The U.S. Focuses on Vietnam Semester 2 Week 11

Vietnamese History  When the Japanese seized power in Vietnam during WWII, it was one more example of foreigners ruling the Vietnamese people  China had controlled the region off & on for hundreds of years  From the late 1800s until WWII, France ruled Vietnam, Laos & Cambodia (a region known as French Indochina)  One of the leaders of the nationalist movement was Nguyen Tat Thanh (AKA Ho Chi Minh)

Ho Chi Minh  Found the Indochinese Communist Party & worked to overthrow French rule  Ho Chi Minh’s activities made him a wanted man; fled Indochina & spent several years in exile in the USSR & China  1941, he returned to Vietnam; by then Japan had seized control of the country  Ho Chi Minh organized a nationalist group called the Vietminh  united both Communists & non-Communists in the struggle to expel the Japanese forces  U.S. began sending military aid to the Vietminh

Vietnam After WWII  8/1945, w/ the Allies’ victory over Japan the Japanese surrendered control of Indochina  Ho Chi Minh & his forces quickly announced that Vietnam was an independent nation  France had no intention of seeing Vietnam become independent  Seeking to regain their colonial empire in SE Asia, French troops returned to Vietnam in 1946 & drove the Vietminh forces into hiding in the countryside  1949, France set up a new gov’t in Vietnam

United States Opposes Colonialism  the independence movement had become entangled w/ the Communist movement in Vietnam  U.S. officials did not think France should control Vietnam, but they didn’t want Vietnam to be Communist either  2 events convinced the Truman administration to help France: 1. the fall of China to communism 2. the outbreak of the Korean War  Korea convinced American officials that the USSR had begun a major push to impose communism on East Asia  Shortly after the Korean War began, Truman authorized a massive program of military aid to French forces fighting in Vietnam  IKE defended U.S. policy in Vietnam by stressing what became known as the domino theory (the belief that if Vietnam fell to communism, so too would the other nations of SE Asia)

French Can’t Control the Vietminh  The French struggled against the Vietminh, who consistently frustrated the French w/ hit-and-run & ambush tactics  These are the tactics of guerrillas, irregular troops who usually blend into the civilian population & are often difficult for regular armies to fight  1954, the French commander ordered his forces to occupy Dien Bien Phu  A huge Vietminh force surrounded Dien Bien Phu & began bombarding the town  5/7/1954, the French force at Dien Bien Phu fell to the Vietminh  The defeat convinced the French to make peace & w/draw from Indochina

Geneva Conference  Negotiations to end the conflict were held in Geneva, Switzerland  The Geneva Accords temporarily divided Vietnam along the 17 th parallel  Ho Chi Minh & the Vietminh controlled North Vietnam  a pro-W’rn regime controlled the South  1956 elections were to be held to reunite the country under a single gov’t

U.S. Involvement in Vietnam  After the Geneva Accords partitioned Vietnam, the French finally left  The U.S. almost immediately stepped in & became the principal protector of the new gov’t in the South, led by a nationalist leader named Ngo Dinh Diem.  1956, Diem refused to hold countrywide elections, as called for by the Geneva Accords  He knew that the Communist-controlled north would not allow genuinely free elections, and that Ho Chi Minh would almost certainly have won as a result  IKE supported Diem & increased U.S. military & economic aid to South Vietnam

PREPARE FOR QUIZ  TAKE OUT A SEPARATE SHEET OF PAPER  NUMBER 1-5

QUIZ 1. What countries make up French Indochina? (France is not one of the countries) 2. Who organized a nationalist group called the Vietminh? 3. What 2 events convinced the Truman administration to help France? 4. The Geneva Accords temporarily divided Vietnam along the? 5. Who was the leader in South Vietnam?