Conflict in Indochina!!

GLOSSARY 

Vietminh: A vietnamese nationalist group seeking independence which helped liberate much of North vietnam and seized power in Hanoi after Japan’s surrender in WW2. 

ARVN: Army for Republic of Vietnam, South’s ground soldiers aided by US 

NLF/VC: National Liberation Front/ Vietcong, the communist forces in the South PAVN or NVA: People's Army of Vietnam, regular army force of the North. 

MAAG: Military Assistance Advisory Group, US advisors to South 

MACV: The Military Assistance Command Vietnam, American military aid 

WHAM: Winning Hearts and Minds 

Rolling Thunder(65-68): Bombing campgain 

Operation Steel Tiger (65-68): Bombing campgain targeting Ho Chi Minh Trail 

Search and Destroy: Military strategy used frequently in Vietnam to counter guerilla warfare since traditional ‘clear and hold’ strategy could not be used 

Operation Linebacker (1972): Bombing campgain against the North in final years of the war 

JFK: (1962-1963) Democrat 

LBJ: Lyndon Brian Johnson (1963-1969) had a major role in escalation. Democrat. 

General Westmoreland: US army general, had a major role in escalation and military fumbles Robert McNamara: Secretary of Defence under Kennedy and LBJ, had a major role in escalation, stressed ‘body counts’. 

Eisenhower: Domino Theory 

Nixon: Successor to LBJ (1969-1974). Republican. 

Henry Kissinger: 

Ngo Dinh Diem: President of South from 1955 to his assaination in 1963 

Madame Nhu: Diem’s brother’s wife, hated Buddhists 

General Giap: Communist military leader in the North Vietnamese Army, was instrumental to their success and considered one of the best Vietnamese strategists. 

EVENTS 

- First Indochina War: 1946-1954 - Second Indochina War: 1st Nov 1955 - April 1975 

• Dien Bien Phu (1954): 7,000 French casualties + 11,000 French prisoners. Climax of 1st Indochina war. Won them the conflict. General Giap 

• Geneva Conference (1954): Commenced after the Korean and first Indochina war, aiming to establish standards of treatment in war, resulted in the french withdrawing and vietnam being split at its 17th parallel. Cambodia and Laos must be neutral 

• Assassinations (1963): Both Diem and JFK in November 

• Gulf of Tonkin & Resolution (1964): North Vietnamese ships allegedly attacked US ships (US Maddox) at the Gulf of Tonkin near vietnam, leading to their official involvement that year. Resolution: authorised LBJK to take any measures necessary to maintain peace and security in southeast. 

• March on Washington (1965): 20,000 anti-war protestors. 

• Operation Cedar Falls (1967): Attempting to uproot the VC tunnel network, the US deployed tens of thousands of infantry troops with tanks and aircraft to clear the tunnels. They were successful, but after two months the VC returned to the area. 

• Battle of Dak To/ Hill 875 (Nov 1967): US army employed a costly assault to gain the land despite its small strategic value and then gave it up shortly after winning it. A controversial battle seen as a pointless waste of life (115 died). Americans dropped napalm on their own soldiers. Hill had little strategic value.  A miniature of the whole war. 

• March on Pentagon 1967: against the war, 100,000 → 50,000 

• Tet Offensive (1968): A series of North attacks on the South on the national holiday and armistice Tet devised by General Giap. It lasted 3 weeks. The communist suffered large losses but provided strategic gains in turning the American public against their involvement in the war and helping spurr their withdrawal. Bloodiest battle: “Battle of Hue.” 

• My Lai Massacre(1968): US soldiers killed an entire village nicknamed ‘pinkville’ including civilian men, women and children. 300-400 people estimated to have lived there. Little to no punishment was given. Accelerated anti-war movement. 

• Hamburger Hill 1969: Same as ^^. Bloody 10-day battle. 72 US soldiers dead. Shows how US repeat old mistakes. Spark outrage at homefront + Life Magazine issue with profiles of 242 soldiers who died that week 

• Kent State Shootings (May 1970): 4 student protestors shot dead by national guard 

• Pentagon Papers (1971): US people found out the politicians never believed they could win Vietnam 

Timeline (Simplified) 

1941 Vietminh forms 

1945 Emperor Boa Dai abdicates 

1946: 1st Indochina war begins 

1947: Truman Doctrine (US policy of Containment starts) 

1954 

• Dien Bien Phu: 7,000 French deaths, 200 artillery guns, 

• War ends 

• Geneva Conference 

• Diem becomes Prime Minister of SV 

• 600 US advisors in SV 

• Eisenhower “Domino Theory” speech 

1955: 

• Diem holds rigged referendum and becomes president backed by USA 

• US grants $322 million aid to SV/Diem - Agricultural Reform Tribunals begin + Purification 

1956: 

• Promised national elections do not occur. 

• Can Lao party rules communism punishable by death (Ordinance 47) 

• Agricultural Reform Tribunals end, Ho apologises for purges 

• Co-operativisation begins 

1959 

• Early NLF called 559 forms 

• Agroville Program 

• Law 10/56 allowing Diem to impose the death sentence on suspected communists 

1960 

• NLF/VC is formed 

• 85% peasants participated in co-operativisation reforms 

• North doubles rice production pre-1st indochina war 

1961 

• US estimates VC controls 80% of the countryside. 

• JFK authorities napalm and deploys green beret 

1962: Strategic Hamlet Program begins 

1963 

• Battle of Ap Bac: 83 SV and 3 Americans killed- only 18 VC die 5 helicopters destroyed 

• Vesak celebrations banned → monk burn alive → 1,400 monk arrests 

• Cable 243 

• Anti Diem Coup on ur b-day → Diem and Ngo assassination 

• JFK is assassinated 

1964: 

• Gulf of Tonkin Incident 

• Draft introduced 

• Pentagon plans bombing of NV 

1965 

• March first US combat troops arrive in SV to fight VC 

• Draft includes college students (goes from 17,000 inductions to 35,000) 

• Draft quotas surpass Korean war’s pinnacle 

• Operation Rolling Thunder begins 

• March On Washington (To End the War in Vietnam) w 20,000 anti-war protestors. 

1967 

• Battle of Dak To/ Hill 875: 115 ARVN soldiers die. 

• “trying to pound a tiny backward nation into submission…could conceivably produce a costly distortion in the American national consciousness” Mcnamara 

• Operation Junction City(Cambodia) and Operation Cedar Falls 

• March on Pentagon against the war 

1968 

• Tet Offensive: 2,600 ARVN, 14,000 Vietnamese civilians and 50,000 communist deaths 

• My Lai Massacre: 300-400 deaths 

• US troop numbers peak 

• Rolling Thunder ends 

1969 

• Vietnamisation 

• Battle of Hamburger Hill: 72 US soldiers die 

• Life Magazine edition (pictures of 242 Americans who died in same week) 1970: Kent State Shootings (4 students shot) 

1971 

• Pentagon Papers leaked! 

• 800 anti-war veterans threw their combat medals over the Capitol’s fence 

1972 

• Operation Linebacker 

• Watergate Scandal 

1973: Paris Peace Agreement (SV, NV and USA) 

1975: Saigon falls to VC 

1976: Vietnam is reunified as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam 

STATISTICS 

• 1,034, 300 hectares of forest was destroyed 

• Between 1965 and 1973, the U.S. Air forces dropped around 8 millions ton of bombs in Vietnam. 

• In the South, the U.S. forces had used around 20 million gallons of herbicides from 1962 to 1971 

• 2 million civilian deaths, 5.3 million civilians wounded and 11 million refugees - as many as 4 million were exposed to toxic defoliants like Agent Orange. 

• Nixon dropped 2.7 million tonnes of bombs on Cambodia 

• The Red River Delta, far from being a rice bowl, must import 250,000 tons yearly to meet its own minimum needs. 

• The U.S. had between 750 and 1,500 military advisors assisting the Diem government to establish an effective army (MAAGV). 

• By 1960 MAAGV was training more than fifty ARVN Ranger units. 

• In 1954 600 US advisors sought to increase and train ARVN. By 1962 there were 11,000 American personnel in the South. 

• When VC was formed in 1960 it had a regular force of 5500 and an irregular force of 30,000 guerrillas. 

• By the end of 1961 the Americans estimated that the VC controlled about 80% of the countryside. 

• By the fall of 1965, the U.S had the highest enlistment quotas since the pinnacle of the Korean War: 27,400 men in September, and 33,600 in October 

Statistics (simplified) Impact: 

• 2 million civilian deaths 

• Over 1 million hectares of forest was destroyed 

• 4 million civilians exposed to Agent Orange 

• 20 million gallons of herbicides used from 1961 to 1971 

• USA deployed 4x the amount of bombs used in WW2 US Involvement: 

• In 1954 600 US advisors sought to increase and train ARVN. 

• By 1962 there were 11,000 American personnel in the South. 

North/VC: 

• 1 million people left NV for SV 

• Booby traps caused 10% of US casualties 

• Agricultural Land Reform Tribunals & purges killed 100,000 

• 85% of the North’s peasants were participating in the reform/ involved in cooperatives. - Rice production was double of pre First Indochina War South Vietnam: 

• 80,000 imprisoned in Diem’s Denunciation campaign 

• 80% of south vietnamese lived countryside 

• 98% population were Buddhist 

• 1,000+ monks arrested 

USA 

• In the first 8 years USA dropped 8 million tonnes of bombs on Vietnam 

• 1 in 4 of ground troops were draftees 

• Average age for US soldier was just 19 

• From 800-1,000 fragging incidents 

QUOTES 

Diem 

• Gabriel Kolko, Diem “unleashed social discontent and created actual and potential enemies.” 

• Stanley Karnow described Diem as “a puppet who pulled his own strings” 

• (Cable 243) if Diem couldn’t separate from his brother’s tyranny they must “face the possibility that Diem himself cannot be preserved” 

USA failures 

• Stanley Karnow wrote, “they were certain that US omnipotence would triumph.” 

 Robert Schulzinger, A Time for War: “impossible task of creating a separate state and society in the southern part of a single land.” 

• Military historian and former colonel Robert Morris described Vietnam as “one of the most inept military campaigns in history.” 

• Historian Christian Appy: “most of the Americans who fought in Vietnam were powerless, working-class teenagers sent to fight an undeclared war by presidents for whom they were not even eligible to vote.” 

Cold War 

• April 1954, Esienhower explained  “You have a row of dominoes set up, you knock over the first one and what will happen to the last one is… it will go over very quickly.” 

• Moya Ann Ball: “...their roots were still in Cold War rhetoric” 

• Michael Maclear: “Johnson (saw) a scenario of aggressive monolithic communism” 

• LBJ once referred to North Vietnam as, “A raggedy ass little fourth-rate country.” 

North Vietnam 

• You can kill 10 of my men for every one 1 kill of yours. But even at those odds, you will lose and I will win.” —Ho Chi Minh in a warning to French colonialists in 1946. 

• Leonard Bushkoff: “Tet demonstrated conclusively that revolutionaries motivated to suffer and die could checkmate a great military power” 

• Mcnamara: “We underestimated the power of nationalism to motivate people to fight and die for their beliefs and values.” 

• Historian Anthony Joes: "preventing a Communist victory required stopping or at least seriously inhibiting the flow of men and supplies into the South through the Ho Chi Minh trail." 

• Minh said “It was patriotism, not communism that inspired me” 

Anti War Movement 

• “The image of the world’s greatest superpower…trying to pound a tiny backward nation into submission… is not a pretty one. It could conceivably produce a costly distortion in the American national consciousness..." - Robert McNamara, memo to LBJ 1967. 

• Walter Cronkite declared “it was more certain than ever that Vietnam is to end in a stalemate” → prior LBJ said “If I’ve lost Walter, I’ve lost Mr Average Citizen” 

CONFLICT IN VIETNAM 46-54 

1st Indochina War (France) 

Impact on Vietnam: 

Economic: 

• Salt monoply → indigenous industries weakened, salt needed to stop heat sickness, make fish sauce, people weakened and poorer 

• Slavery: Vietnamese people forced into labour, farms, sweat shops, munitionaries in France and later conscription in ww1 

• Farms reorganised, communal → capitalist 

Socially 

• Catholic missionaries invade 

• Convert Buddhist and indigenous religions 

• Way of life destroyed 

• Children learn french in schools, breed francophiles 

• Given romanised language (this was good tho bc it was accesible) 

Political: 

• Boa Dai (emperor) during French and Japense occupation. Puppet emperor. Abdicated in 1945, moved to France. 

• Colonial powers terrorise and exploit Vietnam 

• Create Vietminh who want indepedence 

First Indochina War(1946-1954) 

Military 

• Vietminh formed in 1941, anti-japanese, communists, nationalists, peasants, intellecutals 

• “Everywhere and nowhere” General Giap 

• Guerrilla warfare, ambushes, riads, hit-and-run 

• French called Ho “sly, decietful, cunning, dangerous” 

• Tehcniques were honed against the Japense 

• Mobile 

• Bicycles, rubber thongs, women 

• The communists targeted any w links to the French and were equally merciless 

• 1949 receive communist aid 

• Understand vietnam’s geography and terrain 

• Giap planned for protracted war to defeat well resourced French - Opened Ho Chi Minh Trial 

• First fighting 1946 

• French conscripted, thousands of men 

• Troops from other regions/colonies. Include pro-french vietnamese soldiers 

• France wrecked by WW2 

• Lack of homefront support → growing anti-colonial movement in France 

Conventional warfare, ill equipped, same US mistakes 

• Heat exhausation, malaria, heavy tins of food, boots, WW2 uniform etc 

• The French massacred the Vietnamese 

• Truman spends aid for French, US paid 80% of French War expenses - defended by Esienhower 

• Napalm also used by French 

• French lost 2x men than US 

Nationalism and populus support 

• Nationalism 

• “You will kill 10 of our men, and we will kill 1 of yours, and in the end it will be you who tire of it.” - Ho Chi Minh 

• Civilian effort 

• “Uncle Ho” 

• “Heaven of light to all repressed peoples” - Phan Bou Dong (follower)a 

• French brutality turned civilians to Vietminh 

• Language barrier 

Dien Bien Phu March 1954 

• French were overconfident 

• French force of 20,000+, Vietminh 50,000+ 

• Occupied ‘strategic’ valley of Dien Bein Phu with air strips 

• Vietminh saw opportunity as French as sitting ducks 

• “Wipe at all costs the whole enemy force at dien bien phu” 

• ½  a million civilians helped Giap prepare for siege moving equipment (over 200 artillery guns were disassembled, moved through jungle, and then re-assembled) into surrounding mountains 

• This highlights peasant/populus support 

• Outgunned the French who had only 60 artillery. 

• Vietminh then attack the French below with artillery fire 

• France never saw this coming 

• French could only receive aid from above 

• Had to beg US for help… US plan to help named ‘Vulture’ was considered but never used… US even contemplated atomic weapons 

• The siege lasted months 

• The base fell in May 1954 

• Decisive victory, brought about end of french colonial rule 

Aftermath… 

Geneva Conference 1954 

Vietnam split at 17th parallel, independence of Cambodia and Laos, their neutrality and elections for them in 1955 

Ho Chi Minh pressured by USSR and China to accept an disunified Vietnam 

 North, South and USA did not actually SIGN the Treaty (this was used to deny elections) Diem becomes prime minister ’54 

• No 1956 elections which meant no reunification which lead to…. 

Strategies and Developments 

Funding and supplying ARVN 

• “Vietnam represents the cornerstone of the Free World” JFK 1955 

• “colonial control shall not have passed away merely to be replaced by a far more iron tyranny” - JFK at his presidential inaugural adress 1961 

• 1961(?): Kennedy deployed Green Berets and doubled funding of the South army but was still unwilling to commit ground troops. He authorised napalm and agent orange 

• In 1954: only 600 US advisors sought to increase and train ARVN → By 1962 11,000 American personnel in the South. 

• Advisors took on increasingly involved roles in training ARVN and readying for battle 

• The Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV), which was composed of American military aid, including CIA and special forces personnel, was to support the ARVN. 

• From 1954 – 63 US “advisors” sent into Vietnam 

• By 1960 MAAGV was training 50+ ARVN Ranger units 

• MACV also built up SV Navy 

• 1955 US granted $322 million aid to SV 

• By 1960s South + ARVN TOTALLY dependent on US military aid 

• US rig 1956 elections, back Diem 

• US backs strategic hamlet strategy/ WHAM. 

• Communication between the US and the South on the topic of Diem is mishandled by the US government and as a result Diem and his brother are assassinated in 1963. 

• In 1964 the Pentagon develop bombing plans and engage secret raids in NV 

• Gulf of Tonkin where USS Maddox & USS C Turner Joy were supposedly attacked → Tonkin Resolution 1964→ Direct military involvement 

North and South Up to 1964 

• Geneva conference 1954 split Vietnam at the 17th parallel into two states 

NORTH 

Economic 

• Mekong River in south supplied rice and argilculture, 17th parallel cut the North from this source of food 

Agriculture Reform Tribunals: aimed to supervise redistribution of land and purges of landlords (55 and 56) 

Land reform modelled on china, ruthless, caused deaths of 100,000 people, such as landlords and even villages who had supported viet minh. However rice production was bolstered so it was economically successful, just socially ruinous. 

• Later Ho Chi Minh admitted errors had been made in the tribunals. He made reforms to this radical approach by relaxing land reform 

• Cooperativisation: This land reform was more successful, by 1960 85% of the North’s peasants were participating in the reform/ involved in cooperatives. Won back support - By 1960 the North had doubled the rice production of pre First Indochina War. 

• North became self-sufficient. 

• The North received aid from China and USSR but Ho Chi Minh did not want to be a puppet for another ruler, colonial or communist 

• By 1957 heavy industry grew and further their increasing independence, 

Political 

• Ho and Giap’s purges/Purification of “enemies of the people” included landlords, french supporters, catholics and other ‘counter-revolutionaries.’ 

• There was backlash against the ruthlessness but 1956 Ho apologised and altered it 

• Initially Ho Chi Minh tried to negotiating with French and USA 

• Early NFL called Group 559 created in 1959 which moved men and guns thru Ho Chi Minh Trial to SV 

• NLF = Vientminh of 60s 

• NLF Coalition of anti-Diems, including communists and non-communists (however dominated by communists), regime free of Diem and Can Lao Party, peace and anti-colonalism, ethnic and gender equality 

• NLF 10 Point Program included: reunification, promotion of national culture (not American), gender and ethnic equality 

• 1960: The VC or NLF was formed as the North reorganised communist allies in the South. At the time it had a regular force of above 5,000 and an irregular force of 30,000 guerrillas. 

• By the end of 1961 the Americans estimated that the Vietcong controlled about 80% of the countryside. 

• In 1961 alone the VC assassinated 4,000 collaborators of Diem 

Social 

• 300 days of free movement created chaos and further destruction of infrastructure 

• However the 1 million people who left the north helped alleviate the food crisis 

• Most people admired and loved Ho Chi Minh 

• Tribunals caused anger and resentment but this was amended 

SOUTH 

Economic 

South heavily reliant on US aid 

$322 million dollars from awarded to support Diem from Truman in 1955 

Diem was corrupt 

South’s economy was controlled by Diem 

Diem funnelled US aid into police rather than helping the people 

Poverty was exacerbated by Agrovilles (moved to less fertile lands) 

• Saigon’s prosperity superficial, needed US 

• Corruption increased 

• US rarely extended beyond Saigon, so life in the city and country became polarised 

• Despite mild land reforms, in 1960 15% of the population owned 75% of land 

• Historian Gabriel Kolko, maintains that when Diem began to undo the land reforms introduced by the Viet Minh, he “unleashed social discontent and created actual and potential enemies.” 

- 

Political 

• Denunciation Campaign: targets anti-french/communust vietnamese. 80,000 were imprisoned. 

• In 1955, backed by US, Diem called for referendum which we won rigged 

• The 1956 elections promised at Geneva not occur as Diem knew he would lose to Ho Chi Minh, the US backed this decision 

• Political nepotism: brother control of military, police force and security 

• Only one political party 

• Secret police Can Lao: imprisonment, torture and murder 

• 1956 Ordinance 47 commuist could be punished by death 

- Strategic Hamlet Program: 61-63 

• Battle of Ap Bac 1963, ARVN outnumber by 2,000 but fail, VC shot down 3 helicopters 

• Public meetings were forbidden (’63) 

• Police could shoot those breaking curfew 

• Closed all schools to prevent student protestors 

• Threats were made that his brother be ousted or aid cut 

• Stanley Karnow described Diem as “a puppet who pulled his own strings” 

• Cable 243: if Diem couldn’t separate from his brother’s tyranny they must “face the possibility that Diem himself cannot be preserved” Kennedy and his adivores was away from Washington, so the assistant secretary of state for forgein affairs drafted the cable instead, which Kennedy mistakenly approved thinking his advisors had also approved it 

• A coup was then executed Nov 1 1963 (remember u bday) saigon became a battle and demanded that diem and nhu surrender. They agreed for safe passage but were then murdered in the transport. 

Social 

• Opium, religious discrimination, legalisation of deaths sentence, communist purges 

• Diem seen as American puppet 

• 80% of south vietnamese that lived countryside 

• Argroville Program “unleashed social discontent and created actual and potential enemies” Jon Kolko 

General public didn’t like him for myriad of reasons not necessarily communist 

Diem and his brother Nhu was a devout cath

Diem favoured SV’s catholic minority in public service and military promotions, as well as in the allocation of land, business favors, and tax concessions. 

• Many ARVN officers converted to Catholicism in the belief that their career prospects depended on it, and many were refused promotion if they did not do so 

• Several Buddhist villages converted en masse to receive aid and to avoid forced resettlement by Diệm's regime..public spending was disproportionately distributed to Catholic majority villages. 

• The Catholic Church was the largest landowner in the country 

• the "private" status that was imposed on Buddhism by the French, which required official permission to conduct public activities, was not repealed by Diệm 

• 90% population were Buddhist 

• In May 1963 Buddhists were not allowed to celebrate Buddha’s birthday, police banned Buddhist symbols 

• Protestors were shot by police (9 monks dead) 

• This fractured the south and alienated much of the population 

• Buddhist monk sets himself on fire in June 1963 

• “Let them burn…If the Buddhists wish to have another barbecue, I will be glad to supply the gasoline and a match.” - Madame Nhu 

• 1,400 monks arrested following 

• Created resistance against Diem 

• Kennedy attempted to order Diem to reconcile with the Buddhist but he disobeyed 

DIEM’S ROLE IN CONFLICT (essay plan) 

CORRUPTION 

• Nepotism: Ngo Dinh Nhu control mitliary and secret police with other brothers controlling trade etc 

• Complicit: Despire Nhu and Madame Nhu frequently causing conflict with the SV people as well as the US government Diem refused to act on their inflammatory policies 

• Diem favoured the catholic minority, better land and escaping taxes 

• The Nhus’ also accumulated incredible wealth through gambling and opium trade 

• The aid given to SV by USA was misused by Diem either by lining his own pockets or never putting it to use in the countryside 

• Stanley Karnow “puppet who pulled his own strings” 

• Biased: Long line of Catholics → favour Catholic minority → Church excluded from land reforms and was the largest landowner in country + political and miltiary officials converted in order to assure promotions + distribution of funds and supplies rigged towards catholic villages 

SUPPRESSION OF DEMOCRACY 

1955. referendum: 600,000 votes for Diem but only 450,000 on the voting register… 

1956. elections were abolished for village councils 

1956 national elections were not honoured 

Law 10/59 allowed Diem to execute suspected opposition 

In 1963: Police could shoot those breaking curfew and Diem closed all schools, first universities and then highschools, to prevent student protestors 

• Ngo Dinh Nhu authorised torture, raids, beatings, imprisonments, executions, inflitration and assasination plots 

ALIENATION OF SV 

• Agroville Program: Created resentment and worsened agriculture 

• Argroville Program “unleashed social discontent and created actual and potential enemies” Jon Kolko 

• Strategic Hamlet Program: Similar effect, funding was misused by Diem 

• He was viewed as a US puppet in contrast to Minh 

• Whilst Minh cultivated a humble, nationalist image Diem appeared as a plurocratic tyrant who was disconnected with traditional Vietnamese living 

• 80-90% population was Buddhist 

• Diem’s catholic corruption already alienated SV but it was excaberated by the… 

• Religious persecution of 1963: Buddhist flag banned during Vesak→ Buddhists protest in 

Hue→ 9 are killed → ARVN pours chemicals on heads of praying monks → June Thich Quang Duc self immolation → 1,400 monks protest 

• 10/59 also used against Buddhist dissenters 

“Diem is the only boy we got out there” LBJ 1963 

2ND INDOCHINA WAR (64-75) 

US forgein policy from 64 (LBJ & Nixon) (essay paragraphs) 

US Policy Containment: 

• Ho was seen as  a communist puppet doing the bidding for it’s Soviet and Chinese masters. 

• The decision to back South Vietnam and later escalate US military intervention was part of US policy of containment which had been in place since 1947. 

The Domino Theory: 

• Eisenhower believed that if South Vietnam fell to the communists, this would lead to all of Asia falling to communism in a ripple effect, and eventually the west too. 

• April 1954, he explained  “You have a row of dominoes set up, you knock over the first one and what will happen to the last one is the certainty that it will go over very quickly.” 

• Underpinned US forgein policy 

• Motivation for US involvement in such a forgein conflict 

• Communist China sought to “conquer the South, to defeat American power, and to extend the Asiatic dominion of communism.” LBJ 

US Arrogance 

• Felt invincible after decisive WW2 victory 

• Strong patriotism 

• American idealism, parental responsibility to protect the South 

• American prestige 

• At the time it seemed utterly inconceivable that America would not emerge victorious. 

• Stanley Karnow “all this power intoxicated the Americans… they were sure that US omnipotence would triumph” 

• LBJ once referred to North Vietnam as, “A raggedy ass little fourth-rate country.” 

US Escalation 

• 1955: 322 million dollars aid to SV 

• ‘54: 600 

• ‘62: 11,000 

• MACV “advise” ARVN…often interfere in fighting against rules 

• JFk approve Napalm 1961 + send in green berets 

• Gulf of Tonkin resolution 

• 1965 conscription 

• Geroge Herring “what might have remained a local conflict with primarily local complications was elevated into a major international conflict” 

Diem 

• Rig elections 

Backed by USA - LBJ “the only boy we got out there” (ab Diem) 

“Puppet who pulled his own strings” 

• Cable 243: “face the reality that Diem himself cannot be preserved” 

• SV coup 1963 (US oopsy) → Diem and Ngo Dinh Nhu die 

Role and Impact of Communism (essay plan) 

Cold War 

• Was very significant to USA 

• Cold War sentiment underpinned their decision in war→ proxy war - Domino Theory, Containment policy! 

• Communist China sought to “conquer the South, to defeat American power, and to extend the Asiatic dominion of communism.” LBJ 

• Anti-communist propoganda to incentive US people 

• Moya Ann Ball: “...their roots were still in Cold War rhetoric” 

Some Actual Communism 

• Formed Communist government after victory over french 

• As NV was a Communist state, the gov. depended on other Communist powers of like minded ideals, such as China and the Soviet Union, to assist in their economic and social disarray: 

• Soviet Union imported rice to assist w/ food shortage 

• Soviet Union and China provided military aid by providing military hardware (the guns) 

• Agricultural Reform Tribunals (1955-56) in the North (collectivisation) were modelled off China 

US Misinterpretation of Nationalism 

• US confused communism with nationalism 

• Viewed through a blinding cold-war lens 

• “it was patriotism not communism that inspired me” Ho Chi Minh 

• Thus there were unable to truly grasp the strength North’s resolve and the true nature of the conflict 

• Nationalism provided communist forces with a strong sense of motivation in the conflict unlike the US 

• Michael Maclear: “Johnson (saw) a scenario of aggressive monolithic communism” 

• Troops were determined to see their home-country reunified 

• Clear purpose 

• Mcnamara: “We underestimated the power of nationalism to motivate people to fight and die for their beliefs and values.” 

Role and Impact of Nationalism(essay plan?) 

Prior to 2nd Indochina war/ Historical background of nationalism 

• Had already been oppressed and colonised for decades prior by French 

• Brutality, exploitation, general impacts of colonisation 

Colonisation simultaneously repress and fuels nationalism 

• “You can kill ten of my men for every one I kill of yours. But even at those odds, you will lose and I will win.” —Ho Chi Minh in a warning to French colonialists in 1946. 

• Viewed Americans as another colonial power coming to enslave not save them 

• Nationalists anger caused by French and history of colonisation then also aimed at the 

US 

Spark conflict 

• Ho Chi Minh encouraged nationalist sentiment and utilised for French/US opposition 

• Minh said “It was patriotism, not communism that inspired me” 

• Uncle Ho, image of humbleness → relatable and respected by Vietnamese people - Anti imperialist propaganda 

• “We shall fight to the end until Vietnam is fully independent and reunified.” - HO CHI MINH December 1946 

• Reunification mission → Robert Schulzinger describes in A Time for War, “The United States embarked on the impossible task of creating a separate state and society in the southern part of a single land.” 

Nationalism in the conflict 

• Provided communist forces with a strong sense of motivation in the conflict unlike the US 

• Troops were determined to see their home-country reunified 

• Clear purpose 

• Mcnamara: “We underestimated the power of nationalism to motivate people to fight and die for their beliefs and values.” 

• Saw the US as forgein imperialists not saviours 

• Did not need to be communist to join NLF 

• Motivated TROOPS paragraph from t2 

US Misinterpretation 

• US confused communism with nationalism 

• Viewed through a blinding cold-war lens 

• Discuss cold-war beliefs…. Containment, domino theory, proxy war, etc… 

• Thus there were unable to truly grasp the strength north’s resolve and the true nature of the conflict 

• Michael Maclear: “Johnson (saw) a scenario of aggressive monolithic communism 

• Moya Ann Ball: “...their roots were still in Cold War rhetoric” 

Strategies & Tactics 

SOUTH/USA 

• WHAM: Winning Hearts and Minds (total fail) 

• Agroville Program/Strategic Hamlet Program (idk which was ARVN). Also failed. 

Coercive diplomacy 

• Bombing: Operation Rolling Thunder and Steel Tiger 65-68 

Between 1965 and 1973, the U.S. Air forces dropped around 8 millions tonnes of bombs on Vietnam and in total deployed 4x that of WW2. 

• The Vietnamese also quickly learnt to destory aircraft, with over 3,000 US planes shot down in the war. 

Technology* 

• ‘Huey’ helicopters. By 1968, there were over 5,500 helicopters in Vietnam. Helicopter war 

• Guns: the North had AK47s from USSR but the US had only M16s which jammed 24/7 because they were delivered unmatching ammunition. 

• Chemicals: Agent orange and napalm, herbicides, defoliant cluster bombing 

Conventional Warfare 

• Stuck in WW2 (territorial war) 

• US were ignorant to the environment and guerrilla capabilities 

• Stanley Karnow wrote, “...All this power intoxicated the Americans...they were certain that US omnipotence would triumph.” 

• Battle of Dak To in November 1967. The US military led a costly assault on hill 875 despite it holding little strategic value. 115 soldiers were killed in the offensive. 

• Military historian and former colonel Robert Morris described Vietnam as “one of the most inept military campaigns in history.” Conscriptions: 

• The draft was introduced in 1964 by LBJ, and it is estimated roughly 1 in 4 ground troops were draftees 

• Working class men, but in 1965 changed to include college students. 

• 41% of army were black 

• By the fall of 1965, the U.S. Defence Department would order the highest enlistment quotas since the pinnacle of the Korean War: 27,400 men in September, and 33,600 in October. 

• The average age of a US soldier was 19 years 

• Disillusioned troops 

• Angered homefront 

• Historian Christian Appy: “most of the Americans who fought in Vietnam were powerless, working-class teenagers sent to fight an undeclared war by presidents for whom they were not even eligible to vote.” 

12/3 Month Tours 

• No commitment or focus 

• Individual survival < Winning war 

• Less cohesion and comradery 

• Fragging and mutiny. In total it is believed there were from 800 to 1,000 fragging incidents. 

NORTH 

Guerilla Warfare* 

• Elephant and Tiger theory 

• “the way to win is by small defeats, one after the other until the coup de grace” - Giap - Hit and run attacks, ambush, etc 

One NV soldier explained “Our army was successful because we fought in the jungle. 

We could fight the americans at any time we wanted, or withdraw whenever we wanted.” 

• Tunnels: Whilst originally constructed in the 1940’s, the tunnel system grew rapidly in the 1960s, over 300 kilometres were built. Cu Chi Tunnels: near Saigon a US base was actually built over the top of VC tunnels. 

• Boobytraps: punji sticks → weaken morale. Mines/booby traps = 10% of US casualties 

• No uniforms → US paranoia and war crimes 

• Manholes/ fox holes Ho Chi Minh Trail* 

• sprawling supply route from North to South, also going through Cambodia and Laos, passed men and resources down to NLF, frequently bombed but always quickly rebuilt 

• Historian Anthony Joes: "preventing a Communist victory required stopping or at least seriously inhibiting the flow of men and supplies into the South through the Ho Chi Minh trail." 

• Always repaired 

• Conscriptions also but their troops were more motivated (reunification and nationalism) - Attritional War 

• 360 degree war 

Soldiers 

• Motivated by nationalism 

• Genuinely want to be there/ have actual cause to fight (reunification) 

• “We underestimated the power of nationalism to motivate people to fight and die for their beliefs and values.” 

• Their homeland and family 

Developments 

• Vietnamisation (Nixon), Mad Man theory & Peace With Honour 

• 1965 draft inductions would increase from 17,000 to 35,000 per month. 

• Operation Linebacker in 75 

• US troops numbers peaked in 1968 at 550,000. 

Effectiveness 

• WW2 strategies ineffective in a guerrilla conflict. 

• Turned people against them 

• Mishandling and escalation (Westmoreland, Diem assination cable, LBJ) 

• Apathetic army → conscription 

Civilian Impact 

• Devastating 

• Civilians killed often, on purpose and accidentally. Other war crimes such as rape and torture 

• 2 million civilian deaths, 5.3 million civilians wounded and 11 million refugees - My Lei Massacre (300-400 killed) 

Over 1 million hectares of forest was destroyed 

• Between 1965 and 1973, the U.S. Air forces dropped around 8 millions ton of bombs in Vietnam. 

• In the South, the U.S. forces had used around 20 million gallons of herbicides from 1962 to 1971 

• 4 million exposed to agent orange 

• Huge areas of land and whole villages destroyed 

• Chemicals used have given babies deformities and people cancer 

• Unexploded bombs continue to go off to this day 

Role and Impact of Anti-war Movements(essay plan) 

Troops 

• The draft was introduced in 1964 by LBJ, and it is estimated roughly 1 in 4 ground troops were draftees 

• Working class men, but in 1965 changed to include college students. 

• 41% of army were black 

• By 1965, the U.S. Defence Department would order the highest enlistment quotas since the pinnacle of the Korean War: 33,600 in October. 

• The average age of a US soldier was 19 years 

• Historian Christian Appy: “most of the Americans who fought in Vietnam were powerless, working-class teenagers sent to fight an undeclared war by presidents for whom they were not even eligible to vote.” 

• Parents of troops 

• High death toll, uncaring politicians 

• 1971 anti-war veteran protest 

TV War 

• TV war, little censorship, many journalists → atrocities and lies revealed surrounding Vietnam and politicians 

• My Lai Massacre 1968 

• Tet Offensive 1968: US sees Embassy taken and Ambassador flee in pjamas. 

• Walter Cronkite declared “it was more certain than ever that Vietnam is to end in a stalemate” → LBJ said “If I’ve lost Walter, I’ve lost Mr Average Citizen” → loss of support - Life Magazine 1969: publishes photographs of 242 US soldiers killed in one week. 

• Pentagon Papers 1970 

• “The image of the world’s greatest superpower killing or seriously injuring 1,000 non-combatants a week…is not a pretty one. It could conceivably produce a costly distortion in the American national consciousness…" - Robert McNamara, memo to LBJ, May 19 1967. (remember: The image of…killing..1,000.. not pretty one…3 c’s: conceivably [princess bride!], costly and consciousness) 

Protests 

• The 60s zeitgeist: Civil Rights Movement and hippies → resistance and more/combined protests 

US began to lose populus support 

• Student protests. Kent State University 1970 (4 students killed) 

• March on Washington to End the War in Vietnam 1965 

• March on Pentagon 1967 (50,000) 

• Burning draft cards 

• Save Our Sons 

• Watergate 

Nature of Withdrawal 

Tet Offensive 

• ^^ 

Anti-war Movement 

• Steadying growth of anti-war movement from fringe, hippie protests to populus movement 

• Declining morale 

• “Public opinion turned when the average citizen perceived we didn’t know what the hell we were doing” Harry Summers 

• 1967 Life Magazine June edition + March on Pentagon 

• My Lai Massacre 1968 → exposed in 1969 

• Pentagon Papers 1971 prove the public was mislead and lied to 

• 1971 veteran protests 

• Push to leave Vietnam, pressure on Politicans 

Vietnamisation 

• “I pledge to you that we shall have an honorable end to the war in Vietnam." Nixon’s campgain promise declared in 1968 

• Nixon introduces policy of Vietnamisation (1969) to wean ARVN off of US miltiary support and encourage them to be independent 

• Almost 500,000 troops withdrawn the same year (1969-70) 

• Is not effective as ARVN effectively crumbles without US guidance 

• 1970 invasion of Cambodia complete fail 

• Operation Linebacker I and II → ARVN still not independent 

• Paris Peace Agreement, US tries to wash their hands of the war and get out completely 

• 60 day withdrawl → Saigon in shambles 

• April 1975 Saigon falls, renamed Ho Chi Minh City → Socialist Republic of Vietnam! 

Operation Linebacker in 1972: USA hopes to bomb NV into surrender. Not successful. Last ditch attempt. 

1973 Paris Peace Agreement 

• Neogiations actually began in 1968 but were very delayed 

• Henry Kissenger 

• Signed between SV, NV, USA and the Communist SV. 

• Allow for US withdrawal in 60 days 

• Ceasfire in SV 

• Withdrawl from Laos and Cambodia 

• But SV and NV continued to fight 

Watergate 

• Nixon bugs and tries to find dirt on his opponents 

• Then pays hush money once the burgulars are caught 

• Millions of dollars were paid to keep it a secret 

• Exacerbated feelings of mistrust towards government and presidency 

Nature of Communist Success 

• Passionate fighters, civilian support 

• Guerilla warfare 

• Nationalism 

• US failures 

NON-VIETNAM COUNTRIES 

AUSTRALIA 

• 1964 Menzies introduces draft for 20yrs and conscription 

• 2 years service and 2 years jail 

• Menzies lied that Siagon invited Australians into the war but it was actually the USA not Vietnamese 

• Save our Sons 

• Paint thrown at LBJ 

• ‘Bill’ White protests conscription & is arrested. Refuse to co-operate → raise awareness, people protest for his release 

• 1966 liberal win election → anti-war activists get desperate 

• Student movement 

• Police brutality at 1968 protest in Melbourne 

• 1970 Melbourne Moratorium (1,000 people) 

• Grow into populus movement 

• 1972 Goth Whitlam is elected (ALP anti-conscription → gain support from women) 

• First acts to abolish conscription 

LAOS 

Pathet Laos: Laotian Communist rebel group Military: 

• Over the course of the Vietnam War, more than 2 million tons of bombs fell on Laos alone. Most of those munitions targeted the Plain of Jars, an archaeologically significant landscape harbouring communist Pathet Lao insurgents. 

• Per capita, Laos remains the most heavily bombed country on earth. 

• Nearly ⅓ of these bombs failed to detonate on impact, and nexploded ordnance continues to maim and kill scores of Laotian civilians each year. 

CAMBODIA 

King Sihanouk 

Political 

• 1955: King Shinouk abdicates and becomes PM w father as king - Sihanouk’s party was in name socialist but not in reality. 

• Very corrupt 

• Instability: Sihanouk frequently sacked officials 

• Sihanouk aimed to be neutral in the cold war and so supressed Cammbodia communist groups (also because they were a threat) which earned begrudging trust from US 

• However this was tenious and strained relationship 

• In 1970 US/CIA backs a coup against Sihanouk whilst he is overseas lead by Lon Nol, his strongly anti-communist general. 

Economic 

• Shinouk asked for aid from both communist and capitalist nations 

• USA provides aid but dictates where it is allocated not bank of cambodia which Cambodians view as imperialism. 

• Sihanouk also receives funding from communist countries which angers USA and they try to have Siahnouk undermined. 

• Sihanouk nationalises Cambodia’s banks in 1963 

• In the same year he ends US aid and advisors, uneasy with his proximity with the US government fearing he would also be assinated like Diem. 

• There were wide-spread shortages and unrest which had to be quelled with violence as a result 

• Historian John Tully: “he tolderated no rivals” 

Social 

• Refugee exedius 

• Sihanouk promoted education in Cambodia but it was difficult to gain employment, thus a frustrated educated class often became his political opposition 

• His interest in film-making was distracting and weakened public opinion on his capability 

• Sihanouk would ignore much of his country’s problems, causing them to fester 

• Cambodia had a history of anti-vietnamese feeling but Sihanouk was dealing with the 

NV 

Khmer Rouge 

• Originally the KPRP (Kampuchea’s People’s Party of Kampuchea), which was the Cambodian communist party however it was guided by NV 

• In 1960 the KPRP split from Vietnamese influence 

• The Kmher Rouge as it was known was formed 

• Pol Pot became General Secetrary (like Stalin) 

• They gained much support from: Nationalism, the countryside, initially aligning itself with 

Sihanouk, anti-Vietnamese sentiment, hatred towards the US and their bombing, Lon 

Nol’s corruption and dictatorship, propoganda, instability and economic strife 

• John Pilger argues that the catastrophic US bombing provided the KR with “a catalyst for revolution” and that the KR was born out of the destruction they caused. 

US Interference 

Operation Junction city 1967: Aim to remove communist bases along Cambodian border, similar to Operation Cedar Falls as they were simply reoccupied 

Operation Menu 1969-70: Series of secret bombing missions (names including, Breakfast, 

Lunch, Dinner and Snack) to destroy VC bases approved by Nixon w/o congressional consent. 

Operation Freedom Deal 1970-1973: bombing campgain in Cambodia which lasted until 1973, an extension of Operation Menu. 

• In the 1990s it was revealed LBJ had authorised secret US military attacks against communist targets in cambodia, including bombing. 

• 300 tonnes of bombs dropped everyday on Cambodia . 

1970 ARVN attack: Cambodia is no longer neutral as ARVN attempted to destory the southern section of the Ho Chi Minh Trail and the VC’s secret headquarters in Cambodia. It was also to display ARVN as more self-sufficent after Vietnamisation had begun. However it was unsuccessful, as it was disorganised and there was no VC base to even be destroyed, but rather a decentralised group of senior NLF memembers. The invasion cost $60 million dollars. 

- US attacks and bombing in Cambodia radicalised its people and turned support towards the Khmer Rouge/ spurred communist insurgency 

Cambodian Civil War (1970-1975) 

• Nol’s Khmer Republic was already weak and then challegnged by the Khmer Rouge, the Cambodian communist group, lead by Saloth Sar/Pol Pot 

• Sihanouk allied with the Khmer Rouge to regain power but there was little trust and he later drifted from them and declared himself anti-communist again. The KR used Sihanouk for propagand (“father of the country”). They also killed some of his family. 

• Lon Nol was supported by the US as he had severed ties with the VC and was strongly anti-communist 

• NV sought to outst Lon Nol they fought in 1970 

• Operation Chenla II 1971: Despite having US air-sport the Cambodian Army (FANK 7) were desimated by NV guerrilla fighters. 

• 1973 Peace Agreements were seen as a stab in the back as the US could now focus on destroying the Khmer Rouge 

• Lon Nol was increasingly seen as a puppet for the US (Diem basically) 

• The intense fighting and carnage in the countryside caused more to join the Khmer Rouge 

• In 1974 the Khmer Rouge made repeated attempted attacks on Phonm Penh 

• In 1975 Nol fled Cambodia and it was overtaken by Khmer Rouge 

Cambodia under Pol Pot 

• An estimated 2 million people perished under the regime 

• Khmer Ethno-Nationalism: Born out of old hatred between the Vietnamese and Chinese and the Cambodians. Even Cambodians born in Vietnam were killed for being “Vietnamese in Kmher skin.” Soldiers were order to kill 30 Vietnamese each. 

• Year Zero: Pol Pot sought to erase all culture and traditions in order to replace it with his own and rid itself of colonial forgein influence → burning books and destroying buildings after takeover. Thousands died during the destruction 

• Education: Seen as forgein tool of oppression. 90% college/university students were murdered. 1976 children were only to recieve a “practical education.” “We study in order to serve the goals of the revolution” - Pol Pot 

• De-industrialisation: Machines, dams and electricity providers were destroyed. Factory workers, technicians and scientists were murdered. 

• Collectivisation: Cambodians worked long, hard hours on collective farms. Pol Pot’s 4-year plans’ aims were unrealistically high and lead to famine. Those who appeared as though they had not worked (pale, uncalloused hands, educated) were punished or sent away to 

• Re-education Centres: Similar to gulags, where ‘enemies’ or ‘counter-revolutionaries’ were taken to be tortured or labour. Enemies included Non-Khmer, educators etc. 

• Killing Fields: Kill counter-revolutuonaries and their entire families. This included civil war officials, teachers, religious figures, businuess people, ethnic and religious minorities as well as its own followers. 

• Hierachy: The Central Committe (The Organisation) with Pol Pot known as “Brother number One” → military and cadres → peasants → enslaved people 

• Children used as spies and indoctrinated with gifts/special privileges 

• “We were so angry when we came out of the forest that we didn’t want to spare even a baby in its cradle” - one cadre 

• Peasants could not use fire and had to wear black clothes 

• Aim of self-suffiency failed: food production lower than 1975 (when they came to power) and people starved to death due to lack of food 

• …..In 1978 Khmer Rouge was defeated by the Vietnamese and replaced with a Vietnamese friendly government, the People’s Republic of Kampuchea.