USA and SE Asia

• Paris Peace Accords (Jan 1973)

  • Ceasefire in Vietnam but not in Loas and Cambodia - Ho Chi Minh trail
  • POWs exchanged and US troops withdrawn in 60 days
  • The PAVN could stay in the areas of the South they controlled
  • Communist representation in a Council of National Reconiliation
  • Free elections to be held with aim of reunification
  • Secretly promised billions in aid to North Vietnam
• Continuation of the Paris Peace talks

  • US controlled to sell 'peace with honour' which meant S. Vietnam remaining as independent non - communist state
  • Democrat congress refusing to fund Nixon's war the money (and hence time) was running out
  • Kissinger tried to play the 'China card' and exploit the Sino - Soviet split, but China was unwilling to lose its influence over N. Vietnam so only told them to simply meet with the US in Paris
• Continuation of the Paris Peace talks

  • Kissinger also secretly met with the USSR to gain support for ending the war
  • China they say the US difficulties in the war and potential for a united, communist Vietnam as advantageous
• Paris peace agreements

  Positions of the USA, North Vietnam and Thieu by 1972?

  • 1972, USA and North Vietnam their objectives could not be fulfilled through military means
  • South Vietnam Thieu wanted to keep US military in country
  • Reject peace proposals
  • Unless one would guarantee long - term communist future of South Vietnam
• Paris Peace talks

  Concessions both sides willing to make by Sept 1972?

  • Talks began in July 1972
  • Americans diplomats at the conference suggested that US support for Thieu was not fixed
  • Vietnam indicated they were willing to consider a coalition government that would include representatives from NLF
• Paris Peace Talks

  Concessions both sides were willing to make by Sept 1972?

  • October 1972, an agreement was reached South Vietnam excluded from these negotiations
• Paris Peace talks

  Who declared 'peace is at hands' and when?

  • 31st October 1972, Kissinger announced 'peace is at hand'
• Paris Peace talks

  What was Thieu's reaction and how did Nixon try to demonstrate his resolve and commitment to Thieu

  • Thieu appalled at then agreement and South had been marginalised from discussions
  • Nixon still insisted 'peace at honour'
  • Not take action until November 1972 presidential elections
• Paris Peace talks

  What was Thieu's reaction and how did Nixon try to demonstrate his resolve and commitment to Thieu

  • Renewed US military efforts, hoping to reassure Thieu and send a warning to the North Vietnamese that the US would not abandon its allies
• Paris Peace talks

  What was the political impact of the 'Christmas (December) bombing?

  • 1972, USA and North Vietnam their objectives could not be fulfilled through Military means
  • South Vietnam Thieu wanted to keep US military in country
  • Reject peace proposals
  • unless there was one that would guarantee long - term communist future of South Vietnam
• Ultimate result: Northern victory in Vietnam

  • 27th Jan 1973: Paris Peace agreements ratified
  • USA pressured Thieu into signing through he regarded in a 'surrender'
  • US military forces left by end of March 1973 (essential civilian personnel and military advisers left by the end of the summer)
• Ultimate result: Northern Victory in Vietnam

  • Despite the US military and economic and including $1 bil in armaments the ARVN struggled to cope with renewed VC guerilla activity
  • Nixon's promise to retaliate if the North Vietnamese broke the agreement was made redundant by the watergate scandal (Aug 1974)
• Ultimate result: Northern in Vietnam

  • NV forces 'test the water' with guerilla raids in March 1975 and after no response. They go on an all - out assault
  • Refugees, flee the country
  • Congress refuses ford's request for aid and Thieu resigns (April 1973)
• Ultimate result: Northern victory in Vietnam

  • 30th April 1975 South Vietnam and on 2nd July 1975, following national elections, Vietnam became a reunified socialist republic
• Two sides of the Cambodian civil war 1967 - 75

  Lon Nol backed by US + South Vietnam (Capitalist) vs Khmer Rouge backed by PAVN and VC (communist)
• Legacy for the region - Continuing problems in Cambodia

  Methods USA used to try and stop Cambodia falling to communism

  • After Lon Nol overthrew Prince Norodom Sihanouk in 1970, US troops entered Vietnam, but Cambodia communists formed an alliance with North Vietnam and begin to fight against the pro - US government
  • US and ARVN forces had superior fire power, the communist backlash resolute and Nixon withdrew US troops, fearing backlash in US
• Legacy for the region - Continuing problems in Cambodia

  Methods used to try and stop Cambodia falling to communism

  • USA may have been unwilling to provide ground troops but US air force bombed the country, dropping 430,000 tons on Cambodia
• Legacy for the region - Continuing problems in Cambodia

  What weaknesses did Lon Nol's military have?

  • Country was small relative to neighbouring Vietnam, with only 7.5 million people
  • Army eventually lose to 175,000 and was fairly well supported by general public
• Developments were there after the Paris peace agreements?

  • Since the Khmer Rouge only numbered 40,000, a North Vietnamese exit from the country should have put government forces on road to success
  • Khmer Rouge intensified its fighting even as relations with North Vietnam were strained
• Developments were there after the Paris peace agreements?

  • Isolated Phnom Penh from the rest of the country
  • Launched an attack on capital in January 1975
  • Government forces fought hard and even dug a trench around city to prevent its capture
  • April 1975 US forces were evacuated and within a week Phnom Penh were in the hands of the Khmer Rouge
• What happened under Khmer Rouge regin and how did it come to and end?

  • Aim was to destroy Cambodia's society and create a completely new agricultural society
  • Cambodian cities emptied. Populations forced into countryside to work as farmers and lead peasant lifestyle
  • Estimated 1 million killed during revolution. 700,000 deaths cambodians
  • Half population turnt into refugees
• What happened under Khmer Rouge reign and how did it come to and end?

  • Khmer Rouge launched attacks across the Cambodia - Vietnam border over frontier disputes
  • 25th Dec 1978, Vietnamese with Soviet aid invaded Cambodia
  • Pro - Vietnam Cambodian, Heng Samrin, was installed and the political situation stabilised
  • Invasion effectively brought Khmer Rouge to and end, and its leadership fled to the countryside
• Year Zero

  • Influenced by Marxism
  • All people, practices and culture associated with the pre - revolution society should be completely destroyed or discarded and new revolutionary culture, starting from scratch, must replace it
  • 25% of population killed (est 1.5 - 2 mil)
  • Divide in Communist world. Monolitihic communist bloc
  • Two of them against each other
• Costs of the Vietnam war

  Political/militarily/economic
• Costs of the Vietnam war - USA

  • Divided society (age, class, race) + generated anti - war protest
  • 58,000 US deaths (4th highest death rate in the US war)
  • 2.7 million served (9% of population)
  • Veterans shunned; with many suffering from PTSD and addiction issues
• Costs of the Vietnam war - USA

  • Carter granted amnesty to all 'draft dodgers' which caused continued tensions (approx. 100,000, men left the country)
  • Cost $167 billion dollars which undermined Johnson's Great society program (and generally presidency)
• Costs of the Vietnam war - USA

  Failure of containment: The 'loss' of Vietnam to communism speed to Cambodia and Loas

  • Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia
  • Monolithic communist bloc theory Vietnam actually goes to war with communist Cambodia
  • SEATO lost resistance and crumbled in 1976
  • Dented the USA's moral credibility
• Costs of the Vietnam war - Vietnam

  (Unified population of 48 million in 1975)

  • Huge range of estimated casualties 1.3 mil - 9 mil
  • NV Govt stats: 1.1 million VC and NVA - 100,000 - 330,000 ARVN were killed
  • Approx 250,000 civilian casualties
  • Montagnard lost 1/5 population and 85% had to resettle
• Costs of the Vietnam war - Vietnam

  • Decimated infrastructure (643,000 tons of bombs on NV and 700,000 on SV) and health issues
  • Reparations didn't materialise and nor did US assistance upon invasion - Due to 1973 war powers Act: Only congress had right to declare war
• Cost of the Vietnam war - Vietnam

  • US isolated Vietnam internationally (UN membership opposition and trade embargo) which impacted its growth
  • Southerners forced to attend 'The education camps' collective land
  • Involuntarily migrate (1.5 million left) 'Boat people' settled in US
• How this might promote moves towards Detente - Fear of war

  • Cuban Missile Crisis - predicted 93 mil casualties
  • Developments in the arms race
  • Necessity of reducing the risk of nuclear
  • War pushed both sides to Detente
• How this might promote moves towards Detente - The needs of the USSR

  • Economics need
  • USSR gain greater nuclear parity
  • Impact of Sino - Soviet split
• How this might promote moves towards Detente - The needs of the USA

  • End Vietnam war talks with China and USSR
  • Economics - Prices, inflation and unemployment
• How this might promote moves towards Detente - Position of China

  • Similar to the USSR - Economic/technological
  • Sino Soviet split better relations
• How this might promote moves towards Detente - European needs

  • Hot spot of cold war - Hungary, Czech and Greece
  • Keen to avoid being at the heart of a superpower backed 3rd world war
  • Led to ostolitik
• Nixon years = 1969 to 1974
• Brezhnev = 1964 - 1974
• Detente = French meaning 'relaxation on of tension' from 1969 (Nixon presidency) to 1979 (Soviet invasion of Afghanistan). Improved between Soviet union and US. Avoid conflict
• Realpolitik = Aiming to achieve realistic compromises rather than ideological objective s