Britain and the Origins of the Vietnam War: UK Policy in Indo-China, 1943-50

by T.O. Smith

Overview

Offering a bold new interpretation of British foreign policy, Britain and the Origins of the Vietnam War deftly examines Britain's involvement with Vietnam from Churchill's World War II deliberations - about Roosevelt's desire to remove Indo-China from the French Empire - to the zenith and subsequent unravelling of British foreign policy in 1950. Using archival and private papers from Britain and France, Smith argues that Britain did not unilaterally restore Indo-China to France following World War II but pursued an active interest in Vietnamese and Cambodian affairs for strategic and humanitarian reasons. Smith offers a new defence of the controversial actions of the British liberation force commander, Major-General Douglas Gracey, and contrasts British and French attitudes towards Asian nationalism and the common problem of communism. This Anglocentric study produces a new insight into British foreign and imperial policy during the formative years of the Vietnam War.

About the Author:
T.O. Smith is Assistant Professor of History at Huntington University, USA

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780230591653
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan
Publication date:	08/10/2007
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	456 KB

About the Author

T.O. SMITH is Assistant Professor of History at Huntington University, USA

Table of Contents

List of Maps     ix
Acknowledgements     x
List of Abbreviations     xi
Introduction     1
Churchill and Roosevelt, January 1943-July 1945     4
Trusteeship and French participation in the war in the Far East     7
Inter-theatre rivalry     21
Resolution     31
A lost opportunity     33
Liberation, July 1945-March 1946     37
Vietnam     38
Cambodia     53
The Cambodian-Siamese border dispute     58
Rice and relief     63
Military aid     68
The co-ordination of British policy     72
Lord Killearn, March 1946-May 1948     74
Vietnam     75
The Cambodian-Siamese border dispute     85
Rice, relief and regionalism     88
Military aid     95
The rebranding of British policy     99
The Winds of Change, May 1948-January 1950     101
Indo-China     102
Rice, relief, regionalism and military aid     117
The escalation of a crisis     130
Consequences, January-June 1950     132
The blend of Britain's Indo-Chinese and regional policies     133
British policy denouement     157
Conclusion     159
Britain     159
France     163
The US     164
Summary     155
Select Personalia     167
Notes     171
Bibliography     212
Index     224

Editorial Reviews

'This book offers a comprehensive new look at an important and neglected part of Churchill's wartime premiership and throws fresh light on the decline of the British Empire in the Far East.' - John Charmley, author of Churchill's Grand Alliance: the Anglo-American Special Relationship, 1940-1957

'T.O. Smith's book opens a window onto the complex international politics of Southeast Asia in the immediate post-war period as the Vietnamese struggle for independence intensified. Focusing on British military, political and economic involvement in the developing contest between Vietnamese nationalism and French imperialism, he highlights Britain's pivotal role in the first phases of the Indo-China War.' - Martin Thomas, Reader in Colonial History, Exeter University, UK

'This major study, based on wide-ranging and meticulous archival research, is a very welcome addition to the literature. It sheds important light not only on the origins of the Vietnam War, but also on Britain's regional and imperial interests in Southeast Asia, Anglo-French relations during a delicate period of post-war readjustment, and the evolving 'Special Relationship' between Britain and the United States. It will certainly be of interest to British historians, and to historians of international relations, Asian history and European decolonization.' - Larry Butler, author of Britain and Empire: Adjusting to a Post-Imperial Age

From the Publisher