The Global War 1955 – 1963: Conflict in Asia - Formation of NLF

Question 1

When was the National Liberation Front formed? Who was it formed by?

Answer 1

• December 1960

- Formed by North Vietnamese leadership, joining many differing nationalist groups

Question 2

Where was the NLF based?

Answer 2

• NLF was based in South Vietnam

Question 3

What were the NLF’s aims and beliefs?

Answer 3

• To created a unified and sovereign Vietnam
• Rejected Diem’s quasi-imperialist policies and US presence
• Not all NLF supporters were necessarily communist, but all were nationalists

Question 4

How did Diem’s actions lead to increasing support of the NLF?

Answer 4

• Diem wanted to destroy communists in South Vietnam
• He ignored the interests of the majority, especially the rural peasantry
• Local officials were replaced by government-appointed officials
• Many of these officials were Catholic, reminding people of former French colonialist leaders

Question 5

When did war against the French end?

Answer 5

• 1954

Question 6

Who was the leader of the NLF? Where do people believe the true leadership of the NLF lay?

Answer 6

• Nguyen Huu Tho
• Believed real leadership lay in Hanoi and with Ho Chi Minh
• Some believed that NLF painted as Southern movement so it didn’t appear to break Geneva Conference agreements, which forbade North from placing its forces in South

Question 7

NLF’s 10-point programme

Answer 7

• Published in December 1960
  1. Overthrow the camouflaged colonial regime and the American imperialists, and the dictatorial power of Ngo Dinh Diem, servant of the Americans, and institute a government of national democratic union
  2. Institute a largely liberal and democratic regime.
  3. Establish an independent and sovereign economy, and improve the living
  conditions of the people.
  4. Reduce land rent and implement agrarian reform, with the aims of providing
  land to the tillers
  8. Promote a foreign policy of peace and neutrality
  9. Re-establish normal relations between the two zones and prepare for the
  peaceful reunification of the country

Question 8

When was the NLF’s 10-point programme published?

Answer 8

• December 1960

Question 9

Outline main events mentioned in the formation of the NLF

Answer 9

• 1954
- War against France ends

• December 1960

• NLF is formed
• NLF’s 10-point programme is published