Transcript The Vietnam War

The Vietnam War
An Introduction
Terms To Know
The Vietnam War
Dien Bien Phu
Ho Chi Minh
Gen. William Westmoreland
Ngo Dinh Diem
Viet Minh
ARVN
SVA
Vietcong
“Charlie”
“Gooks”
Napalm
Agent Orange
Cambodia
Laos
Ho Chi Minh Trail
Mekong (Delta)
Saigon
Hanoi
Tour of Duty
M16
The Huey
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
Vietnamization
“No event in American history is more
misunderstood than the Vietnam War.”
Richard Nixon
A Brief History of Vietnam
In the 17th century, French traders & missionaries arrived in
southeast Asia.
After World War I, Ho Chi Minh attempted to end colonial rule in
Vietnam, but failed.
From Colonization On…
1884
Indochina ruled by France.
1940
France falls to Nazi Germany,
Indochina under Japanese Control.
1945
Viet Minh fight Japanese occupation.
Japan defeated in WWII,
China exerts influence over
North Vietnam, Great Britain
over South Vietnam.
1946
France attempts to regain
control over Indochina.
First Indochina
War
begins.
Eisenhower
funded
nearly
80%
Viet Minhmilitary
v. France
of France’s
effort
Some Facts…
Ho Chi Minh’s Forces
Often equipped with American weapons
100,000 regulars
50,000 semi-regulars
225,000 local guerillas
Minh’s forces were “numerically inferior to the French Union
troops [during the First Indochina War], but in a type of war
where experts believe that the defending force must hold a 10to-1 superiority in order to win…” Minh would have the
advantage against both France & the United States.
Some Facts…
Ratio of Defending Force to Minh’s Forces
5-to-1
1.2-to-1
By 1954?
More than 92,000 French troops had DIED
“The loss of 8,200 French officers and noncommissioned officers
exceeded the rate at which officers were graduating from French
military colleges.”
April 27th, 1954
News of Dien Bien Phu reaches Geneva, Switzerland
where the Geneva Accords are taking place
How did Americans feel
about the events in Vietnam?
QUESTION
How did Americans feel about
the events in Vietnam?
“Since their own history was rooted in a long
struggle against colonial rule during the
eighteenth century, many Americans were
sympathetic to the aspirations of the Vietnamese,
even though they had little knowledge of Ho Chi
Minh, the Vietminh, and what they stood for.
Typical were the remarks of a young
congressman and future president from
Massachusetts, John F. Kennedy, who declared
shortly after the war in Indochina had begun:
“The United States must not ally itself with a
colonial regime that [has] no real support from the
people. The single most powerful force in the
world is man’s desire to be free.”
The Geneva Accords
Discussed what to do with Vietnam
Outcome?
The Geneva Accords
What did they do?
Divided Vietnam along the 17th Parallel
Proposed a neutral Cambodia & Laos
Free elections in 1956 to reunite Vietnam
“I have never talked… with a person knowledgeable in
Indochinese affairs who did not agree that had elections
been held as of the time of the fighting, possibly 80 per
cent of the population would have voted for the
Communist Ho Chi Minh as their leader…”
President Eisenhower in his memoirs
The Geneva Accords
President Eisenhower would not recognize the
agreement for fear of the Domino Theory.
What was the idea of containment?
What was the Domino Theory?
860,000 refugees
pour south.
Some 160,000
Franco-Vietnamese
Troops moved south.
80,000 tribesmen
move north.
5,000 to 6,000
Viet-minh guerillas
Went underground
in South Vietnam