Section 1Great site for Vietnam War Information: Click Here Geography-Easternmost country in SE Asia -About the size of California -Dense forests and hills -Population centered in far North and far South -Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City are the two largest cities
Vietnam After WWII -Vietnam was controlled by French up to the 1950s -Communists in Vietnam wanted to take over -Trade and religion were main factors -Called French Indochina -One of the best colonies France had -France got rich; peasants stayed poor -1930sàVietnamese started revolting-Ho Chi Minh (“He Who Enlightens”) led independence fight-Formed Indochinese Communist Party -In 1940, Japan takes over Indochina -“Vietminh”àmovement to free Vietnam started by Minh -US helped Ho Chi Minh fight against Japanese -After WWII, Vietnam declares independence -France tries to regain control Truman and Ike Aid the French-In 1946, fighting breaks out -Truman surprisingly backs France -France was an ally (helped out in Europe) -Vietminh had communist connections -China and Korea were being taken over by commies -Truman Doctrine -When Ike takes over, same position as Truman -If Vietnam fell to communism, so would all of SE Asia -Domino Theory
Dividing North and South-In 1954, French defeated at Dien Bien Phu-France calls for peace-Geneva Conference-Meeting to figure out what to do with Vietnam -Agreed to a cease-fire -Divide Vietnam into 2 parts at 17th parallel -Just like Korea -NorthàVietminh -SouthàDemocratic (theoretically) -Would hold elections to pick leaders to reunify Vietnam in 1956 -Ho Chi Minh very popular -Ngo Diem not popular in SV -Was clear that communists would win -US refuses to go along with elections -Stay separated
Viet Cong Oppose Diem -South Vietnam leader was Ngo Dinh Diem (former gov’t official)-Catholic; Anti-communist; ruthless in hunting down enemies -Had support of US -Fraudulently elected leader -Got 605,000 votes -Only 450,000 registered voters!!! -By late 1950s, NV was sending help to SV to overthrow Diem -SV who wanted communismàVietcong -Ho Chi Minh Trailàseries of supply lines from NV to SV Kennedy Faces Communist Threats-JFK was presidentàagreed with Domino Theory -Sent 700 “advisors” (soldiers) to train SV army -Grew to 16,000 -Bay of Pigs, Cuban Missile Crisis, Berlin Crisis
Diem’s overthrow-Most people in SV were Buddhists (Diem was Catholic) -Diem cracked down on Buddhists -As a protest, several Buddhist monks set themselves on fire -US tells Diem to stop or we will leave -Diem says no -We helped overthrow Diem (assassinated) |
