Case Study: VietnamHow was a small country like Vietnam able to win a war against the USA?

Essay Question

This section includes: • Background• 1957 to 1965 – Struggle in Vietnam between the

South Vietnamese army and the communist-trained rebels (Viet Cong)

• 1965 to 1969 – North Vietnamese-USA struggle• The war from the Vietnamese and USA perspective• The war as a world issue• 1969 to 1975 – USA withdrawal from Vietnam • Conclusion: How the war is remembered today

(Refer to CAPS, p26)2

Where in the World is Vietnam?

VietnamUSA

Background• In the 19th century France

colonised a large part of SE Asia including modern day Vietnam.

• 1941: Japan invaded and occupied SE Asia.

• 1941: Two communists / Vietnamese nationalists (Ho Chi Minh and Nguyen Vo Giap) set up Viet Minh (League for the Independence of Vietnam)

• Viet Minh funded by the US.

Post-War Settlement 1945-1954• 1945: Japan was defeated in

WWII, withdrew from SE Asia• September 1945 Ho Chi Minh

announced Vietnam was an independent and democratic republic.

• The French attempted to re-establish their empire and took back control of the south

• Vietminh continued to fight for full independence and a united Vietnam

• 1954 French surrenderedIn May 1954, Britain, France, China, the Soviet Union, the USA and Vietnam met in Geneva to decide the future of Vietnam

The Geneva Agreement

1954-1965 struggle between South Vietnamese army and communist trained rebels (NFL / Viet Cong)

• 1955 Diem (supported by USA) officially elected president of South Vietnam in rigged elections

• Diem was a dictator. He was a Catholic and persecuted the Buddhist majority. Land was taken from peasants and given to Diem’s supporters

• Diem refused to allow elections to re-unite North and South Vietnam.

Opposition to Diem’s Government • 1959: Vietminh supporters in

South Vietnam formed the National Liberation Front (NFL) Diem and USA called them ‘Viet Cong’ (Vietnamese Communists)

• 1963: an elderly monk named Thich Quang Duc, set himself ablaze in protest against Diem’s corrupt regime .

• 1963: a CIA funded coup in South Vietnam which overthrew and killed Diem.

Malcolm Brown who took this photograph

Why did America become involved in a war in Vietnam?

American Presidents during the period of US involvement in Vietnam:

Dwight D Eisenhower (Rep): 1953- 1961 John F. Kennedy (Dem): 1961-1963

Lyndon B Johnson (Dem): 1963-1969Richard Nixon (Rep): 1969- 1974

The ‘Domino Effect’ (Strategic importance of Vietnam)

In 1949 the Chinese Communist Party, led by Mao Zedong won their civil war and established a communist government. USA feared that other countries in the region would fall to communism unless the USA actively prevented it.

Gulf of Tonkin Incident (Trigger)

• On 2 August 1964 the US destroyer Maddox was fired at by North Vietnamese patrol boats in the Gulf of Tonkin. The Maddox was gathering intelligence information. Two days later there was a second alleged attack. Evidence has since shown that this did not happen. US President Johnson used these attacks to persuade Congress to support greater US involvement in Vietnam.

• 1965 – by end of year 200,000 US combat soldiers had been sent to Vietnam.

1965 - 1969: North Vietnamese-USA struggle

USA’s Tactics

• 7 Feb 1965: USA launched ‘Operation Rolling Thunder’: - Widespread aerial bombing using cluster bombs and Chemical weapons (‘Agent Orange’ and Napalm used)

• Search and Destroy (used airmobility to move troops)

• 16 March 1968: My Lai massacre

• Defence of South Vietnamese government against North Vietnamese expansion.

North Vietnamese Tactics

• Winning South Vietnam hearts and minds

• Guerrilla tactics• Booby traps and mines• Suicide squad fought their

way into US embassy• 31 January 1968 Vietcong

launched an attack on over 100 towns and cities in the south during New Year (or Tet) holiday – (Turning point: US public realised that US was NOT winning the war!)

1969 to 1975 – USA withdrawal from Vietnam

“From 1964-1972, the wealthiest and most powerful nation in the history of the world made a maximum military effort, with everything short of atomic bombs, to defeat a nationalist revolutionary movement in a tiny peasant country – and failed”.

(H. Zinn, A People’s History of the USA, (New York, 1980, p460)

WHY?

A Soviet cartoon mocking the large number of US casualties in Vietnam. c. 1968

Deforestation caused by USA spraying Agent Orange (TCDD Dioxin)

The Vietnamese Red Cross estimates that up to three million Vietnamese have

suffered health effects from dioxin exposure, of whom

150,000 are children with birth defects

Ten year old Phan Thi Kim Phuc running naked down a street having torn off her burning clothes after an American Napalm attack.

Women and children shot dead by American soldiers lie in the road at the village of My Lai, 1968.

We huddled the villagers up. We made them squat down. I poured about four clips into the group. The mothers were hugging their children. While we kept on firing . (An extract from the evidence of Paul Meadlo who was a US soldier at My Lai.)

The Massacre at My Lai -16 March 1968

Conscripted Soldiers: ‘Cherries’• Of the 3 million

Americans involved in Vietnam war – about two-thirds were conscripts (‘cherries’)

• Average age of conscript = 19 years

• 12 month – ‘tour of duty’

• Anti-conscription campaign in USA

A student burns his draft card during an anti-war demonstration. Over 200,000 young men dodged the draft.

Kent State Massacre (4 May 1970)National Guardsmen opened fire on student protestors in Ohio, killing four. This picture shows one of the dead students, Jeffrey Miller.

Casualties of WarCategory Year Range Low

estimatesMedium

estimatesHigh

estimatesNorth Vietnamese civilian deaths from bombing

1965-72 65,000

North Vietnamese soldiers killed

1965-72 500,000

Viet Cong deaths 1960-75 172,000 251,000 329,000Viet Cong and North Vietnamese soldiers deaths combined

1960-75 533,000 1,011,000 1,489,000

South Vietnamese civilian deaths from gunfire / bombing

1960-75 361,000 391,000 720,000

South Vietnamese soldiers killed

1960-75 219,000 266,000 313,000

US military deaths 1960-73 46,000 47,000 58,000

Source: Rudolph Rummel, Statistics of Vietnamese Democide: Estimates, Calculations and Sources, 1997.

Why did the USA lose the Vietnam War?

• US Army’s military tactics - ineffective and unpopular • Growth of the anti-war movement in USA. • Media coverage of the war – 1st TV war • Unpopularity of South Vietnamese Government• North Vietnamese soldiers’ Guerrilla warfare tactics • North Vietnam and NLA were fighting a war of liberation

to free their country from foreign intervention. • Support for North Vietnamese from China and USSR

How has the Vietnam War been remembered?

• Memorials in USA and Vietnam• Film (Hollywood has presented different views

of war in different periods)• Music • Personal accounts / Auto-biographies• Academic histories• Tourist sites

Impact of Vietnam War• For Vietnam – Horrific: 5 Million Vietnamese

peasants displaced, Large numbers killed, or maimed. Huge areas of forest destroyed by American chemicals – long term implications for agriculture.

• For America - A major psychological as well as military defeat. Probably sped up the ‘Domino effect’ ie lots of other countries in Asia ‘went red’ (ie became communist) A propaganda disaster (US troops involved in human rights violations, massacres, use of chemical weapons)

Audio-Visual ResourcesBBC – News coverage of Vietnam War• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Et9w2YPf3Wk• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTFnYl7vWyA• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3CXZCoQPrU• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeMDPB0-HOY• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xX5lesv49B4• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7Y0ekr-3SoAnti- Vietnam war songs• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvwQmxLaknc&list=PL7FAC1A0A

55CDC6F3• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbQECHzMhXo• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2FEjGB0ZVU• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8JlTIo--CQ