Vietnam Conflcit In Asia 1955-63 Flashcards
Ho Chi Minh and north Vietnam - strengthening the roots of…
Communism in the north
Collectivisation and land reform
Seized privately owned land n redistributed it among the rural farming population. Public denunciations of landowner and landlords. Abut 6000 people were killed in this action led to public apology for the aggressive and clumsy implementation of the land reform programme.
Revolutionary violent strategy
Served as a declaration of war on the south. Efforts for reunification. Supported small communist groups in south who r dissatisfied with Diem’s regime which would coalesce into Vietcong or NLF.
Diem and south Vietnam
Corrupt and nepotistic leader and Neo-colonial leader and in the words of John Dulles ‘we knew of n one better’ -tails wagging dogs. Nepotistic oligarchy with important roles absorbed by his famine.g his brother ngo dinh nhu served as pm ad ngo Dinh thug as ab of hue.
Francophone catholic who the Buddhist Vietnamese saw as no different to their previous french colonial masters. Focused on repression and political opponents were silenced
The NLF
Was a political group who opposed the oppressive dictatorship of diem , worked alongside the Vietcong to overthrow diem and the ARVN and the us army.
What was kennedy’s approach to sv?
Counterinsurgency- tactics see to defeat the guerilla such as gathering info from locals, assassinations and targeting individual leaders.
Strategic hamlets programme 1962
Flexible on conventional troops vs nuclear
Examples of counterinsurgency
An increase in the helicopter force, greater training support for the south Vietnamese army and some strategic bombing of north Vietnam.
The strategic hamlet programme 1962
Introduced through operation sunrise
Housed Vietnamese peasants to isolate them from the Vietcong . Program was a form of forced relocation in dehumanising conditions. By 1962, Kennedy sent 11000 military advisors and backing the controversial n ineffective programme and over 3000 such hamlets.
Failure bc it improved the recruitment of the peasants in the vc and impossible to know how the vc looked like. Further alienated the peasants and made them angry.
The Buddhist crisis 1963
Buddhist were banned from flying their flags on Buddhas birthday - form of religious persecution
Hypocritical bc the previous week, catholics were encouraged to wave papal flags as part of celebrations for thuc.
Led to protests led by tri quang in hue and the self immolation of quang doc in Saigon. 9 people were killed in the melee. Engaged with the us press and tri quang urged the us to put pressure on diem and have him removed but diem was resolute in his belief that the vc had caused the hue incident. During the self-immolation, Madame nhu reflecting the intransigence of diems regime simply commented ‘let them burn, and we shall clap our hands.’
The assassination of president diem
Kennedy sent Robert McNamara and general taylor to Vietnam, to assess the situation and it was clear that diem was not prepared to curtail the repression of his people, led to the USA withdrawing support to diem. Further encouraged the south Vietnamese to plan a coup against diem on 1 nov 1963, south Vietnamese rebel activated a military coup against diem and the following day, diem and nhu were assassinated.
Why were the USA worried ? Wanted a covert coup
Worried that chaos can lead to communism
Us press filled with images of violence
Pressure from tri quang and Quang doc
