This chapter explores the background to the American War, deeply rooted in Vietnam’s own past. The historical experience of the Vietnamese with outside invasion produced over time a national myth of indomitability even as regional and other identities remained fractured. Internecine and fratricidal violence were hallmarks of premodern Vietnamese history. French colonial rule in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries influenced the distinct self-images of the Vietnamese and exacerbated social, ethnic, sectarian, and regional cleavages. The suffering and humiliation, personal as well as national, endured under French domination inspired emergent patriotic sentiments. Eventually, Marxism–Leninism became popular as an ideology explaining the Vietnamese condition and offering a blueprint for reclaiming national dignity. It informed understandings of the French presence in Vietnam and, subsequently, the Japanese occupation of Indochina in World War II. The chapter concludes with a fresh interpretation of the communist-led August Revolution of 1945, which spawned a Vietnamese civil war lasting thirty years.

Chapter 4 relates the impact of the Americanization of the Fourth Civil War for Vietnam. Despite public claims to the contrary, Hanoi at that time had no desire to negotiate an end to the conflict; it was committed to “complete victory.” Nothing short of the surrender of its enemies was going to satisfy it. To meet that end, Le Duan’s regime relied heavily on political and material support from the Soviet Union and China, which was not always easy to obtain in light of the growing ideological dispute between the two. Mounting frustration with the course of the war eventually prompted Le Duan to order a major, months-long military campaign to break the stalemate and expedite victory: the Tet Offensive of 1968. Although it dealt the United States a major psychological blow, the three-staged offensive fell far short of meeting Le Duan’s own expectations. In fact, it energized the regime in Saigon and rallied the Southern population behind it to an unprecedented degree.

Chapter 10 explores the retreat of the Imperial Japanese Navy after Leyte Gulf toward the home and the sinking of the battleship Kongo off Taiwan. Once in home waters, Yukikaze escorted the super-carrier Shinano when she was torpedoed and sunk by U.S. Navy submarine Archerfish.

Chapter 6 explores the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal and Yukikaze’s role in the epic naval battle. Yukikaze was involved in a failed effort to save the battleship Hiei, which became the first Japanese battleship lost in the war. Eventually, Yukikaze and other destroyers evacuated Imperial Army troops from Guadalcanal, a turning point in the war.

Chapter 8 analyzes the rapid collapse of Japan’s Absolute National Defensive Sphere as the Pacific War progressed, shifting the struggle from the Salomon Islands to the Bismarck Sea and the Mariana Islands, culminating in the Battle of the Philippine Sea around Saipan. Yukikaze engaged in oiler escort duties and anti-submarine warfare during the battle.

Chapter 2 investigates the global development of the torpedo and its influence on the Imperial Japanese Navy. The Battle of Savo Island, near Guadalcanal, evidenced Japanese proficiency with destroyers, cruisers, and torpedo tactics during World War II.

Chapter 12 investigates Yukikaze’s activities after the sinking of Yamato and during Japan’s surrender to the Allies. Yukikaze was transferred to the Republic of China in 1947, where she defended Taiwan during the crises in the Taiwan Strait. The chapter concludes with Yukikaze’s enduring legacy in Japanese culture.