Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights:#1 The origins of the Vietnam War are difficult to pinpoint. Some argue that it began in the 1940s, when conflict in Vietnam became enmeshed in the Cold War, or in the early 1960s, when the United States dramatically expanded its military role in the country.#2 The first foreign power to shape Vietnamese life was China, which conquered the Viet ethnic group in 111 B. C. The Vietnamese developed a complicated relationship with their Chinese overlords. They drew heavily on Chinese culture, but they also launched rebellions against China.#3 Vietnam was split into two parts by a civil war in 1613, and the Nguyen dynasty was established in the south. The Nguyen emperors named their domain Nam Viet and sought to consolidate their state through the invigoration of Confucian practices.#4 France opened its bid to control Vietnam in 1858, and four years later, scored its first major success. With no hope of resisting European military technology, the Vietnamese court in Hue ceded Saigon and three surrounding provinces to French rule.