The Building of Global Empires

The New Imperialism

The Colonization of Africa and Asia

• THE NEW IMPERIALISM 1870-1914• Europe’s influence continued to expand in the late 19th

century, and for all the same old reasons…– What was new, was the extent; for the first time, European

imperialism became global in nature, with Great Britain as the leading colonial power. (“The sun never sets on the British Empire”)

– It was also contradictory…while many European nations explored the ideals of liberalism, nationalism, and socialism for their own people, imperialism remained as exploitative as ever.

Characteristics of the“Old Imperialism”1500-1815 COLONIES OF SETTLEMENTNumerous citizens of the colonizing country settle in the colonial area

They displace the native population though murder or disease and become the majority of the population

Through revolution or reforms they become politically independent of the mother country

Examples: The United States, Canada, Chile, Argentina

COLONIES OF EXPLOITATION (tropical dependencies)These colonies do not attract a large number of European settlers

Europeans come as soldiers, planters and administrators

They establish political control by force

They exploit local inhabitants or bring in African slaves to labor on plantations

Examples: Mexico, Haiti, Cuba and most Caribbean and South American colonies (under the Old Imperialism)

Nigeria, Vietnam and most African and Southeast Asian colonies

(Under the New Imperialism)

What was “new” about the new imperialism

Before the 19th century, Europeans cooperated with local rulers in Africa, India, China, Japan, Indonesia, and other areas, where trade flourished between locals and European coastal trading centers.

The “new imperialism” tended to favor direct conquest and formal empire

Africa and Asia had seen limited European intrusion, and most contacts had been coastal in nature

Now, entire continents now came under European influence

IndustrialRevolutionIndustrialRevolution

Source forRaw

Materials

Source forRaw

Materials

Markets forFinishedGoods

Markets forFinishedGoods

EuropeanNationalismEuropean

Nationalism

MissionaryActivity

MissionaryActivity

Military& NavalBases

Military& NavalBases

EuropeanMotives

For Colonization

EuropeanMotives

For Colonization

Places toDump

Unwanted/Excess Popul.

Places toDump

Unwanted/Excess Popul.

Soc. & Eco.Opportunities

Soc. & Eco.Opportunities

HumanitarianReasons

HumanitarianReasons

EuropeanRacism

EuropeanRacism

“WhiteMan’s

Burden”

“WhiteMan’s

Burden”

SocialDarwinism

SocialDarwinism

Major Cause for the New Imperialism

The desire of the capitalist class to invest surplus capital for the highest profit (at the expense of the citizens of the European nation)

J.A. Hobson, Imperialism: A Study 1902

Imperialism is an outgrowth of monopoly capitalism, an alliance of the largest industrial and banking firms to dominate the markets of the world.

V.I. Lenin, Imperialism: the Highest Stage of Capitalism 1917

How was Imperialism sold to the public in Europe and the United States?

• "White Man's Burden": racist patronizing that preached that the “superior” Westerners had an obligation to bring their culture to “uncivilized” peoples in other parts of the world - Poem by Rudyard Kipling

• Germany and Russia used imperialistic drives to divert popular attention from the class struggle at home and to create a false sense of national unity.

“The White Man’s Burden”

Rudyard Kipling 1899

The White Man’s BurdenBy Rudyard Kipling

Take up the White Man's burden--

Send forth the best ye breed--

Go, bind your sons to exile

To serve your captives' need;

To wait, in heavy harness,

On fluttered folk and wild--

Your new-caught sullen peoples,

Half devil and half child.

The White Man’s BurdenBy Rudyard Kipling

Take up the White Man's burden--

In patience to abide,

To veil the threat of terror

And check the show of pride;

By open speech and simple,

An hundred times made plain,

To seek another's profit

And work another's gain.

The White Man’s BurdenBy Rudyard Kipling

Take up the White Man's burden--

The savage wars of peace--

Fill full the mouth of Famine,

And bid the sickness cease;

And when your goal is nearest

(The end for others sought)

Watch sloth and heathen folly

Bring all your hope to nought.

The White Man’s BurdenBy Rudyard Kipling

Take up the White Man's burden--

No iron rule of kings,

But toil of serf and sweeper--

The tale of common things.

The ports ye shall not enter,

The roads ye shall not tread,

Go, make them with your living

And mark them with your dead.

The White Man’s BurdenBy Rudyard Kipling

Take up the White Man's burden,

And reap his old reward--

The blame of those ye better

The hate of those ye guard--

The cry of hosts ye humour

(Ah, slowly!) toward the light:--

"Why brought ye us from bondage,

Our loved Egyptian night?"

The White Man’s BurdenBy Rudyard Kipling

Take up the White Man's burden--

Ye dare not stoop to less--

Nor call too loud on Freedom

To cloak your weariness.

By all ye will or whisper,

By all ye leave or do,

The silent sullen peoples

Shall weigh your God and you.

The White Man’s BurdenBy Rudyard Kipling

Take up the White Man's burden!

Have done with childish days--

The lightly-proffered laurel,

The easy ungrudged praise:

Comes now, to search your manhood

Through all the thankless years,

Cold, edged with dear-bought wisdom,

The judgment of your peers.

H.T. Johnson, “The Black Man’s Burden” 1899

• Pile on the Black Man’s Burden.• 'Tis nearest at your door;• Why heed long bleeding Cuba,• or dark Hawaii’s shore?• Hail ye your fearless armies,• Which menace feeble folks• Who fight with clubs and arrows• and brook your rifle’s smoke.• Pile on the Black Man’s Burden• His wail with laughter drown• You’ve sealed the Red Man’s problem,• And will take up the Brown,• In vain ye seek to end it,• With bullets, blood or death• Better by far defend it• With honor’s holy breath.

British Imperialism in India

The Mughal Empire

Reached it’s height in 1708

Contained Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs

Granted exclusive trading rights to the British East India Company to trade for for exotic and rare goods

Decline of the Mughals began with religious conflict between Muslims and Hindus and resulted in infighting and a divideddivided empire

The British East India Company (1600-1857)

• Received its first charter from Queen Elizabeth I in 1600

• One of a number of “east India companies” vying for influence and trading rights in India

• Company obtained right to build fortified trading posts on Indian coast

• Got monopoly of trade in Indian pepper and cotton

• Benefiting from the Mughal decline, the company expands its territory.

• Gained control of Bengal after Robert Clive’s decisive victory at the Battle of Plassey in 1757

• Enforce their rule with a native army—the Sepoys

British East India British East India Company AgentsCompany Agents

1-E

Sepoy soldiersSepoy soldiers

1-F

Sepoy Mutiny or War of Independence of 1857

• Divide and conquer strategy had worked well for the British– Religious differences offered an easy way to divide Hindus from Muslims

• Uniting factor– Racist, superior and paternalistic attitudes of the British in India gave the

Indians something to unite against

• East India Company used Sepoy: Indian soldiers• New Gunpowder cartridges were rumored to be sealed with

cow or pig fat• Sepoy rebelled against East India Company rule

– Resulted in the end of 100 years of company rule in India

• British government took direct control to protect their valuable trading empire and ruled from 1858 to 1947– Known as the Raj, British rule was eventually undermined by Mohandas

K. Gandhi's passive resistance movement

The Sepoy The Sepoy Mutiny: 1857Mutiny: 1857

2-A

Outlawing Outlawing SutteeSuttee ((satisati) )

Fighting the Fighting the ThuggeesThuggees

British Opium British Opium Warehouse in Warehouse in

Patna, Patna, India India

Selling Patna Selling Patna Opium in Opium in

ChinaChina

Selling Patna Selling Patna Opium in Opium in

ChinaChina

Sir Raghubir Singh, Sir Raghubir Singh, Maharaja of BundiMaharaja of Bundi

Sir Raghubir Singh, Sir Raghubir Singh, Maharaja of BundiMaharaja of Bundi

1876:1876: Queen Victoria Queen Victoria Becomes Becomes

“Empress of “Empress of India”India”

2-D

Queen Victoria in Queen Victoria in India India

PAX BRITANNICAPAX BRITANNICA

Living Like a Living Like a MaharajahMaharajah

Causes of Indian nationalism:

1. discontent with British rule

2. India more unified than it had been before British rule

3. leadership: Western-educated Indian elite

4. common language

5. new print culture

6. nationalist orgs:• 1885 – Indian National Congress• early 1900s – Swadeshi movement• 1906 – Muslim League

Political nationalism• Evolves from a demand for greater political freedoms, such as:

– suffrage– more Indians in governmentTo a demand for complete independence

Cultural Nationalism• development of “Indian” cultural identity• rewrite histories

– emphasis on Hinduism– Indian contributions to math and sciences– ideal of Indian art– Return to pre-industrial Indian way of life

the Indian National the Indian National CongressCongress 1885 1885 The Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress

was founded in Bombay. was founded in Bombay.

At first an organization of the Hindu eliteAt first an organization of the Hindu elite

In 1920’s Gandhi makes it a mass movementIn 1920’s Gandhi makes it a mass movement

swarajswaraj “independence.” goal of movement “independence.” goal of movement

Swadeshi Movement

• early 1900s

• Swadeshi = “one’s own country,” self-sufficiency– boycott British goods– Indians produce own goods– Indian schools nationalist education

• nationalism = mass movement

Indian National Muslim League

• 1905 British partition Bengal based on religion

• 1906 Muslim league founded

• advocate for Muslim political rights

Muhammad Ali Jinnah – leader of Muslim League, founder of Pakistan, and first Governor-General of Pakistan

Gandhi (1869-1948)

• leader of INC, 1920s-1930s

• nonviolence (satyagraha)

Young Mohandas K. Young Mohandas K. Gandhi, Gandhi,

18761876

1869 - 19481869 - 1948

Early life & training for his future role:

• 1869 – born in Gujarat

• 1888-1891 – studies law in Britain

• 1893-1899, 1902-1915 – fight racism as a civil rights lawyer in South Africa

• In South Africa, he develops his philosophy of “satyagraha” (truth force)

Gandhi as a Lawyer Gandhi as a Lawyer in in

Johannesburg, So. Johannesburg, So. AfricaAfrica

Protest against British rule builds & Gandhi becomes its leader:

• 1915 – Satyagraha (harijan) Ashram• 1919 – Amritsar Massacre (379 dead)• 1922-1924 – imprisonment• 1924 – 21-day fast: Hindu-Muslim unity• 1930 – Salt March• 1942- leads “Quit India” movement—imprisoned for two

years• 1947 Partition of India• January 1948 – fasts to encourage Hindu-Muslim unity

during sectarian rioting• 1948 – assassinated by Hindu zealot

Gandhi spinning cloth at the Gandhi spinning cloth at the Satyagraha Ashram in Satyagraha Ashram in

AhmedabadAhmedabad

Indian weaving had been Indian weaving had been ruined by the competition ruined by the competition of British machine-made of British machine-made

textiles!textiles!

Amritsar Massacre, Amritsar Massacre, 19191919

379 dead; over 1200 wounded!379 dead; over 1200 wounded!

Salt March, 1930Salt March, 1930

MakingMakingSaltSalt

On the beach at Dandi, the end of the Salt March

Issues in the Indian nationalist movement

• method – nonviolence vs. violence

• religion – Hinduism vs. Islam

• women’s rights

• Q of westernization/modernization

Independence and Partition

• August 14, 1947 – Pakistan (Muslim majority)

• August 15, 1947 – India (Hindu majority)

India before (left) and after (right) 1947

Post-Independence Violence

• Hindu vs. Muslim

• 1 million deaths

• 12 million relocated

• Gandhi fasts to support end of sectarian violence

• Gandhi’s assassinated on January 30, 1948 by a Hindu fanatic

Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964)

• 1st PM of India (1947-1964)

• goal: modernize India, via socialist economics & democratic politics

Imperialism in Africa

• In 1880, Europeans controlled 10% of Africa; by 1914, they controlled all except Liberia & Ethiopia

• Belgian Congo– At behest of King Leopold II, , a

British journalist and explorer, H. M. Stanley established trading stations, signed “treaties” with African chiefs, and claimed land for Belgium – rubber tree plantations were created

– Leopold’s incursion into Congo basin also raised the question of the political fate of black Africa

Africa: Berlin Congress 1884-85 • Established the

"rules" for conquest of Africa = “Paper Partition”

• Sponsored by Bismarck & Jules Ferry ; sought to prevent conflict over imperialism

• The Congress coincided w/ Germany's rise as an imperial power

• Agreed to stop slavery & slave trade in Africa

Africa

1890

Africa

in

1914

Harvesting Rubber

History of South Africa

Dutch Landing in 1652

First European Settlement in Southern Africa

• First settlers were people working for Dutch East Indian Company – arrived in 1652– Set up present-day city of Cape Town as a

trading base– Had slavery– Soon let employees go into interior to set

up farms: became known as Boers, which means “farmers”

• Started offering free land, and Dutch, French, and German settlers came

• Became Cape Colony• Khoikhoi and San wiped out by smallpox

British Rule• 1795, France (Napoleon) conquered Netherlands

and British took Cape Colony– English made official language in 1828, abolished

slavery throughout empire in 1834– This was intolerable to the Boers

“And yet it is not their [the slaves’] freedom that drives us to such lengths, as their being placed on an equal footing with Christians, contrary to the laws of God and the natural distinction of race and religion, so that it was intolerable for any decent Christian to bow down beneath such a yoke; wherefore we rather withdrew in order to preserve our doctrines in purity” – Piet Retief’s sister ( a voortrekker)

The Great Trek - 1836

•The Boers relocate to escape British rule

•Went on historic journey along the Vaal River

•The Boers create two independent republics: the Transvaal and the Orange free State

•Come into conflict with the Xhosa and Zulu kingdoms

The Zulu

• Bantu-speaking people from the north who migrated south and conquered vast lands under great leader Shaka Zulu, (1787-1828)

• He ruled over 250,00 people and could raise an army of 50,000 warriors

• He was assassinated in 1828• His successor, Dingane, was

defeated by the Boers at the Battle of Blood River in 1838

• The Zulus did not make peace until the treaties that ended the Zulu Wars with the British in 1879.

The Struggle for South Africa

Afrikaner Republics and the Anglo-Boer Wars

• In their isolation, the two Boer republics that were formed (Transvaal and Orange Free State) lost all contact with their Dutch origins – developed own language (Afrikaans) – The Enlightenment passed them by and so did the

Industrial Revolution– Afrikaners also settled in Natal

• Britain annexed Natal in 1843 – seemed like wherever Boers went, British were one step behind them

• 1870: Diamonds discovered in Transvaal• 1877: British annex Transvaal• 1880: First Anglo-Boer War – Boers win in 1881

• 1886: gold discovered near present-day city of Johannesburg – “uitlanders” [foreigners], many of whom are British, flock to gold fields seeking their fortune

• By 1895, uitlanders make up half the white population of Transvaal– Given no political rights

• Cecil Rhodes (Prime Minister of Cape Colony) wants to control the gold, but also has a dream of linking British colonies from north to south across Africa: “from Cape to Cairo”

• December 1895: Jameson Raid – Rhodes sent force under Leander Starr Jameson to invade Transvaal in hopes that the uitlanders would rise up in revolt against the Boers– Jameson was captured and Rhodes forced

to resign• 1899: Boers demand that all British troops

being sent to Cape Colony be sent back, or it would be seen as a formal declaration of war– Boers made mistake of appearing the

aggressor (just what Britain wanted)– Britain refuses and Transvaal and Orange

Free State declare war• 1899-1902: Second Anglo-Boer War

The Boer War: 1899 - 1902

The BoersThe British

2nd Anglo-Boer War• British commander Lord

Horatio Kitchener began a “scorched earth policy” – burned 30,000 Boer farmhouses and partial or complete destruction of 40 towns

• Also set up “Concentration Camps” – 60,000 women and children interned

• 26,370 women and children died (81% were children)

South Africa and the Boer War (1899-1902)

• Massive British force eventually defeated Boers and in 1910 the Transvaal, Orange Free State, Cape Colony, & Natal combined to form the Union of South Africa

• Although the Boers (calling themselves Afrikaners) lost the war, they won the peace. They became the dominant political force in South Africa

RISE OF THE APARTHEID STATE

UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA

NATIONALIST PARTY 1948

THE UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA

• 1909 SOUTH AFRICA ACT CREATES A WHITE MINORITY GOVERNMENT—FEDERATION OF

• 1. TRANSVAAL• 2. ORANGE FREE STATE• 3. CAPE (COLONY)• 4. NATAL• INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF RACIAL

DISCRIMINATION AGAINST THE BLACK MAJORITY

APARTHEID

• AFRIKAANS WORD• DEFINITION: APARTNESS OR

SEPARATENESS• 1ST USE OF THE TERM WAS IN 1917 BY JAN

SMUTS WHO BECAME PRIME MINISTER IN 1919

• SYSTEM OF SEGREGATION AND INSTITUTIONAL RACISM IN SOUTH AFRICA FROM 1948-1990s

UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA & APARTHEID

• 1911 & 1926 MINES & WORKS ACT• Color Ban on certain jobs; Salaries for whites higher at all

times• 1913 & 1936 NATIVES LAND ACTS• Land Raid—Allocated 13% of total land to the black majority

and 87% to the white minority• 1923 NATIVES ACT (URBAN AREAS)• Segregation in residential areas of cities—BLACKS HAD TO

CARRY SPECIAL PAPERS TO STAY IN THE CITIES• 1937 NATIVES LAWS AMENDMENT ACT• Pass laws required Blacks to carry identification and

authorization to enter white areas.

CREATION OF THE APARTHEID STATE

• 1948– THE NATIONAL PARTY GAINS POWER

• WINS ELECTION ON THE PROMISE TO INSTITUTE APARTHEID

APARTHEID LEGISLATION

• 1950 POPULATION REGISTRATION ACT• Registration by Color Forced all South Africans to register as : White,

Bantu (Black), Asian (Indian & Pakistani) or Colored (people of mixed race)

• 1950 GROUP AREAS ACT• Geographic Separation in business and residence• 1953 RESERVATION OF SEPARATE AMENITIES ACT• Segregation of public areas and transport Buses, Parks, and other

Public Places• 1953 Bantu Education Act• Separate but Not Equal: Enforced Racial segregation of schools• 1959 PROMOTION OF BANTU SELF-GOVERMENT ACT• Black Homelands—THE BANTUSTANS

AFRICAN RESISTANCE TO MINORITY WHITE RULE

• One Man’s Freedom Fighter is Another Man’s Terrorist

• 1912 SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE NATIONAL CONGRESS BECOMES THE AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS—THE ANC

• STRIKES, BOYCOTTS AND SYMBOLIC ACTS OF DEFIANCE

• 1950s DEFIANCE CAMPAIGN MASS RESISTANCE—PUBLIC DISOBEDIENCE

• 1955 FREEDOM CHARTER

SHARPEVILLE MASSACRE: March 21,1960

Demonstration organized by the Pan Africanist Congress, a rival to the ANC

Crowd of 20,000 gathers to offer themselves for arrest for not carrying their pass books

Police fire on the crowd, killing 69 people, including women and children, and injuring 180.

Followed by riots, strikes and demonstrations throughout nation; 18,000 are detained by the police

The Government bans both the PAC and the ANC

The ANC develops a military wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation) to engage in armed struggle against the apartheid government

REACTIONS TO THE TERRORIST STATE

• 1961 SOUTH AFRICA IS EXPELLED FROM THE COMMONWEALTH OF NATIONS

• MANDELA—”SPEAR OF THE NATION”— 200 ACTS OF SABOTAGE AGAINST PASS OFFICES, GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS, AND POWER SUPPLIES

• 1963 RIVONIA TREASON TRIAL –Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and 17 others; eight sentenced to life imprisonment.

• Mandela will spend nearly thirty years in prison on Robben Island

ROBBEN ISLAND

• 10 MILES FROM CAPE TOWN

• USED AS A PRISON FOR

400 YEARS USEDTO

ISOLATE

OPPONENTS OF

APARTHEID

SOUTH AFRICA THE APARTHEID STATE

• 1970s INCREASED GOVERNMENT REPRESSION

• COLOR BAN ON FREEDOM OF TRAVEL AND WORK—BLACK AFRICANS BECOME MORE IMPOVERISHED

BLACK CONSCIOUSNESS MOVEMENT

• MID-1960s ANTI-APARTHEID MOVEMENT THAT FILLED THE POLTICAL VOID AFTER

• 1. THE BANNING OF THE ANC & PAC • 2. SHARPEVILLE MASSACRE• STEVE BIKO (1946-1977) • STUDENT LEADER• COMMUNITY LEADER

SOWETO STUDENT MASSACRE 1976

• STUDENT RIOT AGAINST GOVERNMENT MANDATE TO TEACH AFRIKAANS LANGUAGE

• Police fire on crowd:1,000 DEAD

SOUTH AFRICA IN A STATE OF EMERGENCY

• RESISTANCE MET WITH BRUTALITY• INCREASED DEMANDS FOR • 1. CIVIL RIGHTS • 2. IMPROVED EDUCATION • 3. UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE• 4. ELIMINATION OF JOB

DISCRIMINATION AND PASS LAWS

• MOUNTING INTERNATIONAL SANCTIONS

FW DE CLERK

• 1989 FW DE KLERK REPLACES BOTHA

• 1. DISMANTLES APARTHEID• 2. 1990 LIFTS BAN ON

ANC• 3. FREES MANDELA

• 1992 WHITE SOUTH AFRICA VOTES TO END

APARTHEID

General Election: April 27,1994

• First multi-racial election (universal suffrage)

• ANC gets just short of 2/3 of votes

• Nelson Mandela elected President of South Africa

• Served 1994-1999

Imperialism in Asia• China: Coastal cities

divided into “spheres of influence” after the Opium Wars (Britain, France, Russia, Germany, Japan)

• Indochina: France completes conquest of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos by 1893.

• Burma, Malaysia and Borneo—British colonies

• Indonesia-Dutch colony

• Spanish-American War, 1898: U.S. defeated Spain, took Philippines, Guam, Hawaii & Cuba

Hanoi

Hue

Saigon

• 1857 – Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia become colonies of France (Indochina)

• Attempt to win freedom following WWI rebuffed

• 1930 – Ho Chi Minh founds the Vietnamese Communist Party

• Revolts in 1930 & 1931 fail but strengthen the party

Ho Chi Minh 1890-1969

• Born 1890• In 1911, jumped on

board a ship to France. Travels in Europe and China. – During this time, he

embraced Communism and joined the political groups rallying for human rights and equality in French Indochina.

In 1930, founds Communist Party of Vietnam

• 1940 – Vichy France allows Japanese passage through Indochina

• Ho Chi Minh takes command of anti-Japanese coalition supported by both the West and Communist Chinese

• 1945 – Japanese remove Vichy French from power in Indochina

• 1945 – Japanese surrender

• Ho Chi Minh seizes Hanoi and proclaims the independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam

• China disarms Japanese in North, British in South

• British favor French rule and use Japanese forces and French colonials to reestablish French rule in southern Indochina

• Ho Chi Minh appeals to the United States to support Vietnamese Independence

• 1945- Vietnamese Declaration of Independence, modeled on the American and French Declarations

Re-armed Japanese troops police Indochina

• French and Viet Minh make deal: Ho will allow French troops in North while French will recognize the DRV as an independent state but part of a French Indochinese federation

Ho Chi Minh at negotiations

• 1946 – The French commissioner of Indochina proclaims the south as Cochin China, an independent state

• French forces attack the Viet Minh in the north

• Haiphong is bombed- resulting in 6,000 dead Vietnamese

• The Viet Minh, now openly communist, resist but are defeated

Fighting in the streets

• Viet Minh turn to guerilla warfare

• French hold cities and coast / Viet Minh hold highlands

• An attempt by Giap at open warfare is disaster- guerilla warfare resumed

Ho Chi Minh

• 1954 – Battle of Dien Bien Phu French seek to pull

Viet Minh into open battle and destroy them

Test of will between French and Viet Minh

French defeatedFrench dead

2,293, 5,134 wounded, 11,000 surrender

Vietnamese dead 8,000, 15,000 wounded

French soldiers march into captivity following defeat at Dien Bien Phu. Few made it home alive.

• Vietnam divided at 17th parallel• Peace agreement calls for elections in

North and South- none are held• Almost one million Vietnamese flee to

the South• 6,000 North Vietnamese killed by Viet

Minh in relocation and collectivization

• 1954 – France recognizes South Vietnam under rule of Bao Dai (emperor 1925-1945)

• Ngo Dinh Diem (Catholic), commander of military, overthrows Bao Dai

• Viet Minh in South become Viet Cong

• Government of South Vietnam corrupt, army poorly led, discriminates against Buddhist majority

• Kennedy, embarrassed by Bay of Pigs, takes hard line in Vietnam

• Sends military advisors

Viet Cong in training

• Buddhist riot against Diem’s rule

• CIA orchestrates a coup against Diem – Diem and family are killed

• JFK assassinated three weeks later

• August 1964 – Tonkin Resolution allows dramatic increases in US forces

• Ho Chi Minh Trail• Search and Destroy –

body counts• Development of military

technology – use of helicopter

American soldiers on Search and Destroy mission

• The US begins a military draft

• 1967 – President Thieu and VP Ky elected

• 1968 – Tet Offensive Country-wide assault by

Viet Cong Attack on US embassy in

Saigon Public opinion turns against

the war Viet Cong suffers massive

defeat Saigon Police Chief executes captured Viet cong guerilla

• 1968 – Nixon elected president on platform of ending war “with honor”

• 1969 – Formal truce negotiations begin in Paris

• Nixon begins withdrawal of US troops – bombs North

• US attacks supply lines in Cambodia

President Nixon

US MPs with sapper captured at US embassy

• 1970 – Massive peace demonstrations in US

• May – Four students killed at Kent State

• Vietnamization becomes US policy

• 1971 – Pentagon Papers released

• Troop withdrawals continue

Dead student at Kent State University, Ohio

• 1972 – North Vietnamese army invades South Vietnam

• 1973 – Paris Peace Treaty signed

• March - Last US combat troops leave Vietnam

North Vietnamese tanks enter Saigon’s presidential palace

• 1974 – Communists overrun Cambodia

• Communists take over Laos

• April 1975 – Saigon falls to North Vietnam

• Renamed Ho Chi Minh City

• North and South reunited as the Democratic Republic of Vietnam US helicopters evacuate Vietnamese and Americans