Table of Contents

1. Introduction: Fallen Idol - Anthony Eden and the Verdict of History PART I: THE ROAD TO 1954 2. Britain, the United States, and the Asian Cold War, 1945-1951 3. Containing China: The Cold War Defence of South-East Asia, 1951-1953 4. Backing France: Britain and the Vietnam War, 1951-1953 PART II: THE CRISIS BREAKS 5. Korea Wanes, Vietnam Waxes, 1953 6. Countdown to Crisis, January-March 1954 7. From United Action to Disunited Inaction: April 1954 PART III: THE CRISIS RESOLVED 8. The Fall of Dien Bien Phu and the Geneva Conference, May 1954 9. Special no More ...: The Breakdown of the Anglo-American Relationship in Asia, May-June 1954 10. Eden and the Settlement of the First Vietnam War, July 1954. PART IV: REFLECTIONS 11. Saving the Peace, 1954-1956. 12. The Shadow of Suez

Promotional Information

A political history of the 1954 Vietnam crisis, in which British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden stopped American military intervention in the French war in Indo-China and negotiated a peaceful settlement.

About the Author

Kevin Ruane is Professor of Modern History at Canterbury Christ Church University, UK. Matthew Jones is Professor of International History at the London School of Economics and Political Science, UK

Reviews

This is the most important treatment of the Dien Bien Phu crisis that has appeared in a very long time. Do not miss it.
*Journal of Cold War Studies*

The authors offer a brilliant, sophisticated account of Eden's diplomacy during the Indochina Crisis, which most British and American scholars consider a crucial turning point in the Cold War.
*Michigan War Studies Review*

This is an impressively researched, detailed, and argued book ... [it] is not only stimulating and thought-provoking; it is also enjoyable to read.
*Journal of Modern History*

Written in a style accessible to both scholars and a broader audience interested in the history of the Cold War and crisis management ... [A] timely and excellent monograph.
*Diplomacy & Statescraft*

[The] definitive study on the subject of Eden and Indochina.
*A Blog on Winston Churchill*

A lively and incisive account by two of Britain’s leading international historians, this book sheds new light on many aspects of the 1954 Indochina crisis but, most importantly, draws a close link between Anthony Eden’s successful diplomacy and the looming danger of thermo-nuclear war.
*John W. Young, Professor of History, University of Nottingham, UK*

Kevin Ruane and Matthew Jones have written a meticulously researched and eminently readable account of arguably the high-point of British influence in the so-called Anglo-American “special relationship” during the Cold War, when Anthony Eden played a vital part in preventing a possible world conflict.
*Geoffrey Warner, Professor of Modern History and Former Fellow at Brasenose College, University of Oxford, UK*

Anthony Eden, Anglo-American Relations and the 1954 Indochina Crisis brilliantly upends the view of Eisenhower and Dulles as responsible stewards of nuclear weapons. Comprehensively researched and elegantly written, it convincingly argues that Anthony Eden’s shrewd and heroic efforts at the 1954 Geneva Conference saved the world from the war that the unbridled nuclear adventurism and brinksmanship of the Eisenhower administration was likely to cause.
*Martin J. Sherwin, University Professor at George Mason University, is author (with Kai Bird) of American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, recipient of the 2006 Pulitzer Prize*