Chapter 11

• First Indochina War

  1946 - 1954

  Viet Minh's struggle against French colonial forces (supported by USA)
• Development of 2 separate Vietnams

  1954 - 1959

  1954 Geneva Conference & difference between North and South Vietnam
• Origins of Second Indochina War

  1959 - 1964

  Formation of National Liberation Front / Viet Cong - guerrilla war against unpopular South Vietnamese government
• Second Indochina War

  1964 - 1975

  US involvement escalates - war between North Vietnam/Viet Cong and USA/South Vietnam
• Features of the land reform implemented by Ho Chi Minh's Vietnam Workers' Party (VWP).


  - Redistributed privately owned land to rural farming population

  - Public denunciations on landowners + landlords
• List three negative consequences of Ho Chi Minh's land reform

  - Thousands executed

  - Many imprisoned and in labour camps

  - 1956 - 6000 people killed when putting down revolt

  - 1 million refugees fled NV for SV
• List two achievements of Ho Chi Minh's land reform policy.

  - Full scale collectivisation underway

  - Agricultural production increase
• North Vietnam under Ho Chi Minh:

  What decision was taken at the Fifteenth Plenum of the VWP Central Committee meeting in 1958?


  Commit to strategy that would reunify Vietnam, strengthen communism
• How did North Vietnam attempt to destabilise South Vietnam before 1960?

  Supports anti-Diem groups in South

  Military force

  LEADS TO CREATION OF NLF (VIET CONG) IN SV
• Who created the NLF and when and why was it set up?

  Dec 1960

  NV leadership established NLF in the South

  PURPOSE = FREE SV FROM US IMPERIALISM, CREATE UNITED VIETNAM
• Apart from communism, list 2 ideas that motivated supporters and members of the NLF?

  Rejection of Diem's quasi-imperialist policies

  Liked idea of independent Vietnam (Nationalism / reunification)
• Who was the leader of the NLF?

  Nguyen Huu Tho

  BUT REAL LEADER = HO CHI MINH 'spiritual leader
• List 3 groups that the NLF's 10-point programme appealed to?

  Intellectuals

  Students

  Middle + rural working class
• Why was the NLF presented by North Vietnam as a Southern resistance movement rather than a North Vietnamese group?


  As Geneva conference agreements forbidden NV from placing forces in SV
• Give 3 examples of the close connection between the NLF and North Vietnam?

  - NLF controlled by NV from Hanoi

  - NV established support network HO CHI MINH TRAIL for NLF

  - Trail = supply route into SV for equipment + personnel
• List two examples of the nepotism that existed under Diem.

  - Brother = prime minister

  - Brother = chief of police

  - Other family members in government
• Give an example of the financial corruption that existed in South Vietnam under Diem.

  US economic aid meant for agricultural improvements given to Diem + his officials
• How did Diem's government deal with political opposition?

  They were repressed, opponents were silenced

  - executed / imprisoned
• Explain the attitude of both Dulles and Eisenhower towards Diem.

  Admitted support was because they 'knew of no one better'

  Eisenhower referred to him as 'miracle man' of Asia
• US policy towards SV under Kennedy from 1960:

  Which two US foreign policy ideas was Kennedy committed to?

  Containment

  Domino theory
• How was Kennedy's strategy of 'flexible response' different from Eisenhower's foreign policy?


  Convinced US non-nuclear capabilities should be expanded to reduce threat of nuclear war, also enabling them to react to threats of insurgency + subversion
• Robert McNamara

  President Kennedy's Secretary of Defence who played an important role in ending Eisenhower's 'massive retaliation' strategy and instead developing Kennedy's new Flexible Response strategy.
• What tactics did Kennedy believe should be taken to deal with the situation in South Vietnam and why?

  Counterinsurgency tactics, containing communism, so insurgency in SV would not spread

  - Not nuclear
• List 3 examples of recommendations made by General Taylor and Walt Roscow after Kennedy sent them to Vietnam to report on the situation in November 1961.


  - Increase helicopter force for counterinsurgency actions

  - Greater training support for SV army

  - Strategic bombing of NV
• What two options did Kennedy focus on in response to the report?

  (Report from Generals sent to Vietnam by Kennedy in Nov 1961)

  
  

  Remained committed to counterinsurgency rather than sending in ground troops

  Strengthening SV army
• What is counterinsurgency?

  Tactics used to defeat guerrilla warfare

  Like attacking individual leaders
• How many government officials were killed in South Vietnam by the NLF (Viet Cong) in 1961?

  4,000
• How did Diem's government try to isolate peasants from the NLF/Viet Cong and how effective were these strategies?

  Burned villages and moved peasants into fortified 'strategic hamlets'.

  Very unpopular and actually strengthened support for the Viet Cong.
• When was Strategic Hamlets programme put into place?

  March 1962
• How did the Strategic Hamlets programme work?

  Create armed stockades to house SV rural peasants to isolate them from the Viet Cong
• How widespread was the programme by end of 1962?


  Over 3000 such hamlets
• Why were Strategic Hamlets unsuccessful?

  - Corrupt officials took money meant for medical aid, agriculture which alienated disaffected peasants

  - Made peasants construct fences against an enemy that targeted government officials rather than them

  
  

  SCHEME = FLAWED AS IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE TO ISOLATE VIET CONG AGENTS FROM HAMLETS
• How did the USA attempt to help Diem gain control in South Vietnam?

  Advisers trained South Vietnamese army in counter-insurgency tactics.

  Violence was routine.
• What form did the opposition to Diem take in the summer of 1963 and in Nov 1963?

  - Buddhist monks burned themselves to death in opposition to lack of religious tolerance under Diem's rule.

  - Generals plotted to overthrow Diem and in Nov they killed both Diem and his brother.
• Division of Vietnam: The Geneva Conference 1954:

  The Viet Minh controlled about 75% of Vietnam by the time of the Conference - why did Ho Chi Minh agree to the terms?


  - External Pressure

  Both China and USSR feared full-scale US involvement if agreement wasn't reached - encouraged Ho to accept terms

  
  

  - Internal Practicalities

  Viet Minh needed time to reconstruct army and economy

  Confident in results of planned elections
• What were the terms of the Geneva Conference?

  - Indochina to be divided into constituent parts: Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia

  - Vietnam to be temporarily divided at 17th parallel - Viet Minh to control North (and withdraw from South as well as Cambodia and Laos), French troops to withdraw to south but France gave up claim to any territory in Indochina

  - DMZ (demilitarised zone) between North and South to stop Viet Minh incursions into South

  - Separation would allow ceasefire to take effect and ensure elections for a united Vietnam in July 1956
• Ho Chi Minh in North Vietnam:

  Priority aim - Consolidating communist rule

  - Eliminating 'class enemies' - landlords, Catholics, pro-French 'traitors' - 1 million fled South

  - Land reform - distributed land to peasants, relieved peasants of annual rents, established collective farming communities
• Ho Chi Minh in North Vietnam:

  Second aim - Spreading communism in former Indochina

  - Gave assistance to communists opposing South Vietnamese government -NLF from 1960 (Viet Cong), Ho Chi Minh Trail developed to supply these

  - Supported communist movements in Laos (Pathet Lao) and Cambodia (Khmer Rouge)
• When was the Buddhist Crisis?

  1963
• How and why were Diem's pro-Catholic policies unpopular?

  What did Diem do to the Buddhists?

  Persecuted + segregated Buddhist population, use of military

  - Majority of Vietnam's population was Buddhist

  - Banned them from flying their flags in honour of religious celebrations