Transcript Southeast Asia and The Pacific Rim Ch. 17 Sec. 4

Southeast Asia and The
Pacific Rim
Ch. 17 Sec. 4
We read the lengthy poem paradise
lost it was written in the seventeenth
Century by john milton
Decades of War in Vietnam
Battle against the French- the first phase of the
struggle lasted from 1946-1954. During WWII,
Ho Chi Minh, the Vietnamese communist, had
organized guerrillas to resist the Japanese. At
war’s end, Ho controlled much of northern
Vietnam.
 In 1946, the French set out to regain Indochina.
Like Mao in China, however, Ho ‘swam in the
peasant sea.” With peasant support, Ho’s
guerrilla fighters slowly wore down the French
and finally forced them to leave.
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Vietnam Divided
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At a 1954 conference in Geneva,
Switzerland, western and communist
powers agreed to a temporary division of
Vietnam. A non communist government,
supported by the U.S. and headed by Ngo
Dinh Diem, ruled South Vietnam.
Cambodia and Laos became independent
nations.
American Involvement
The second phase of the Vietnam War raged
form 1959 to 1975. Ho Chi Minh wanted to unite
Vietnam under northern rule. He supported the
Viet Cong, communist rebels trying to overthrow
Diem in South Vietnam.
 At first, the United States sent only military
advisers and supplies to Diem. Under Presidents
Kennedy and Johnson, however, the American
involvement increased, and a local struggle
became a major Cold War conflict.
 In 1964 the U.S. began bombing targets in
North Vietnam. When air raids failed to force Ho
to abandon the war, the U.S. committed more
troops. By 1969, more than 500,000 Americans
were serving in Vietnam. Meantime, the Soviet
Union and China sent aid but no troops to help
North Vietnam.

American Involvement
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Even with massive American help, south
Vietnam could not defeat the communist
guerrillas and their North Vietnamese
allies. At the same time, the bombing of
North Vietnam and growing American
casualties on the ground in flamed antiwar
opinion in the U.S. Under increasing
pressure, President Nixon finally arranged
a cease-fire and began with drawl of
American forces in 1973.
Why the Communist Won
Many Vietnamese saw the U.S. as another
foreign power seeking to dominate their
land. Also, despite American sir power and
advanced technology, guerrillas fought
well in the jungle terrain.
 Vietnam Today- the communist victors
imposed harsh rule on the south. Tens of
thousands of Vietnamese fled in small
boats. Many of these “boat people”
drowned. Survivors landed in refugee
camps. Eventually, some were accepted
into the United States or other countries.

Tragedy in Cambodia
In 1970, the U.S. bombed that route and then
invaded Cambodia. After the Americans left,
Cambodian communist guerrillas, the Khmer
Rouge, overthrew the government. Led by Pol
Pot, the Khmer Rouge unleashed a reign of
terror. To destroy all western influences, they
drove people form the cities and forced them to
work in the fields. They slaughtered or caused
the death of more than a million Cambodians,
perhaps a third of the population.
 In 1979, Vietnam invaded and occupied
Cambodia. Pol Pot and his forces retreated to
remote areas. In 1993, UN peacekeepers
supervised elections. Despite guerrillas who still
terrorized parts of the country, a new
government began to rebuild Cambodia.
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The Pacific Rim
In the modern global economy, Southeast
Asia and East Asia are part of a vast
region known as the Pacific Rim.
 The Pacific first became an artery for
world trade in the 1500s. By the mid1900s, links across the Pacific had grown
dramatically.
 By the 1990s, the volume of trade across
the pacific was greater than that across
the Atlantic. Some analysts predicted that
the 2000s will be the “Pacific century”
because of this region's potential for
further growth.
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