Vietnam War Series Autumn/Fall 2023 - First Look

Hello everyone!

As I mentioned in a previous update earlier in the summer, our major series in the autumn and winter of this year is going to be on the Vietnam War(s), covering the grand sweep of history in Vietnam between 1945 and 1975- or at least, as much as we can feasibly fit in.

At the moment this series is shaping up to be around 10 or 11 episodes in length, though as always this is subject to a lot of change and revision as we go along.

Over the last six weeks or so I've been buried in an intense research, scripting and asset creation phase, along with our artist Chris. This has focused on the first 'phase' of this series, covering events in Vietnam in the aftermath of WW2 and the time when the French fought a long war to try and keep control of Indochina.

Scripts will be available for Gold patrons shortly, as each one is completed.

Episode 1

The first episode will pick up right at the end of the second world war, with Allied troops arriving in Indochina to disarm and send home Japanese troops who had been occupying Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

As part of this, British troops were actually in the lead in the south, while Nationalist Chinese troops occupied the north of Indochina- a decision which was to have big consequences, as we'l see in the video.

This episode will run until the very end of 1946, covering a breakdown in relations between the returning French and the newly-created Democratic Republic of Vietnam, under Ho Chi Minh

This culminated in dramatic events in the north, at Haiphong and Hanoi

^this is a map of ~1946 Haiphong, which we've made for this video

Episode 2

Episode 2 will cover the broad sweep of the war between the French and communist viet minh from 1947-1954, focusing on the main land campaign from 1950.

The map below shows the approximate areas of control of the two sides in 1949, on the eve of the intense phase of fighting.

It'll detail a number of key battles- both french and vietnamese victories- and the vital importance that rice played in its course.

Towards the end, we'll see how the French will to remain in Indochina faded, and a new General came in and decided to risk it all on a single decisive battle...

Episode 3

This video will cover the epic battle at Dien Bien Phu, as 12,000 French troops were confronted by 50,000 communist soldiers in a three month siege.

The battle resulted in the end of French rule in Indochina, and the increasing influence of the United States on the region.

We don't have completed maps of this battle yet, but production will be starting on it soon.

-

After these three videos we'll be heading into how explaining how the US came to deploy ground troops to Vietnam in 1965, and then detailing the course of the war over the following decade.

I'll have more detail on those videos as production on them moves along.

Publication dates are very provisional, but I think it may start sometime in September