Asia: ending of conflict in vietnam Flashcards
nixon’s strategies for withdrawal from vietnam
- slogan - vietnamisation: war would continue until ‘peace with honour’ could be continued, peace talks started in may 1968, us troops and nv troops leave sv until elections, sv more responsibility increased in size to 1m, sept 1969 = peace, talks with north, not with thieu (president of sv), nixon withdrew 25,000 troops in june and 35,000 in sept
why?: north wanted united vietnam, us didnt, sv = non-communist, represent credibility, us prestige, decreased casualties, they failed as they were no match for the north, thieu also suspicious of us policy - relations with china: us and ussr relations gradually improving, american diplomats want to improve relations with china, nixon visited china in feb 1972 and ussr in may 1972, in 1969 ussr and china fell out, wanted to be on good terms with us
why?: détente (relaxation of strained relations, especially political ones, through verbal communication) = beginning to the new tentative situation, different, forgotten but constructive discussions over disagreement, in this climate it would be easier for us to negotiate ceasefire, could be war between two communist countries - usa invasion of cambodia: destroy viet cong bases there, 1971, usa backed a sv invasion of laos to block ho chi minh trail. invasion = fail, troops killed/ wounded and numbers dropped, 140,000 left at the end of 1971, 400,000 withdrawn, lost enthusias, resorted to drug abuse - habits formed in vietnam and hard to break
why?: nixon hoped it would encourage hanoi to be more willing to negotiat, achieved opposite nv boycotted all talks, secret and paris ones until us troops were withdrawn - intensive bombing: march 1972 nv invaded south led by 100 soviet troops, easy victory as there were less us troops, nixon had to respond to maintain any credibility and put pressure on north, smart bombs guided by lasers = precise bombing, nixon had to persuade nv to give up e.g cutting supplies of fuel. the renewed bombing campaign began even more protests in usa and the rest of the world
why?: april, ordered air force to bomb the north. operation linebacker, destroyed nv roads, bridges, lorries, tanks, railway lines + port of haiphong = intense bombing, pressure on nixon to persuade them to make a deal,
paris peace talks: kissinger held peace talks w/ sv and nv, peace deal agreed in jan 1973
nixon’s withdrawal strategies:
election slogan = ‘peace with honour’
1. diplomacy: improving relation; negotiations
- better relations with china
- increased co-operation and cultural exchanges between america and its communist enemies (détente = easing of tension)
-kissinger (national security advisor of nixon) set up talks between us and china/russia, visits in 1972
- advantage to us: china can stop supplies through ho chi minh trail to nv and persuad ho chi minh to sign peace deal
- president thieu not keen on deal as he relies on us, doesn’t want to fight himself so is not involved in peace talks
- escalation:
- bombing of nv and viet cong bases in cambodia - ‘madman theory’ = nixon a bit unstable
- persuade nv to do the deal; shows they are more serious
vietnam and the media
early stages of the war - detail in world media thru tvs and journalists - largely following line of policy. small disagreements but generally the relationship between military and media was good. created MACV to liaise w/ journalists, could be accredited by MACV. they were expected not to reveal info, that would help the enemy. 1964 - 1968: only 3 journalists accredited did, generally, not want to post negative news, reluctant to put on violence.
role of the media changed - tone beginning to change. they showed all the killings and had improved cameras that could go close to the conflict zone. the main source of news for americans was now tv. tet offensive = cronkite said war was unwinnable. they reported the conflict, reporting from the front line.
changing american appeasement:
- no opposition: believed in domino theory
why?
- memories of appeasement
- actions by soviet union in eastern europe/ china/ korea
- no anti-war movement and little disagreement in vietnam (gulf of tonkin resolution passed v easily) - by mid 60s: more disagreement
- atrocities came to light - my lai
- more casualties (us)
- changing media message/ less reluctance - tet offensive
- the draft
$168 billion spent in total on the war
did media have an impact
media did have an impact:
- showcased the most violent and shocking scenes
- the better technology and clearer cameras brought atrocities to light
- unaware about it unless the media presented
- cronkite = trustworthy, accurate information
media didnt have an impact:
- the number of casualties was increasing anyways
- shocking scenes were rare
- didnt always believe the journalists/ could be lying
- just reflects the changing public opinion, not shaping it
- not a lot of media published by journalists, most = govt.
anti-war movement
kent state university 1970:
at berkeley, yale and stanford universities, bombs were set off. at kent, students organised a demonstration against the continuation of war. invading cambodia. panicked troops opened fire. 4 killed, 11 injured. press = horrified. 400 colleges closed, 2 million students on strike in protest. stronger desire to end the war
civil rights movement
johnson promised a ‘great society’ but most money was spent on the war instead of helping african-american citizens escape poverty. there was still inequality. fewer african-americans in college so more being drafted. 30% black compared to 19% white. 22% of us casualties were african-american even though the group only made up of 11% of the total us forces. muhammad ali refused to be drafted during the war on the grounds of his muslim faith. stripped of his world title as a boxer and had his passport taken away. they were discriminated and some pointed out that the viet cong never showed them any discrimination
watergate affair
what is watergate?
large office building in washington dc. in 1972, it was the democratic headquarters. men attempted to place bugging devices there who were republicans
why would they want to bug democrats?
since the democratic candidates could have been stronger, they wanted to eliminate any chance that nixon had to not win the election
why did nixon decide to resign?
he was threatened with impeachment as he had recorded conversations at the Oval office but refuse to hand in the complete recordings so he was forced to resign in august 1974
how was the watergate scandal important to the vietnam war?
mad people oppose nixon more and have a more negative opinion abut him. the media would have wanted to publish even the bad things about the war as these people and other people of the unlicensed did not agree with his tactics in the war such as the invasion of cambodia which was initially kept a secret
peace with honour?
yes:
- peace talks in paris, deal and agreement
- us troops released
- contained communism until sv fell to communism in 1975
- independent sv
- did maintain domino theory
no:
- did lose the war, not full contained
- 1975, nv invaded sv and turned communist
- nv troops still in sv
- cambodia + laos = still communist
- fall of saigon
- people in sv still struggling, nothing much changed for them
