Trouble in Southeast Asia

Definitions

• Containment - the policy of limiting communism to those countries where it already existed.

• Domino Theory - the belief that if one nation comes under communist control, its neighboring nations will also come under communist control.

Vietnam

• Had been dominated by China for many centuries prior to the 1800s.

• In the late 1800s it became known as French Indochina as a result of European Imperialism.

• After WWII, the French returned to find much of the northern area under the control of the Vietminh, a communist government set up by Ho Chi Minh.

The French in Vietnam

• The French were unwilling to part with Indochina, and sent troops to fight the Vietminh.

• The Vietminh was aided by Vietnamese peasants and communist China.

• The French were aided by the US.• 1954, a decisive defeat at Dien Bien Phu led

the French to give up Indochina.

The Geneva Accords

• Temporarily divided Vietnam at the 17th parallel of latitude.

• Elections to unite the country were to be held in 1956.

• Until the elections, Ho Chi Minh’s communist government was to control the north.

• A non-communist government was to control the south.

Trouble with the Geneva Accords

• The South did not want to accept a divided Vietnam.

• The South refused to sign the Geneva Accords, because:– The north had the greater share of

Vietnam’s industry minerals, and farmland.– The South also feared that the communists

would win the 1956 elections.

Conflict Between North & South

• Ho Chi Minh wanted to bring all of Vietnam under communist control.

• The North crossed the 17th parallel to recruit & train South Vietnamese sympathizers to the North’s cause.– These southerners became known as the Vietcong.– In 1957, the Vietcong soldiers attacked villages in

the South, and the Vietnam War began.– By 1960, the Vietcong were strong enough to attack

South Vietnamese Army units.

Politics in the South

• South Vietnamese President, Ngo Dinh Diem tried to restore order.

• Ngo Dinh Diem treated the Buddhist community very harshly.

• There were charges of corruption against him.

• On November 1,1963, he was overthrown and murdered.

US Involvement Begins

• US President, John F. Kennedy had sent thousands of American military advisers to South Vietnam.

• Kennedy had seen Ngo Dinh Diem as an impediment to winning the Vietnam War.

• In 1963, Kennedy authorized the coup to remove Ngo Dinh Diem from power.

Making Connections

• Why would the United States care, or feel like they had a stake in what was happening in Vietnam?

US Involvement Escalates

• August 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson announced that North Vietnam had attacked 2 American ships in the Gulf of Tonkin.

• The US Congress passed the “Gulf of Tonkin Resolution”, authorizing the President to send US forces to Vietnam.

• From 1965-1967, LBJ sent hundreds of thousands of soldiers to Vietnam.

• The US began bombing raids against North Vietnamese bases.

Trouble With the Vietcong

• The Vietcong fought a guerrilla type of war, by striking at villages and then fading into the jungle.

• Rarely fought large scale open battles.• Many South Vietnamese civilians were tired

of the corruption within their government, and began to aid the Vietcong.

• North Vietnamese supplies flowed down the “Ho Chi Minh Trail” to Vietcong hideouts in the south.

Think

• What were some of the reasons the Vietcong were such a difficult opponent?

The Tet Offensive

• The Tet holiday occurred during January 1968.• North Vietnamese & the Vietcong forces made

a massive attack on the south.– This ended in heavy losses for the communists.– But the ability of the communists to launch such a

powerful strike, led many people in the US to question the south’s chances of winning the war.

• CBS’s Walter Cronkite gave an editorial that the Vietnam War was not winnable after the Tet offensive.

The US Loses the War at Home

• President Johnson decided NOT to run for reelection. “If I’ve lost Cronkite, I’ve lost Middle America.”– “Hey, hey LBJ. How many kids have you killed

today?”- Vietnam War protester chant

• 1968 Democratic National Convention erupted in violence by student protesters.

• Calls for the US to withdraw troops from Vietnam.• Richard M. Nixon won the 1968 Presidential

election on a platform to get out of Vietnam.

Making Connections

• Explain what is meant by the theory that the Vietnam War was lost at home.

• How does this theory apply to the war in Iraq today?

• What effect can the press have on public opinion during times of war?

Ending the Vietnam War

• The Paris Peace Talks began in 1968.• 1969- Nixon began to call troops home, but

bombing raids & ground fighting continued until 1973.

• 1969- US began to drop bombs on Cambodia to attack the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

• 1973- US, North Vietnam, & South Vietnam sign the Paris Peace Accords, and the Vietnam War officially ended.

Domino Theory is Proved True

• The truce quickly broke down, and without US help South Vietnam fell to North Vietnamese communist in April 1975.

• Cambodia falls to a communist government (Khmer Rouge) in 1975.

• Laos became a communist government in 1975.

Cambodia

• With Vietnamese help, the communist took Cambodia. Pol Pot became the leader of communist Cambodia.

• Under the brutal Pol Pot regime:– Cities were emptied & dwellers were sent under

armed guard to work in fields (the “Killing Fields”)– Mass executions became common.– As many as 1 million people were executed (1/6 of

the population).– A million or more died of disease & starvation as a

result of government actions.

Laos

• Pathet Lao, the communist government sought help from Vietnam to defeat anti-communist forces.

• Thousands of Vietnamese troops went into Laos.

• By 1985, more than 250,000 people fled Laos seeking to escape poor economic conditions, and lack of individual freedom.

Thailand

• Formerly Siam, was never colonized by Europeans, but occupied by Japan during WWII.

• Gained independence from Japan after WWII.• Pro-western in its outlook, it sent troops to to fight in the

Korean & Vietnam Wars.• Thai government tried to stay on good terms with its

neighbors, by trying to combine economic cooperation & political neutrality.

• Its biggest problem stemmed from refugees coming from Cambodia, Laos, & Vietnam.

• Thai government channeled aid to anti-Vietnamese rebels in Cambodia.

Victims of War in Southeast Asia

• Hundreds of thousands of refugees fled Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam in the 1970s & 1980s.– Were fleeing oppression, poverty, and communist

rule.– As many as 200,000 sought shelter in Thailand.– Boat-people- those who got in boats, went to sea,

and waited to be rescued. Many died at sea, but the largest number of survivors were given refuge in the US. (1.5 million)