Both French and American forces were, in their respective conflicts, ultimately repelled and defeated in the jungles and paddy fields of Vietnam. Probably the most significant factor in these conquests was the influence of Vo Nguyen Giap, the legendary general who led the Vietnamese Army to victory in such celebrated battles as Dien Bien Phu and Khe Sanh, and whose skill and military judgement changed the course of modern history. In 1990, at the invitation of the Hanoi government, Brigadier Peter MacDonald was offered unprecedented access to written and photographic sources concerning the Vietnamese perspective of that bloody and drawn-out conflict. In addition he interviewed Giap himself, as well as many other veterans of the war including General Marcelle Bigeard, the only surviving senior French officer to have fought at Dien Bien Phu, and General William Westmoreland, US commander in Vietnam from 1964 to 1968. This work tells the story of the longest war of recent years, as seen through the eyes of one of the greatest military commanders of all time.