An in-depth look at the strategy and tactics of the visionary commander who beat the United States in the Vietnam War General Vo Nguyen Giap was the commander in chief of the communist armed forces during two of his country's most difficult conflicts-the first against Vietnam's colonial masters, the French, and the second against the most powerful nation on earth, the United States. After long and bloody conflicts, he defeated both great Western powers and their Vietnamese allies, forever changing modern warfare. Yet, despite his profound success and the startling implications of his tactics, we know little about how he developed his revolutionary ideas or how he was able to carry them out with such ruthless efficiency. In General Giap, military historian James A. Warren brings to life a revolutionary general who deftly defeated world powers against incredible odds. Synthesizing ideas and tactics from an extraordinary range of sources, Giap was one of the first to realize that war is not only a series of battles between two armies and that victory can be won through the strength of a society's social fabric.
As America's wars in the Middle East rage on, this is an important and timely look at a man who was a master at defeating his enemies even as they thought they were winning.