Transcript Vietnam War - 8thgradeVietnam

Vietnam War
By: Debra Storbrauck
Abbreviations
• DRV- Democratic Republic of Vietnam
• NLF- National Liberation Front
• GVN- Government of the Republic of
Vietnam
Locations
• Vietnam
• Laos
• Cambodia
Time Period
• Vietnam War followed after the First
Indochina War
• From November 1, 1955 to April 30,
1975
North Vs. South
• North Vietnam
• Communist allies
• South Vietnam
• United States
• Other anti
communist nations
Strategies
• North Vietnam
a. conventional
warfare- no use of
nuclear, biological,
or chemical
weapons
•
South Vietnam
a. air superiority
b. heavy
firepower
c. at one point
the U.S.
considered the use
of nuclear
weapons
Casualties
•
Both Vietnam Sides
•
•
Laotians and Cambodians
•
•
3- 4 million
1.5- 2 million
United States
•
58,159
Why The United States Entered
•
•
Prevent communist takeover of South
Vietnam
Another strategy for containment
Background
• Before WWll, France controlled
Vietnam
• During the war, Vietnam was taken by
Germany and it’s ally, Japan
• When Germany was defeated, it went to
Japan until they surrendered
Background
• Ho Chi Minh, leader of the Viet Minh,
declared Vietnam free
• This angered the United Kingdom,
United States, and the Soviet Union
• The countries stated that it still
belonged to France
Background
• Since France did not have enough
military resources at the time, Britain
occupied the South while nationalist
China took the North
• The Viet Ming was gaining political
power in North Vietnam, so the French
drove them out of the city of Hanoi on
March 1946
Background
• This event angered the Viet Ming
• They soon began a guerrilla war
against France and thus began the First
Indochina War
France’s Defeat
• The Battle of Dien Bien Phu marked the
end of the French in the Indochina War
• The Viet Minh defeated the French
under the command of Vo Nguyen Giap
• France and Viet Minh settled a
ceasefire agreement at the Geneva
Conference
• Finally, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam
were free
Moving Forward
• Eisenhower’s administration helped
create a new nation for South Vietnam
• One year later, Ngo Dinh Diem won the
election and became president of the
GVN (Government of the Republic of
Vietnam)
• Diem learned news of an attack from
the North Vietnam
Preparing For An Attack
• Got aid from the United states
• Diem passed a series of acts that made
it legal to hold someone if they are
suspected to be communist
Attacks on Diem
• Buddhist monks, nuns, students,
business people, intellectuals, and
peasants attacked Diem’s troops and
secret police for his harsh actions
towards the people
• Diem blamed communists
Overthrow of Diem’s
Government
• Kennedy’s administration grew
suspicious of how well Diem’s
Government was working
• Later, they approved a plan to
overthrow Diem’s government and
liberate Vietnam
Nation Liberation Front
• Brought together Communists and
Non- Communists
• Opposed Ngo Dinh Diem
• Wanted to unify Vietnam
• The NLF started violent attacks against
the Saigon Regime
• U.S. feared a communist take over and
developed a series of government
“White Papers”
December 1961 White Paper
• Kennedy sent troops to Vietnam to
report the conditions in the South and
to assist for future aid requirements
• This was known as the December 1961
White Paper
December 1961 White Paper
• Argued to increase military technical,
and economic aid
• Argued an introduction of large scale
American advisors to help stabilize the
Diem regime and crush NLF
• Kennedy agreed but refused to send
large amounts of troops
Failing
• Their plan was failing as their were
more reports of NLF victories
• They then tried to isolate NLF from
villagers
Buddhist Monks
• Ngo Dinh Nhu raided Buddhist
dwellings of South Vietnam
• They claimed they were communists
and were causing the political
instability
• This picture of monks on fire made
world headlines and alarmed
Washington
Overthrow
• Buddhist protests caused Kennedy’s
administration to support a coup
• Diem’s own generals in the army
planed with the American Embassy in
Saigon to overthrow Diem
• November 1, 1963, Diem and his
brother were captured and killed
Kennedy Assassination
• Three weeks after Diem and his brother
were killed, President Kennedy was
assassinated on the street of Dallas,
Texas
Lyndon Johnson
• Political problems in Saigon convinced
Johnson that more aggressive actions
were needed
More Power for the President
• DRV raided two U.S. ships in the Gulf of
Tonkin
• This caused the Johnson
administration to argue for expansion
of war power for the president
Gulf of Tonkin
• DRV planed attacks on American and
GVN in response for their act of spying
along the coast
• Attacked Turner Joy and the U.S.S.
Maddox; two American ships
• First attack was on August 2, 1964
• A second was said to have taken place
August 4, 1964, but some say it never
took place
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
• Johnson used the second attack as a
cover for the resolution to give the
president more war powers
Debate for the Correct Strategy
in Vietnam
• The Joint Chiefs of
Staff wanted to
expand the air war
over the DRV and
quickly stabilize the
new Saigon regime
• The civilians in the
Pentagon wanted to
gradually pressure
Communist Party
with precise and
selective bombings.
Operation Rolling Thunder
• The Pentagons strategy was selected
• Bombing missions
• Caused the Communist Party to
develop their own war strategy
Communist Strategy
• It was to overwhelm the United States
so it could not win
• The United States had no clearly
defined objectives, so they thought
they would eventually give up and
demand a negotiation
Limited War
• Washington called for little mobilization
of resources, material and humans, and
cause little disruption in American life.
Effects on America
• Not enough volunteers so the
government instituted a draft
• Protest on college campuses arose
• Later in August 1968 in Chicago, a
huge protest broke out against the
American involvement in the war and
for the Democratic Party for continuing
to prosecute the war
The Tet Offensive
• Things went from bad to worse for the
Johnson administration
• DRV and NLF launched attacks against
major cities in southern cities
• These attacks were known in the West
as the Tet Offensive
• They were designed to force the U.S. to
the bargaining table
Communist View
• The Communist Party believed even
though American was gaining success
in the country side, the communist
party was gaining something as well
• Even though the Tet Offensive was a
lose for the Communists it had its own
psychological victory
• It reached them to their desired results
Communists Achievement
• President Johnson declared that he
would not be running for the elections
• Communists thought that hinted
towards the U.S. about to go to the
bargaining table
Hubert Humphrey vs. Richard
Nixon
• Johnson held secret negotiation in the
spring of 1968 in Paris between
Americans and Vietnamese to discuss
an end to the war
• Despite this progress, Democratic
Party with its runner Hubert Humphrey
could not win against Republican
runner Richard Nixon, for he claimed
he had a plan to end the war
Nixon’s Secret Plan
• He was planning to use Vietnamization
the same plan Johnson used in his
office
• Vietnamization implied that Vietnamese
were not fighting and dying in the
jungles of South Asia
Pros and Cons
towards Vietnamization
• Brought many
troops home to
America
• Expanded the war
into Laos and
Cambodia
“They are Killing our babies in
Vietnam and in our own backyard”
• Bombing campaigns in Cambodia
sparked campus protests all across
America
• Four students were killed by national
guardsmen on a campus
• Another set of students were shot and
killed at Jackson State Mississippi
• One mother stated “They are killing our
babies in Vietnam and in our own
backyards.”
No Peace
• Nixon’s Vietnamization expanded the
air war and had to bring in more troops
• Many citizens grew angry
• U.S. secretary of State, Henry
Kissinger, and DRV representatives,
Xuan Thuy and Le Duc Tho developed
the preliminary peace draft but leaders
in Saigon rejected the Kissinger- Tho
peace draft.
Christmas Bombings
• Conflict increased in December 1972
when the Nixon administration
unleashed a series of deadly bombing
raids against the DRV’s largest cities,
Hanoi and Haiphong
• These attacks were known as the
Christmas Bombings
• This forced the Nixon administration to
reconsider their tactics and negotiation
strategy
The Paris Peace Agreement
• In January 1973 the White House
convinced the Thieu- Ky regime in
Saigon that they would not abandon
the GVN if they signed onto the peace
accord
• On January 23, the final draft initialed
ending open hostilities between the
U.S. and the DVR
Disadvantage to the Peace
Agreement
• It did not end the conflict in Vietnam
America Slowly Decreasing
• U.S. troops started slowly reducing
• Saigon received aid from the U.S.
Nearing the End
• Chaos broke out in Saigon
• Communists troops began attacking
the city
Evacuation
• U.S. helicopters started evacuating U.S.
and South Vietnamese officials, and
civilians from Saigon on April 29, 1975
Fall of Saigon
• President Ford gave a speech on April 23,
declaring the end to the Vietnam War and the
end of U.S. aid
• On April 30, VPA troops overcame captured
key buildings and installations in Saigon
• A tank crashed through the gates of the
Presidential Palace and the NLF flag was
raised above it
• President Duong Van Minh surrendered
Communist Victory
• The Communists had reached their
goal by taken the Saigon regime
• But by the end, one Vietnamese in
every ten had been a casualty of war
Effect on America
• Many were doubting and questioning
those in authority such as generals,
military, and the Pentagon
• It left America in a large federal budget
deficit
• Casualties were severe
Chemical Defoliation
• The U.S. military used chemical
defoliations between 1961- 1971
• They were used to defoliate the
countryside
• These chemicals were used to change
the landscape, and to poison the food
chain
Rainbow Herbicides
• They used the chemicals because enemies
were hiding under plants and triple-canopy
jungle
• It was also used to drive civilians into
controlled RVN controlled areas
• They used “Rainbow Herbicides” like Agent
Pink, Agent Purple, Agent Green, Agent
Orange, etc.
• About 12 million gallons of Agent Orange
was sprayed over Southeast Asia
Distribution of Chemicals
• The Kennedy Administration authorized
the use of chemicals to destroy rice
crops
• The Air Force sprayed 20 million
herbicides over 6 million acres of crops
and trees
Future Effects
• Most U.S. Veterans had prostate
cancer, respiratory cancers, multiple
myeloma, Type ll Diabetes, B-cell
lymphomas, soft tissue sarcoma,
chloracne, porphyria cutanea tarda,
peripheral neuropathy, and spina bifida
along with the children of veterans
exposed to Agent Orange
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mN7Xs9WV
NBU&feature=related
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OU0qdbcHm
pw
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhcflDSUMvc