vietnam

Before WW2 Vietnam (Indochina) was a French colony, During the war it was conqured by Japan who ruled the area brutaly and treated the Vietnamese people savagely.

As a result of this a strong anti-Japanese moovement (the Viet Minh) emergerd under the leadership of communist leader Ho Chi Minh.

When WW2 finished tge Viet Minh controlled the North of the country and were determined to take controll of the rest of the country. The Viet Minh entered the city of Hanoi in 1945 and declared Vietnamese independance.

Ho Chi Minh was a remarkable indervisual who had lived in The USA, Britain and France. In the 1920's he studied communism in the USSR, and learnt the technique of Guerilla Warfare.

In the 1930's he founded the Indochinese communist party and inspired the vietnamese people to fight for an independant Vietnam.

For 9 years after the Viet Minh declared independance was war between the Viet Minh and the French. The French who were suppotred by the Americans and the Viet Minh who were supported by the USSR and China. (China became a communist state in 1949 under Mao Zedong).

The Americans saw the Viet Minh as puppets of Mao and the Chinese communists so they helped the French by putting $500 million a year into the war effort.

However the French were unable to hold onto the country as they underestimated the Viet Minh.

The Battle of Dien Bien Phu was a decisive engagement in the Vietnam War (1946–54). After French forces occupied the Dien Bien Phu valley in late 1953,

Viet Minh commander Vo Nguyen Giap amassed troops and placed heavy artillery in caves of the mountains overlooking the French camp. Boosted by Chinese aid, Giap mounted assaults on the French strong points beginning in March 1954, eliminating use of the French airfield.

Viet Minh forces overran the base in early May, prompting the French government to seek an end to the fighting with the signing of the Geneva Accords of 1954.

 The Geneva Conference April 26 – July 20, 1954 was an effort to resolve several problems in Asia, including the war between the French and Vietnamese nationalists in Indochina (Vietnam), representatives from the world’s powers meet in Geneva. The conference marked a turning point in the United States involvement in Vietnam.

The agreement was reached at the end of the Geneva Conference. A ceasefire was signed and France agreed to withdraw its troops from the region. And a general election will take place in 1955

The Domino theory is about the spread of communism across the world. It ment that if one country fell to communism the so would its neighbouring countries.

The analogy was first used by presidant Eisenhower.

In America the idea of the world becoming communist was terrifying, the most at risk countries were believed to be in South East Asian countries like Vietnam.

The United States government used the domino theory to justify its support of a non-communist regime in South Vietnam against the communist government of North Vietnam, and ultimately its increasing involvement in the long-running Vietnam War (1954-75).

President Eisenhower approved a National Security Council paper titled “Review of U.S. Policy in the Far East.” This paper supported Secretary of State Dulles’ view that the United States should support Diem, while encouraging him to broaden his government and establish more democratic institutions.

When Diem was set as the leader of Vietnam the United States were optimistic. This was suppose to be a good change to Vietnam and possibly weaken the influence of Communism in Vietnam.

The Vietnamese military, with the backing of the United States Central Intelligence Agency CIA, overthrew the regime of Ngo Dinh Diem. The U.S. backed the action since the Administration felt Diem was both corrupt and not pursuing the war against the Communists with enough vigor. U.S. support for the action effectively deepened the U.S. commitment to South Vietnam.

The death of Diem caused celebration among many people in South Vietnam, but also lead to political chaos in the nation. The United States subsequently became more heavily involved in Vietnam as it tried to stabilize the South Vietnamese government and beat back the communist rebels that were becoming an increasingly powerful threat.

Strategic hamlets were special villages, which had barbed wire or bamboo fence surrounding the hamlet to keep it away from Vietcong. In the hamlets, the government had built school, hospital, electricity, and some modern conveniences to encourage the peasants to move in. The peasants would be provided with weapons and military training to enable them to defend themselves. If necessary, the South Vietnamese Army, who stationed in the region, would come to aid the hamlets.

According to the Pentagon Paper, in September 1962, just about six month after the first resettlement effort, 3,225 hamlets had already been completed and 4.3 million people were relocated. By July 1963, 8.5 million people had been settled in 7,205 hamlets.

In September 1950, US President Harry Truman sent the Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) to Vietnam to assist the French in the First Indochinese (Vietnam)  war.

The President claimed they were not sent as combat troops, but to supervise the use of $10 million worth of US military equipment to support the French in their effort to fight the Viet Minh forces. By 1953, aid increased dramatically to $350 million to replace old military equipment owned by the French.

In August 1964 American destroyer USS Maddox was on patrol in the Golf of Tonkin when it was fired upon by North Vietnamese torpedo boats.

The presidant orderd the destroyer force to be doubled and instructed that if another attack happend on international waters they would respond with the objective of destroying the attackers.

2 days later the captain reported that they had been attacked again and even tho it was never confirmed and there was conflicting evidance the Pentagon insisted that there had been a 2nd attack.

On August 5th 1964 in retalliation to the unprovoked high seas attacks. The Air force struck the bases used by the North Vietnamese partol craft and President Johnson used the incident to push the Gulf of Tonkin resoloution through congress.

This gave the US president the power to defend US and South Vietnamese forces in what ever way he thought best. THis enabled Johnson to begin the US offical war with North Vietnam.