1. Civil War in South Vietnam 1954 - 1963
Saturday, 12 May 2018
Learning Objectives:
To understand what happened after the French left Vietnam.
To understand why President Diem became so unpopular.
To know who the Vietcong were and why they fought against Diem.

2. The Geneva Peace conference
Saturday, 12 May 2018
Saturday, 12 May 2018
The Geneva Peace conference
There was a peace conference in Geneva in 1954.
The following was agreed:
French Indo-China was split into four countries, including Laos and Cambodia.
Vietnam was divided into 2 countries along the 17th parallel.
North Vietnam was controlled by Ho Chi Minh & communists.
South Vietnam was controlled by Ngo Dinh Diem – he was capitalist, Catholic, and hated communists.
There would be a general election in 1956 to decide its future.
So, a straight-forward future…?

3. Diem Messes it Up… There should have been elections in 1956.
Saturday, 12 May 2018
Diem Messes it Up…
There should have been elections in 1956.
People in North and South Vietnam were to vote to decide if they should join and form one country.
Diem was worried the Communists would win the election.
He therefore cancelled the election.
This made him very unpopular with many Vietnamese.
However the USA backed Diem as they didn’t want all of Vietnam to become Communist.

4. Diem Messes it Up… Diem soon became very unpopular in South Vietnam.
Saturday, 12 May 2018
Diem Messes it Up…
Diem soon became very unpopular in South Vietnam.
He was a harsh ruler and his government was corrupt.
Money was wasted or spent on defence.
He started to arrest his opponents:
Leading Communists, journalists & trade unionists were arrested.
Buddhists were banned from any government positions.

5. Saturday, 12 May 2018
The Buddhist Crisis
Diem was a Catholic and disliked Buddhists…so started to persecute them.
For example in June 1963 Vietnamese police and soldiers poured chemicals on the heads of praying Buddhist protestors in the South Vietnamese city of Hue.
67 people had to go to hospital.
Buddhists started to protest…
One Buddhist monk, Thich Quang Duc, publically burnt himself to death in 1963 in protest at Diem’s government.

7. Saturday, 12 May 2018
The Buddhist Crisis
This led to more protests, called the Buddhist Crisis.
15,000 people joined one protest march.
Diem’s government responded by raiding Buddhist temples.
1400 Buddhists were arrested and many of these were killed.
Diem’s government was now incredibly unpopular…

8. The Vietcong However in North Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh was really popular.
Saturday, 12 May 2018
However in North Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh was really popular.
He now wanted to unite Vietnam under Communist rule.
In 1960, the National Liberation Front (NLF) was set up.
They are more famously known as the Vietcong.
They started guerrilla warfare in South Vietnam.
They wanted to make the whole country Communist.
By 1961, over 20,000 Vietcong (VC) fighters were fighting against the South Vietnamese Army (ARVN).
This led to the USA getting more involved (more next lesson).

9. Saturday, 12 May 2018
The Viet Cong
You will study the VC and their tactics in detail in a future lesson.
However, they set out to win support from the people in South Vietnam.
Many people in the South lived in small villages and were farmers.
The VC treated them well and won their respect.
They promised that under Communism the people would be better off.
This led to them becoming more and more popular.

10. Saturday, 12 May 2018
The End of Diem
Diem became so unpopular that even his own supporters became fed up with him.
In 1963, he was killed by his own soldiers.
The USA knew of the plot and didn’t stop it from happening.
In the following two years, South Vietnam had ten governments – there was much unrest.

11. Your Task It’s 1963. Diem has just been assassinated.
Saturday, 12 May 2018
Your Task
It’s Diem has just been assassinated.
President Kennedy has tasked you with writing a report explaining the situation in South Vietnam.
He wants to know:
Why Diem was so unpopular?
Who the VC are – their aims and actions?
Why the USA should be concerned about events in South Vietnam?
Your report must include lots of detailed and precise information. Use your brief notes and the handouts to help you.

12. Marking Time Swap work. Give each other WWW/EBI. Saturday, 12 May 2018
You explain in detail why Diem was unpopular.
Give more detail on why Diem was unpopular, e.g.…
You give good detail on the VC’s aims.
More detail on the VC aims needed.
You give good detail on the VC’s actions.
Give more detail on the VC’s actions.
You explain well why the USA should be concerned.
Say more about why the USA should be concerned.
You include precise names, dates and information.
Include more precise details, e.g.…
You have moved onto the extension task.
Move onto the extension task in future.

13. Civil War in Vietnam 1954 – 1963 – key notes
In 1954 after the French left Vietnam, The Geneva Conference split the country in two along the 17th parallel. Elections were then planned for 1956 to allow the people to decide how the country should be run in future.
A communist, Ho Chi Minh became the leader of North Vietnam and very popular with the ordinary people.
From 1960 a communist peasants army, the National Liberation Front (NLF) better known as the Viet Cong, began to fight Diem’s army in South Vietnam.
Ngo Dinh Diem became leader of South Vietnam, supported by the USA. He became really unpopular for various reasons;
He was worried he would lose the 1956 election so cancelled it.
He was accused of bribery and corruption.
He persecuted Buddhist monks during the ‘Buddhist Crisis’.
In 1963 Buddhist monk, Thich Quang Duc, publically committed suicide increasing the pressure on Diem. Diem was then assassinated in 1963