history-vietnam war

• North Vietnam was controlled by the USSR and China, and South Vietnam was controlled by the US
• Vietnam was divided between the 17th parallel
• Before WW2, France conquered Vietnam ( Indochina)
• During WW2, the Japanese conquered the region of Vietnam treating them very badly
• The Japanese stripped Vietnamese resources and by 1945 almost 2 million Vietnamese people starved to death
• A strong anti-japanese resistance movement called the Viet Minh emerged under the leadership of communist Ho Chi Minh
• Ho Chi Minh had studied communism in the USSR and learned about techniques of guerrilla warfare
• in 1930 he had founded the Indochinese communist party and had inspired the Vietnamese to fight for independence
• When Second World War ended the Viet Minh controlled the north of the control and determined to take control of the whole country
• The Viet Minh entered the city of Hanoi in 1945 and declared its independence on 2nd September 1945
• The Indochina war was between 1946-1954 lasted for eight years
• USA helped the french by pouring $500 million a year for the french war effort
• French idea: Hedgehog tactic( force Viet Minh to come out) as a way to defeat Guerrilla warfare ( waiting to attack enemy)
• Dien Bien Phu was 10 miles from Laos border
• On 7th May 1954, French suffered a major defeat of Dien Bien Phu
• 3000 French troops were killed and 8000 were wounded in the battle of Dien Bien Phu
• 400,00 soldiers and civilians of both sides had died of Dien Bien Phu
• Geneva agreement = split of nv + sv
• Diem = president of South Vietnam - capitalist
• Diem was a catholic in a largely populated Buddhist country, persecuting the Buddhist majority
• Diem gave key government jobs to family and friends
• President Diem decided to hold an elections in SV on October 1955
• 100,00 people had been sent to prisoner camp who opposed Diems elections
• Diem claimed he won the election by 98.2%
• 1963 eight children were killed in a peaceful protest in SV
• Monks protested about the lack of religous toleration such as Thich Quang Duc on 1963
• By the early 1960s, it had become the aim of North Vietnam to liberate the South and unite the country
• The NLF ( National Liberation Front) was formed with the support of Ho Chi Minh, with the specific task of unifying the country by joining different armed force
• The NLF/Viet Cong was a guerrilla movement
• Ho Chi Minh trail was created in 1959 to carry supplies form North to South passing through Laos and Cambodia
• With over 100,000 active troops the Viet Cong controlled parts of SV
• The South Vietnamese army (ARVN) had support from the USA so plenty of money and weapons
• President Diem was becoming increasingly unpopular and in 1st November 1963 he was killed by his own troops
• In 1961 President Kennedy became President of USA
• USA gave $13 billion dollars ti enable countries to rebuild and create jobs as they thought communism thrived in poorer countries
• mid 1950s, key US politicians were convinced that the USSR and China were committed to spreading communism around the globe
• There was a belief held that spies in the USSR were working inside the USA to overthrow the government - McCarthyism
• the government set up the House of Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) to investigate people who were believed to bee communist spies
• In 1950, Senator McCarthy had a list of 200 names of communist working directly for the US government
• He accused 45 army officers of being communist and began to lose support by the end of 1954