This book is the first international history of the Third Indochina War, and features contributors from many different countries and scholarly traditions.

Vietnam (and it neighbours Cambodia and Laos) has experienced much change and turmoil. Vietnam - Conflict and Change in Indochina looks at the early history of the region, colonisation by the French and how this stimulated the growth of nationalism, particularly in the ?. Just as Vietnam dominates the area geographically, so the history of Vietnam dominates the history of its neighbours, and so the impcact of the Vietnam Wars is considered from a variety of angles: * the conflict between the communist north and the non-communist south * the roles of the different Vietnamese and non-Vietnamese armies * the types of warfare employed * the involvement of the USA and its allies, including Australia * the Allies' withdrawal and its consequences * the anti-war movements * the effect of the fighting on those most directly involved - the soldiers and civilians Finally the current situation is analysed in terms of each country's economic woes, the tragedy of refugees, the problems experienced by returned veterans, and the obligations of other countries to assist Indochina's recovery. Vietnam - Conflict and Change in Indochina provides a wide range of official and non-official documents as well as supplementary photographs, illustrations and maps that give students a comrehensive picture of the turbulent situationin Indochina. Stimulating activities and questions are designed to develop students' historical skills, especially that of empathising with the participants and the victims of the conflict.

Morris examines the, "first and only extended war between two communist regimes."

For most Americans, the "exit" from Indochina occurred in 1973, with the withdrawal of the U.S. military from South Vietnam. In fact, the final exit did not occur until two decades later, after the collapse of the Republic of Vietnam in 1975, the Cambodian revolution, and a decade of Vietnamese occupation of Cambodia. Only in the early 1990s were the major powers able to negotiate a settlement of the Cambodia conflict and withdraw from the region. This book recounts the diplomacy that brought an end to great power involvement in Indochina, including the negotiations for a UN peace process in Cambodia and construction of a "road map" for normalizing U.S.-Vietnam relations. In so doing, this volume also highlights the changing character of diplomacy at the beginning of the 1990s, when, at least temporarily, an era of military confrontation among the major world powers gave way to political management of international conflicts.

The surprise Chinese invasion of Vietnam in 1979 shocked the international community. The two communist nations had seemed firm political and cultural allies, but the twenty-nine-day border war imposed heavy casualties, ruined urban and agricultural infrastructure, leveled three Vietnamese cities, and catalyzed a decadelong conflict. In this groundbreaking book, Xiaoming Zhang traces the roots of the conflict to the historic relationship between the peoples of China and Vietnam, the ongoing Sino-Soviet dispute, and Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping's desire to modernize his country. Deng's perceptions of the Soviet Union, combined with his plans for economic and military reform, shaped China's strategic vision. Drawing on newly declassified Chinese documents and memoirs by senior military and civilian figures, Zhang takes readers into the heart of Beijing's decision-making process and illustrates the war's importance for understanding the modern Chinese military, as well as China's role in the Asian-Pacific world today.

When costly efforts to cement a strategic partnership with the Soviet Union failed, the combined political pressure of economic crisis at home and imminent external threats posed by a Sino-Cambodian alliance compelled Hanoi to reverse course. Moving away from the Marxist-Leninist ideology that had prevailed during the last decade of the Cold War era, the Vietnamese government implemented broad doi moi ("renovation") reforms intended to create a peaceful regional environment for the country's integration into the global economy. In contrast to earlier studies, Path traces the moving target of these changing policy priorities, providing a vital addition to existing scholarship on asymmetric wartime decision-making and alliance formation among small states. The result uncovers how this critical period had lasting implications for the ways Vietnam continues to conduct itself on the global stage.