Vietnam: The 10,000 Day War (Parts 1-13)

Synopsis

Part 1: A preview of the series, noting America’s shifting motivations and priorities during three decades of the Vietnam conflict, involving five US presidencies in what became America’s longest, costliest and most mysterious war.
Part 2: The French Indochina war to the eve of Dien Bien Phu, tracing how the longest war of modern history begins as World War II ends and the rise of the Vietminh communist guerrillas from a handful of volunteers to an army of half a million men.
Part 3: One of history’s pivotal battles, triggered 20 years of American involvement in Vietnam. Shows the entrapment of 15,000 French troops at Dien Bien Phu and their surrender, ending French rule in Indochina.
Part 4: The early successes and US support of President Ngo Dinh Diem; Diem’s Mandarin family rule and loss of popular support, leading to Buddhist riots and suicides - and to greater US involvement.
Part 5: The fatal falling out between Washington and Saigon. How the US - with CIA involvement - supported a military coup against South Vietnam’s President Ngo Dinh Diem and the day-by-day plotting of the coup. Diem’s assassination and its profound effect on President Kennedy.
Part 6: President Johnson’s war - his crucial decisions to bomb the North and to commit American combat troops to the South; the military presssures on Johnson to involve the US in Vietnam, which would destroy Johnson’s presidency.
Part 7: The United States’ decision to switch from the defensive and to assume military command of the war, focussing on General William Westmoreland’s Search and Destroy tactics which would lead to the use of 550,000 American combat troops.
Part 8: The impact of the huge American military presence on the cultural and political life of South Vietnam, contrasting the high-life of Saigon with the war only minutes away and the gradual distrust between Americans and South Vietnamese.
Part 9: An overview of North Vietnamese leadership and society, which had never known peace, profiling the intense Marxist-Nationalist ambitions of the rulers and the guerrilla existence of the people.
Part 10: Men and methods along the Ho Chi Minh Trail during the period of maximum communist infiltration, and the billion dollar a year US effort to bomb the supply routes.
Part 11: A study of the weapons of both sides and their impact in modern warfare; the dependence on firepower to reduce casualties but at enormous financial cost and with inconclusive results.
Part 12: The tug-of-war for control of South Vietnam’s 16,000 villages, comprising two-thirds of the population, who find that friendship for one side brings destruction from the other.
Part 13: Assessment of history’s most concentrated air-bombardment, in which US used in Vietnam four times the bomb tonnage used throughout World War II - but without halting North Vietnamese supplies or resolve.

Distributor’s ref:
DD 228 - Part 1 (Vol 1 - retail)
DD 229 - Part 2 (Vol 2 - retail)
DD 230 - Part 6 (Vol 3 - retail)
DD 231 - Part 7 (Vol 4 - retail)
DD 232 - Part 10 (Vol 5 - retail)
DD 233 - Part 11 (Vol 6 - retail)
HE/VC 114 (Part 1 - HEFVL)
HE/VC 115 (Part 2 - HEFVL)
HE/VC 116 (Part 3 - HEFVL)
HE/VC 117 (Part 4 - HEFVL)
HE/VC 118 (Part 5 - HEFVL)
HE/VC 119 (Part 6 - HEFVL)
HE/VC 120 (Part 7 - HEFVL)
HE/VC 121 (Part 8 - HEFVL)
HE/VC 122 (Part 9 - HEFVL)
HE/VC 123 (Part 10 - HEFVL)
HE/VC 124 (Part 11 - HEFVL)
HE/VC 125 (Part 12 - HEFVL)
HE/VC 126 (Part 13 - HEFVL)

Language

English

Country

Canada

Medium

Video; Videocassette. U-matic. col. 1 x 60, 12 x 30 min. (HEFVL) Videocassette. VHS. col. 50, 6 x ? min (retail).

Year of production

1980

Availability

Hire (U-matic - HEFVL)
Sale (VHS - retail)

Notes

Producers: Ian McLeod, parts 1, 2, 3, 8; Ron Kelly, parts 4, 5, 7, 10, 11, 13; Don North, part 6; Paul Lang, parts 9, 12.

Subjects

History

Keywords

armed forces; United States of America; Vietnam war; war

Credits

Producer

Don North; Ian McLeod; Paul Lang; Ron Kelly

Writer

Peter Arnett

Contributor

Ian McLeod; Michael Maclear

Cast

Richard Basehart

Sections

Title

America in Vietnam 1945-75

Synopsis

Part 1: A preview of the series, noting America's shifting motivations and priorities during three decades of the Vietnam conflict, involving five US presidencies in what became America's longest, costliest and most mysterious war.

Title

France in Vietnam 1945-54

Synopsis

Part 2: The French Indochina war to the eve of Dien Bien Phu, tracing how the longest war of modern history begins as World War II ends and the rise of the Vietminh communist guerrillas from a handful of volunteers to an army of half a million men.

Title

Dien Bien Phu 1954

Synopsis

Part 3: One of history's pivotal battles, triggered 20 years of American involvement in Vietnam. Shows the entrapment of 15,000 French troops at Dien Bien Phu and their surrender, ending French rule in Indochina.

Title

Early hopes 1953-63

Synopsis

Part 4: The early successes and US support of President Ngo Dinh Diem; Diem's Mandarin family rule and loss of popular support, leading to Buddhist riots and suicides - and to greater US involvement.

Title

Assassination 1963

Synopsis

Part 5: The fatal falling out between Washington and Saigon. How the US - with CIA involvement - supported a military coup against South Vietnam's President Ngo Dinh Diem and the day-by-day plotting of the coup. Diem's assassination and its profound effec

Title

Days of decision 1963-68

Synopsis

Part 6: President Johnson's war - his crucial decisions to bomb the North and to commit American combat troops to the South; the military presssures on Johnson to involve the US in Vietnam, which would destroy Johnson's presidency.

Title

Westy’s war 1963-68

Synopsis

Part 7: The United States' decision to switch from the defensive and to assume military command of the war, focussing on General William Westmoreland's Search and Destroy tactics which would lead to the use of 550,000 American combat troops.

Title

Uneasy allies 1965-67

Synopsis

Part 8: The impact of the huge American military presence on the cultural and political life of South Vietnam, contrasting the high-life of Saigon with the war only minutes away and the gradual distrust between Americans and South Vietnamese.

Title

Guerrilla society 1945-68

Synopsis

Part 9: An overview of North Vietnamese leadership and society, which had never known peace, profiling the intense Marxist-Nationalist ambitions of the rulers and the guerrilla existence of the people.

Title

Trail 1967-68, The

Synopsis

Part 10: Men and methods along the Ho Chi Minh Trail during the period of maximum communist infiltration, and the billion dollar a year US effort to bomb the supply routes.

Title

Firepower 1965-68

Synopsis

Part 11: A study of the weapons of both sides and their impact in modern warfare; the dependence on firepower to reduce casualties but at enormous financial cost and with inconclusive results.

Title

Village war 1966-68, The

Synopsis

Part 12: The tug-of-war for control of South Vietnam's 16,000 villages, comprising two-thirds of the population, who find that friendship for one side brings destruction from the other.

Title

Airwar 1965-68

Synopsis

Part 13: Assessment of history's most concentrated air-bombardment, in which US used in Vietnam four times the bomb tonnage used throughout World War II - but without halting North Vietnamese supplies or resolve.

Production Company

Name

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

Distributor

Name

Higher Education Film & Video Library

Email

services@bufvc.ac.uk

Web

http://bufvc.ac. External site opens in new window

Phone

020 7393 1503

Fax

020 7393 1555

Address

c/o British Universities Film & Video Council
77 Wells Street
London
W1T 3QJ

Notes

Catalogue available from British Universities Film & Video Council.

 

Available from retail outlets

Name

Simply Media

Contact

Laura Smith

Email

info@simplymedia.tv

Web

http://www.simplymedia.tv/ External site opens in new window

Phone

0203 542 3722

Address

Highlight House
57 Margaret Street
London W1W 8SJ

Notes

Formerly known as DD Home Entertainment or DDHE