Korean War & Vietnam War.docx

Korean War & Vietnam War

Korean War, 1950-53

• Mao Zedong’s Chinese communists had been fighting a civil war with Chiang Kai-Shek’s Kuomintang (KMT) since 1927.

• In October 1949, Mao’s communists won control and established the communist People’s Republic of China.

Reasons for US involvement in Korea

• The USA believed the fall of China was part of Stalin’s scheme to spread communism. Truman came under pressure to stand up to the communists.

• In 1945, Korea was partitioned along the 38th parallel until elections could be held

• The USSR wanted a communist government in Korea. The USA wanted Korea to have a capitalist democracy.

Key events of the war

By 1949, two separate governments ran the country

• In the north, a communist regime was set up under Kim II Sung, known as North Korea

• In the south, a capitalist democracy was set up, led by Syngman Rhee, known as South Korea

Invasion of South Korea

• Supported by Mao Zedong and Stalin, the North invaded the South on June 25th 1950

• The North Korean government believed that the people of South Korea would welcome them.

Continuing US involvement

• The USA feared a ‘domino effect’ would result in the spread of communism

• It changed the policy of containment to rollback - communism should be attacked and pushed back

• The United Nations was asked to stop the attack. The UN condemned the attack and put together a military force to stop the invasion on South Korea.

The UN response

• The North Korean Army was about to defeat the South

• The UN Army, led by the American General Douglas MacArthur, landed at Inchon in September 1950.

• It quickly pushed the North Korean Army back to the 38th parallel border between North and South

• On October 9th 1950, The UN forces pushed the North Korea Army back as far as the North Korean border with China, beyond what had been ordered by the UN. MacArthur wanted to reunite the whole country.

The role of China

• China was afraid the USA wanted to invade them.

• In November 1950, 250,000 Chinese troops invaded North Korea and pushed the UN back over the 38th parallel. This was now a war between the USA and China.

• Truman was worried the USSR would get involved, so in April 1951 he sacked MacArthur. The war dragged on and both sides dug in.

The end of the war

• Peace talks began in June 1951 but nothing was achieved.

• In 1953, Dwight D Eisenhower became US President and Stalin died, to be replaced by Krushchev. The new leaders sought peace.

• A ceasefire was agreed in South Korea in July 1953. This created a border and a demilitarised zone between the two states.

Consequences of Korean War and impact on relations

By the end of the war:

• 2 million people died

• The border was back where it was before

• US-Chinese relations continued to get worse

• The USA signed a peace treaty with Japan

• NATO was now a full military alliance

• The Korean War showed that the USA wanted containment anywhere in the world, even if they had to use troops.

The conflict in Vietnam, 1950-73

• Indochina (Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos) had been part of the French empire since 1887, but the French had been beaten by the communist guerrillas called the Vietminh, who were led by Ho Chi Minh.

• The 1954 Treaty of Geneva divided Vietnam into the communist North and the non-communist South

• The USA again worried about the ‘domino effect’

Reasons for US involvement, 1950-64

• Eisenhower supported South Vietnam with money,weapons and military advisers to contain communist spread

• Kennedy (1961-63) increased this support

• There were increasing guerrilla attacks against the South by the National Liberation Front (NLF) or Vietcong; they wanted to reunite Vietnam under communist rule.

• Ngo Dinh Diem was the unpopular leader of the South. The Vietcong gained support

• In November 1963, Diem was assassinated.

The Tonkin Resolution

• In August 1964, North Vietnam attacked the USS Maddox in the Gulf of Tonkin.

• Lyndon B Johnson (1963-69) used this attack to increase American involvement in Vietnam.

• The Tonkin Resolution - passed by Congress - allowed the President to fight the war as he wanted.

• A large number of American troops landed in Vietnam and the US Air Force bombed the Viet Cong (Operation Rolling Thunder)

The actions of the USA, 1965-73

• Even though they had more troops, the USA struggled to defeat the Viet Cong because:

• ‘Search and Destroy’ tactics focused on the number of the enemy killed, not on beating them.

• US soldiers were inexperienced

• Viet Cong guerrilla tactics were effective because they could hide among the peasants

• Many Vietnamese people were suspicious of US troops who did not seem bothered about killing them. The most notorious US atrocity being the My Lai Massacre of March 1968.

• The morale of the American soldiers fell when they realised the war was unwinnable, while the Viet Cong believed they were fighting a patriotic war of liberation.

The continuing events of the war

• In January 1968, the Viet Cong began the Tet Offensive.

• Their troops got to the South’s capital Saigon, before being driven back. It made Americans feel that they could not win this war.

• TV showed US atrocities and soldiers being brought home in body. It turned Americans against the war.

• People began to protest against the war.

More US actions and the end of the war

President Nixon (1969-74) wanted America out of Vietnam, but in a way that did not make them look like they lost. He:

• Increased the bombing of North Vietnam

• Ordered secret bombing raids against Viet Cong supply routes in Cambodia and Laos in 1970

• Replaced US troops with South Vietnamese ones from 1969 - this was known as Vietnamisation

In 1973, the Paris Peace Treaty agreed to the withdrawal of US forces. The Viet Cong stayed in the South.

The role of China and the USSR

• China sent soldiers and military equipment to North Vietnam. They built roads, railways and airstrips.

• Later in the war the USSR trained pilots and gave them modern fighter planes, supplied medicine, food supplies and provided tanks and anti-aircraft guns.

The consequences of the war

Many Americans worried about the cost of the war

• There were heavy military and civilian losses.

• $120 billion had been spent

• US veterans suffered physical and psychological damage

• Vietnam was left devastated

The impact on relations

• The USA was humiliated and in future was reluctant to send troops into a crisis

• Containment in Indochina faltered - Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos all became communist.

• The Vietnam War did not destroy the detente which was developing between the USSR and the USA in the 1970s