The Approaching Storm: Conflict in Asia, 1945–1965

America’s participation in the Vietnam conflict dates to the waning days of World War II, when certain victory over Japan prompted the Allies and Asian peoples of many ideological persuasions to change the political landscape. France, Great Britain, the Netherlands, and other European countries planned to reestablish control over their colonies in China, India, and Southeast Asia. Anticolonial resistance movements, in many cases led by Communists, prepared for military and political action to seize control of Korea, China, and Indochina. This book focuses on events in the region between 1945 and 1965 and the growing U.S. concern over Communist inroads into the region. From the Chinese civil war to the French-Indochina war and the rise of Ho Chi Minh, this book describes U.S. response to the Communist movements in Asia and how the U.S. Navy’s role evolved from an advisory one to actual combat after the Tonkin Gulf attack of August 1964.