The ‘Vietnam War’Or

The American War in Vietnam

WHERE IS VIETNAM

A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORYFRENCH COLONY 1886-1954

• Invasion: Vietnamese resistance in 19th C• 20thC – nobody would help except

USSR • Nationalist hero: leader of

independence movement: Nguyen Ai Quoc (the Patriot) = Ho Chi Minh (the Enlightened One)

JAPANESE WAR 1941-45

• VIETNAMESE LED BY HO CHI MINH

• ALLIES WITH USA: COMMON ENEMY

• DECLARED INDEPENDENCE 1946 USING WORDS OF AMERICAN DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE FROM 1776

BAC HO/UNCLE HO

FRENCH WAR 1946-54

• FRANCE CAME BACK! (UNWANTED BY VIETNAMESE)

•WAR• AMERICA SUPPORTED FRANCE BECAUSE HO

WAS A SOCIALIST: PART OF COLD WAR AND SPREAD OF COMMUNISM

• NO AMERICAN TROOPS: SUPPLIES/WEAPONS• FRANCE LOST: 1954 DIENBIENPHU BATTLE

VIETNAM DIVIDED 1954

CIVIL WAR 1959-64• VIETNAM DIVIDED BY OUTSIDE POWERS: THEY

DID NOT AGREE• NORTH A COMMUNIST COUNTRY• SOUTH A ‘DEMOCRACY’ (DICTATORSHIP BUT

ANTI-COMMUNIST)• COMMUNIST REBELLION IN THE SOUTH• AIM: INDEPENDENCE & UNIFICATION• BY 1963 NLF (COMMUNISTS) WINNING

AMERICA TO THE RESCUE 1964

• NORTH VIETNAM ‘INVADES’ SOUTH VIETNAM

• Our purpose in Vietnam is to prevent the success of aggression. It is not conquest, it is not empire, it is not foreign bases, it is not domination. It is, simply put, just to prevent the forceful conquest of South Vietnam by North Vietnam.Lyndon B. Johnson: President of USA

Americans could not conceive that they would be unable to impose their will on what Lyndon Johnson once dismissed as that "raggedy-ass little fourth-rate country." There was no need to think in terms of strategy.

AMERICA RECRUITS ALLIES 1965

• No support from any country in Europe• Australia New Zealand Philippines South Korea

were the main allies

• AUSTRALIA• 30 in 1962 7672 in 1970• 60,000 served• 521 killed• 3000+ wounded

ALL THE WAY WITH LBJ

VIETNAM WAR BECOMES UNPOPULAR

• INFLUENCE OF US ANTIWAR PROTESTS• PEOPLE STARTED TO RESEARCH VIETNAMESE

HISTORY: WAS GOVERNMENT TELLING THE TRUTH?

• WAR WASN’T BEING WON!• QUESTIONS OF MORALITY: WAS THE WAR

RIGHT?

AMERICAN MORATORIUM MOVEMENT

• www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Kk-fdgrpqg

• 1968 The Vietnam War brought down a President

• Lyndon Johnson pulled out rather than risk losing to anti-war public opinion and Robert kennedy

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-FibDxpkb0

MORAL OUTRAGE AT IMAGES OF THE WAR

SOUTH VIETNAMESE GOVERNMENT RESPONSE

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuSHA0OKEkc

EXECUTION IN THE STREET 1968

US USE OF NAPALMA ‘JELLY’ WHICH BURNS THE SKIN

US ANTIWAR MOVEMENT

POSTERS

PROTEST IN AUSTRALIA

• www.youtube.com/watch?v=Thm03IUiJ6U• An antiwar march in Melbourne

PROTEST POSTER AUSTRALIA

AUSTRALIAN PROTESTS

NATIONAL SERVICE: CONSCRIPTION

• Ballot based on birth date• 20 Year old civilian men could be sent to

Vietnam• 19,450 were: 200 were killed there• There was active resistance to this • Conscientious objectors• SAVE OUR SONS movement

THE MORAL ARGUMENT

• PRO-WAR

• PATRIOTISM

• LOYALTY

• HELPING OUR FRIEND:USA

• ANTI-WAR

• THIS WAR IMMORAL

• THIS WAR UNWINNABLE

• AUSTRALIA SHOULD MAKE ITS OWN DECISIONS

THE FAIRLEA FIVEJailed for 11 days for handing out leaflets

IF YOU ARE WONDERING WHAT HAPPENED!

• AMERICA OUT BY 1973 – declared a victory and withdrew!

• AUSTRALIA OUT 1972: WHITLAM LABOUR GOVERNMENT

• VIETNAM UNIFIED UNDER COMMUNIST GOVERNMENT: NORTHERN DOMINATED: 1975

• VIETNAM STILL UNIFIED: STILL COMMUNIST

VIETNAM STILL PAYING THE PRICE

• MORE BOMBS DROPPED ON VIETNAM THAN ON ALL CLOUNTRIES IN WW2

• AMERICANS USED CHEMICAL BOMBS IN SOUTH: AGENT ORANGE: DEFORMED BABIES STILL BEING BORN IN VIETNAM: SOME EX-SERVICEMEN’S HEALTH WAS AFFECTED