Origins of the Vietnam War
An NDM Production
Origins of the Vietnam War
• Indo-China was originally a
French colony
• It consisted of what are now
three separate countries:
Cambodia, Vietnam and
Laos.
• In 1940 French Indo-China
was occupied by the
Japanese during the
Second World War.
Ho Chi Minh
• Opposition to French and then
Japanese rule in Vietnam was
led by Ho Chi Minh.
• He was a nationalist who
opposed the Japanese control of
his country.
• He was also a Communist.
• Ho Chi Minh’s guerrilla force
played a useful role in tying
down and helping to defeat
Japanese forces during the war
The French War in Vietnam, 1946-54
• Predictably war
broke out in 1946
between the French,
who wanted
Vietnam back, and
the Vietnamese, led
by Ho Chi Minh,
who wanted to rule it
themselves as an
independent
country.
What happened at battle
of Dien Bien Phu?
• French heavily defeated
• Marked the end of the French war in
Vietnam
• French could not cope with the guerrilla
tactics of the Vietnamese army
• It is argued that the Americans failed to
learn the lessons taught here when they
fought the Vietnamese army later.
Tasks
A. Read and highlight information on pgs
1&2
B. Plan a 5 minute lesson on the
background to the Vietnam
war (pgs 1 &2)
Jaws will choose the lucky person to deliver the lesson.
You have 10 minutes!
For each section of the
picture discuss with the
person next to you what
you think is happening
What did the US do?
• The USA supported Ngo Diem - the
leader of South Vietnam. They sent
money, supplies and military equipment
• 1959 Communist government in North
Vietnam ordered the Vietminh to begin
a terror campaign against Diem’s
government.
• Diem had a poor record on human
rights but his rule was in the era of
the "Domino Theory"
• anybody who was anticommunist in
the Far East was likely to receive
American backing - regardless of
their unsavory background.
• Ngo ruled as a dictator along with
his brother - Nhu. Their government
was corrupt and brutal but
nevertheless, it was backed by
America.
Vietnam was a country 9000
miles away from the United
States. Why did US get involved
there?
• One explanation lies in the fear caused by the spread of
communism at that time. The following incidents led many
Americans to fear that the communists were taking over the
world and must be stopped.
•
•
•
•
The communist take-over of China (1949)
The Korean War (1950-53)
Communist victory over the French in Vietnam (1954)
The US government believed that by helping the South
Vietnamese government resist the attacks of the communist
North they were helping to prevent the spread of communism
around the world.
• Diem's unpopularity was so great that in November
1963, the South Vietnamese Army overthrew and
killed him.
• This alarmed the new American president Lyndon
Johnson (JFK was also assassinated in Nov. 1963),
who had asked his military chiefs to make plans
should a full-scale war break out.
• The one proviso the chiefs-of-staff had
was that America had to be seen as the
victim rather than the aggressor.
Cold War American presidents
•
•
•
•
•
•
Franklin Delano Roosevelt 1933-1945
Harry S. Truman 1945-1953
Dwight David Eisenhower 1953-1961
John Fitzgerald Kennedy 1961-1963
Lyndon Baines Johnson 1963-1969
Richard Milhous Nixon 1969-1974
Gerald Rudolph Ford 1974-1977
Jimmy Carter 1977-1981
Ronald Wilson Reagan 1981-1989
‘Domino Theory’
President Eisenhower outlines the Domino Theory:
"You have a row of dominoes set up. You knock over the first one,
and what will happen to the last one is the certainty that it will
go over very quickly."
Tasks
• 1 & 2 on page 4
Escalation
• Until 1964 US help to South Vietnam
was on a ‘no combat’ basis.
• They were there to help (fly troops in
helicopters / train south viet troops /
supply weapons etc.)
• Many American citizens were not aware
that US was ‘at war’. War was never
declared.
Johnson wanted a more
aggressive war against
the communists.He
didn’t think the South
Vietnamese
government would be
able to keep the North
Vietnamese out of the
South.
• 1964 The US military
prepared plans for
the bombing of North
Vietnam.
Escalation of War
The Gulf of Tonkin Incident – July 1964
• The Tonkin Incident occurred when two
American ships were supposedly attacked by
North Vietnamese gunboats while they were
in international waters.
Results of Tonkin incident
• In response to the incident, the American
Senate gave Johnson the power to give
armed support to assist any country
requesting help in defence of its freedom.
• In March 1965, the first American ground
troops landed in South Vietnam and by
December 1965, there were 150,000
stationed in the country.
• The bombing of North Vietnam had already
started in February 1965. This bombing was
given the name ‘Operation Rolling
Thunder’.
The Tactics of the
Viet Cong
Guerrilla Used by groups
warfare- who are
inferior in
numbers and
weapons
Copy this: Why did the Vietcong
employ Guerilla warfare?
1. They were outnumbered
2. Their weapons were much less sophisticated
3. They were good at it (practiced against
French)
4. They could not hope to win in face to face
battles with US soldiers
5. They could make the US troops think they
were totally surrounded by enemy
Create the following diagram as
you watch this presentation:
Add
information
Vietcong
tactics
Recycled dud bombs dropped by
US army
Booby Traps
Guerrilla tactics
•
•
•
•
Ambush
Tricks
Traps
Underground tunnels to live and work in
undetected
Key point
The Vietcong lived in the villages
Farmer by day guerrilla by night.
The Americans did not know friend from foe
• One Viet Cong leader said:
“ The people are the water. Our armies
are the fish”
What do you think he meant by this
statement?
Ho Chi Minh Trail
Trail used to take
supplies from the
Communist North to be
used in the South.
40,000 people worked
to keep the trail open.
Now do the same for the US
tactics
Add
information
US
tactics
The American Tactics
The Vietcong were
very effective and
so the Americans
had to reassess
how they deployed
their men and
equipment
Search and Destroy
• The US countered with ‘Search and
Destroy’ tactics.
• In areas where the VC were thought to be
operating troops went in, checked for
weapons and if found, rounded up the
villagers and burned the villages down.
• This often alienated the peasants from the
US cause.
A marine said of a search and destroy
mission –
“If the villagers were not members of
the Vietcong before we got there,
they sure as hell were by the time
we left”.
Helicopters
Use of helicopters
enabled Search and
Destroy missions
and troops to be
dropped close to
battle. Wounded
could also be
easily removed.
Agent Orange and Napalm
• The Vietcong used the jungles as cover
and so the US decided to remove that
obstacle.
• Agent Orange (a weed killer) - 96 million
liters were dropped which destroyed
vegetation and polluted rivers
• Napalm- sticks to the skin and burns
through to the bone
These had little effect on the
Guerilla tactics of the Vietcong
Carpet Bombing
The Americans
dropped more
bombs on Vietnam
than were dropped
in the whole of
Europe during the
Second World War.
Tasks
• Watch the rest of the video and add to
your diagrams with any extra information
• Using handout, add detail to your diagrams
about the different types of weapons used
in Vietnam.
• Questions 1,2 and 3 on page 359 of
handout
• Questions 1 and 2 on pg 9 of booklet