Vietnam

• French Indochina


  A French colony in Southeast Asia established in 1887 for the French to reinforce Catholic missionaries
• France was invaded by Nazi Germany and Japan invaded Indochina


  World War 2
• Emperor Bao Dai


  The former French protectorate who was a puppet ruler under the Japanese
• Ho Chi Minh


  The leader of the Viet Minh, a communist army who rose up against the Japanese occupiers
• The Viet Minh declared Vietnamese independence with the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and Hanoi as its capital


  1945
• The Cold War was setting in


  The USA were backing anti communist regimes while the Soviet Union and People's Republic of China were backing Pro communist regimes
• The Korean War was a fine example of the Cold War dynamics
• State of Vietnam


  An anti communist regime established with Emperor Bao Dai as the leader
• American military advisors had been helping the French, though President Eisenhower was reluctant to put US troops on the ground
• It was decided that Vietnam be divided into the State of Vietnam and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam

  The Geneva Accords
• Ngo Dinh Diem


  Became the prime minister in the south as South Vietnam prepared for a referendum on reuniting North and South
• Many northern Vietnamese Catholics fled south while many Viet Minh went north to plan ahead
• North Vietnam regime


  Sought to take power away from the landlords and distribute the wealth among the peasants
• Many people were executed and wrongly imprisoned by the North Vietnam regime
• The referendum was held but many were skeptical about its fairness. Diem rigged the votes, winning a ridiculously massive majority in keeping the South separate
• Republic of Vietnam


  Diem declared the south independent and became the Republic of Vietnam with Saigon as its capital
• The U.S. looked on in fear, believing that communism would spread like dominoes and if Vietnam fell, it would threaten India, Japan and other nations in that region
• Diem


  A Roman Catholic which was often at odds with the predominantly Buddhist population
• Communist forces and other anti-government groups in the south were organized into the National Liberation Front or the Viet Cong


  1960
• Ho Chi Minh Trail


  A border hopping trail connecting north and south via Laos and Cambodia, used to provide support from North Vietnam to the NLF
• The government under US advisement and funding tried to relocate many rural peasants into strategic hamlets to keep them away from the influence of the NLF insurgents but the program was a failure and actually ended up strengthening the NLF
• John F Kennedy


  Faced many embarrassments with the spread of communism such as the Bay of Pigs disaster, the construction of the Berlin Wall, and the growth of communist power in Laos. He believed Vietnam was where he could make a strong stand against the spread of communism
• Kennedy was reluctant to put US troops on the ground believing that the South Vietnam Army had to defeat the NLF on their own, but they were disorganized, crippled by political corruption, and under constant attack from guerrilla forces
• More and more US military advisors and equipment were sent to Vietnam to help, but despite this, the South Vietnam Army continued to suffer silly defeats at the hands of the NLF
• Officers of the South Vietnam army rose up against the government and captured the leaders in a coup d'état. Ngo Dinh Diem and his brother and advisor in Ngo Dinh Nhu were brutally assassinated the following day


  November 1st, 1963
• NLF took advantage of the political chaos of the south and strengthened their position with the people
• John F Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas


  Less than a month after the coup
• Lyndon B Johnson


  Became the new US president and things changed
• The u.s. navy ship the USS Maddox was monitoring signals coming from North Vietnam in the Gulf of Tonkin. It fired three warning shots at some North Vietnam torpedo boats who opened fire with torpedoes and machine guns


  August 2nd 1964
• A similar incident was reported from the Maddox but it would later turn out to be false

  Two days later
• These incidents were used by President Johnson to order an air strike and get Congress to push through the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution which allowed him to escalate the United States involvement in Vietnam without an actual declaration of war
• Johnson ensured the u.s. people that he would not be sending American boys over to Vietnam... before he was reelected
• The Draft


  Conscription in the United States had been on the go constantly since 1940 to fill gaps in the army where volunteers weren't joining
• The MLF attacked a US helicopter facility in Pleiku


  February 1965
• In retaliation, Johnson ordered bombing campaigns over North Vietnam
• The first u.s. ground troops were sent to South Vietnam in the form of 3,500 Marines


  March 8th, 1965
• Laos


  Fell into civil war between the us-backed government and the Communist Pathet Lao
• US operation Barrel Roll saw the aerial bombardment of the Pathet Lao, trying to deny Viet Nam's access to the Ho Chi Minh Trail, but this didn't work
• Napalm


  A sticky, flammable chemical which was very effective at destroying jungle and causing mass devastation and terror, used extensively by the US
• US ground forces had swollen to 200,000 troops still with the view of defending South Vietnam, but troop morale was low


  By the end of 1965