Download The Vietnam War

Vietnam War
French Vietnam
• Vietnam colonized by French in
1700’s…French Indochina
• Imposed harsh taxes & limited
political freedoms
– No taxation without representation!
• Wanted to fight for
independence
France
from
their
Ho Chi Minh
• Vietnamese nationalist/patriot &
leader
• wanted a communist revolution to
combat French colonial
imperialism
• he organized the Vietminh – the
League for the Independence of
Vietnam
• during WWII, the Japanese
fought the French out of
Indochina Japanese lose WWII
 Vietnam becomes independent
in 1945 (but French insist its still
theirs)
Causes of Vietnam War
• fear of communism & the Cold War
• domino theory
– if Vietnam fell to communism, who would be
next
• containment
– contain communism to this single country
• internationalism
– communism would broaden to neighboring
countries because they share common cultures
Geneva Accords
• Geneva Accords – agreement to
temporarily divide Vietnam in 2
parts (North & South)
• North = communist; South =
western culture (but not
democratic)
• Does this work???
• President Eisenhower supported S.
Vietnam (even though very unjust
leader)
Vietcong
• communist guerilla forces
• supported the National
Liberation Front in South
Vietnam
• NLF – organization dedicated to
end S. Vietnam’s leader (Diem)
rule
• Inevitably… CIVIL WAR!
• President Kennedy sent more
troops over to Vietnam to fight
communism & Vietcong
• Diem killed by military takeover
 S. Vietnam got worse
The Gulf of Tonkin
Resolution
• U.S. ships reported a torpedo attack from a
N. Vietnam naval ship in the Gulf of Tonkin
(on N. Vietnam coast)
• President Johnson declared this attack an
act of war & increased U.S. involvement in
Vietnam
• the resolution gave President Johnson the
authority to take all necessary measures to
repel any armed attack against U.S. forces
U.S. Military
• Operation Rolling Thunder –air strikes to
destroy war industries in N. Vietnam
– the Ho Chi Minh Trail (a network of paths that
supplied the Vietcong with weapons)
– goal: crush N. Vietnam’s ability to supply
Vietcong  war would end
– dropped napalm & chemical poisons to burn the
trail, which went through the jungle forest
• tactic: More bombs, more napalm, more air
raids
• Search & Destroy Missions
– find enemy camps & demolish
them
Vietnamese Military
• tactic: guerilla warfare &
knowledge of geography
• moving secretly, they set traps &
land mines to kill & injure
Americans
• surprise attacks
• How do Americans find
the “enemy?”
American War Effort
• TV & media shaped
public opinion
– saw images of the war &
casualties
– changed people’s minds
from pro war to antiwar
– Martin Luther King Jr.
= antiwar (focus on
home problems)
• College kids voice their
opinion & protest the
draft
Tet Offensive
• Tet – Vietnamese New Year; N.
Vietnamese & Vietcong attacked
American forces
• this surprise attack shocked Americans
& weakened public confidence in the
government’s conduct of the war;
however, more troops were sent
• … we were losing the war
• this event resulted in the
increase of American opposition
to the war
Vietnamization
• President Nixon’s plan to gradually
turn over all of the fighting to the
South Vietnamese Army & pull out
• U.S. would continue to provide
supplies & training to S. Vietnam
• Nixon threatened nuclear war, but
it did nothing
• N. Vietnamese determined to unite
all of Vietnam
Consequences of War
• 1 million N. Vietnamese soldiers dead
• 185,000 S Vietnamese soldiers dead
• 500,000 Vietnamese civilians dead
• Laos & Cambodia became communist
countries (neighbors to Vietnam)
• 60,000 American soldiers dead
• Led to American’s eyes being opened
to govt. deception
– War Powers Act
Legislation passed because of
Vietnam
• 26th amendment
• War Powers Act of 1973
26th Amendment
• lowered the federal voting age from
21 to 18
• if you’re old enough to fight, you’re
old enough to vote
War Powers Act of 1973
• required U.S. President to get
congressional approval before
committing U.S. troops to an armed
struggle (i.e. Iraq); limits
President’s power
• this gave Congress increased
responsibility for setting U.S. war
policy