US involvement in Vietnam

Before WWII Vietnam ( indochina at the time ) was ruled by France, but they were defeated in the war, Japan then took over and ruled until 1945

The Viet Minh was a communist army led by Ho Chi Minh, they declared war in 1945 to fight for their independence, this turned into the Indochina war

During the war the battle of Dien Bien Phu started, this battle would then go on to determine the fate of Vietnam and how it was split into 2.

To the French, soviet expansion seemed the greatest threat.

They believed a domino effect would take place and communism would spread

At Dien Bien Phu, the French planned to draw out the Viet Minh and destroy them

It lasted from march - may 1954

It resulted in the Viet Minh victory and the termination of French involvement in Indochina

The Geneva accords were signed in 1954, this causes the split of Vietnam into the north and south separated by the 17th parallel.

North was governened by the Viet Minh supported by USSR and China, south by capitalist Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem who was supported by the US and the United Nations. This later caused the war between the North and South

President of south Vietnam 1954-1963

The votes were a sham he claimed 605,000 when only 450,000 people could vote

Rich catholic ~ most of Vietnam were poor buddhists, they would protest about lack of religious toleration, some would set fire to themselves

He gave important official positions to relatives and friends he refused another election

Ho Chi Minh

North Vietnam leader however gave out land to poor farmers, he was very popular his aim was to unify Vietnam.

1960- National Liberation Front was formed, aimed to unify country, supported by Ho Chi Minh, Diem called them Viet Cong ( Vietnamese communists )

The National Liberation Front ( North ) started guerrilla warfare against Diem

End of 1961 20,000 guerrillas in the south

1960-63 Strategic Hamlets were brought in, led by the South government and the CIA
It was designed to stop Viet Cong guerrillas winning over South Vietnamese villagers by isolating villagers from the Viet Cong

They would provide resources for the villages and protection and hopefully more support for them, however it FAILED it alienated the south Vietnamese and contributed to the influence of the Viet Cong

America also sent military advisers into Vietnam to assist in the war by 1963 there were 16,000 of them, by then they were firmly identified with the oppressive Diem regime

As NLF grew stronger Diem reacted more violently against Buddhists, he ordered his troops May 8 1963 to fire into a crowd of protesters, causing many protests.

President Kennedy saw Diem was not effective at running the South, he encouraged a coup in November 1963, he gave $40,000 to overthrow him

Diem and his brother were both assassinated, General Duong Van Minh took over the government as he had more military experience

One big reason why America got increasingly envolved with the war is because of the gulf of Tonkin incident in august 1964, it escalated the war further for the US

August 2nd- In the waters of the Gulf of Tonkin, allegedly the US ship USS Maddox was shot at with torpedos by a North Vietnamese torpedo boat. Afterwards Maddox was hardly damaged but 4 Vietnamese were supposedly killed.

August 4th- they claimed to be another attack on a US ship, but evidence suggests it was only false radar images

After these two incidents was the passage by Congress of the Gulf of Tonkin resolution, which granted President Johnson the authority to assist any government under communist threat, and he sent in troops to start warfare against North Vietnam.