When, how, and why did the Vietnam War begin? Although its end is dated April 30, 1975, there is no agreement as to when it began. The Vietnam War was an enormously complex conflict and while any comprehensive reckoning must include the role of the US, it was not an 'American War'. This volume presents the scholarship that has flourished since the 1990s to situate the war and its origins within longer chronologies and larger interpretative perspectives. The Vietnam War was a war for national liberation and an episode of major importance in the global Cold War. Yet it was also a civil war, and civil warfare was a defining feature from the outset. Understanding the Vietnamese and Indochinese origins of the Vietnam War is a critical first step toward reckoning with the history of this violent, costly, and complex war.