THE ROAD TO WAR IN VIETNAM

MAIN IDEA: In Asia, the Cold War flared into actual wars supported

mainly by the superpowers

FRANCE

• By early 1900s France controlled most of resource rich SE Asia

• Nationalist independence movements began to develop in the part of Indochina that is now Vietnam

French Indochina

HO CHI MINH

• His Indochinese Communist Party led revolts and strikes against the French during the 1930s

• Protesters were jailed, and Ho sentenced to death (he fled into exile)

• Japanese took control in 1940

• Ho Chi Minh returned in 1941 and founded the Vietminh League to fight for independence

War for Independence

• After the Japanese left in 1945, Ho thought independence would follow

• But France wanted its colony back

• Vietnamese nationalists and communists join to fight France

• Vietminh have wide support of peasantry in countryside

• They use hit-and-run tactics to keep the French confined to the cities

• France leaves after defeat at Dien Bien Phu in 1954

Dien Bien Phu

The Domino Theory

• USA sees a rising Communist threat to the rest of Asia

• Pres. Eisenhower said that the SE Asian nations were like a row of dominos

• The fall of one would lead to the fall of its neighbors, and so on

• This theory became justification for US foreign policy during the Cold War

The Geneva Accords

• After France’s defeat a conference held in Geneva, Switzerland to discuss future of Indochina

• Vietnam was temporarily divided at the 17th //

• Communists ruled north of the line

• South of it France and the USA set up an anti-communist govt. headed by Ngo Dinh Diem

• Elections were planned for 1956 to decide what the people wanted

Elections Cancelled

• Diem turned out to be an unpopular dictator in the south (Catholic vs. Buddhist majority)

• In the north, Ho Chi Minh began a popular program of land redistribution

• Sensing that they might result in a win for the communists, the USA supported Diem’s cancellation of the elections

The Vietcong

• Opposition to Diem’s corrupt govt. grew, coming mostly from communist guerillas called Viet Cong

• Some Vietcong were trained North Vietnamese soldiers, but most were South Vietnamese who hated Diem

• The Vietcong won control of large areas of the countryside

Diem Assassinated

• In 1963 the USA supported a coup against Diem by a group of South Vietnamese generals

• The new leaders were no more popular than Diem, and just as corrupt

• It seemed inevitable that the communist Vietcong, backed by North Vietnam would take over the south

• The USA was not going to let that happen

The USA Gets Involved in Vietnam

• In the 1950s US President Eisenhower had begun sending “military advisors” to South Vietnam

• Their job was to train South Vietnamese soldiers

• By 1963 there were 16,000 US troops in South Vietnam

• After the Gulf of Tonkin incident in 1964, Congress gave LBJ power “to take all necessary measures” in Vietnam

• In 1965 LBJ began sending combat troops to South Vietnam (bombing of North Vietnam began also)

Operation Rolling Thunder

Marines landing at Da Nang