Transcript The Vietnam War

The Vietnam War
The era and the legacy
The Vietnam War
A BRIEF HISTORY
• Vietnam is a small and
fiercely independent
country in the heart of
Indochina.
• For 12 Centuries, they had
fought China.
France had appointed
themselves Vietnam’s
colonial ruler until the
Japanese invaded in
WWII.
After WWII France tried to
reclaim the country, but
the Vietnamese fought
back, defeating them in
1954.
Ho Chi Minh
Under the 1954 Geneva Convention,
Vietnam was to be temporarily split
in half; the North under the control
of the communist Ho Chi Minh
(Uncle Ho), and the South under the
“control” of Ngo Dinh Diem, who
was backed by the Americans.
It was Ho Chi Minh’s dream that
his Vietnam be united as one
country, independent of any
colonial force.
Diem was so unpopular in South Vietnam that Buddhist
monks set themselves on fire in protest.
American Involvement
Elections were supposed to take
place, uniting North and South
Vietnam. But they never
happened, as Diem and the U.S.
knew that most Vietnamese
would have voted for Ho Chi
Minh.
Domino theory
The Americans were afraid that
if S. Vietnam fell into the
hands of Communists, then the
rest of Indochina would also
fall like dominos. And if
Indochina fell, then so might
the Pacific. If that happened,
U.S.interests in the area might
be jeopardized, as well as its
access to natural resources like
tin, rubber and tungsten,coal
and iron ore.
The war begins…
The U.S. started sending in troops to advise South Vietnam’s army
in the escalating war against the Communist guerrillas known as
the Vietcong.
The U. S. thought it could win
the war with superior technology.
They launched a massive
bombing campaign over
North Vietnam and
suspected Viet Cong
strong holds in the
South.
The Americans used a jellied
gasoline called napalm.
It destroyed people, villages and
jungle…burning everything in
sight.
But the Vietnamese had an advantage.
It was their independence that they were fighting for, and
their land that they were fighting on.
An non-traditional war
The Vietcong didn’t
have all the bombs
and planes that the
Americans
used…instead they
relied on booby traps,
land mines and
underground tunnels.
VC soldiers hid in the
jungles, ambushing
American G.I.’s at
night.
Careful, don’t trip.
Tunnels
The Viet cong had an elaborate tunnel system, with field hospitals,
artillery storage, beds and kitchens. Some very brave G.I.’s, called
the tunnel rats, were sent in to infiltrate the tunnels.
Agent Orange
Agent orange
Since the Vietcong
hid in the thick
jungle foliage, the
US sprayed a
defoliant called
Agent Orange so the
VC guerrillas would
have no brush to
hide themselves.
Both the Vietnamese and the
American GI’s who were
exposed to Agent Orange
experienced serious health
problems, leading to death or
deformities.
The war dragged on for
years…The country of Vietnam
was devastated, but determined to
fight for its independence.
The war began to become
unpopular at home.
There were many casualties on
both sides.
The protests at home started off small…
Tet
In 1968, during a truce for the
Vietnamese holiday, Tet, the
Vietcong went on an offensive in
all the cities throughout South
Vietnam in what is known as the
Tet offensive.
After The Tet offensive, American
society grew even more divided.
More people grew disenchanted
with the war and all the casualties.
The protests grew louder and
more violent.
The Draft
More and more young men
were drafted, making the war
ever more unpopular,
particularly with students.
Many of the draftees were
those who couldn’t afford
college to get a student
deferment.
My Lai
After it was discovered that soldiers had killed everyone in the
village of My Lai, people in the United States began to call the
veteran GI’s as “baby killers.”
The war cost Johnson his
Presidency
…Richard Nixon won in 1968,
promising to end the war.
Instead, he secretly bombed
neighboring Cambodia and Laos.
Slowly, Nixon started pulling out
troops.
In 1969, 554,000 GI’s were stationed
in Vietnam.
In 1972, 156,800 men were left.
Nixon had a plan, called
Vietnamization, where the ARVN
would fight the Communists
themselves as the Americans pulled
out of the war torn country.
In 1975, Saigon fell to the
Communists. Thousands died.
Approximately 55,000 American service
men died in the war. The Vietnamese
casualty rates was far higher.
Some survived the war, but didn’t
survive the effects of Agent Orange.
Others were never the same…physically
and mentally.
Thirty years later, there’s been
time to make peace…
The United States has gone on to
new wars…
Vietnam has tried to live in peace…
End.