The USA Conflict Home and Abroad: 3.1

Question 1

Who were the Vietminh ?

Answer 1

communist Vietnamese revolutionary and political group led by Ho Chi Minh

Question 2

Describe control of Vietnam before and after the second world war, leading up to 1954

Answer 2

• prior to WW2:
  [] Vietnam was a French colony
  [] French colonial rule was entirely unpopular as they didn’t try to understand the people or customs etc.
• during WW2:
  [] Japan took over Vietnam from the French
  [] surrendered in August 1945 and gave up Vietnam
• after WW2:
  [] 1945, Ho Chi Minh and the Vietminh announced Vietnam to be the “Democratic Republic of Vietnam”
  [] support for Minh was weak in the south and the French wanted their colony back, so invaded the south and set up a puppet government led by Bao Dai
  [] Minh wanted help from the USA to secure freedom from the French, as the US had begun to help free colonies after WW2, but the USA didn’t want to support a communist
  [] China became a communist country in 1949 and began supporting the Vietminh via sending supplies, military advisors and troops
  [] in response, the USA began to send the French supplies and military advisors (many of whom were trained soldiers who were told not to fight, only to advise)
  [] by 1954, the US were funding 80% of France’s war with the Vietminh

Question 3

When was the battle at Dien Bien Phu ?

Answer 3

13th March 1954

Question 4

Describe the key events of the battle at Dien Bien Phu

Answer 4

• French built an airstrip to lure Vietminh into battle
  [] French had 15000 troops
• Dien Bien Phu was surrounded by mountains that the Vietminh and locals knew their way around much better than the French, and set up anti-aircraft guns and artillery in the mountains, shielded by forest
  [] Vietminh were 50 000 strong and had an extra 50 000 troops in reserve
  [] Vietminh also had the support of the local people (200 000 workers total)
  [] demonstrates just how much the French rule was hated in the north, and the organisation of groups like the Vietminh
• the French were completely surprised when the fighting started on the 13th of March
• the French asked the USA to send in troops to help, but were refused since Eisenhower had just ended the Korean war, lost 34000 men and thought that Congress would refuse the help also
• fighting lasted 55 days, and the French surrendered on the 7th May 1954

Question 5

Describe the key reasons why the Vietminh won at Dien Bien Phu and decimated the French

Answer 5

• the French army had less commitment than the Vietminh’s
  [] the French army largely consisted of German troops who couldn’t care less about France keeping its colony
  [] the Vietminh on the other hand were fighting for freedom from colonial rule
• the Vietminh had Chinese support
  [] lent them 20 000 bikes to move supplies as well as some troops
  [] gave help in planning
  [] sent weapons and ammunition
• the Vietminh had the support of civilians
  [] civilians spied on the French
  [] helped dig 5 new roads to move supplies
  [] helped to camouflage weapons
• the Vietminh and Vietnamese locals had much better knowledge of the surrounding territory than the French
• the French underestimated the Vietminh’s number of troops and supply of arms, so were severely under-staffed in terms of troops and weapons

Question 6

Describe the agreements reached in the Geneva Accords, signed on the 21st of July 1954

Answer 6

• Vietnam was to be temporarily divided at the 17th parallel into North and South Vietnam
  [] separated by a DMZ
• North Vietnam was to be ruled by Ho Chi Minh and his communist party
• South Vietnam was to be ruled by Bao Dai and the capitalist party
• Vietnamese troops and people could move north or south for 300 days after 21st July 1954
• no foreign troops could set up bases in either part of the country
• in July 1956, internationally supervised elections would be held to reunify the country
  [] no system was suggested for these elections

Question 7

Which 3 countries were unsatisfied with the agreements in the Geneva Accords ?

Answer 7

• North Vietnam
  [] wanted only 6 months until election to reunify Vietnam, and wanted Vietnam to be divided at the 13th parallel instead of the 17th, to more accurately reflect the amount of land held by the Vietminh after Dien Bien Phu
  [] were pushed to give in to the Accords by China (shows China’s power over Ho Chi Minh due to being the main supporter of the North Vietnamese communist government
• South Vietnam
  [] refused to obey the Accords
• the USA
  [] refused to obey the Accords

Question 8

When did Ngo Diem replace Bao Dai as the Prime Minister of South Vietnam ?

Answer 8

June 1954

Question 9

What was the domino theory ?

Answer 9

• theory put forward by President Eisenhower to justify his increased involvement in Vietnam after the 1954 Geneva Accords
• that, if Vietnam went communist, Laos, Cambodia, India etc. would follow until it reached the West
• played on US fears of communism (as illustrated by the second Red Scare from 1947-57)

Question 10

Why did Eisenhower set up SEATO (South East Asia Treaty Organisation) in September 1954 ?

Answer 10

• the 8 countries who were members agreed to stop communism from spreading in Southeast Asia, by force (if needed)
• made Eisenhower’s domino theory seem more legitimate and thus made his involvement in Vietnam seem more legitimate also

Question 11

Why was Diem’s government weak ?

Answer 11

• still many communists present and active in South Vietnam (later became the Vietcong)
• Diem’s government was largely corrupt
  [] gave jobs only to his family, Catholics and overt capitalists who extracted money from the country wherever they could
  [] Diem’s officials in Vietnamese villages in the countryside were extremely corrupt also and used money put towards the villages for themselves
• Diem was Catholic, as was most of his government, whilst most Vietnamese were Buddhist
  [] Diem didn’t respect Buddhist culture, celebrations or beliefs at all
  [] forbade Buddhists from flying their flag and putting up banners on Buddha’s birthday, yet flew flags for Catholic celebrations etc.
• Diem’s government was largely based in Saigon and the cities
  [] Diem and his government had very little respect for the South Vietnamese villagers and looked down on them, despite 80% of the country living in the villages
  [] this led to the growth of communist groups favouring Ho Chi Minh in the southern villages

Question 12

Describe how the US (under Eisenhower) worked to keep Diem in power

Answer 12

• Eisenhower sent more military advisors to South Vietnam to train the ARVN (South Vietnamese army)
  [] wanted to fight a ‘limited’ war in Vietnam where the US sent no actual troops, as Eisenhower was wary of setting off an actual war with China or the USSR, or the use of nuclear weapons
• October 1955, Bao Dai criticised Diem’s government
  [] Diem held a referendum to see if the South Vietnamese preferred him or Bao Dai as their leader, which the US oversaw
  [] many viewed the votes as fixed due to Diem’s notorious lack of popularity
  [] Diem won the referendum
• June 1956, stopped villagers from voting for their village officials and put his own corrupt people in place
  [] made Diem MORE unpopular
• 16 July 1956, Diem refused to hold elections to reunify the country
  [] said his government wasn’t in place when the Accords were agreed, so he didn’t have to obey them
  [] the USA supported his decision, as they feared that Ho Chi Minh would win in a landslide
  [] showed that the US KNEW that Diem’s government was unpopular in South Vietnam, or at the very least less popular than Ho Chi Minh, and still supported him anyway solely based on the fear of communism
  [] also showed the strength of Ho Chi Minh’s communism and his followers in South Vietnam (the Vietcong)
• Eisenhower sent more aid to South Vietnam despite warnings that it would make them more dependent on America’s aid and less likely to survive as their own capitalist country

Question 13

Describe Diem’s campaign against his opponents in South Vietnam after 1956 (until 1959), including his ARVN campaign in the countryside in 1957

Answer 13

• arrested political and religious opponents
• ‘denounce a communist campaign’, encouraging Vietnamese to report suspected communists
  [] failed everywhere apart from the cities, as Diem’s government was disliked almost entirely in the villages and Vietcong membership was strong there
• 1957, sent ARVN into the countryside to arrest suspected communists
  [] arrested around 65 000, and killed around 2000 (WEREN’T SUPPOSED TO KILL)
  [] caused a lot of resentment towards Diem in the villages and Vietcong recruitment grew
• by March 1958, 400 of Diem’s officials had been killed by communist groups fighting against Diem’s government and ARVN campaign
• the North Vietnamese supported the Vietcong in hopes of starting a revolution and overthrowing Diem
  [] no revolution came due to Diem’s executions of communists and his oppression of anyone opposed to him
• 1959, North Vietnamese with Chinese support sent troops and weapons into South Vietnam via the Ho Chi MInh Trail
  [] trained the VC and fought alongside them
  [] led to civil war

Question 14

Describe tensions between Diem and the US from 1960

Answer 14

• November 1960, some Vietnamese army officials tried to overthrow Diem
  [] Diem blamed the US for the plot
• the US urged Diem to be more democratic in his rule and Diem refused
• Diem took US money and support but not their advice
• US support of Diem became widely unpopular at home and abroad

Question 15

What was the NLF and when was it set up ?

Answer 15

• National Liberation Front
• set up in December of 1960
• was a coalition of the Vietcong and other groups who opposed Diem’s rule
• went into villages and encouraged support of their local Vietcong groups, urging political opposition to Diem
  [] very successful due to existing resentment towards Diem in the villages

Question 16

Describe how Kennedy increased involvement in Vietnam after his election in 1961 (generally-speaking)

Answer 16

• sent more military advisors (around 16000 more by November 1963, when he was assassinated)
• wanted the ARVN to use counter-insurgency tactics to defeat Vietcong guerrillas instead of simply luring them into battle
• agreed with Eisenhower’s idea of the domino theory and limited war
• wanted a policy of “pacification” in Vietnam; in other words, winning the “hearts and minds” of people in the countryside so they would be less inclined to follow communists
  [] this was hard for the ARVN and the US advisors, as the Vietnamese saw them as part of the corrupt governmental system, and the ARVN were from the cities and looked down on villagers
• US special forces (Green Berets) were sent to train villagers to protect themselves from the VC
  [] left the villages during the night, giving way to Vietcong to recruit during the night - didn’t actually stop any support of communism
  [] difficulty being trusted by the Vietnamese due to being foreign and also dislike of the USA for supporting Diem’s corrupt government
• 1961, December, Kennedy authorised the use of defoliants in Vietnam to kill crops and jungle plants that guerrillas might use to evade capture

Question 17

Describe Diem’s Strategic Hamlet Program, 1962 (supported by Kennedy) and its significance in support for Diem’s government

Answer 17

• Diem set up “strategic hamlets” surrounded by large fences and often barbed wire
  [] aim was to stop communists from infiltrating the villages and recruiting Vietcong at night
  [] were supposed to have facilities like schools, health clinics and so on to improve the lives of the villagers and make them feel safe and supported by the government instead of resented
• January 1962, work began on the strategic hamlets, with ~800 Green Berets helping to set them up
  [] villagers were often forced to work on them, and the initiative was extremely unpopular
• the Program overall was unpopular with the Vietnamese villagers
  [] ancestral lands were spiritually and culturally important to the villagers, and the didn’t want to leave them
  [] many villagers relied on rice farming to make a living, and were taken away from their livelihoods in this way
  [] Diem’s government failed to provide food and the facilities they promised in the hamlets, with the government officials instead stealing the allocated money; some villagers went hungry and even starved
  [] all caused new and heavy resentment of Diem’s government, backfiring on what was supposed to happen

Question 18

Describe Diem’s escalation of Buddhist persecution in 1963 and the Vietnamese reactions to it

Answer 18

• 6 May 1963, ARVN fired on a Buddhist procession
• June 1963, Buddhists banned from flying flags for Buddha’s birthday
• 11 June, Quang Duc (Buddhist monk) self-immolated in protest of Diem’s persecution and rule
  [] alerted the press the day before, so publicity and outrage was massive nationally and internationally
  [] self-immolated in a busy Saigon junction - extremely public and visible form of protest demonstrates the sheer amount of hatred for Diem from the Vietnamese majority
  [] Kennedy and the US were made to seem bad internationally for supporting a government that caused such unhappiness, and pressured the US to do something about it so that their image wasn’t destroyed (especially since the Cold War would mean that any distortion in their “good” image would lead to support for communism and the USSR)
• August 1963, Diem raided Buddhist temples despite Kennedy’s pleas to make peace with the Buddhists

Question 19

Describe the overthrow and assassination of Diem in 1963

Answer 19

• USA accepted that Diem would never lead democratically; didn’t want to publicly overthrow him, but made it clear he no longer had their support
• USA heard that Diem’s ARNV generals were planning a coup (not that they planned to kill him) and didn’t warn Diem
• 1 November 1963, Diem was killed