of the Bernard Fall quote, “Dreaming different dreams than the French but walking in the same footsteps.” To this end Embers of War outlines three different stages in the US involvement that could have been moments to walk away from the war. The first moment Logevall points to is the end of World War II. He posits that the US could have …show more content…
After the war Minh sought to achieve independence for Vietnam. The issue that prevented the states from this course of action, as Logevall points out, is that though Minh was primarily a Nationalist, he was also a communist. The second moment in the development of the war is Frances request for military aid in 1948 . France had entered a war with Vietnam without the troops necessary to win. Through arguing that with the win of General Mao in China, Indochina had now become center stage to ongoing war against communism. Logevall argues that if the US had not sent ‘Advisors’ at this point, further involvement would have been avoided. However this could have been at the cost of the alliance with France. The final moment that Logevall suggests as a turning point for US involvement is the decision to keep troops involved after the devastating looses of 1954 , and the waning involvement of the French. Logevall argues that long before the war
Logevall’s book, Embers of War looks at the two and a half decades preceding Americas war in Vietnam. The book discusses the political motivations that ended Frances attempt to re-colonize the country, and Americas political and later military involvement in Indochina. Logevall’s major argument throughout the book is based around the idea that America could have avoided involvement in the Vietnam war. This repeated theme is clearly represented through his use of the Bernard Fall quote, “Dreaming different dreams than the French but walking in the same footsteps.” To this end Embers of War outlines three different stages in the US involvement that could have been moments to walk away from the war. The first moment Logevall points to is the end of World War II. He posits that the US could have …show more content…
After the war Minh sought to achieve independence for Vietnam. The issue that prevented the states from this course of action, as Logevall points out, is that though Minh was primarily a Nationalist, he was also a communist. The second moment in the development of the war is Frances request for military aid in 1948 . France had entered a war with Vietnam without the troops necessary to win. Through arguing that with the win of General Mao in China, Indochina had now become center stage to ongoing war against communism. Logevall argues that if the US had not sent ‘Advisors’ at this point, further involvement would have been avoided. However this could have been at the cost of the alliance with France. The final moment that Logevall suggests as a turning point for US involvement is the decision to keep troops involved after the devastating looses of 1954 , and the waning involvement of the French. Logevall argues that long before the war