PEOPLE’S WAR PEOPLE’S ARMY

(BOOK REVIEW)

BY

6949 T/CAPT SUPRIM BAJRA BAJRACHARYA

Department of Engineering

DECEMBER, 2020
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TABLE OF CONTENT

PAGE
S.N. PARTICULARS REMARKS
NO.

1. General Introduction of The Book 1

2. Objectives of Writing The Book 2

3. Content of The Book 2

4. Brief Analysis of The Chapters 2-4

5. Strengths And Weakness of The Book 4-5

6. Learning Application and its Relevance 5

7. Conclusion And Recommendation 6

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PEOPLE’S WAR PEOPLE’S ARMY

GENERAL INTRODUCTION OF THE BOOK

1. General Vo Nguyen Giap, member of the Political Bureau of the Central

Committee of the Vietnam Worker’s Party, Vice-Premier and Minister for National
Defense of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, Commander-in-Chief of the
Vietnam People’s Army. Giap is considered one of the greatest military strategists of
all time. He first grew to prominence during World War II, where he served as the
military leader of the Viet Minh resistance against the Japanese occupation of
Vietnam. Giap was a principal commander in two wars: the First Indochina War
(1946–54) and the Vietnam War (1960–75).

2. This book came into existence as an aftermath of a series of articles. The

author introduces about the liberation war waged by the Vietnamese people, the
feature of that war, and deals with the reasons for victory. The brief details about the
book is as follows:

(a) Title of the Book. People’s war People’s Army

(b) Contibutor. General Vo Nguyen Giap
(c) Country. US
(d) Language. English
(e) Genre. Politics
(f) Publisher. University Press of the Pacific
(g) Publication Date. 15th June 2001
(i) ISBN. 0898753716

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OBJECTIVES OF WRITING THE BOOK

3. The objective of writing this book are as follows:

(a) To enlighten the readers on the struggle and building up of the

revolutionary armed forces in Viet Nam.

(b) To lay emphasis on the fundamental points which bring out the
characteristics of the military policy of the Indochinese Communist Party-now
the Viet Nam Workers Party.

CONTENT OF THE BOOK

4. The content of the book are as follows:

(a) The Vietnamese people’s war of liberation against the French

imperialists and the American interventionists (1945-1954)

(b) People’s war, people’s army

(c) The great experiences gained by our Party in leading the armed
struggle and building revolutionary armed force

(d) Dien Bien Phu

BRIEF ANALYSIS OF THE CHAPTERS

5. The book is divided in four parts in accordance with the history of Vietnam,
each of which discusses a separate dimension of the Vietnamese People’s War. The
chapters culminate together to provide a structured analysis. The crux of the chapters
are discussed in brief below.

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(a) The Vietnamese people’s war of liberation against the French

imperialists and the American interventionists (1945-1954). Historical
and Geographical considerations, progress of the liberation war, Fundamental
problems of the liberation war, and few factors of their success were
discussed. Here the general tried to draw a full picture of their then political
and foreign aggression upon the country. Mongolian, French, Germany,
American, Russian all tried to invented the country. But all of them were
failed due to the martyrdom and patriotic defend by the Vietnamese. When
USA signed an agreement in 1950, the aggressive war waged by French
colonialists gradually became a war carried out with ´´U.S dollars´´ and
´´French blood´´. It turned into a dirty war. From the military point of view,
the Vietnamese people´s war of liberation proved that an insufficiently
equipped people´s army but an army fighting for freedom with appropriate
strategy and tactics, combine the conditions needed to conquer a modern army
of aggressive imperialism.

(b) People’s war, people’s army. This article is written on the

occasion of the XVth anniversary of the Viet Nam People’s Army. The
sentence itself symbolize the meaning of the revolution of the Vietnamese.
Viet Nam is a nation in south in east with a very old history with its 329600
sq. kilometers and in the pacific. People’s war is defined in terms of its
participants and its goals, as well as its strategies and tactics. General Vo
Nguyen Giap described it as “essentially a peasant’s war under the leadership
of the working class.” The process of people’s war was always far more
comprehensive than interpretations emphasizing guerrilla warfare
acknowledge.

(c) The great experiences gained by our Party in leading the armed
struggle and building revolutionary armed force. This part focuses
on Vietnam Worker’s Party evolution, various experiences gained during
various phases of war and how it lead towards armed struggle. It has described
about the successful preparation for armed uprising & the August 1945

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General Insurrection, long term resistance war against French & the US
Interventionists, and the building of the People’s Revolutionary Armed
Forces.

(d) Dien Bien Phu. The chapter discusses the greatest victory scored
by the Viet Nam People’s Army in the long war of liberation against the
aggressive Franco-American imperialists. Dien Bien Phu marked an important
turn in the military and political situation in Indochina. The Battle of Dien
Bien Phu was the decisive engagement in the first Indochina War (1946–54).
After French forces occupied the Dien Bien Phu valley in late 1953, Viet Minh
commander Vo Nguyen Giap amassed troops and placed heavy artillery in
caves of the mountains overlooking the French camp. Boosted by Chinese aid,
Giap mounted assaults on the opposition’s strong points beginning in March
1954, eliminating use of the French airfield. Viet Minh forces overran the base
in early May, prompting the French government to seek an end to the fighting
with the signing of the Geneva Accords of 1954. It has emphasis on Vietnam
Army’s determination to fight & win as well as Vietnam people’s devotion to
serving the front.

STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESS OF THE BOOK

6. Strengths: The main strengths of these books are as follows:

(a) To understand tomorrow, Americans must face up to the realities of the

struggle for freedom in Southeast Asia. This book by an Asian Communist
general is, therefore, worthwhile reading for thoughtful Americans today.

(b) This book can help us to appraise our opponents more accurately.

(c) The basic value of this book at this time is that it may aid us in
appreciating the importance and the special nature of a battle that is difficult to
define or describe.

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(d) This book to some extent tells the story of that warfare as the
Communists see it; in it, a successful Communist general gives us a glimpse of
his methods. The value of this book lies not only in what it tells us about this
kind of war, but in what it tells us, by inference, of the kind of world in which
we must live and, perhaps, fight.

7. Weakness: The weaknesses of the book are as follows:

(a) People's War, People's Army is not a well-organized book but, rather, a
collection of papers, due to which the conclusion on the main theme of the
book is vague and not specific.

LEARNING APPLICATION AND ITS RELEVANCE

8. The key learning points and application of this book are as follows:

(a) It has emphasis on Vietnam Army’s determination to fight & win as

well as Vietnam people’s devotion to serving the front, with that sort of
determination any external force intervention can be perished.

(b) This book discusses the events leading up to the PW and the different
dimensions of war, probing from social as well as national point of views,
which provides us an insight on the effects of the war on the state and its
people.

(c) The knowledge about the real scenario of the armed conflict should be
depicted and lessons which can be learnt from them should be considered.

(e) It depicts how the state security forces should be adaptive to new
situations and the changing political scenarios in the country.

(f) It also portrays how the different driving forces can change the
direction of a revolution.

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CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

9. Vo Nguyen Giap, Southeast Asia's most successful Communist General,

Minister of Defense and Commander in Chief of North Vietnam's army, shares with
Premier Khrushchev a conviction that the future holds many "just wars of national
liberation." This volume stresses the climate of Asia, Africa, and Latin American, torn
today by anticolonial, economic, and political upheavals. It is General Giap's purpose
in this book, originally published in 1962, to guide these struggles to the desired
"socialist" victory. The speeches and essays that comprise this key document provide
not only the tactical doctrine for effective insurgency operations, but also the political
guidelines for enlisting the people in the insurgents' side.

10. This book is quite successful in covering the different events that took place in
the Vietnam War. Overall, it is a collection of intense work and reflection on different
facets of the war in that period. I strongly recommend it for anyone interested in
dissecting the recent political history and a period of turmoil of the state. This book is
basically written for the students of Political Science and Strategic Studies, and for
anyone interested in the study of the Warfare.

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