Origins

About the lecture

In this module, we examine the origins of the Vietnam War to answer the question of why there was a war in Vietnam in the first place. We start by looking at what life was like in colonial Vietnam. Although the French brought economic development to the region, this came at enormous cost to the Vietnamese population. The system the French created spurred a strong impulse amongst Vietnamese to gain independence, particularly with Ho Chi Minh. Despite failures early on in his life, Ho was able to create a powerful nationalist movement that, from the 1940s, was able to challenge French (and Japanese) rule.

About the lecturer

Professor Mark Atwood Lawrence is Professor of History at the University of Texas at Austin, as well as Director of the LBJ Presidential Library and Museum in Austin. Professor Lawrence has written and taught widely on the subjects of U.S. foreign relations, the Vietnam War, international history, and decolonisation. He has published two books on the Vietnam War - Assuming the Burden: Europe and the American Commitment to War in Vietnam (University of California Press, 2005) and The Vietnam War: A Concise International History (Oxford University Press, 2008).