19.4: War in Southeast Asia

Ho Chi Minh

• Leader of North Vietnam

• Nationalist and communist

• Waged war against occupying Japanese forces using guerrilla warfare

• Defeated French troops at the battle of Dien Bien Phu

Why did Vietnam divide

• Disagreements between north and south

• The US wanted to contain communism

Ngo Dinh Diem

• Ruler of south Vietnam

• Anti communist, but authoritarian

Domino theory

Theory that states a communist victory in south Vietnam would cause noncommunist governments in Southeast Asia to fall to communism

Why did America get involved in the Vietnam war

• Domino theory

• Diem was not ruling south Vietnam well

• Diem’s death caused more involvement to stop the growing threat from communist rebels

Viet Cong

• North Korean communist rebels trying to defeat South Vietnam’s government

• Supported by Ho Chi Minh

Why did Laos and Cambodia get involved in the Vietnam war

• North Vietnam was supplying guerrilla fighters with supplies through trails that go along Laos and Cambodia

• The US bombed them and sent ground troops

Tet Offensive

• A series of bloody attacks by the Viet Cong on cities across south Vietnam

• Took place during the Vietnamese new year

• Marked a turning point in the American public opinion on the war

How did the Vietnam War end

• The American public put pressure on the government to end involvement in the war

• American troops were taken out of south Vietnam

• North Vietnam agreed not to send any more troops to the south

How did north and south Vietnam reunite

North Koreans took Saigon the capital of south Vietnam

Khmer Rouge

• Cambodian communist guerrrillas who gained power in Cambodia in 1975

• Led by Pol Pot

Pol Pot

• Leader of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia

• Became a brutal dictator

Changes to Cambodia after the Vietnam war

• The Khmer Rouge rose to power

• Western influences were destroyed by forcing people to work in fields

• Government slaughtered, starved, or worked to death a third of the population

How did the Cambodian genocide end

• Vietnamese forces invaded Cambodia in 1979

• Pol Pot and his forces retreated to remote areas