Transcript THE ROAD TO WAR IN VIETNAM

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