French connection
- France had gained control of Indochina in a series of colonial wars in the late 1800s
- During world war2, Vichy France worked with Japanese forces in controlling Indochina during WW2
- After the Japanese surrender, the French fought to retain control of their former colony against Viet Minh independence movement, led by communist Party leader Ho Chi Minh
- After the Viet Minh defeated the French colonial army at the battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954, the French withdrew, and the colony was granted independence
- Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos.
Geneva conference-1954
- Vietnam was partitioned temporarily into a Northern and Southern zone of Viet- Nam at the 17th parallel
- The North was to be ruled by Ho Chi Minh, while the South would be under the control of Emperor Bao Dai
- In 1955, Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem became president of a new south Vietnamese republic.
- The Geneva conference 1954 set eup lections to unify the counry by July, 1956
- Such elections were never held because neither side wanted to lose
Who fought
- The united states armed forces
- The Army of the Republic of Veit Nam (ARVN- the South Vietamese Army)
- Vs
- The NFL, a group of south Vietnamese guerilla fighters(Vietcong)
- The peoples army of Viet Nam (PAVN- the North Veitnamese Army.
Escalation- Truman through Johnson
- President Truman began US involvement by sending money to help the French
- President Eisenhower continued US support by sending military advisors to give temporary support to Diem’s government in the South
- President Kennedy continued sending advisors as well as special operation forces(green barets)
- President Johnson sent more and more combat leaders
Kennedy and Vietnam
- Kennedy strongly believed that if South Vietnam was a stable and democratic country, it would keep communism out
- Aid to the South was often made on the condition that the government would undertake certain political reforms
- South Vietnamese President Diem did not work well with the US
- He would often go through the motions of the US-prescribed reforms, but ended up embarrassing the US
- Diem did not believe that the US ideas of democracy were suited for his government
- With CIA backing, Diem was over thrown by the SV military and killed due to his actions and beliefs
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
- Several US ships were supposedly attacked by North Vietnamese torpedoes in the gulf of Tonkin
- Most experts today do not actually think the ships were attacked
- This was Johnson’s ploy to get more involved in Vietnam
- On August 7, 1964, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution giving President Johnson the power
- The congress supported Johnson
- Only two people in congress voted against it
What did the resolution really do?
- On august 26, 1964, president Johnson was nominated as the Democratic candidate for the presidency of the US
- Johnson easily defeated Barry Goldwater in the 1964 election
- President Johnson and general William Westmoreland kept saying that with more troops we will win the war
- Most americans tended to believe this at first
- The American public’s faith was shattered, on January 30, 1968, when the enemy, supposedly on the verge of collapse, mounted the Tet Offensive in which nearly every major city in South Vietnam was attacked
- Named after the lunar new year festival which is the most important Vietnamese holiday in south Vietnam
- Although we crushed the enemy military, the surprising huge offensive attack from an enemy that was supposedly almost defeated.
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