Summary: Why did the United States become involved in Vietnam? To combat communism, evidently. But just how did a Southeast Asian French colony already devastated by two wars become an existential threat? The Vietnam war is one of the most studied diplomatic and security conundrums of international history, political science, international relations and statecraft. Yet less is known about the actual origins of this conflict, which was the continuation of a French colonial conflict. In this episode Dr Pablo de Orellana, Lecturer in International Relations in the Department of War Studies, discusses his book the 'Road to Vietnam', which explores how the United States was persuaded to stake its diplomatic and economic might to support France's war to retain it's colony in Indochina, after which the French withdrew in 1954 and it became an American burden. Focusing on the diplomatic texts of France, Vietnam the USA and UK during this period, he traces the evolutions of the descriptions and narratives of the peoples and countries implicated, and how this produced understandings of the war, its participants and their motives.
