Customer Reviews

The Soviet Union and the Vietnam War

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Mr.Gaiduk rightly claims that not many authors address this aspect of the Vietnam conflict. He then asserts a special claim to the truth for having been given exclusive access to some classified Soviet materials. A close reading, however, reveals that he does not dispute the crucial known set of facts presented by others. The most important fact is that the Soviet Union was North Vietnam's primary source of military supply, and without this support, North Vietnam could not have prosecuted the war. Gaiduk uses his classified information to claim that Soviet leaders were reluctant in this endeavor. But they did it! And they had to understand that the likely result of Soviet military support would be a larger conflict. They exploited the results of their efforts in a long, consistent diplomatic policy. Even if some Soviets were worried personally, or were reluctant, the Soviet Union followed a long, expensive and risky course of action and exploited the results of this course of action. Sounds a lot like this was Soviet strategy. I am sorry if some of them felt badly about it. But to focus on feeling bad rather than what the Soviets did and how they used the result is to miss the point--which is what Gaiduk does. Still, the book should be read because it is the Russian foil to a prevelant view among many US intellectuals. During the Vietnam war, the Soviet supply effort was known by the Best and the Brightest. They actually viewed it as positive, because they viewed the Soviet Union as more moderate than China, and believed that increased Soviet supplies would buy more Soviet influence in Hanoi, which would in turn make the North Vietnamese more moderate--essentially Gaiduk's argument. Of course, all it did was make the enemy of the United States in a war stronger.

the topic of soviet policy towards Vietnam is not a heavily researched one and the majority of what exists is heavily tainted by American views and a reliance on propaganda laced official statements of the Soviet government at the time. Gaiduk was one of few who was able to look at the Soviet declassified archives during the short time that they were open and thus his book is built on information which was never released and which better represents the motives and characteristics of the Soviet (and also Chinese to some extent) foriegn policy towards the Vietnam War. Very intersting if the subject interests you. and an integral perspective which can be found few other places.