1. The Vietnam War – Causes

3. Background: How did the USA first get involved in Vietnam?
Vietnam is in South-East Asia.
It was part of an old French Colony called Indo-China
During WW2 the Japanese captured it from the French
The Vietnamese resistance was led by the communist Ho Chi Minh (left)
1945: They resisted the French when they tried to re-establish control
1946: War broke out between the two groups
Vietnam was 9000 miles from the USA, yet they decided to get involved by pouring $500 million a year into the French war effort.
Why???

4. Consequence / Assessment
(a) General Causes
Causes
Course
Consequence / Assessment
McArthyism
Korean War
Vietnam
Cuban Missile Crisis
Berlin Wall
Produce a one-sided table in Word with 4 rows dealing with the following topics.
You have 15 minutes!

5. Factual and Theoretical Assumptions that motivated American Involvement
Containment Version #1 – U.S. must stop communism in Vietnam to save France and NATO
France’s colonies make it stronger, hence a more solid NATO.
US must placate France in Indochina to gain cooperation in NATO.

6. Containment Version #2
The US must stop communism in Vietnam to contain Soviet or Chinese expansion. A communist victory in Vietnam will enhance the Soviet empire or Chinese empire and tilt the global balance of power in their favor.
Proxy Assumption – Ho Chi Minh as Moscow’s or Beijng’s puppet

7. Containment Version #2 2. Domino Theory (4 versions)
1-A communist controlled Vietnam will send agents across the borders to subvert neighbors.
2-A communist controlled Vietnam will send armies across borders to conquer neighbors.
3-A communist victory in Vietnam will inspire revolutions elsewhere in Southeast Asia showing they can succeed and that the US will let them succeed.
4-A communist victory in Vietnam will position Vietnam to intimidate other Southeast Asian states into submission and alliance with Vietnam.

8. Strategic Regional Assumptions
A. Southeast Asian bases matter; their transfer tips the global balance of power.
The West depends on Southeast Asian raw materials (crude oil, rice, coffee, rubber, tea, garments, shoes )

9. Discussion point from this work: “To what extent were the USA paranoid about the threat posed by communism after WW2?”

10. (b) Specific causes: 1. The Defeat at Dien Bien Phu
a. French defeated at Dien Bien Phu in 1954;
b. Geneva Agreement:
i. divides Vietnam into
a Northern zone (communist – Ho Chi Minh, capital=Hanoi) and
a southern zone (democratic – Ngo Dinh Diem, capital=Saigon)
ii. Arranges for elections to take place in both zones.

11. (b) Specific causes: 2. The American reaction
SEATO:
Fearing that the communists would win a massive amount of votes with the Buddhist peasant population who were disgusted by the materialism of the Dinh Diem government, the US
- refuses to allow these elections to take place
- forms the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) to protect the independence of Vietnam.

12. (b) Specific causes: 2. The American reaction
Containment / Domino Theory
Truman (President ) = “Containment” = Europe
Eisenhower (President ) = “Domino Theory” = Asia
“You knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is the certainty that it will go over very quickly”
(South Vietnam > Cambodia > Laos > Thailand > Burma > India > ???
Ho Chi Minh responds with a guerrilla campaign against the south.

13. The Domino Theory Illustrated

14. Main Task: “Do you think that the USA was justified in interfering in the affairs of Vietnam? Explain your answer”.