  It is believed that in $SU(N)$ Yang-Mills theory observables are $N$-branched
functions of the topological $\theta$ angle. This is supposed to be due to the
existence of a set of locally-stable candidate vacua, which compete for global
stability as a function of $\theta$. We study the number of $\theta$ vacua,
their interpretation, and their stability properties using systematic
semiclassical analysis in the context of adiabatic circle compactification on
$\mathbb{R}^3 \times S^1$. We find that while observables are indeed N-branched
functions of $\theta$, there are only $\approx N/2$ locally-stable candidate
vacua for any given $\theta$. We point out that the different $\theta$ vacua
are distinguished by the expectation values of certain magnetic line operators
that carry non-zero GNO charge but zero 't Hooft charge. Finally, we show that
in the regime of validity of our analysis YM theory has spinodal points as a
function of $\theta$, and gather evidence for the conjecture that these
spinodal points are present even in the $\mathbb{R}^4$ limit.
