vietnamese history
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Vietnamese History• Foreign domination of
Vietnam had lasted centuries:– China: off and on for
hundreds of years – France: 1800 until World War
II– Japan: during World War II
Military hero: Tran Hung Dao
Vietnamese Nationalism
• Ho Chi Minh– Joined independence
movement fighting French rule during his youth
– Became an advocate of communism while visiting Soviet Union and founded Indochinese Communist Party
– Returned to Vietnam in 1941 and led struggle against Japanese
• Vietminh– Led by Ho Chi Minh– Formed to fight Japan– Received aid from USA
French Return to Vietnam
• Post WW II – USA backs French in returning to rule in Indochina
• Domino Theory motivates USA– If Vietnam fell to
communism, other surrounding nations would follow
• Vietminh continue struggle for independence– Guerilla tactics: hit and
run, ambush, use jungles to hide
• 1954 - Vietminh victory at Dien Bien Phu forces France to withdraw from Indochina
• Vietnamese independence is negotiated in the Geneva Accords– French Indochina becomes
North and South Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia
– Vietnam divided at 17th Parallel– North Vietnam: communist
under Ho Chi Minh– South Vietnam: USA supported
under Ngo Dinh Diem– Elections to unite Vietnam
scheduled for 1956 • 1956 elections never held
– Ho Chi Minh would have been a certain winner
Vietnam Gains Independence
Dien Bien Phu
Battle at Dien Bien Phu
American Involvement
Deepens
• Ho Chi Minh forms guerilla army (Vietcong) to unify nation
• USA supports South Vietnam’s military with aid and advisors– Eisenhower and Kennedy
use this policy – Goal - prevent spread of
communism• Vietcong grow more powerful
and influential• Ngo Dinh Diem overthrown and
executed in 1963– Unpopular reforms– Persecution of Buddhists
• USA supports series of weak, unstable gov’ts in South Vietnam
Flames envelope a young Buddhist monk in Saigon, 1963.
LBJ and the Gulf of Tonkin
• LBJ reports North Vietnam attacked USA destroyers in Gulf of Tonkin– He did not report that USA
had been conducting raids against North Vietnam
• LBJ requests and receives Congressional approval for Gulf of Tonkin Resolution– Authorized President to “take
all necessary measures” against North Vietnam
– Gave war powers to LBJ
Operation Rolling Thunder • LBJ ordered Operation
Rolling Thunder (1965)– Massive bombing campaign
against North Vietnam and it’s capital Hanoi
• 180,000 combat troops ordered to Vietnam– USA arrives confident of its
strength and purpose – By 1966 the numbers doubled
• Vietcong escalate attacks on USA positions
• Dear America
Leaflet Dropped by USA in Vietnam
Leaflet dropped by USA in Vietnam
Follow these Instructions below to Surrender 1. Go out and present yourself to the Vietnam Republic Force, or be alienated with those who are half-naked. 2. Carry your Gun on your shoulder with the Barrel pointed to the ground.
3. Place your hands behind your head. Don't be Scared you are Welcome
Frustrating Warfare• Vietcong were effective guerilla
fighters and stayed well hidden in villages and jungles
• USA used “search and destroy” missions to locate Vietcong
• Destroyed landscape and eliminate hiding places in jungle– Napalm (jellied gasoline) – Agent Orange (strips leaves
from trees) – Dear America
U.S. soldiers on a search-and-destroy patrol in Phuoc Tuy province, South Vietnam, June 1966.
Questioning villagers in search for Vietcong
Napalm
Agent Orange
A young Viet Cong suspect cries after hearing a rifle shot. His captors, Chinese Nung tribesmen in the service of the U.S. Special Forces, pretended to shoot his father, a ruse designed to make the boy reveal information
Murder of a Vietcong by Saigon Police Chief Vietnam, 1968.
Vietcong: Determined Enemy
• Vietcong:– Largely comprised of South
Vietnamese fighting for independence
– North Vietnam supported Vietcong guerillas
– Sent arms and supplies south along Ho Chi Minh Trail
• USA :– Underestimated Vietcong’s
strength and determination– Tactics (limited war of
attrition) did not work against Vietcong or North Vietnamese
– Support for war begins to weaken
– Dear America
Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos
Credibility Gap • General William Westmoreland (top American commander in South Vietnam) continually reported that the enemy was on the brink of defeat– Vietnam becomes
“television war”– Media accounts
contradicted Westmoreland– Credibility gap develops
between government accounts of war and public perception
Tet OffensiveVideo
• 1/30/1968 – Tet (Vietnamese New Year)
• Vietcong (VC) and North Vietnamese Army (NVA) launch surprise attacks– American base camps– Major South Vietnamese cities
• Communist forces retreat after a month of intense fighting– Suffer heavy casualties, but
score a political victory– Americans were shocked at
strength of enemy– Majority in USA turn against war
Tet Offensive
Hue, 1968
Hue, 1968
Khe Sanh under fire, 1968
Khe Sanh, 1968
Antiwar Movement • 1965 – first teach-in (leave
classes and gather for discussions of war) occurs
• Protests against draft become widespread– Many publicly burn
draft cards– Nearly 500,000
draftees refuse to serve– Many faced jail or fled
to Canada• Nation divides into hawks
(pro-war) and doves (anti-war)
• Dear America
Early USA protest, 1966
Election of 1968 • LBJ chooses not to run for re-election– Declining popularity due to
war
• Democratic candidates run a closely contested primary– Hubert Humphrey– Eugene McCarthy– Robert Kennedy (assassinated
in June, 1968)
• Republican Richard Nixon wins close election over Hubert Humphrey and George Wallace
“We are winning the war”
Robert F. Kennedy Eugene McCarthy
Hubert Humphrey
Democrats for President, 1968
Chicago’s Grant Park, 1968
Chicago, 1968
Chicago, 1968
Chicago, 1968
Chicago’s Mayor Richard Daley at Democratic Convention
Nixon & Kissinger:
1969-1973
• Nixon used Henry Kissinger as his representative in peace negotiations– Kissinger negotiated with
Soviet Union, China, and North Vietnam
• Nixon policy of Vietnamization – South Vietnam assumes
greater role in war as America withdraws
– As USA troops withdrew, bombings increased
Vietnamese Air Force drops napalm on Viet Cong targets
My Lai Massacre• News of massacre at My
Lai shocks nation • American platoon killed
several hundred men, women, children in the village of My Lai
• Platoon commander, Lt. William Calley served a prison sentence for the crime
• Photos by Sgt. Ron Haeberle became public in 1969
• Dear America
Lt. William Calley
My Lai Massacre: On March 16, 1968 the angry and frustrated men of Charlie Company entered the village of My Lai. "This is what you've been waiting for -- search and destroy -- and you've got it," said a superior officer. A short time later the killing began.
My Lai: Sgt Haeberle photographed these women and children seconds before American soldiers shot and killed them
My Lai: Among the civilians massacred by U.S. soldiers
My Lai: Aerial photo of village burning
Kent State • Nixon announces that USA has invaded Cambodia– Searching for Vietcong
military bases– Americans see it as an
escalation of war• Demonstrations against the
war increase across the country
• Protest at Kent State University in Ohio ends in violence– Four students are killed
and at least nine wounded when National Guardsmen open fire on a crowd of protesters
Kent State University: May 4, 1970
Memorial at Kent State
War Ends• 1972 – Nixon increased
bombing raids on North Vietnam
• 1973 – Peace agreement between USA and North Vietnam
• 1975 – USA completes pullout from South Vietnam – North Vietnam invades the
South – Saigon falls and is renamed
Ho Chi Minh City– Vietnam united under
communist rule
Last days at the American Embassy
Fall of Saigon, 1975
Fall of Saigon, 1975
Fall of Saigon, 1975
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