Confronting Vietnam: Soviet Policy toward the Indochina Conflict, 1954-1963 (Cold War International History Project)

Based on extensive research in the Russian archives, this book examines the Soviet approach to the Vietnam conflict between the 1954 Geneva conference on Indochina and late 1963, when the overthrow of the South Vietnamese president Ngo Dinh Diem and the assassination of John F. Kennedy radically transformed the conflict.The author finds that the USSR attributed no geostrategic importance to Indochina and did not want the crisis there to disrupt détente. The Russians had high hopes that the Geneva accords would bring years of peace in the region. Gradually disillusioned, they tried to strengthen North Vietnam, but would not support unification of North and South. By the early 1960s, however, they felt obliged to counter the American embrace of an aggressively anti-Communist regime in South Vietnam and the hostility of its former ally, the People's Republic of China. Finally, Moscow decided to disengage from Vietnam, disappointed that its efforts to avert an international crisis there had failed.__Part of the **[Cold War International History Project Series](https://www.goodreads.com/series/108771-cold-war-international-history-project-series)** from **[Woodrow Wilson Center Press](http://www.wilsoncenter.org/woodrow-wilson-center-press)**__ Based on extensive research in the Russian archives, this book examines the Soviet approach to the Vietnam conflict between the 1954 Geneva conference on Indochina and late 1963, when the overthrow of the South Vietnamese president Ngo Dinh Diem and the assassination of John F. Kennedy radically transformed the conflict. The author finds that the USSR attributed no geostrategic importance to Indochina and did not want the crisis there to disrupt détente. The Russians had high hopes that the Geneva accords would bring years of peace in the region. Gradually disillusioned, they tried to strengthen North Vietnam, but would not support unification of North and South. By the early 1960s, however, they felt obliged to counter the American embrace of an aggressively anti-Communist regime in South Vietnam and the hostility of its former ally, the People's Republic of China. Finally, Moscow decided to disengage from Vietnam, disappointed that its efforts to avert an international crisis there had failed. Part of the (https://www.goodreads.com/series/108771-cold-war-international-history-project-series) Cold War International History Project Series from (http://www.wilsoncenter.org/woodrow-wilson-center-press) Woodrow Wilson Center Press "Based on extensive research in the Russian archives, this book examines the Soviet approach to the Vietnam conflict between the 1954 Geneva conference on Indochina and late 1963, when the overthrow of the South Vietnamese president Ngo Dinh Diem and the assassination of John F. Kennedy radically transformed the conflict.". "The author finds that the USSR attributed no geostrategic importance to Indochina and did not want the crisis there to disrupt detente. Initially, the Russians had high hopes that the Geneva accords would bring years of peace in the region. Gradually disillusioned, they tried to strengthen North Vietnam, but would not support unification of North and South. By the early 1960s, however, they felt obliged to counter the American embrace of an aggressively anti-Communist regime in South Vietnam and the hostility of its former ally, the People's Republic of China. Finally, Moscow decided to disengage from Vietnam, disappointed that its efforts to avert an international crisis there had failed."--BOOK JACKET. Contents Abbreviations Series Preface Preface 1. The Origins 2. To Divide or Not to Divide 3. Making Peace at Geneva 4. From Support to Cooperation 5. Neither Peace nor War 6. If the Fractured Friendship Collapses 7. Crisis in Laos 8. Back to Geneva 9. A Disposition to War Conclusion Bibliography Notes Notes to Chapter 1 Notes to Chapter 2 Notes to Chapter 4 Notes to Chapter 5 Notes to Chapter 6 Notes to Chapter 7 Notes to Chapter 8 Notes to Chapter 9 Notes to Conclusion Index

Based on extensive research in the Russian archives, this book examines the Soviet approach to the Vietnam conflict between the 1954 Geneva conference on Indochina and late 1963, when the overthrow of the South Vietnamese president Ngo Dinh Diem and the assassination of John F. Kennedy radically transformed the conflict.