french indochina war after wwii france attempts to reestablish it's rule in vietnam u.s....
TRANSCRIPT
French Indochina War
• After WWII France attempts to reestablish it's rule in Vietnam
• U.S. provides France with
• Strengthen massive economic assistance and military support beginning in 1950ies with France
• Fight the spread of communism
French Rule in Vietnam
• From the late 1800s until WWII France ruled most of Indochina
• The French built plantations for their own profit
• Growing unrest amongst the Vietnamese peasants
• French rulers tried to restrict freedom speech and assembly by jailing dissenters
Ho Chi Minh
• Many Vietnamese revolutionaries fled to China in the 1930s
• Ho Chi Minh organized the revolutionaries to create the Indochinese Communist Party
• 1940: Japan takes control of Vietnam
• Ho Chi Minh forms the Vietminh
• Goal: Win independence from foreign rule
• August 1945: Vietminh forces Japan out. Independence Won!
France Battles The Vietminh
• By the end of 1945 France takes control of Southern Vietnam
• Ho Chi Minh vows to liberate the South
• 1950: President Truman sends $15 million in economic aid to France
• 1950-54: U.S. sends nearly $1 billion
The Domino Theory
• President Eisenhower continued to send aid
• Domino Theory: Countries on the brink of communism are lined up like dominos waiting to fall one after the other
• May of 1954: France forced to surrender in Vietnam - U.S. aid does not prevail
Geneva Accords• Geneva Accords: A peace
agreement held in Geneva Switzerland
• Divided Vietnam along the 17th parallel
• Ho Chi Minh and the communists control North Vietnam from Hanoi, the Capitol
• Anticommunist nationalists control South Vietnam from the Capitol city of Saigon
The U.S. Steps In• South Vietnam President
Ngo Dinh Diem refused to take part in elections
• Feared Ho Chi Minh's popularity
• Eisenhower sends military training in return for a stable government
• President Diem unable to rally support and becomes corrupt
Vietcong and Ho Chi Minh Trail
• Vietcong: A communist group in the South
• Attacked the Diem government and assassinated thousands of officials
• Ho Chi Minh supported the Vietcong
• Used a network of paths called the Ho Chi Minh Trail to supply the Vietcong with arms
Kennedy and Vietnam
• Kennedy did not want to look soft on Communism
• Increased financial aid to South Vietnam
• Sent thousands of military advisers
• Diem became more corrupt and unpopular especially with the Buddhist population
• 1963: U.S. supports a military coup to assassinate Diem
Johnson Escalates the Conflict
• After Diems death the South becomes even more unstable
• Johnson does not want to lose South Vietnam to communism without a fight
• Fear of being thought of as an appeaser
• Leads to the Tonkin Gulf Resolution....