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Past Event
Seminar

Does it Matter? Military Training and Insurgent Fighting Capacity

Open to the Public

The speaker will demonstrate the importance of military training by drawing on archival documents and a rich historiography to comparatively trace the development of three separate elements of the Communist fighting force in Vietnam during the Second Indochina War (1961–1975): the forces of the North Vietnamese Regime, or the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN), as well as two groups within the southern resistance of the People's Liberation Armed Front (PLAF, also known as the Việt Cộng or VC): Main Force units and Guerrilla Force units.

Date: Time: - Location: Littauer Building - Belfer Center Library, Room 369
Viet Cong crossing a river in 1966

About

Speaker: Alec Worsnop, Research Fellow, International Security Program

The speaker will demonstrate the importance of military training by drawing on archival documents and a rich historiography to comparatively trace the development of three separate elements of the Communist fighting force in Vietnam during the Second Indochina War (1961–1975): the forces of the North Vietnamese Regime, or the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN), as well as two groups within the southern resistance of the People's Liberation Armed Front (PLAF, also known as the Việt Cộng or VC): Main Force units and Guerrilla Force units. While the Main Force and PAVN shared similar access to resources and weaponry and all three forces had shared ideological outlooks, parallel command structures, and like backgrounds, only PAVN which had routinized military training programs, was able to consistently employ force in a complex manner on the battlefield throughout the conflict.

Please join us! Coffee and tea provided. Everyone is welcome, but admittance will be on a first come–first served basis.

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