Vietnam Flashcards
What happened following the Geneva accords in 1954? (ceasefire and whose in control?)
Ceasefire declared
- North under Ho Chi Minh
- South under Diem
What happened in August 1956?
Diem refuses to hold elections prepared in Geneva Accords
How did Ho Chi Minh consoldiate his position in the North?
Land reforms
- Regime seized privately owned land and redistributed it among the rural farming population
What was the response to the land reforms?
- Public denunciations (condemning) of landowners and landlords was a common place
- In 1956 , the military had put down a revolt
How many died in the 1956 revolt against the land reforms and how many fled?
6,000 died and 1 million fled
What was the outcome of the land reforms for the North? (Positive)
Full scale collectivisation was well underway and agricultural production had increased
When was the revolutionary violence strategy adopted?
1959
What was the revolutionary violence strategy?
Served as a declaration of war on the South and the aim was to use military force to overthrow Diem’s regime and they undertook a policy of supporting anti-Diem groups in the South
What corrupt aspects were apart of Diem’s regime?
- Discrimination against Buddhists
- Imprisoned or killed those who opposed him (1000s)
When was the NLF established?
December 1960
What was the NLF?
Co-alition of groups who opposed Diem and his policies
What was the NLF’s manifesto?
10 point programme
When was the Ho Chi Minh trail established?
1959
What was the Ho Chi Minh trail?
Enabled communist troops to travel from North Vietnam to areas close to Saigon in the South
Statistics regarding the Ho Chi Minh trail
- Estimated the NLF received 60 tons of aid per day from the route
- 6 months to begin then 6 weeks to get across
- Could send up to 20,000 soldiers through a month
What is insurgency?
A group who refuse to accept the ruling/government power
What is counterinsurgency?
Tactics that are used to defeat guerrilla or unconventional warfare focusing on intelligence gathering, targeting leaders and infiltrating the enemy
When did Kennedy send General Taylor to South Vietnam?
November 1961
What did General Taylor recommend after his visit?
- Increase in helicopter forces
- Greater training support for the South Vietnamese Army
- An increase in the numbers of US combat forces (10,000)
- Some strategic bombing of North Vietnam
How did Kennedy respond to Taylor’s recommendations?
Chose to adopt a compromise, he remained committed to counterinsurgency rather than sending in ground troops, but did see reason in strengthening the South Vietnamese Army
When was the Strategic Hamlet Programme?
March 1962
What was the aim of the Strategic Hamlets?
Create armed stockades which would house South Vietnamese rural peasants.
This would then isolate such people from the Vietcong
By September 1962 how many Southern Vietmanese were in hamlets and how many hamlets were there?
4 million and 3,000 hamlets
Why were the hamlets a failure?
- Corrupt officials took money meant for medical aid and seed etc which alienated the disaffected peasants
- The scheme was flawed as it was almost impossible to isolate Vietcong agents from the hamlets.
When was the Buddhist crisis?
MAy 1963
What was the Buddhist crisis?
Diem banned Buddhists flying flags to celebrate Buddhas birthday and they were prevented from hearing a speech by their leader. Their protests grew and became organised with anti-government propaganda, hunger strikes and mass rallies. It became worse when a Buddhist burnt himself alive in June others did the same.
When was Diem assassinated?
2nd Nov 1963
How many military advisers did USA have in Vietnam? (1961,62,63)
3,000
10,000
16,000
What was the estimated aid per year from the USA?
$1.2-1.3 billion
What was the doctrine of credibility?
‘Domino theory’ was shifting to ‘doctrine of credibility’ (keeping up the credibility of the US’s reputation as a global superpower)
What was napalm?
Gel dropped from air that spread out widely and was then able to be set alight
What was agent orange?
Chemical weapon used to kill crops and defoliate the jungle
Why did the US use chemicals and why was this a problem?
A way to seek out insurgents in the jungle
- Innocent people were the ones who suffered
- Insurgents were impossible to find
- Chemicals caused burns and other injuries
Who was Henry Cabot Lodge?
US ambassador to S Vietnam
Reasons to why there was conflict in Asia/Vietnam
- US and containment
- Diem’s failures
- Ho Chi Minh’s leadership
- The NLF
- US support for Diem’s regime
When was the coup instigated against Diem?
Nov 1 1963
