Vietnam War – Part I

French Reoccupation to JFK

French Indo-China French Indo-China

(Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos) had been part of the French Empire since the late 19th century

During the mid-1930s, serious disturbances took place under the leadership of Communists because of the World War and Depression

During WWII, Japan occupied the country

French Indo-China The League for the

Independence of Vietnam, known as the Viet Minh, was organized in 1941 in order to resist occupation

It was led by Ho Chi Minh and the Communists

They were armed by the Americans to fight the Japanese

Ho Chi Minh,1945

French Indo-China In the areas they

controlled, the Viet Minh: Relieved a famine by

commandeering the supplies hoarded by wealthy profiteers to put the price of food up

Ending high rents and high interest rates on loans

Redistributed land Gained popularity

among peasants

French Indo-China On the surrender of the

Japanese, Chinese troops occupied the north and British the south

On 2 September 1945, after Emperor Bao Dai's abdication, Ho Chí Minh read the Declaration of Independence of Vietnam

French Indo-China The British handed over Indo-China to the French In November 1946, the French ordered Ho Chi

Minh’s government to leave Hanoi When they refused, the French bombarded Hanoi

and Haiphong, killing 6,000 Ho and the Viet Minh were forced into a war for

independence The French, wishing to keep control of the rice

and rubber of the south, set up Bo Dai as leader of a puppet government

French Indo-China The Viet Minh fought a guerilla war against the

French The Communist Chinese supported the Viet Minh

with arms and equipment The Eisenhower Administration began to help the

French with money, equipment, and “advisers” By 1954, the U.S. had supplied 300,000 small arms

and spent $1 billion in support of the French military effort and was shouldering 80 percent of the cost of the war.

The Vietminh received crucial support from the Soviet Union and China. Chinese support in the Border Campaign of 1950 allowed supplies to come from China into Vietnam.

French Indo-China By 1954, the French had

lost control of the countryside

The French were decisively defeated in 1954 when a French army was surrounded and forced to surrender in a 50-day siege in Dien Bien Phu

Wounded French Legionnaire during the siege at Dien Bien Phu

Reasons for the French Defeat Ho and the Viet Minh had the support of the

people The Viet Minh were masters of guerilla warfare From 1950, the Viet Minh were supplied by China The French were war-weary and failed to run the

war effectively The French were experiencing problems in other

parts of the world

Significance of the Indo-China War The war was seen by the Americans as a

proxy war: Ho Chi Minh was the Soviets French were the Americans

Geneva Peace Conference 1954 a peace conference was convened in Geneva

Switzerland. USSR, UK, France, USA, China, and Indo-China The terms of the Geneva Agreement of 1954 were:

Laos and Cambodia were to be independent Vietnam was to be temporarily divided into two states

at the 17th parallel Ho Chin Minh’s government was recognized in the

north An American puppet regime under Ngo Dinh Diem

was set up in the south In 1956, elections were to be held throughout Vietnam,

after which it was to be united

Problems In Laos Once Laos was freed from the French in

1954, the Eisenhower administration flooded money to the country to prevent communism from taking a foothold (can you say- Marshall Plan)

The U.S. feared that if communism was present in Laos, it would spread to neighboring countries (domino effect)

A Laotian civil war raged, and Kennedy considered sending in American troops

He decided that he had insufficient forces to send to Laos and keep a significant number in Europe

A 14-power Geneva conference ended the fighting in 1962

Flexible Response Kennedy wanted an

alternative policy to Eisenhower’s New Look and massive retaliation

Kennedy didn’t like that in a crisis, he had the options of humiliation or nuclear incineration (i.e. massive retaliation)

With Defense Secretary McNamara, he pushed the strategy of “flexible response,” developing an array of military options that depended on the gravity of the crisis at hand

Flexible Response Part of the strategy meant being able to fight multiple

wars simultaneously; specifically, the US should have the peacetime capability to fight two large regional wars and a small brushfire war at the same time.

Kennedy increased spending on conventional military forces and bolstered the Special Forces (Green Berets) – an elite anti-guerrilla group trained to survive on anything and kill efficiently

Consequences of “Flexible Response” Made it easier to engage militarily, lowered the level at

which diplomacy would give way to shooting Provided a mechanism for a progressive and endless

increase of the use of force Increase recruiting, investment, and research for the US

force posture

Lack of Support for Diem Since Ngo Dinh Diem

had begun ruling South Vietnam in 1954, he lacked support:

He imprisoned government critics

Nepotism, filled government positions with members of his own family

U.S. money that was supposed to go to economic reforms went to the military and corrupt officials

Lack of Support for Diem Broke the Geneva

agreement by not holding elections

The U.S. continued to supported him, since they expected that Ho would win any genuine elections

Diem was a Catholic in a largely Buddhist country

He was seen as an American puppet

He blocked demands for land reform, which was being carried out in the north under Ho

June 11, 1963, Thich Quang Duc, a Buddhist monk from Vietnam, burned himself to death at a busy intersection in downtown Saigon to bring attention to the repressive policies of the Catholic Diem regime that controlled the South Vietnamese government at the time. Photograph by Malcolm Browne.

National Liberation Front (NLF) In 1960, groups formed the

NLF in south Vietnam, known as the Viet Cong (VC) to the Americans

VC was composed of some former Vietminh and “regroupees” Communist from north that settled in south

Demanded a democratic coalition government which would negotiate a peaceful union of Vietnam

When this was refused, a guerilla war began in the south, waged by the Viet Cong (VC)

Attempting to Gain Support America tried to involve her allies in the effort to

maintain the Republic of Vietnam. Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, and the Philippines sent troops

Local peasants were moved into “fortified villages” where they could be controlled by the ARVN (South Vietnamese Army). They were, in effect, concentration camps

By 1963, Kennedy had ordered 15,000 American men and equipment to Vietnam

Kennedy realized that Diem would never reform The Kennedy administration told the South

Vietnamese military that they wouldn’t object to a coup

Military Government Diem was overthrown by

the ARVN generals and murdered on 11/2/1963

The new military government in South Vietnam was in trouble

The ruling generals bickered among themselves and failed to direct the South Vietnamese army effectively

Nguyen Van Thieu survived the longest (1967-1975)

Viet Cong Gain Territory and Support

Meanwhile, the Viet Cong gained control of more territory and earned the loyalty of an increasing number of South Vietnamese

Ho Chi Minh and the North Vietnamese aided the Viet Cong throughout the struggle