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HIS32690

Academic Year 2026/2027

Revolution and War in Twentieth-Century Vietnam (HIS32690)

Subject:
History
College:
Arts & Humanities
School:
History
Level:
3 (Degree)
Credits:
10
Module Coordinator:
Dr David Kerr
Trimester:
Autumn
Mode of Delivery:
On Campus
Internship Module:
No
How will I be graded?
Letter grades

Curricular information is subject to change.

How did a small, impoverished Asian nation survive and prevail in the most destructive conflict of the twentieth century? This module will look to explain Vietnam's extraordinary resilience through fifty years of warfare and occupation through an examination of its social and cultural history. Major themes will be: the impact of French colonialism on Vietnam; the invention of traditional and modern Vietnamese identities in the earlier twentieth century; the nature of the Vietnamese revolution and Vietnamese nationalism; the experience of war and its impact on Vietnamese society, north and south.

Students will be assigned readings in advance of the seminars. Most of the readings are drawn from recent Vietnamese literature, and are presented in translation. In addition, students will be given a large selection of historical texts on each week's topic and a recorded guide to the readings.

Assessment will be by means of a term paper due at the end of the semester, weekly learning journals that record the student's response to the week's readings (not only the seminar texts), and attendance and participation at the seminars.

No previous knowledge of Vietnamese or Asian will be assumed or required.

About this Module

Learning Outcomes:

On completion of the module students will have acquired the greater global perspective that comes from studying Asian history and society. They will be able to think about and discuss the Second Indochina War ('the Vietnam War') not only as a crucial episode in Cold War international history, but within the contexts of Vietnamese anti-colonialism and the modernization of Vietnamese society. They will have practiced reading and analyzing Vietnamese literary texts, as well as Vietnamese political essays and military-strategic tracts.

Indicative Module Content:

Week 1. Introduction to Vietnam and traditional Vietnamese society (seminar texts Le Luu, 'A Time Far Past', extracts, Frances Fitzgerald, Fire in the Lake, extracts)
Week 2. The Nature of French Colonialism (seminar texts Ho Chi Minh, 'French Colonialism on Trial', Phi Van, 'The Peasants', extracts)
Week 3 Economy and Society in French Indochina (seminar texts Tam Lang, 'I Pulled a Rickshaw', Tran Tu Binh, 'The Red Earth')
Week 4. A Modern Vietnamese Identity (seminar texts Vu Trong Phung, 'The Business of Marrying Europeans', 'Dumb Luck', extracts)
Week 5. The End of French Indochina (seminar texts Vo Nguyen Giap, 'People's War, People's Army' and Truong Chinh 'The Resistance Will Win', extracts)
Week 6. Reading Week
Week 7. Building Socialism in the Democratic Republic (seminar text Duong Thu Huong, Paradise of the Blind, extracts)
Week 8. Ngo Dinh Diem and the Republic of Vietnam (seminar texts Robert Shaplen, 'Saigon' and David Halberstam, 'The Making of a Quagmire', extracts)
Week 9. Vietnamese society and the American war (seminar texts Dang Thuy Tram, 'Last Night I Dreamed of Peace', extracts, Duong Thu Huong, 'Novel Without a Name', extracts)
Week 10. The Aftermath of war (seminar text Bao Ninh, 'The Sorrow of War')
Week 11. Life after the revolution (seminar texts Le Minh Khue, 'Scenes from an Alley' and Nguyen Huy Thiep, 'The General Retires')

UNESCO highlights a set of key competencies that support individuals in their development and support society in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). UCD has adapted these competencies and is combining them with others to form a general framework of learning competencies. This module will help you develop the competencies below to the levels specified. 
Learning Competency Additional Information Level

Collaboration

 The ability to learn from others; to understand and respect the needs, perspectives and actions of others (empathy); to understand, relate to and be sensitive to others (empathic leadership); to deal with conflicts in a group; and to facilitate collaborative and participatory problem solving. Competent

Critical Thinking

 The ability to question norms, practices and opinions; to reflect on one’s own values, perceptions and actions. Competent

Systems Thinking

 The ability to recognize and understand relationships; to analyse complex systems; to think of how systems are embedded within different domains and different scales; and to deal with uncertainty. Advanced Beginner

Strategic

 The ability to collectively develop and implement innovative actions that further sustainability at the local level and further afield. Advanced Beginner

Integrated Problem Solving

 The overarching ability to apply different problem-solving frameworks to complex sustainability problems and develop viable, inclusive and equitable solution options that promote sustainable development, integrating the competencies in this list. Advanced Beginner

Self-awareness

 The ability to reflect on one’s own role in the local community and (global) society; to continually evaluate and further motivate one’s actions; and to deal with one’s feelings and desires. Competent

Normative

 The ability to understand and reflect on the norms and values that underlie one’s actions; and to negotiate values, principles, goals, and targets, in a context of conflicts of interest and trade-offs, uncertain knowledge and contradictions. Competent

Anticipatory

 The ability to understand and evaluate multiple scenarios for the future – possible, probable and desirable; to create one’s own visions for the future; to apply the precautionary principle; to assess the consequences of actions; and to deal with risks and changes. Advanced Beginner

Digital Literacy and Judgement

 The ability to access, evaluate, create and communicate information in digital environments; to engage critically, ethically and responsibly with digital technologies and digital information; to understand their opportunities, limitations, risks and impact on individual’s digital identities; and to exercise informed judgement in digital participation and decision-making. Competent

AI Literacy & Agency

 The ability to understand, critically evaluate and responsibly engage with artificial intelligence; to recognise how AI systems are shaped by human values; to assess their ethical, social and environmental implications; and to exercise human judgement, agency and accountability in AI-related contexts. Competent

Wellbeing

 Wellbeing is having the resources and skills to meet life's challenges, including attributes such as personal development skills, resilience, stress management, strengths, lifestyle skills, nutrition, physical activity, sleep, alcohol/substance use, academic skills, time management, goal setting, interpersonal skills, group work, communication. Competent

The United Nations identified seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as core to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and UCD contributes in general to SDG 4 Quality Education. Further SDGs explored within this module if relevant are listed below. A scale of 1 - 5 indicates the extent to which the SDG is covered.


 

Student Effort Hours:
Student Effort Type Hours
Lectures

11
Seminar (or Webinar)

22
Specified Learning Activities

90
Autonomous Student Learning

90
Total

213

Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
Formal teaching will comprise lectures and seminars. The lectures will provide an essential chronological and political spine, introduce topics and issues in social and cultural history, and aim to inspire interest. The students will do the bulk of the learning themselves, using a range of weekly readings that will be provided on Brightspace as a guide. The seminars will be based around one or more weekly texts. Students will use the seminars to discuss both the texts and the week's topic. After the seminars they will write a weekly learning journal, detailing their response to the week's material and debates. There will be no formal student seminar presentations.

Students may use AI tools as part of their research process in this module but may not use it in the writing or editing process when completing assignments.

Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 

Assessment Strategy
Description Timing Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade In Module Component Repeat Offered
Participation in Learning Activities: Completion of weekly learning journals Week 12 Graded No
40
 No
Assignment(Including Essay): 4,000-word research essay Week 14 Graded No
40
 No
Participation in Learning Activities: Class participation Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, Week 6, Week 7, Week 8, Week 9, Week 10, Week 11, Week 12 Graded No
20
 No

As part of UCD's student support, under the Additional Consideration policy, extensions may be available for the following assessments in the module: Assignment (including essay/poster), Portfolio, Reflective Assignment, Report(s), and Individual Project.


Carry forward of passed components
Yes
 

Resit In Terminal Exam
Spring No
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 

Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, on an activity or draft prior to summative assessment
• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Weekly written feedback on learning journals, advice and guidance on term paper throughout the semester, including the option to submit a draft.

Timetabling information is displayed only for guidance purposes, relates to the current Academic Year only and is subject to change.
Autumn Lecture Offering 1 Week(s) - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12 Mon 11:00 - 11:50
Autumn Seminar Offering 1 Week(s) - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12 Tues 09:00 - 10:50
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