Vietnam Flashcards
Ruled ‘Indochina’ from late 19th century
France
took control of vietnam during WW2
Japan
Vietminh
anti-japanese underground resistance movement led by communist Ho Chi Minh
Vietminh goals
-not a communist movement
-anti-imperialist + committed to independence
2 Sep 1945
Vietminh drove japanese out and declared vietnam independent
french response 1946
refused to acknowledge independence + reoccupation in 1946 caused war
french-indochinese war
1946-1954, guerilla tactics made them impossible to beat.
french casualties
over 90,000
french defeat
battle of Dien Bien Phu 1954
1954 geneva agreement
split vietnam along 17th parallel into 2 independent states. demilitarised zone between them + plans for unity elections
north vietnam leader 1954
Ho chi minh (communist) + Vietminh
south vietnam leader
Ngo Dinh Diem (pro west, capitalist, democratic)
US financial aid to france
Truman gave $23 mil to French at outbreak of war, $785 mil in total - 80% of costs
(truman doctrine)
Ngo Dinh Diem
leader of south, supported by US with $1bn aid + military advisors (domino theory). rich catholic - alienated from poor buddhist population
southern govt. corruption
accused of corruption, torture, repression (puppet state).
-refused unity elections
-postponed land reforms
-fraudulent referendum to solidify power
Vietcong
Diem labelled NLF ‘Vietnamese commies’ - Vietcong.
-plainclothes insurgents
National Liberation Front (NLF)
N. attacked S. after failure to hold unity elections in 1959. NLF est. by Ho in south: communist dominated alliance committed to unity and anti imperialism/foreign influence
ARVN
South vietnamese army
nature of the war
war of national liberation not communist uprising - US ‘Imperialist’
-failure by US to understand nature of the war
‘safe’ villages
peasants moved to ‘safe’ villages by Ngo as VC largely in countryside - essentially concentration camps
% of countryside controlled by VC
40%
Diem’s policies
-increasingly dictatorial + resented
-favoured min. catholics over maj. buddhists
-buddhist monks banned from flying flags on buddha’s birthday –> protests
thich quang duc
monk that set himself on fire as protest against repression of religious freedom
diem overthrown
diem seen as obstacle to winning war, overthrown in military coup in 1963 + assasinated by group of generals
-S. vietnam failed state