Transcript Origins of the Vietnam War

TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
Origins of the Vietnam War
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
Objectives
• Explain how Vietnam became a focus of conflict
after World War II.
• Explain why the United States was concerned
about developments in Vietnam.
• Describe how American involvement in Vietnam
began to increase under President Kennedy.
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
Terms and People
• Ho Chi Minh – a Communist leader who freed
Vietnam from French colonial rule in 1954 and
then became ruler of Communist North Vietnam
• domino theory – the idea that if one country
fell to the Communists, neighboring countries
would follow
• Ngo Dinh Diem – ruler of South Vietnam; in
1963, he was assassinated by South Vietnamese
military leaders
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
Terms and People (continued)
• guerrilla – a fighter who carries out hit-and-run
attacks
• Lyndon B. Johnson – John F. Kennedy’s Vice
President; in 1963, he became President after
Kennedy was assassinated
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
How did Vietnam become a major
battlefield in the war against
communism?
In the 1950s, the Cold War between the United
States and the Soviet Union intensified.
The Vietnam War was the longest war that the
United States ever fought, and it was also very
divisive.
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
Vietnam is a small country in Southeast Asia, stretching
1,000 miles along the South China Sea.
In the 1800s,
France seized
Vietnam and
ruled it for nearly
100 years as part
of the colony of
Indochina.
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
During World War II, French rule
was interrupted when Japan
occupied Vietnam.
In August 1945, Japan surrendered, and
World War II was over.
Some Vietnamese saw the Japanese
defeat as an opportunity to free
themselves from French colonial rule.
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
Communist leader Ho Chi Minh organized a revolt
to end French colonial rule.
The Americans refused
to help because Ho
was a Communist.
With his followers, the Vietminh, Ho occupied Hanoi and
proclaimed an independent Vietnam.
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
After World War II, U.S. leaders saw the Soviet
Union and its system of communism as a threat to
world peace.
Adding to their
fears, China came
under Communist
rule in 1949, and
Communist North
Korea attacked
South Korea in
1950.
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
In the hope of
blocking the
spread of
communism,
the United
States
supported
France in its
resulting war
with Vietnam.
Fighting between the French and the Vietminh
continued for nearly 8 years.
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
The turning point
came in 1954,
when the Vietminh
forced the French
to surrender after a
56-day battle at
Dien Bien Phu.
French control
over Vietnam
came to an end.
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
An international conference
in Geneva, Switzerland,
determined Vietnam’s fate.
Under the Geneva
Accords, Vietnam
was temporarily
divided into two
states, but the
country was to be
unified by elections
within a few years.
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
North Vietnam was under the Communist rule of
Ho Chi Minh.
South Vietnam was governed by Ngo Dinh
Diem.
The United States
supported South Vietnam
because political leaders
feared a widespread
Communist takeover in
Southeast Asia.
This idea was
called the
domino theory.
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
Diem lost support
within the country
when he blocked the
promised elections.
John F. Kennedy
continued to
support South
Vietnam by
sending aid and
military advisers.
South Vietnamese
guerrillas
terrorized villages
controlled by Diem’s
officials.
The North
Vietnamese gave
weapons to the
guerrillas, who
came to be called
the Vietcong.
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
Meanwhile, Diem angered many South Vietnamese by
imprisoning his critics and employing corrupt officials.
U.S. leaders
feared that
Diem’s
actions were
increasing
support for
the Vietcong.
The
United
States
withdrew
support
from
Diem.
Military leaders
seized control of
the government
and assassinated
Diem.
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
Three weeks later, in an incident unrelated to
Vietnam, President Kennedy was assassinated.
Kennedy’s Vice
President, Lyndon B.
Johnson, became the
new President.
American involvement in Vietnam would continue
for many more years.