The Vietnamese victory over the French forces at Dien Bien Phu in 1954, which ended virtually a century of French colonial rule in Indochina, is among the most well-known occasions within the historical past of anticolonialism. How have been the Vietnamese communists in a position to obtain this outstanding victory over a way more highly effective colonial pressure? That is the query Chris Goscha seeks to reply in his new guide, The Highway to Dien Bien Phu: A Historical past of the First Struggle for Vietnam (Princeton UP, 2022). In doing so, Goscha re-enters the vexed debate concerning the relative significance of nationalism and communism in Vietnam’s wrestle in opposition to overseas powers. And he places ahead a compelling argument concerning the significance of “struggle communism” to the Vietnamese victory over the French.

Chris Goscha is Professor of Historical past and Worldwide Relations on the College of Quebec at Montreal, Canada, and a prize-winning creator of works on the trendy historical past of Vietnam.

Patrick Jory teaches Southeast Asian Historical past within the Faculty of Historic and Philosophical Inquiry on the College of Queensland. He might be reached at: [email protected]