THE VIETNAM WARS

Prerequisites & course information

Requisites: Sophomore standing Course Designation: Core GenEd - Humanities & Arts Breadth - Humanities or Social Science Level - Intermediate L&S Credit - L&S Liberal Arts and Science Grad 50% - Counts toward 50% graduate coursework requirement Repeatable for Credit: No Last Taught: Fall 2026 Learning Outcomes: 1. Discuss the major events of the Vietnam conflict from multiple perspectives and viewpoints, including ordinary American soldiers, Vietnamese villagers, Hanoi’s military leaders, and White House insiders. Audience: Both Grad & Undergrad 2. Describe this great crisis in U.S. foreign policy and the complexities of contemporary history. Audience: Both Grad & Undergrad 3. Analyze critically U.S. government decision-making. Audience: Both Grad & Undergrad 4. Explain the global process of decolonization - marked by nationalism, communism, and insurgency - that transformed empires which once covered 40 percent of the earth’s land area into a hundred new nations. Audience: Both Grad & Undergrad 5. Describe the character of the Cold War that divided the world for nearly a half century. Audience: Both Grad & Undergrad 6. Assess significant works in the Historiography of the Cold War and the Vietnam conflict Audience: Graduate Learning Outcomes: 1. Discuss the major events of the Vietnam conflict from multiple perspectives and viewpoints, including ordinary American soldiers, Vietnamese villagers, Hanoi’s military leaders, and White House insiders. Audience: Both Grad & Undergrad 2. Describe this great crisis in U.S. foreign policy and the complexities of contemporary history. Audience: Both Grad & Undergrad 3. Analyze critically U.S. government decision-making. Audience: Both Grad & Undergrad 4. Explain the global process of decolonization - marked by nationalism, communism, and insurgency - that transformed empires which once covered 40 percent of the earth’s land area into a hundred new nations. Audience: Both Grad & Undergrad 5. Describe the character of the Cold War that divided the world for nearly a half century. Audience: Both Grad & Undergrad 6. Assess significant works in the Historiography of the Cold War and the Vietnam conflict Audience: Graduate