Vietnam War

• faced a guerilla force (viet minh).
• france had been devastated by WW2 could not afford to sustain a conflict.
• successive French governments changed their policy regarding the region - inconsistent.

French Indochina -- french territories in South East Asia -- included Laos and Cambodia (bordering countries of Vietnam)

• British used to control Burma, Singapore and Malaysia
• South East Asia economically important to France and Britain -- resources, raw materials and trade

1. During WW1, France and Britain unable to hold onto Vietnam -- Japanese take control

2. 1941     Viet Minh established (nationalist group) by Ho Chi Minh to resist Japanese rule

3. Ho Chi Minh a communist and nationalist -- wanted independence for Vietnam

4. Ironically the US supplied the Viet Minh with weapons to fight the Japanese

5. 1945    Ho declares independence, establishes Democratic Republic of Vietnam - hopes                  US will support him

6. French want their land back -- allies with the US who turn against Ho

May 1954 - US and South Vietnam do not sign the Accords

• France, Viet Minh, Cambodia, Laos, the US, the USSR, China, Britain and Bao Dai's south Vietnam government met in Geneva
• Viet Minh to control the north
• Bao Dai to control the south, supported by the French
• Elections to be held in 1956 -- lead to unification of the country
• Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) created -- like the 38th parallel in Korea -- spliting Vietnam in two
• -- gives them a 'free hand'

What happened??

1.1955  Ngo Dinh Diem rigged election -- becomes Prime Minister

2. Diem and US aware of Ho's popularity -- knew he would win election -- refuse to hold             elections

3. Diem and US happy to have the country split than have it as another communist country

1954     Eisenhower creates SEATO (South East Asia Treaty Organisation)

• Allianced aimed to contain communism
• US, Britain, France, Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Thailand, Philippines sign Manila Pact
• SEATO = a military alliance
• South Vietnam not a member of SEATO -- US promised military protection under Manila Pact
• Used this as an 'excuse' to authorise military action in South Vietnam
• 1964      Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

• Paid for 80% of the French's war costs (£2 billion a year).

Reasons for intervention:

• Truman Doctrine - wanted to prove it was more than words.
• Domestic Pressures - Republican pressure - blamed for China.
• Fear of communism - 1949 China - Ho a puppet of Stalin.
• Atomic bomb - USSR.
• McCarthy witch hunts.
• Build up relationships with Britain and France to stop Communism in Europe.
• Deteriorating Situation in Vietnam - guerilla fighters - Ho and Giap inspirational leaders.

●Due to Eisenhower’s allegiance to the Domino Theory, Dominos of China & North Korea fallen, Vietnam threatened to fall.

● Eisenhower keen not to seem “soft of communism” like Truman. As a Republican took military approach by supporting the French.

●French defeat at Dien Bien Phu.

●Geneva Agreements declaring North Vietnam Communist, South needed to be saved hence SEATO alliance.

●Eisenhower acting early to stem communism election win.

Diem's regime repressive, corrupt and unpopular with South Vietnamese people

• US couldn't find suitable alternative
• Eisenhower provides Diem with $7 billion of aid between 1955-1961 to prepare for invasion of the North Vietnamese Army (NVA)
• Diem regime involved executing thousands of South Vietnamese communists to prove he was anti-communist
• 1959      Agroville programme -- pack peasants into concentrated settlements away from              communists, reveal Viet Cong hiding places -- unpopular because people had to              leave their homes, land and graves of their family members -- religion
• Diem was a Catholic, most Vietnamese people Buddhists -- resent Catholic elite
• 1960      National Liberation Front formed in South Vietnam -- united communists,                        nationalists and Buddhists who hated Diem
• NLF also consisted of the People's Liberation Armed Forces (Viet Cong)
• Ho Chi Minh strengthens his political and military power in North Vietnam -- preparing to attack the south

• Refused to sign Geneva Accords - did not want 1956 elections.
• Did not follow the terms - signed SEATO
• Eisenhower decides to send in 1500 US advisers and personnel into South Vietnam -- help train the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN).
• Rigged elections and Diem became president in 1955 - more votes than pop in Seol.
• Domestic pressure - as a republican he had to prove he was tough on communism.
• Deteriorating situation in Vietnam - french had been defeated - Diem not popular.

●Seemed “soft on communism” failure with Cuba & the draw-coalition in Laos, no victory during Presidency felt the need to prove himself strong for upcoming elections.

● Like predecessors, committed to monolithic, Cold War Context, Domino Theory perspective, stop the spread of communism!

• Hatred of communism - catholic - written a book on appeasement believed USSR were a threat to world wide democracy.
• Quagmire theory - too far in to get out without looking weak.
• Domestic Pressure - bay of pigs disaster - needed to prove himself - McNamara pressuring.
• Deteriorating situation in Vietnam - by 1960 Vietcong formed - buddhists demonstrating.

●Increased military advisors to 16,000 by ’63 & created Green Berets, specialists against communist guerrillas.

• increased millitary aid.
• Advisors got involved in operations - helicopters.
• Strategic hamlets programme.
• Gave secret approval of the overthrow of Diem in a military coup.

• Fear of communism - china continued to back up Ho - Mistakes of appeasement - USSR and China continued to supply the Vietminh.
• Quagmire theory - locked in - by supporting the coup US were morally and politically involved in the government of South Vietnam.
• Domestic Pressure - he wanted to prove he was tough against communism before the 1964 elections - also being advised by McNamara - US public supported the war 1965 poll showed 80% did.
• Deteriorating situation in Vietnam - Thie unpopular and unstable - McNamara visited Vietnam and the vietcong controlled 30-40% of South Vietnam 

2nd August 1964 -- US Navy ship (USS Maddox) attacked by North Vietnamese in the Gulf of Tonkin -- supposedly attacked again

• Reported to the White House
• Congress pass the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution -- giving Johnson the power to repel attacks -- take pressure off Saigon by bombing the north
• March 1965 -- Operation Rolling Thunder -- bombing campaign that lasted till 1968 -- aim to destroy the north's industrial economy and cut off suplly routes from China
• Little impact on guerilla warfare tactics -- economy rural -- didn't cut off routes
• 1965 -- Operation Steel Tiger -- targets Ho Chi Minh trail -- trail wasn't broken
• Many bombs faild to explode -- North Vietnamese supplied with bombs to attack the ARVN
• March 1965 -- combat troops sent to defend airbase at Da Nang
• Operation Rolling Thunder enxtended
• Commit further 125,000 troops in July 1965
• End of 1966 = 385,000 troops in Vietnam
• end of 1967 = 500,000 troops

Guerilla warfare = raids, ambushes and sabotage

• Vietcong used hidden traps in the jungle to inflict casualties -- triggered tripwire, covered pits, bamboo spikes, underground tunnels to hide from Americans when they napalmed
• Vietcong blend in with South Vietnamese villagers -- US attack innocent people -- lose hearts and minds of people
• US used search and destroy tactics -- killing enemy troops and destroying villages that supported them
• US see war as war of attrition -- kill as many as possible -- Westmoreland focus of kill ratios to show US winning the war
• US not used to Jungle Warfare in hot, humid, wet conditions
• US fighting out of element -- Vietnamese fighting for homeland (wanted it more)
• US soldier service short -- gain no experience fighting

Napalm stuck to objects and people -- burned at high temperatures

• Used as a defoliate -- burn the jungle to see enemy
• Agent Orange a defoliant -- destroys trees and plant life -- harmful effects on civilians (deformaties)

January 1968, NVA and Vietcong launch attack

• 80,000 Vietcong attack Saigon
• Most of ARVN troops on leave or enjoying Tet Festival
• Saigon captured in 3 days
• Weeks of house-to-house fighting to get city of Hue
• Massacre of Hue -- reported on negatively by U.S. press
• By end of the Tet Vietcong lost 60,000 men, US lost 4,000 and ARVN 2,000
• Vietcong severely weakened

Tet Offensive had a negative impact on US public opinion -- although US had weakened the Vietcong

• Showed on television Vietcong attacking US embassy in Saigon -- didn't look like they were winning like Westmoreland had told
• Pursuaded many Americans the war couldn't be won -- anti-war protests

US troops losing disipline -- fragging/killing own officers -- deserting and losing morale

• Morale worsened by anti-war movement back home -- no support
• Felt they were risking their lives for no reason -- shouldn't be in Vietnam
• Worsened by an invisible enemy -- wanted revenge
• Some soldiers commit atrocities like the massacre at My Lai
• South Vietnam had no real government for 4 years after Diem's death
• US has little support from allies -- Britain and France refuse to support like in Korea
• Anti-war movement in the US growing 1966 -- MLK speaks against the war, protest of 100,000 people
• Opposition to drafting (conscription)
• Media go against the war -- Walter Cronkite
• March 1986 New York Times says Westmoreland asks for 200,000 more men -- very unpopular
• Johnson doesn't run for re-election

Nixon elected in 1968 -- promised to withdraw from Vietnam -- no previous ties to the war

• Changed US tactics -- Vietnamisation
• Extended the war in Cambodia and Laos -- although supposedly pulling out?
• Spoke with USSR and China to encouraged North Vietnam to agree peace -- huge bombing on the North
• Peace agreemnt signed January 1973 -- Saigon fell in 1975
• Nixon Doctrine -- military and economic assistance to allies, wouldn't supply manpower
• 'Madman Theory' - wanted enemies to believe he was dangerous -- nuclear weapons

Clear and hold replaced search and destroy

• Operation Pheonix -- capturing National Liberation Front (NLF) organisers
• Vietnamisation -- training ARVN
• Extends war into Cambodia and Laos
• South Vietnam under threat again -- after peace signed in 1973 American troops begin to leave
• Saigon falls in 1975

My Lai Massacre outrage -- war corrupting American soldiers

• Student Protests at Kent State Uni - National Guards open fire on protesters -- 4 students killed -- triggered further riots
• Congress cutting military spending
• Pentagon Papers -- showed Kennedy and Johnson misled public, doubts on attacks in Gulf of Tonkin -- tricked into war?
• North Vietnam in no hurry to sign peace -- wait for antiwar protestes in America and Congressional cuts -- force America to sign peace at any price
• Nixon gains relations with China and USSR - reduce North Vietnamese support
• China and USSR fallen out in 1960s (sino-soviet split)

• He mainpulated the Gulf of tonkin incident to get the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution passed - which gave him the authority to use 'all means necessary'.
• He authorised Operation Rolling Thunder.
• He authorised the use of Defoliants and Nepalm.
• He sent in the first ground troops in 1965 to De Nang - there were 500,000 troops by 1968