Vietnam war

VIETNAM WAR
Cold War Flashpoint
GOOD MORNING VIETNAM
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v04ZV8aFmmM&safety_mo
de=true&safe=active&persist_safety_mode=1
 YouTube - Apocalypse Now - I love the smell of Napalm in the
morning
 Korea – referred to as America’s “Little War”
 Vietnam – referred to as America’s “Dirty War”
US INVOLVEMENT
 Covers a 30 year span and involved 6 presidents.
 Can be broken down into two phases:
• 1945-1960 – French-Indochina War (Truman and Eisenhower)
• 1961–1975 – US Vietnam War (Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford)
VIETNAM
 Part of a region referred to before WW2 as French Indochina
 Part of the French colonial empire
POST WW2
 French returned to find a communist regime established in the
region known as North Vietnam.
 The regime was led by a nationalist known as Ho Chi Minh.
 The French took control over the south and established a non-
communist government.
 Both governments claimed to rule the entire country.
BALLAD OF HO CHI MINH
 Google Image Result for
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_nmu1cOfAf2E/TLH2zDZlSBI/AAAA
AAAAAJE/xddNl_77L8A/s1600/Ho+Chi+Minh.jpg
PHASE ONE: FRENCH INDOC H I N A WA R
 In late Nov. 1946 French troops attacked the North. This was
followed by 9 years of war which eventually involved the Cold War
rivals.
 North – supported by communist China and the USSR
 South(French) – supported by the US as part of the containment
policy/Truman Doctrine. US provided $3 billion / 80% of the
materials.
RESULT
 By 1954 the war was over with the communist forces of Ho Chi
Minh victorious.
 Geneva Accords were signed on 20 July 1954.
 Two major conditions:
• Indochina divided into three states – Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos
• Vietnam remain divided into North and South with an understanding
that free elections be held in 1956 to reunite Vietnam
REALITY
 Elections were never held
 The two governments followed their own course
• North – communist under Ho Chi Minh based in Hanoi
• South – democratic?? under Ngo Din Diem based in Saigon
• Each side was backed by the respective Cold War powers
W H AT L E D T O U S
I N VO LV E M E N T ?
 The answer is found in an examination of the different approaches
taken by the respective leaders of North and South Vietnam.
 Between 1955-1959 the two nations went in different directions.
NORTH VIETNAM
 Minh solidified his rule by carrying out:
• Land reform – gained support of the peasantry.
• Purged the country of political dissidents.
• Implementing secret plans to reunify the country via military action.
• Ho Chi Minh Trail
• Viet Cong
SOUTH VIETNAM
 Diem does very little to consolidate his rule – the exact opposite.
 His actions create resentment among the people and increase
support for the communist Viet Cong forces operating in the South.
• Delayed promised land reform
• Persecutes the Buddhist church ( Diem was a catholic)
 Becomes apparent to the Americans that South Vietnam will fall to
communism if they do not step in.
PHASE TWO: US VIETNAM
WAR
 Justified using a theory proposed in 1954 by President Eisenhower
known as the Domino Theory.
 The fall of Vietnam to communism would resemble a stack of
dominoes.
 Vietnam would be followed by Cambodia, Laos, Burma, India, etc.
 You have broader considerations that might
follow what you would call the "falling domino"
principle. You have a row of dominoes set up, you
knock over the first one, and what will happen to
the last one is the certainty that it will go over very
quickly. So you could have a beginning of a
disintegration that would have the most profound
influences.“
• Eisenhower, April 7, 1954
TURNING POINT FOR US
INVOLVEMENT
July 8, 1959
• Two US military advisors are killed by communist
forces in South Vietnam.
• After this US involvement escalates.
1960 (JFK) – 800 advisors
1968 (LBJ) – 500,000 American troops
Most US troops are out by 1973 as a result of a
negotiated cease – fire.
April, 1975, North Vietnamese troops take
Saigon.
1976
The two Vietnams are united into a communist
state.
Communism spread throughout South-East Asia
(Cambodia and Laos).
VIETNAM TODAY
WHY DID THE US LOSE
THE WAR
Leadership of Din Diem – proved to be very
unpopular.
Jungle warfare / Viet Cong tactics
Unpopular at home
• Media Coverage
• Protest Movement
• Atrocities
 Fortunate Son
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7K28ZJSIc&safety_mode=true&safe=active&persist_safety_mode=1
 Blowing in the Wind
 Ohio
 Nineteen
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ev2dEqrN4i0&safety_mode
=true&persist_safety_mode=1
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFXazj8_CsY&safety_mode=
true&persist_safety_mode=1
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIhGYu5Uc08&safety_mode
=true&persist_safety_mode=1
RESULTS OF THE
VIETNAM WAR
Vietnam
• Over one million Vietnamese died – over half of
them were civilians.
• Resulted in large numbers of refugees attempting
to escape the fighting.
• Economic ruin due to the devastation in
agriculture, forestry and fishing that resulted from
the bombings.
UNITED STATES
Human Cost
•
•
•
•
57,000 killed in action
300,000 wounded
2500 missing in action
Over 50,000 vets have committed suicide while
others suffer from substance abuse problems
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8NR6n1nRMI&safety_mode
=true&persist_safety_mode=1
ECONOMIC COST
$150 billion spent
Distorted US economy – reliance on defense
contracts.
Example - between 1962 and 1973, the United
States lost 4,869 helicopters
POLITICAL COST
American prestige and popularity around the globe
decreased dramatically – due mainly to actions and
images of US soldiers.
Protest movement divided the nation
American people lose faith /trust in their
government/politicians.
LESSON LEARNED
American policy of containment, through the use
of force, to stop the spread of communism was
unworkable and that US military power was not
invincible.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnnLrmboOYE&safety_mod
e=true&persist_safety_mode=1