Vietnam War

Questions

• Why were the French involved in Vietnam?• How did the Vietnamese view the French?• What was the US position on the French rule

in Vietnam?• What role did Ho Chi Minh play?• What did the Geneva Accords do?

Why was France involved in Vietnam?• France was determined to bring Vietnam back

into its quickly disappearing colonial empire– 1946 French cruisers bombed Haiphong, killing

6,000 civilians– Dien Bien Phu (end)

US position on French control

• FDR not in favor of French colonial desires• Truman favored French involvement/helped

control Soviet expansion• 1946 Ho Chi Minh declares Vietnam

independent from France and war begins

Ho Chi Minh

• Found communism when living in Paris• Comes to Vietnam and fights with Vietminh

against Japanese then French• After WWII Ho Chi Minh announces the

Democratic Republic of Vietnam• General Giap

Ho Chi Minh

France in Vietnam

• 90,000 soldiers killed btwn 1946-1952• Costly for France economically• No sign of victory in sight• Growing dissatisfaction within France among

the public / No right to be there.

Geneva Accords

• (1) Vietnam would be divided at the 17th parallel; • (2) North Vietnam would be ruled by Ho Chi Minh;• (3) South Vietnam would be ruled by Ngo Dinh Diem, a

strong opponent of communism; • (4) French troops would withdraw from Vietnam;• (5) the Vietminh would withdraw from South Vietnam; (6)

the Vietnamese could freely choose to live in the North or the South

• (7) a General Election for the whole of Vietnam would be held before July, 1956, under the supervision of an international commission