Vietnam and Cuba

  • Decolonization

    • Anti-Western Imperialism (political/economic)

  • Cold War Rivalries

    • proxy wars

    • armed resistance/guerilla warfare

Vietnam: 1945-1975

  • Vietnam colonized by

    • France 1887-1940 (French Indochina)

      • Paris Peace Conference 1919 > Ho Chi Minh ignored

        • Ho turns communist

    • Japan 1940-1945 (WWII)

    • France returns 1945-1954

      • Ho Chi Minh led Viet Minh (Vietnamese communist nationalist party)

      • guerrilla warfare > France surrender 1954 > Geneva Peace Accord

      • Vietnam independent, but partitioned

        • North Vietnam: communist under Ho Chi Minh

        • South Vietnam: democratic (not really) under Ngo Dinh Diem

    • North vietnam’s goal: reunify Vietnam under communism

      • supports communist guerrillas in south > War

      • US reacts with containment

  • US containment policy > intervention w/ Vietnam (1959-75)

    • Vietnam War (proxy war)

      • US aids and troops sent to South Vietnam

      • USSR and China aid North Vietnam

    • By 1968, +500,000 US troops in South Vietnam

      • carpet bombing and war atrocities

      • few gains (communist use guerilla warfare) > war unpopular in US

        • total war losses: 1-5 million (58,000 US)

    • US withdrawal 1975

      • N. Vietnam controls S. Vietnam > Vietnam reunified as communist state under Ho Chi Minh

        • full decolonization and US superpower defeat

Cuba: 1956-Present *Latin America

  • A history of US involvement:

    • US businesses invest in Cuban sugar plantations

      • Cuban peasants in poverty

    • US government backed por-US dictator: Fulgencio Batista (1939-59)

  • Cuban Communist Revolution 1956-59

    • Fidel Castro & Che Guevara led

      • promised reforms > rallies peasants and students

      • USSR aids (proxy war)

    • guerilla warfare > Batista deposed and US fled

  • Castro implements

    • established communist dictatorship

      • one party system

    • censorship + jailed/executed rivals

    • nationalized industries and agriculture (collectivization)

    • universal healthcare and public education

    • turned to USSR for continued aid

  • US response

    • Containment policy

      • embargo

      • Bay of Pigs Invasion 1961 (failure)

        • spies from Soviet Union

    • Cuban Missile Crisis 1962

      • USSR as protector > Soviet nuclear missiles to Cuba

        • U2 spy plane discovers > US naval blockade > standoff (USSR vs USA)

        • both nations back down > Cuba left alone + USSR aid continued

    • Cuban economy impoverished w/ fall of USSR, 1990-present

    • Communist dictatorship continued