1. Case Study: Vietnam How was a small country like Vietnam able to win a war
against the USA?
Pause to contextualise and put this on the board + where, when, who, what, why?
Position Vietnam War within the Cold War but also within the post-war anti-colonial national liberation struggles.
Essay Question

2. 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)

3. Where in the World is Vietnam?
USA
Vietnam

4. Background
In the 19th century France colonised a large part of SE Asia including modern day Vietnam. (French Indo-China)
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.
Ho Chi Minh – 1890 – 1969: born into poverty, went to France in 1917 became a communist, founded the Indo-China Communist Party in 1930.

5. Ho Chi Minh

6. The Geneva Agreement (TXT)
Post-War Settlement
1945: Japan was defeated in WWII, withdrew from SE Asia
September 1945 Ho Chi Minh announced Vietnam was an independent and democratic republic.(TXT)
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 Viet Minh siege of Dien Bien Phu French surrendered
The Geneva Agreement (TXT)
Ho Chi Minh Trail
Situation in 1945: Vietnamese wanted independence (national liberation); France wanted its colony back for economic reasons (crippled by war wanted to use raw materials and trade relations to rebuild economy); USA wanted a strong France to withstand Communism in Europe and SE Asia so willing to help France re-establish control. NB Fear of Communist threat outweighed their founding principal of sov independence (anti-colonialism)
This division was supposed to be temporary. One of the clauses of the Geneva agreement was that an election would be held in 1956 to re-unite Vietnam.
In May 1954, Britain, France, China, the Soviet Union, the USA and Vietnam met in Geneva to decide the future of Vietnam

7. The Geneva Peace Accords
The Geneva Peace Accords, signed by France and Vietnam in the summer of 1954, provided for the temporary partition of Vietnam at the 17th parallel, with national elections in 1956 to reunify the country.
In the North, a communist regime, supported by the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China, set up its headquarters in Hanoi under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh.
Popular programme of land reforms, land redistribution amongst peasants, collective farms, industries nationalised, improvement in education, Government propaganda to gain southern support
However persecution of Catholics

8. Opposition to Geneva Accords
The United States prevented the elections that were promised under the Geneva conference because it knew that the Communists would win.
Secretary of State John Foster Dulles thought the Geneva Accords granted too much power to the Communist Party of Vietnam.
He and President Dwight D. Eisenhower supported the creation of a counter-revolutionary alternative south of the 17th parallel.
This was accomplished through formation of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO).

9. A New Nation in the South
Using SEATO for political cover, the Eisenhower administration helped create a new nation in southern Vietnam.
In 1955, with the help of massive amounts of American military, political, and economic aid, the government of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) was born.
The following year, Ngo Dinh Diem, a staunchly anti-Communist figure from the South, won a dubious election that made him president of South Vietnam
SEATO: military alliance (anti-communist)
SEATO members: Phillipines, Thailand, Pakistan + USA, UK, France, Australia, New Zealand

10. 1954-1956: USA give backing to South Vietnamese leader Ngo Dinh Diem
1955 Diem (supported by USA) was 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
1956: Diem refused to allow elections to re-unite North and South Vietnam.

11. 1957 to 1965
Struggle in Vietnam between the South Vietnamese army (ARVN) and the communist-trained rebels (also known as the Viet Cong)
(During this phase the USA sent money, military equipment and ‘advisors’ to support to the South Vietnam government but had not yet committed US combat troops to fight in Vietnam.)

12. Growing opposition to Diem’s government from within South Vietnam
1959: Vietminh (North Vietnam Communists) supporters in South Vietnam formed the National Liberation Front (or Viet Cong) – used guerrilla tactics(txt) against ARVN.
1960: Diem (with CIA support) forcibly relocated whole villages thought to be supportive of Viet Cong into ‘Strategic Hamlets’ (enclosed by ditches, barbed wires and under 24hr guard)
USA supported South Vietnamese government Army (ARVN) by dollar aid and air support + backed up with counter-insurgency forces (USA’s Green Beret’s) + USA sent more ‘advisors’ (another 15,000) in operation ‘beef-up’ (!)
NB: Relocated peasants paid for their own relocation and had to build their own houses.
Viet Cong US derogatory term meaning Vietnamese Communist

13. The Strategic Hamlet Program
To counteract the NLF's success in the countryside, Washington and Saigon launched an ambitious military effort in the rural areas.
Rounded up villagers and placed them in "safe hamlets" controlled by the government of South Vietnam.
The idea was to isolate the NLF from villagers, its base of support

14. Growing opposition to Diem’s government from within South Vietnam
1963: an elderly monk named Thich Quang Duc, set himself ablaze in protest against Diem’s corrupt regime .
1963: a CIA funded a military coup in South Vietnam which overthrew and killed Diem.
22 Nov 1963: President JF Kennedy was assassinated. LB Johnson became President of USA
President Kennedy (became president in 1960) was unwilling to commit US troops but wanted a stronger more popular leader in South Vietnam. He approved the CIA plan to topple Diem but was allegedly shocked that Diem and his brother were killed in the process. JF Kennedy was, himself assassinated less than 2 months later. Plus image opens issue of morality of war photography. Vietnam 1st and last televised war. (use BBC documentary footage)
January 27, General Khanh seizes full control of South Vietnam's government.
US photojournalist Malcolm Brown who took this ‘iconic’ photograph.

15. Why did America become involved in a war in Vietnam?
American Presidents during the period of US involvement in Vietnam:
Dwight D Eisenhower (Rep):
John F. Kennedy (Dem):
Lyndon B Johnson (Dem):
Richard Nixon (Rep):

16. The ‘Domino Effect’ (Strategic importance of Vietnam in the context of the Cold War)
Note the Cold War Context. + lack of consensus
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.

17. December 1961 White Paper
In 1961, President Kennedy sent a team to Vietnam to report on conditions in the South and to assess future American aid requirements.
The report, known as the "December 1961 White Paper," argued for:
An increase in military, technical, and economic aid
The introduction of large-scale American "advisers" to help stabilize the Diem regime and crush the NLF.

18. Military Coup
By late September, the Buddhist protest had created such disloca- tion in the south that the Kennedy administration supported a coup.
In 1963, some of Diem's own generals approached the American Embassy in Saigon with plans to overthrow Diem.
With Washington's tacit approval, Diem and his brother were captured and later killed.
Three weeks later, President Kennedy was assassinated on the streets of Dallas.

19. Gulf of Tonkin Incident (Trigger)
President Johnson was ambivalent about escalation of US involvement in Vietnam.
Robert Macnamara (sec of Defence) and McGeorge Bundy (national security advisor) were urging full-scale military intervention to prevent the fall of South Vietnam.
In August 1964 US patrols (gathering intelligence information) in the Gulf of Tonkin (off the North Vietnamese coast) claimed to have been fired upon by .
US President Johnson used these attacks to persuade Congress to pass the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution which gave the president the power to ‘take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the US and to prevent further aggression.’
By end of ,000 US combat soldiers had been sent to Vietnam.
By 1968 there were 500,000 US combat soldiers in Vietnam
NB: Gulf of Tonkin Resolution meant that only the president directed the war – not revoked until ‘the greatest single error that America has made in its national history?’ George Ball under-secretary of state.
Use SHEG lesson Plan to investigate this turning point / significant event.

20. Gulf of Tonkin Incident

21. 1965 - 1969: North Vietnamese-USA struggle
During this phase of the war (under President Lyndon B Johnson’s leadership) the USA sent combat troops (many of whom were teenager conscript soldiers) to fight in the Vietnam War. By ,000 US soldiers were stationed in Vietnam.

22. 1965 - 1969: North Vietnamese-USA struggle (The Players)
USA’s objective:
Containment.
To stop the North Vietnamese communists taking over in South Vietnam and prevent Vietnam being united as a communist country leading to a domino effect in SAE.
North Vietnam’s objective:
National Liberation
To unify North and South Vietnam under a communist government.
Objective – the overall aim or goal
Strategy – the plan of action to achieve the objective
Tactics – the method and activities used in the plan
South Vietnam government’s objective:
To keep control over South Vietnam and to maintain the support of the US.
Viet Cong’s objective
To build up support in South Vietnam to help achieve North Vietnam’s objective

23. 1965 - 1969: North Vietnamese-USA struggle (The Strategies)
US Strategies:
Force North Vietnam to give up the war
Make North Vietnam agree to a settlement acceptable to US
Protect South Vietnam and win support of South Vietnamese
North Vietnam and Viet Cong Strategies:
Convince the people of South Vietnam to get rid of their government
Destroy the morale of the ARVN (South Vietnam army)
Inflict enough damage on US troops to convince it to withdraw
Fight until full national liberation and unification of Vietnam was achieved
South Vietnam government’s strategies
Remove Viet Cong from villages
Defend South Vietnam from invasion
Rely on US money and support to achieve objectives

24. 1965 - 1969: North Vietnamese-USA struggle (The Tactics)
USA/ ARVN
North Vietnam/ Viet Cong
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 missions on enemy units (used air mobility to move troops)
Bomb and cut off supply routes from North Vietnam to Viet Cong
Win Hearts And Minds (build trust) with South Vietnamese
Build support base among local population in South Vietnam.
Avoid open battles with enemy – use of guerrilla tactics
Booby traps, ambushes and mines
Attack at night
Use local population to gather information about troop movements
NB: 31 January Viet Cong launched an attack on over 100 towns and cities in the south during New Year (or Tet) holiday
More bombs dropped by USA on Vietnam than by Allies in whole of WWII. Napalm a form of burning petroleum which burns at 800 degrees ie burns skin to the bone. Operation Ranch Hand
NB: tet offensive was a key turning point: US public realised that US was NOT winning the war!)
NB: Students need to move beyond the description of tactics to thinking about how effective they were

25. The Tet Offensive – 31 January 1968 (A turning point in the war)
Viet Cong launched an attack on over 100 cities in South Vietnam (BBC)
Some historians now argue that this offensive was a disaster for the Viet Cong and that after Tet it was largely the North Vietnamese Army which led the struggle in the south.
USA also claimed a US victory. BUT… US public were horrified that Viet Cong could launch such an attack which included seizing the US embassy in Saigon.
‘What the hell’s going on here? I thought we were winning this war?’ (TV journalist Walter Conkite)

26. 1965 - 1969: North Vietnamese-USA struggle
By 1968 it was clear that the USA was not winning the war. (Stalemate?)
March 1968: President Johnson rejected the US army’s request for more troops to be sent to Vietnam + announced he would not stand for re-election.
January 20, Richard M. Nixon was inaugurated as the 37th U.S. President. He pledged "peace with honor.”

27. 1969 to 1975 – USA withdrawal from Vietnam
1969: ‘Nixon Doctrine’ stated that US would help those who helped themselves – ‘Vietnamisation’ phase of war began.
1970: Congress revoked the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
Nixon’s bombing raids into Cambodia led to intensification of anti-war protest within USA.
Reduced US combat from 543,000 in 1968 to 24,200 by 1972.
27 January 1973 ceasefire agreed. Required unilateral withdrawal of all US troops from Vietnam.

28. The Civil war continued until March 1975 when North Vietnam took control of Saigon, renamed it Ho Chi Minh City and Vietnam was re-united.

29. “From , 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?

30. Activity: Essay Plan Work in groups of 3 at your tables.
1. Use the images and text from the powerpoint presentation and the ideas conveyed in the You Tube footage to identify the main reasons why a small country like Vietnam was able to defeat the powerful USA. Write these key ideas in the first set of boxes on your Essay Planning Tool.
2. For each ‘General Idea’ identify a few ‘Specific Examples’ which could be used to substantiate the point you have made. Write these in the appropriate boxes.

31. Extract from the Vietnamese Declaration of Independence – 1945
… for more than eighty years, the French imperialists, abusing the standard of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity, have violated our fatherland and oppressed our fellow-citizens. They have acted contrary to the ideals of humanity and justice…we, members of the Provisional Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, solemnly declare to the world that Vietnam has the right to be free and independence country…The entire Vietnamese people are determined to mobilise all their physical and mental strength to sacrifice their lives and property to safeguard their independence and liberty.

33. 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

34. Ten year old Phan Thi Kim Phuc running naked down a street having torn off her burning clothes after an American Napalm attack. The US dropped over 400,000 tons of napalm on Vietnam during the war. (Napalm is a form of petroleum jelly which sticks to anything and burns through houses, forests, human skin…

35. The Massacre at My Lai - 16 March 1968.
Two US platoons responsible for the rape and massacre of c.347 unarmed civilians.
Lieutenant Calley only person to stand trial for murder (fall guy for US army). Sentenced to life but served only 3 years. 80% of the US population polled said he should not be convicted. “personally I did not kill any Vietnamese that day. I mean personally. I represented the Us government” (link with previous G11 work on perpetrators, bystanders, upstanders)
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.)
Women and children shot dead by American soldiers lie in the road at the village of My Lai, 1968.

36. 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
Conscripts were inexperienced and made mistakes. Often used to carry equipment and put on ‘point’ (they would be first to be killed by booby traps and mines)
1967: World famous boxer Muhammad Ali refused his draft saying ‘I ain’t got no quarrel with those Viet Cong. They never called me nigger’ He was stripped of his titles, fined $10,000 and give 5 years in prison – he bacame an anti-war hero.
A student (illegally) burns his draft card during an anti-war demonstration. Over 200,000 young men dodged the draft.

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

38. Note that Veterans and Reservists say no to US mass murder in Vietnam

39. 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.

40. Casualties of War Category Year Range Low estimates Medium estimates
High
North Vietnamese civilian deaths from bombing
65,000
North Vietnamese soldiers killed
500,000
Viet Cong deaths
172,000
251,000
329,000
Viet Cong and North Vietnamese soldiers deaths combined
533,000
1,011,000
1,489,000
South Vietnamese civilian deaths from gunfire / bombing
361,000
391,000
720,000
South Vietnamese soldiers killed
219,000
266,000
313,000
US military deaths
46,000
47,000
58,000
During the entire war, the U.S. will fly 3 million sorties and drop nearly 8 million tons of bombs, four times the tonnage dropped during all of World War II, in the largest display of firepower in the history of warfare.
Source: Rudolph Rummel, Statistics of Vietnamese Democide: Estimates, Calculations and Sources, 1997.

41. Why did the USA lose the Vietnam War?
Tactics: US Army’s conventional military tactics were largely ineffective in the jungle terrain and faced with the guerrilla warfare tactics. Bombing was costly and use of chemical weapons increasingly unpopular with anti-war lobby within USA
Anti-War movement within USA – an increasingly vocal and visible minority which included veterans and ‘ordinary Americans’ as well as youths and students.
Media coverage of the war – 1st TV war (this feeds into anti-war sentiment within USA but also puts international pressure on USA)
North Vietnam and NLF were fighting a war of liberation to free their country from foreign intervention. The USA troops did not have the same commitment to a cause.
Support for North Vietnamese from China and USSR
US Army’s military tactics. Anti-war movement in USA. Media coverage of the war. Unpopularity of South Vietnamese Government North Vietnamese soldiers’ tactics / determination to fight until their country was free. Support for North Vietnamese from China and USSR

42. United States of America
The war from the ‘USA’ and ‘Vietnamese’ perspective (NB: In both countries there are very different opinions – be wary of generalisations)
Vietnam
United States of America
The American War.
An anti-colonial war of liberation.
A nationalist war
A civil war
Long term impact of war has lived on in the dead and displaced, the widows, orphans, the maimed and mutilated, the environmental destruction, the birth defects.
The Vietnam War
A war to contain communism
A Cold War conflict
Long term impact includes mixed emotions about the losses, injuries and trauma suffered, the human rights violations committed in the name of democracy, the humiliation of defeat and the futility of a war