Vietnam War

• Since 19th century Vietnam had been a French colony known as Indochina.
• When France was defeated by Germany in 1940, Japan took control of Vietnam. During the war an anti - Japanease  resistant movment called the Viet Minhfought under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh (North communist) for Vietnamese independence.
• At the end of WW2 the Viet Minh controlled the North of Vietnam and entered Hanoi in 1945 and declared Vietnamese independence.
• After WW2 France tried to re-assert control in Vietnam but the Viet Minh fought France.
• In 1949 there was a communist revolution in China lead by Mao Tse-tung. America saw Ho chi Minh as a puppet of Mao's communist China although this was not true.
• Fearing a communist plan to take over south-east Asia, America began to send financial aid to frenchand helped them set up a non-communist government in the South of Vietnam
• In 1954 at Dien Bien Phu the french were defeated. At a peace conference in Genva, Vietnam was divided into North and south Vietnam until elections could be held.

NORTH VIETNAMESE

• Communist
• Leader: Ho Chi Minh
• Army: Viet Min, Viet Cong (southern Guerrilla army)
• Supported By: Russia and China

SOUTH VIETNAMESE

• Capaitalist
• Leader of Republic of South Vietnam: Diem
• Supported By: USA

 An idea that China and the USSR were planning to spread communism throughout Asia. If Vietnam goes communist than Laos, Combodia, Thailand and Burma might go communist. The Americans saw Vietnam as the first domino in the row so want to prevent it going communist.

2 August, 1964, in the Gulf of TOnkin, the USS Maddox fired on North Vietnamese torpedo boats that were too close
On the 3rd/4th of august the sailors panicked, fearing they were under attack
Lyndon Johnson, the President didn't believe them though still told Congress that there had been deliberate attacks against US vessels from the North Vietnamese
7th August, 1964, Congress authorised an escalation in US involvement
The event is thought to be an excuse
The Gulf of Tonkin resolution was passed to allow soldiers to allow soldiers to protect American Bases

The part of the conference on the Korean question ended without adopting any declarations or proposals. On Indochina, the conference produced a set of documents known as the Geneva Accords. These agreements temporarily separated Vietnam into two zones, a northern zone to be governed by the Việt Minh, and a southern zone to be governed by the State Of Vietnam, then headed by former emperor Bao Dai. A Conference Final Declaration, issued by the British chairman of the conference, provided that a general election be held by July 1956 to create a unified Vietnamese state. Although presented as a consensus view, this document was not accepted by the delegates of either the State of Vietnam or the United States. In addition, three separate ceasefire accords, covering Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam, were signed at the conference.

• To support Diem who is the corrupt leader of south vietnam when in the Geneva Conference in 1954 they decided that Vietnam would split into two. They supported him because he was against communism. He called the National Liberation Front to unite the south against the Vietcong in the north. Diem was catholic compared to 80% of the Vietnamese being Buddhist. He started the Agroville programme where peasants weere moved to 'safe villages' which were effectively concentration camps. He was corrupt and gave key government roles to family. America disliked him but had little choice but to work with him. Diem would not allow land reform which was what the peasants wanted. They funded the Saigon Military Mission where 1000 military advisors trained the ARVN. Diem lost support due to the Buddhist demonsatrations and was assassinated by the CIA

The Strategic Hamlet Program (Vietnamese: Ấp Chiến lược) was a plan by the governments of South Vietnamand the United States during the Vietnam War to combat the communist insurgency by pacifying the countryside and reducing the influence of the communists among the rural population.

Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) is a designation for United states military advisors sent to other countries to assist in the training of conventional armed forces and facilitate military aid. Although numerous MAAGs operated around the world throughout the 1940s–1970s, the most famous MAAGs were those active in Southeast Asia before and during the Vietnam War. Typically, the personnel of MAAGs were considered to be technical staff attached to, and enjoying the privileges of, the US diplomatic mission in a country. Although the term is not as widespread as it once was, the functions performed by MAAGs continue to be performed by successor organizations attached to embassies, often called United States Military Groups (USMILGP or MILGRP).