Download 20th century Second Half

The Last of the Twentieth Century
Introduction
As their Third Reich crumbled about them the last hope of the Nazis had been that the enemy coalition
would break apart, with the democracies fighting Communist Russia. This hope had been a forlorn one
while the war still raged, and the United Nations had been organized just before the end of hostilities in
Europe with the express purpose of avoiding world disaster. However, within two years the victorious
coalition had indeed fallen apart and a new war erupted–not a hot war, but a “cold” war which brought
increased tensions to the world. Only two major powers had emerged from World War II–the United
States and the Soviet Union–and as their differences became more and more open, the world became
terrified at the prospect of thermonuclear war, which, which could very well mean the end of Western
civilization. These differences became the “Cold War” –an ideological and economic struggle between
capitalism and communism–and was accompanied by a feverish arms race between the United States and
the Soviet Union as the “Iron Curtain” split Europe right down the middle.
An era of “bipolarism” ensued, revolving about the action of the United States and the Soviet Union, and
Europe became divided into two hostile armed camps–NATO and the Warsaw Pact with the nations of the
world under increasing pressure to support the American or Soviet bloc. “Hot” wars broke out, and world
tensions rose with confrontations between the two world giants in such widely as Berlin and Korea–until
thermonuclear war was averted only at the last minute during the Cuban missile crisis of 1962. With
that confrontation the leaders of both the Soviet Union and the United States fully realized the awesome
alternative to the maintenance of peaceful relation, and “Peaceful coexistence” became a highly desirable
policy of both nations.
As the Cold War all but disappeared and world tensions subsided, the nations of both eastern and western
Europe began to reassert independence. President Charles De Gaulle of France led the way in the Western
camp with the concept of a “Third Force” to counterbalance bipolarism, while President Tito of Yugoslavia
demonstrated to the eastern camp that a nation could remain Communist but independent of the Soviet
Union. Western Europe which had been badly mauled by World War II–had progressed economically until
it had achieved an unprecedented prosperity. This had made possible only by the tremendous financial
underwriting of the United States. Ironically, it was the former enemy–West Germany–which set the pace
for economic recovery, and this soon duplicated in Asia by the other chief enemy, Japan. While far below
the economic level of western Europe gained economic strength the relevancy of both NATO and the
Warsaw Pact was questioned. The members of the western alliance began to show increasing criticism of
United States policy, while the “satellite” nations of eastern Europe began to disagree openly with the
Soviet Union. The era of bipolarism had ended.
Hopefully, the prestige of the new international organization for peace–the United Nations–increased, for
nation after nation became members until by 1969 there were 126 member nations. Despite its
shortcomings, the United Nations took positive steps for peace which the old League of Nations would have
shirked–namely, armed intervention in Korea and in the Republic of the Congo. While the United States
and the Soviet Union have reacted to international events primarily on the basis of their own self–interest,
their policies have become increasingly sensitive to world opinion and to the ensuing debates within the
United Nations. Consequently, in spite of confrontations and a series of “hot” wars, the latter have
contained and World War III has not materialized.
Nevertheless, there has been, and there still is now, no peace. The basic issues of the wars in Southeast
Asia and the middle East have not been resolved, events in the Dominican Republic and in Czechoslovakia
have shown that both the United States and the Soviet Union will result to unilateral force when each considers its best interest to be at stake, and a number of members to the exclusive atomic bomb “club” has
increased. In addition to the five nuclear–armed nations of the United States, the Soviet Union, the United
Kingdom, France, and Communist China, a list of twelve more nations which have the potential to produce
an atomic bomb. A further cause for pessimism has been the transformation of the former “Sleeping
Dragon” into a very aggressive Communist China which challenges both the United States and the Soviet
Union as world powers, apparently far less concerned than either at the prospect of nuclear war.
The End of World War II
I.
Making the Peace
A. The Major Allied War Conferences
1. Casablanca Conference–January 14–24, 1943
a. Between President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill.
b. Agreements:
(1) “Unconditional surrender” as terms for the Axis enemies.
(2) The invasion of Sicily and Italy.
2. Quebec Conference–August 11–14, 1943.
a. Between Roosevelt and Churchill.
b. Agreement:
(1) Reaffirmed target date of May, 1944, for the Normandy invasion– the “second
front.”
(2) Agreed to step up operations in the Far East, especially Burma.
3. Moscow Conference–October 19–31, 1943.
a.
Between the foreign ministers of the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet
Union.
(1) United States Secretary of State Cordell Hull.
(2) British Foreign Minister Anthony Eden.
(3) Soviet Foreign Commissar V. M. Molotov.
b. Reassured the Russians who had been complaining about the delay in opening a real
“second front” against Germany.
c. Agreements:
(1) Pledged their countries to establish a new world organization for peace and
security.
(2) As host to the final diner, Stalin promised that the Soviet Union would enter the
war against Japan after the defeat of Germany.
4. Cairo Conference–November 22–26, 1943.
a. Between Roosevelt, Churchill, and Chiang Kai–shek of China.
b. Agreements:
(1) “Unconditional surrender” terms for Japan.
(2) Japan to be deprived of all her acquisitions since 1914–reduced to possession of
only her home islands.
(3) China to be returned Manchuria, Formosa, and the Pescadores.
(4) Korea to become independent.
5. Tehran Conference–November 28–December 1, 1943.
a. Between Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin.
b. Agreements:
(1) Plans for a coordinated attack on Germany in 1944–timing of the “second front”
with the Soviet offensive.
(2) Stalin affirmed his promise to enter the war against Japan after the defeat of
Germany.
6. Yalta Conference– February 4–11, 1945.
a. Between Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin.
b. Agreements:
(1) Far East
(a) Soviet Union promised to enter the war against Japan after the defeat of
Germany.
(b) Soviet Union would receive Kurile Islands and the southern half of Sakhalin
Island from Japan, control over an “independent” Outer Mongolia, and joint
Soviet–Chinese operation of Manchurian railroads with privileges there.
(c) Soviet Union recognized the Chinese sovereignty over Manchuria.
(d) Korea to be ruled by an international trusteeship of four nations.
(2) Germany
(a) Accepted in principle a divided Germany, with separate American, British,
and Russian zones of occupation.
(b) Soviet Union accepted France as a member of the Allied Control Council and
a French Zone of Occupation (from the American zone).
(c) Agreed to future discussions of German reparations to the Soviet Union.
(3) Poland
(a) Accepted the “Curzon Line” as Poland’s new eastern boundary–which
approximately the line which the Soviet Union had established in 1939.
(b) As compensation, Poland was to receive part of eastern Germany.
(c) Accepted the Russian–sponsored “Lublin Government” as the government of
Poland–but with the understanding that it would be reorganized on a
democratic basis with free election.
(4) Liberate Europe: agreed to support postwar governments which represented the
popular will through free elections.
(5) United Nations: Stalin accepted the United States proposals on organization and
voting.
c. Criticism of Yalta agreements arose with political charges in the United States that it
represented a “sellout” of China and a “stab in the back” for Poland
d. However, in defense of the Yalta agreements:
(1) Concessions in the Far East considered a necessary price at the time to obtain
Russia’s full aid in the expected costly invasion and conquest of the Japanese
home islands.
(a) Allies estimate of casualties for invasion: 1 million.
(b) Atomic bomb had not yet been tested (first near Los Alamos on July 16, 1945).
(2) In Poland, as well as throughout eastern and southern Europe–except Greece–the
Russian armies were there, already occupying those areas and determined to
remain.
(3) Later it developed that what constituted “free elections” had different meanings for
the Russians and democracies.
7. Potsdam Conference–July 17–August 2, 1945.
a. Between President Harry S. Truman (succeeding President Roosevelt, who had
suddenly died April 12), Prime Minister Clement Attlee (who replaced Churchill as a
result of British elections), and Stalin.
b. Agreements:
(1) Japan
(a) An ultimatum of surrender sent to Japan on July 26, 1945.
(b) Agreed on the disarming of Japan and that she should be allowed access to raw
materials.
(2) Germany
(a) Germany to be disarmed, demilitarized, and de–Nazified.
(b) Nazi leaders would be tried as war criminals’
(c) German resources to be used to repair damages inflicted on her neighbors.
II. The Rise of Communist China
A. Background
1. Government of the Chinese Republic powerless as China experienced local civil wars
between the warlords (military chieftains with private armies in the provinces) –1920–
1926.
a. Dr. Sun Yat–sen’s Kuomintang Party (Nationalist Party) reorganized to include
Communists (1923) as Sun Yat–sen became increasingly Soviet–oriented.
(1) Based primarily on Sun Yat–sen’s “Three Principles of the People”:
(a) Nationalism: strong political unity.
(b) Democracy: eventual constitutional and democratic government after a
necessary period of guidance by the one–party rule of the Kuomintang.
(c) Livelihood: economic improvement of living conditions for the people,
primarily through land reform.
(2) Death of Dr. Sun Yat–sen (1925) –“The Father of the Chinese Republic,”
honored as a revolutionary hero by both the Communists and the Nationalists,
even after their split.
2. The rise of Chiang Kai–shek.
a. Military chief of staff for the government under Sun Yat–sen and director of the outstanding military academy.
b. Waged a successful military “Northern Expedition” against the warlords in 1926.
c. Definitely anti–communist though originally on close terms with the Soviet Union,
Chiang broke with the leftist in the Kuomintang in 1927 and launched a bloody purge
of the Communist–who under Mao Zedong had begun land reform by seizing land for
peasants in the provinces.
(1) Sun Yat–sen’s widow forced to flee to the Soviet Union.
(2) Successfully concluded purge in December at Canton where 6,000 Communists
were slaughtered, with the survivors fleeing to the mountains of South China.
(3) Chiang Kai–shek became the undisputed head of the Kuomintang.
d. Campaign against the warlords successfully concluded by June 1928, with China now
officially united under Chiang.
(1) Chiang’s rule was a dictatorship, not a democracy.
(2) Bulk of the peasants remained susceptible to appeal of Mao Zedong because of his
policy of land reform, which Chiang refused to inaugurate.
(3) By 1932 Mao Zedong had become the undisputed leader of the Communist Party.
3. The Communists “Long March” (October, 1934–October, 1935).
a. Chiang unleashed five campaigns to eliminate the Communists and the last one
successfully surrounded the Communists.
b. Some 90,000 Communist troops broke out of a ring of 1 million Nationalist troops and
began the incredible 6,000 mile “Long March” to China’s northwest, fighting almost
daily.
c. Only 7,000 survived to establish a base in the mountains at Yenan in Shensi province.
(1) Policy of redistribution of the land to the peasants continued to win over the
peasants support and increase Communists strength.
(2) Mao Zedong never lost confidence in ultimate victory.
(3) Soviet Union did not aid Mao, thinking that communism could not triumph in
China at this time.
4. Ending the hostility between the Communists and the Nationalists.
a. Japanese seizure of Manchuria (1931–1932) and occupation of Shanghai had stirred
up anti–Japanese feeling, especially among the Communists.
(1) Chiang not disposed to fight the Japan at this time.
(2) Kidnapping of Chiang Kai–shek by a warlord in an attempt to force him to fight the
Japanese (December, 1936).
(a) Demonstration of unity in country behind Chiang.
(b) Communists, seeking a coalition against the Japanese, supporting Chiang’s
release.
b. Agreement between the Nationalists and the Communists ended their hostilities in July,
1937.
c. Undeclared “Second Sino–Japanese War” began with Japanese campaign against
northern China–July, 1937.
(1) Military successful, with Japanese capture of Beijing, Tientsin, Shanghai, and
Nanking before the end of the year, with terrible atrocities against Chinese civilians.
(2) Chinese capital and Chiang’s army withdrawn to Chungking.
5. Throughout World War II, China divided into three sections.
a. East: controlled by the Japanese, with a puppet government at Nanking.
b. Northwest: controlled by the Communists, with their capital at Nanking.
c. West and southwest: controlled by Chiang’s Nationalist government, with its capital
at Chungking.
B. Civil War Between the Nationalists and Communists (1945–1949)
1. Nationalist government of Chiang Kai–shek emerged from World War II as the official
government of China, recognized by both the United States and the Soviet Union and
supported economically by the United States.
2. However, Chiang’s government had become increasingly corrupt, unconcerned over the
needs of the peasants, and oriented toward business and conservative landlord classes,
which had largely disappeared during the Japanese occupation.
3. Inevitable clash between Chiang and the Communists erupted in October, 1945, followed
by a temporary truce, and then full–fledged civil war in April, 1946.
a. United States sent General George C. Marshall to attempt to mediate a coalition
government but negotiations failed.
b. United States followed with a treaty of friendship and commerce with the Nationalist
government in November, 1946.
c. United States aid to Chiang’s Nationalist government between V–J day (August,
1945) and early 1948: almost 2 1/2 billion.
d. Stalin did not back the Chinese Communists with Soviet aid, thinking that Chiang
would win.
4. Despite their original superiority in war material (from the United States) and in manpower (3 to 1), Chiang’s armies, their morale shattered by the graft and corruption in
Chiang’s government, began to defect in large numbers, losing battle after battle in 1948.
5. By December 8, 1948, Chiang Kai–shek and his surviving troops had fled to the island of
Formosa (Taiwan), from where he carried on the “Republic of China,” backed by the
United States.
C. The Communist Regime
1. Proclamation of the Communist “People’s Republic of China,” under Mao Zedong, with
Chou En–li as premier and foreign minister–October 1, 1949.
a. Recognized immediately by the Soviet Union, and by early 1950 25 nations, including
Great Britain.
b. Has not been recognized by the United States until the 1970s.
2. The transformation of China under the Communists:
a. Agriculture.
(1) Began an agrarian reform program with private ownership of land, but then
changed to large collective and state farms of the Soviet type.
(2) After 1958, agriculture reorganized on the basis of “people’s communes” (20,000
members in each, living and farming collectively), a stage even more advanced in
Communist theory than that in the U.S.S.R. and Mao’s “Great Leap Forward,”
which ended in failure.
b. Industry.
(1) “Five Year Plans” began to industrialize, mechanize, and electrify China.
(2) Followed the Marist–Leninist–Stalinist concept of making industry more important
than agriculture–with resulting failures in food production.
(3) While still far behind West Germany, Great Britain, and Japan in industrial
production, tremendous progress was made.
c. Political.
(1) Complete centralization of power, with the Chinese Communist Party at the top,
under its absoluter leader, Mao Zedong.
(2) Emphasis on Communist indoctrination of the masses, with the uprooting of the
traditional family system of the old Confucian culture for the individual.
3. Foreign Policy.
a. Characterized by an extremely aggressive anti–Western attitude.
b. Thirty–Year Treaty of Friendship, Alliance, and Mutual Assistance with the U.S.S.R.
(February, 1950), with full support of Russian policies.
c. Unofficially entered the Korean War in November, 1950, with some 300,000 Red
Chinese Army “volunteers” –after warning that an American move to the Yalu River
boundary between Korea and Manchuria would bring Chinese action.
(1) Communist China branded as an aggressor by the United Nations, but gained much
prestige in the eyes of Asians.
(2) Communist China immediately entered the war unofficially on November 26, 1950,
more later.
d. Conquered Tiber in 1959.
e. Seized sections of land across the Indian border in 1962 but later withdrew her forces
from moat of the area.
f. Prevented from invading the Pescadores Islands and Taiwan by the United States Seventh
Fleet and the Mutual Defense Treaty of 1954 between the United States and the Republic
of China.
g. Effectively blocked from becoming a member of the United Nations by the United
States–which continued to support the Taiwan government of Chiang Kai–shek.
h. Break with the U.S.S.R. (1961).
(1) Disputed Russian leadership of the Communist world, with acute disagreement over
the correct interpretation of Marx and Lenin after the death of Stalin.
(2) Violently objected to Khruschev’s policy of peaceful coexistence–viewed as a
“compromise” with the “imperialistic” Western powers.
(3) Break became increasingly hostile, with the withdrawal of all Russian technicians
from China, and mutual denouncements.
4. Communist China denoted her first atomic bomb in October, 1964–a bomb far more
advanced than that of Hiroshima.
III. The United Nations
A. Origins.
1. President Franklin D. Roosevelt of the United States took the initiative in transforming the
wartime coalition of the “United Nations” (the “Declaration by the United Nations” of
January, 1942, in which twenty–six nations had subscribed to the principles of the
“Atlantic Charter”) into a new international organization to maintain world peace.
a. British and Soviet agreement obtained at the Moscow Conference of October, 1943.
b. Meeting at Dumbarton Oakes in Washington, D.C., in 1944 resulted in the proposal
of a charter by representatives from the United States, the United Kingdom, the Soviet
Union, and China.
(1.) Adopted the name “United Nations”.
(2.) Later approved by France.
c. At the Yalta Conference of February, 1945, between Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin,
the Dumbarton Oaks program and the proposals by the United States on voting
procedure were accepted.
2. San Francisco Conference (April 25–June 26, 1945).
a. Planned by President Roosevelt with bipartisan political support in the United States
before his death.
b. Attended by delegates from fifty nations–with the scheduled fifty–first nation, Poland,
unable to attend as it had no single officially recognized government at the time.
c. Adopted the official charter (constitution) of the United Nations.
d. Accepted the predominant position of the “Big Five”: United States, U.S.S.R., United
Kingdom, France, and China.
3. United Nations organization became official with the ratification of its charter by twenty–
nine nations on October 24, 1945–“United Nations Day” –and the old League of Nations
formally dissolved itself in April, 1946, turning over its property to the United Nations.
4. First meeting held in January, 1946.
5. New York selected as the U.N. headquarters, with a Manhattan site purchased by an $8
1/2 million gift from John D. Rockefeller, Jr., and construction of its buildings begun with
an interest–free loan of $65 million from the United States.
6. The United Nations was not a “world government” but an association of fully sovereign
states.
B. Stucture.
1. The General Assembly: a forum for free discussion and debate by all U.N. members, with
each member nation having one vote.
a. Meets in regular session each September, and in special session when called by the
secretary–general.
b. A two–thirds majority vote required on all important matters (such as the admission of
new members).
c. Prohibited originally from advising on any matters under consideration by the Security
Council, except at the latter’s request–but empowered in 1950 to consider any aggression or threat to the peace when the Security Council was deadlocked.
d. Generally dominated by a pro–United States Western bloc, which included Latin
America and Nationalist China in its support until the early 1960s–when a bloc of new
Afro–Asian nations, representing a clear majority, changed the balance of power.
2. The Security Council: has the power and the responsibility for maintaining international
peace and security.
a. Composed of fifteen members–of which five are permanent, with the remaining ten
elected for two–year terms by the General Assembly.
b. Except for procedural questions, which require the affirmative vote of nine members,
all decisions must be approved by nine members which include all five permanent
members–thus giving each of the latter a veto.
c. The five permanent members: United States, U.S.S.R., United Kingdom, France, and
China.
3. The Secretariat: the administrative organ of the United Nations.
a. Headed by the secretary–general, who is appointed by the General Assembly upon
recommendation by the Security Council and who is responsible for investigating any
threats to international peace and security.
b. Secretaries–Generals, the first three:
(1) Trygve Lie (1946–1953)–the first secretary–general, a Norwegian who
strengthened the powers of the office but who resigned in frustration in 1952
(effective 1953) after being in the middle of the Cold War.
(2) Dag Hammarskjold (1953–1961)–a Swedish diplomat who greatly increased the
prestige of the United Nations during international crisis, but was killed in a plane
crash while on a U.N. mission in the Congo in September, 1961.
(3) U Thant (1961–1971)–a citizen of neutral Burma (acceptable to both the U.S. and
the U.S.S.R.) who reluctantly accepted the unanimous reappointment for a second
five–year term, beginning January, 1967.
4. Other major organs of the United Nations.
a. The Economic and Social Council: composed of twenty–seven members, elected
for three–year terms by the General Assembly, for the purpose of improving world
economic, social, educational, cultural, and health conditions.
b. The International Court of Justice: the principal judicial organ of the United
Nations, located at The Hague, in the Netherlands.
(1) Decides cases voluntarily brought before it, with special jurisdiction over
treaties in certain cases, and given legal opinions.
(2) Actually very weak because the United States and the Soviet Union reserved
the right not to accept jurisdiction.
c. The Trusteeship Council: responsible for the interests of colonial peoples in the
trust territories.
(1) Charged with supervising the nonstrategic former colonies of the countries
defeated in World War I and World War II.
(2) However, strategic areas fall under the authority of the Security Council–at
the insistence of the United States, which wished to control the former
Japanese–administered islands of the Carolines, the Marshalls, and the
Marians, for strategic reasons.
5. Notable specialized agencies of the United Nations.
a. UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization): to
promote international collaboration in education, science, and culture and thereby
further human rights and freedoms.
b. WHO (World Health Organization): to combat epidemics and disease and to help
attain the highest possible level of health for all peoples.
c. FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization): to raise nutritional levels in the world.
d. ILO (International Labor Organization): to promote social justice and improve labor
conditions.
e. IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency): to promote the peaceful uses of atomic
energy.
f.
World Bank (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development): to provide
funds for reconstruction and development in member states.
g. FUND (International Monetary Fund): to help regulate and stabilize international
currencies.
h. The former UNRRA (United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration), in
effect from 1943 to 1947, when it turned over its functions to other U.N. agencies,
spent over $4 billion to relieve suffering in the areas formerly occupied by the Axis
powers.
C. A balance sheet of the United Nations intervention for peace.
1. Successes.
a. Exerted pressure on the Soviet Union to withdraw its wartime forces from Iran in
1946.
b. Recommended the patrician of Palestine in 1947.
c. Arranged the Arab–Israeli truce (1948) –in which the U.N. mediator Count Folke
Bernadotte, was assassinated by Jewish terrorist–and the armistice (1949).
d. Intervened in the Indonesian struggle for independence by applying pressure on the
Dutch to end their military resistance in 1949.
e. Arranged a truce in the fighting between India and Pakistan over Kashmir in 1948 and
a cease–fire in the renewed hostilities in 1966 after Russian negotiations.
f.
The Security Council in 1950–in the absence of the Soviet Union, whose delegation
had walked out in protest over a decision not to admit Communist China in place of
Nationalist China–voted to send military assistance and to enter into the Korean War.
g. Effected a cease–fire after the Anglo–French–Israeli invasion of Egypt in 1956–with
considerable pressure from both the United States and the Soviet Union–and replaced
the occupying powers with an U.N. Emergency Force, clearing the Suez Canal, and
patrolling the Israeli–Egyptian border.
h. Intervened militarily in the civil wars of the Republic of the Congo (1961–1963) –
supported strongly by the United States, but opposed by the Soviet Union and France.
i.
Sent a peace–keeping force to Cyprus in 1964, and was instrumental in the peace
efforts which avoided war between Greece and Turkey in 1967.
2. Failures.
a. The successful efforts in the Arab–Israeli conflicts, the disputes over Kashmir, the
Korean conflict, and Cyprus disputes were only temporary measures, as the basic
differences and the tensions remain unresolved.
(1) There is some doubt as to the wisdom of its action in the Republic of the Congo.
(2) By immediately withdrawing its U.N. forces in acquiescence to Egyptian
President Nasser’s demand, the third war between Egypt and Israel was
precipitated.
b. Made no direct effort to stop the civil war in Nigeria.
c. Is ineffective and powerless to act in any major conflict which affects the vested
interest of the two major powers, the U.S. and U.S.S.R.
d. Excluded from U.N. membership were Communist China (the most populous country
in the world), both Germanies, both Koreas, and both Vietnams, at the time.
e. Result has been an increasing disenchantment with the United Nations on the part of
the United States, Western Europe, the Soviet Union, and Eastern Europe–with
increasing financial difficulties for the United Nations.
IV. The Cold War
A. Basic Causes.
1. Soviet continuation of the historical Russian aim of territorial expansion and influence,
coupled with the determination to permanently protect Russia’s borders against a
recurrence of German aggression.
2. Alarm in the West that Russian expansion would mean a Communist Europe, with
increasing Russian domination throughout the world.
B. Beginning of the open break between the United States–led West and the Soviet Union.
1. Speech at Fulton, Missouri, on March 4, 1946, by Winston Churchill–with President
Truman in the audience–ushered in the phrase, “Iron Curtain” to describe the Soviet
satellization of Eastern Europe.
2. Cold War officially began with the adoption by the United States of a policy of the
containment of Communism, and inaugurated the “Truman Doctrine”.
a. The Truman Doctrine (March, 1947): “to support the peoples who are resisting
attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.”
(1) Prompted by the civil war in Greece, with the United States assuming the British
role of preventing a Communist victory.
(2) Military missions and aid sent to Greece and Turkey to bolster their defenses.
b. The :Marshal Plan” (June, 1947): the European Recovery Program.
(1) Enunciated by the United States Secretary of State George C. Marshall.
(2) Approved by the United States Congress in 1948, it consisted of over $12 1/2
billion in economic aid to Western Europe by the end of 1951.
(3) Economic aid offered to all Europe–but Russians vetoed this for Eastern Europe
and set up their own “Council of Mutual Economic Assistance” for their bloc in
early 1949.
C. Soviet reaction
1. The Prague “coup d’etat” of February 1948, by which the Communists seized power in
Czechoslovakia and that country became a Soviet satellite.
2. The Berlin Blockade (June 24, 1948–May 12, 1949).
a. In the division of defeated Germany into four zones of occupation at the end of World
War II, the city of Berlin came under the control of the four–power Allied Control
Council–but was situated geographically 10 miles within the Soviet zone.
b. After the British, French, and the United States zones were merged and steps began the
formation of a separate West German state, the Russians sought to drive out the
Western powers from West Berlin by imposing a complete blockade of all land and
water routes.
c. The Western powers did not risk a direct military confrontation but adopted a
tremendous airlift–“Operation Vittles” –of 321 days, during which all necessary food
and fuel to sustain the population of over 2 million Germans were flown in, primarily
by the U.S. Air Force, thus breaking the blockade.
D. Division of Europe into two hostile military alliances.
1. NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)–1949.
a. The North Atlantic Pact–a formal military alliance–was signed in April, 1949, by
twelve nations: United States, United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Netherlands,
Luxemburg, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Italy, and Portugal.
b. Followed by the formation in September, 1949, of NATO, which provided the troops
and plans necessary for joint military defense, with headquarters of SHAPE (Supreme
Allied Command Europe) located in Paris.
(1) NATO became the cornerstone of United States policy in Europe.
(2) Two additional countries–Greece and Turkey–joined in 1952.
(3) Spain as a member was vetoed by the European nations because of its previous
close affiliation with Nazi Germany, but the United States made a separate treaty
with Spain in 1953 for the se of Spanish sites for United States air and naval bases
in return for United States military and economic aid.
(4) West Germany became the fifteenth member nation in 1955.
(5) France pulled out of the military system in 1966, forcing SHAPE to move to
Belgium in 1967.
(6) Iceland has no military force, but provides a NATO base.
E. The Warsaw Pact–1955.
1. Provided for a unified command of the armies of the “satellite” nations with Soviet military
units, under Russian commander.
2. Originally consisted of eight member nations: the Soviet Union, Poland, East Germany,
Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and Albania–but after the break between
Albania and the Soviet Union in December, 1961, Albania was excluded from its meetings and formally withdrew from the Warsaw Pact in 1968 after Soviet–led invasion of
Czechoslovakia.
F. Thirty–year Treaty of Friendship, Alliance, and Mutual Assistance between the U.S.S.R. and
Communist China.
G. United States ring of air bases, staffed by the nuclear–armed Strategic Air Command (SAC),
established around the Soviet Union and Communist China.
1. By 1955 there were bases in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and the Far East, as well as,
in the Americas.
2. Represented the United States’ power of “massive retaliation.”
H. United States military alliances in the Middle East.
1. CENTRO (Central Treaty Organization) –1959.
a. Based on the Bagdad Pact of 1955–which required revision after Iraq’s withdrawal in
1959.
b. Members: United Kingdom, Turkey, Iran, and Pakistan.
c. Sponsored by the United States.
2. The United States signed separate defense agreements with Turkey, Iran, and Pakistan.
I.
United States military alliances in the Far East.
1. ANZUS Treaty (1951): Australia, New Zealand, and the United States.
2. The Philippine Treaty (1951): between the United States and the Philippine Republic.
3. Japanese treaties.
a. The United States–Japanese security treaty of 1951 (effective 1952) allowed the
United States to maintain bases and military forces in and around Japan.
b. Mutual Defense Assistance Agreement of 1954 provided for United States aid in the
development of Japan’s self–defense forces.
c. The United States–Japanese security treaty of 1960 made the two nations full military
allies.
4. The Korean Treaty (1953): between the United States and the Republic of South Korea.
5. SEATO (Southeast Asia Treaty Organization) –1954.
a. Members: United States, United Kingdom, France, Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan,
Philippine Republic, and Thailand.
b.
In the 1960s, however, France clearly showed its intention to remain free of
involvement in Asia, while Pakistan became increasingly oriented toward the Soviet
Union and ineffective military after its war with India.
6. The Taiwan Treaty (1954): mutual defense treaty, pledging United States action if
Communist China attacked Taiwan or the Pescadores Islands of Nationalist China.
J. United Staes defensive military alliances with Latin America.
1. The Rio Treaty (Inter–American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance) –1947: signed at Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil between the United States and the twenty Latin American republics.
2. OAS (Organization of American States) –1948: inaugurated at Bogota, Colombia.
a. A regional inter–American system committing all the Latin American republics and
the United States to mutual defense against an act of aggression against any one
member.
b. The cornerstone of inter–American cooperation in time of crisis.
c. Cuba excluded from its activities in 1962, and the new Caribbean nation of Trinidad
and Tobago admitted as a member in the same year.
K. United States–Canadian mutual defense agreements completed and renewed between 1947
and 1967.
V. The Korean War (1950–1953)
A. Background
1. The Potsdam Conference of 1945 divided Korea into two zones of occupation.
a. Russian zone–north of the 38th parallel.
b. American zone–south of the 38th parallel.
2. Disagreement between the Soviet Union and the United States resulted in the
establishment of two Koreas, divided by the 38th parallel, by 1948.
a. North Korea–under Premier Kim Il–sung, Communist, and backed by the Soviet
Union, with Soviet troops withdrawn in 1948.
b.
South Korea–under its 73–year–old president Syngman Rhee, pro–Western and
backed by the United States, with American troops withdrawn in 1949.
3. Increasing tension between the two Koreas in 1950, with both sides threatening to unify
the entire country by force.
B. Surprise invasion of South Korea by 60,000 North Korean troops–June, 1950.
1. At the request of the United States, the Security Council of the United Nations in
emergency session of June 25 called for the immediate ending of hostilities and
withdrawal of North Korean forces to the 38th parallel.
a. Absent was the U.S.S.R. –whose delegates had “walked out” of the United Nations in
protest in January when the United Nations refused to seat Communist China in place
of Nationalist China.
b. North Korea–which claimed that it had been attacked by South Korean forces–
ignored the U.N. demand.
2. President Truman on June 26 ordered Gen. Douglas MacArthur in Japan to use United
States naval and air forces to support the retreating South Koreans.
a. Called a “police action” by Truman.
b. Also ordered the U.S. Seventh Fleet to prevent any attempt by Communist China to
invade Taiwan (Formosa).
3. The Security Council on June 27 asked United Nations members to assist South Korea–
the first use of force by the United Nations–and Gen. MacArthur became commander of
the proposed United Nations force.
4. United States ground forces went into action June 30.
5. While fifteen other nations sent military aid, most were only token forces, and the United
States and the South Korean army (ROK) bore the brunt of the fighting.
C. North Korea forces continued their advance, sweeping to within 50 miles of the southern tip
of Korea by the first of September.
D. American counteroffensive, spearheaded by the landing of troops far up the coast at Inchon,
recaptured the South Korean capital of Seoul, and had reached the 38th parallel by the end
of September.
E. U.N. offensive to unite Korea (approved by the General Assembly to avoid a Russian veto in
the Security Council, as the Russian delegation had returned in August) crossed the 38th
parallel–in spite of Chinese warnings–and by November 22 was approaching the Yalu River,
which divided Korea and Chinese Manchuria.
F. Communist China immediately entered the war unofficially with an overwhelming attack
by some 200,000 “volunteers” on November 26, forcing the evacuation of 105,000 U.N.
troops at Hungnam on December 24, driving the U.N. forces back into South Korea, and
capturing Seoul by early January, 1951.
G. A counteroffensive by U.N. forces recaptured Seoul in March and had pushed the Chinese
back across the 38th parallel in April.
H. A stalemate resulted by mid–1951, roughly along the 38th parallel, and after two years of
hectic negotiations an armistice was signed at Panmunjom in July, 1953, which restored the
division of Korea along the line varying only slightly north, generally, of the 38th parallel.
1. No “peace” but an armistice–effected by newly elected President Eisenhower of the
United States.
2. United States had refrained from using the atomic bomb and from bombing China.
a. General MacArthur’s continued public criticism of this policy had resulted in his
removal and replacement with Gen. Matthew Ridgeway in April, 1951, by President
Truman.
b. Soviet Union refrained from sending in Russian troops, and neither the Chinese nor
the North Koreans had bombed the United Nations base in Japan.
I.
Results.
1. Aggression had been successfully stopped and Communism contained.
2. Communist China, branded an “aggressor” by the United Nations, had gone
“unpunished” –with a tremendous increase of prestige throughout Asia for her military
ability.
3. Total war casualties for the United States: 157,530–of which 103,284 were wounded,
33,629 were battle deaths, and 20,617 were other deaths.
4. Approximately 3 million casualties among the Korean people.
5. An armed truce, with 50,000 American troops deployed.
VI. The Arab–Israeli War
A. Inaugurated by the Arabs with Palestinian War of 1948, immediately upon the proclamation
of independence of Israel.
1. Israel had accepted the United Nations’ partition of Palestine into separate Jewish and
Arab states–but the Arabs had rejected the concept of a Jewish state.
2. Israel surprising victory had left the Arab nations embittered and still unwilling to
recognize the state of Israel–resulting in almost constant military incidents along the
borders of Israel.
B. Suez Canal Crisis of 1956.
1. Under Colonel Gamal Abdil Nasser–the ruler of Egypt after the revolution of 1952 had
driven out the corrupt King Farouk–Egypt’s relations with the Western bloc worsened
and he turned toward the Soviet Union.
a. The Russians dropped their former pro–Israel policy and concluded trade
agreements in 1955 by which Egypt began to receive large amounts of Soviet
military equipment.
b. In accordance with an Anglo–Egyptian agreement of 1954, the last British troops
stationed to guard the Suez Canal (through which well over half of the oil used by
Western Europe passed) were evacuated in June, 1956.
2. Reacting to Egypt’s increasing friendship with the Soviet Union, United States Secretary
of State John Foster Dulles on July abruptly canceled the West’s offer to finance the
Aswan Dam project in Egypt.
3. On July 26 Nasser retaliated by announcing the nationalization of the Suez Canal with
its lucrative income from tolls.
4. Fruitless negotiations with Egypt followed the strong protest of Britain and France, amid
the outraged cries of the stockholders of the Suez Canal Company–while Israel
increasingly alarmed by the Soviet arming of Egypt and the absence of the protective
shield of British troops, and Nasser’s refusal to allow passage of Israeli shipping
through the Suez Canal.
5. Anglo–French–Israeli invasion of Egypt, by apparent agreement (though officially
denied), followed.
a. Israel invaded Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula on October, 29, quickly smashing through
the Egyptians and seizing much Soviet equipment.
b. Britain and France bombed Egypt on October 31 and landed troops on November 5.
c. Invasion a military success, as Egyptian resistance was generally very weak–but the
Egyptians effectively blocked the Suez Canal with sunken ships.
6. British and French forced to withdraw in the face of rare concurrence of denouncement
by the United States and the Soviet Union.
a. President Eisenhower denounced the invasion as morally wrong.
b. Soviet Union threatened invasion.
c. A complete fiasco for Britain, with Prime Minister Anthony Eden forced to resign as
the costly invasion, in terms of finances, had accomplished none of the objectives.
7. Under pressure by the United Nations, Israel withdrew, evacuating the Gaza Strip and
the Saini Peninsula.
a. Israel granted access to the Red Sea for its southern port of Elath, through the Gulf of
Aqaba.
b. A United Nations police force of 6,000 troops was stationed along the Egyptian–
Israeli border to ensure peace.
8. Result was a major diplomatic victory for Nasser, with increased prestige in the Arab
world as his nationalization of the Suez Canal became a permanent fact.
C. The Six Day war of 1967.
1. Background.
a. The Arab armies of the Egyptian–Syrian–Jordanian military alliance (formed in 1956
prior to the Suez Canal crisis) began deployment along Israel’s border.
(1) Well equipped with tanks, planes, and automatic weapons from massive Soviet
shipments, as well as much smaller shipments by the United States to Jordan.
(2) Syrian–Israeli border clashes became increasingly frequent from the winter of
1966 into the spring of 1967.
b. On May 18 Egyptian President Nasser demanded the withdrawal of the United
Nations Emergency Force which had been patrolling the Egyptian–Israeli armistice
line since the Suez Canal war–to which U.N. Secretary–General U Thant surprisingly
acceded on May 19.
c. Upon the withdrawal of the United Nations troops, the Egyptian army immediately
reoccupied the Gaza Strip (a disputed salient along western Israel) and a fortress
overlooking the Strait of Tiran at the mouth of the Gulf of Aqaba.
d. On May 22 Nasser announced that the entrance to the Strait of Tiran was closed to all
Israeli shipping.
e. Amid Arab propaganda statements that Israel would be annihilated, and with the
previously made guarantees of the United Nations now nullified–including free use
of the Gulf of Aqaba, through which 90% of Israel’s oil supplies passed–the Israelis
prepared for the inevitable conflict.
f.
Blame as to which side actually began full hostilities is disputed.
2. The “Lightening” War.
a. Vastly outnumbered in manpower and military material, the Israelis, under Defense
Minister Moshe Dayan (hero of the 1956 Suez Peninsula campaign) and the chief of
staff, Major General Rabin, attacked the armies of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria massed
against them on three fronts almost simultaneously on June 5.
b. Israel’s air force gained complete mastery of the air the first day, bombing airfields
and radar bases in Egypt, Jordan, and Syria–destroying over 400 Arab planes.
c. Israeli armor and ground forces knifed into the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula,
completely bottling up a 100,000–man Egyptian army, raced westward to reach the
banks of the Suez Canal in four days, and moved southward to the Strait of Tiran,
seizing its commanding fortress.
d. After a bitter fight with Jordan’s crack Arab Legion to the east, Israeli forces
smashed through the gates of the “Old City” of Jerusalem, taking that city as well as
Bethlehem, Jericho, and the entire the Jordanian west bank of the Jordan River.
(1) Accomplished in three days of the most bitter fighting of the war–after which
King Hussein admitted that 15,000 Jordanians were killed.
(2) For the first time in almost 2,000 years the Holy City of Jerusalem and its
“Wailing Wall” belonged to the Hebrews.
e. To the north, Israeli infantry and armor stormed the heights of Golan, overlooking the
plain of Galilee, and practically destroyed the Syrian army.
f.
Everywhere the Arab armies had been decisively defeated–with the outcome having
been decided in the first 48 hours of the war–so the Arab nations agreed to a United
Nations cease–fire.
3. Results.
a. Israel had conquered a territory four times its own size and had changed the balance
of power in the Middle East–and in the process had captured or destroyed most of the
$2 billion worth of Russian military equipment supplied to Arab nations.
b. Israili losses were some 800 killed (of which one–fourth were officers) and over
2,500 wounded.
c. Total Arab casualties over 50,000.
d. No “peace”–but renewed Arab hatred, new shipments of Russian weapons, and
renewed border clashes and raids.
D. Renewal of Arab–Israeli hostilities in late 1968, with weekly border raids and incidents
there–after, but short of all–out war.
1. Arab nations militarily involved against Israel–supplied by over $1 billion worth of new
sophisticated armament form the Soviet Union since the end of the Six–Day War of
1967, as well as by military shipments from the United States to Jordan in particular.
a. United Arab Republic (Egypt)
(1) The leading anti–Israeli nation, under President Gamal Abdel Nasser who has
long attempted to emerge as the leader of the Arab world.
(2) Provides bases for Soviet warships and received constant military training from
several thousand Soviet troops and technicians stations in Egypt.
(3) Received annual cash assistance from Saudi Arabia, Libya, and Kuwait to
replace its lost revenue from the Suez Canal.
b. Jordan.
(1) Under its King Hussein, increasingly cooperative with Nasser against Israel– a
price which one of the very last kingdoms in the Arab world is willing to pay to
retain the monarchy in the midst of Arab agitation.
(2) Long popular in the United States, King Hussein has continued to be supplied
with American tanks and military equipment.
(3) Receives financial aid from several Arab states, and from the United States.
(4) Bolstered by Saudi Arabian, Syrian, and Iraqi troops within the country.
c. Syria.
(1) Remained violently anti–Israeli under its aggressive socialist Ba’ath Party.
(2) Fully supports the Arab terrorist groups within the country.
(3) Its army was staffed with Soviet military advisers.
(4) Syrian troops allowed to enter Jordan in July, 1969, to reinforce that front against
Israel–while Syria in turn was bolstered by some 6,000 Iraqi troops stationed in
south Syria.
d. Iraq.
(1) Dominated by its army and susceptible to frequent military coups, Iraq’s socialist
government has wavered between pro–Egyptian and pro–Syrian factions.
(2) In 1967, allied itself with Syria, the United Arab Republic, and Algeria.
(3) On July 17, 1968 a coup by the military brought to power the Arab Socialist
Ba’ath Party, with Saddam Hussein playing a key role.
(4) In July, 1969, stationed some 6,000 troops in Syria, and some 12,000 troops in
Jordan for a common front against Israel.
(5) During much of 1969 specialized in public executions of civilians, including
Jews, accused of “spying” for Israel or for the United States.
e. Saudi Arabia.
(1) The largest of the Arab states in the area, and the fourth leading oil producer in
the world, it derived $932 million in oil revenue in 1968–chiefly form the
Arabian–American Oil Company, jointly owned by four United States oil
companies.
(2) Has sent several thousand troops to the Israeli front and regular subsidies of
money to the Arab commando groups, as well as money to Egypt and Jordn.
(3) Until the Arab–Israeli War of 1967, it disputed Nasser for leadership of the Arab
world and sent troops to fight the Egyptian troops which were involved in the
civil war in Yemen after 1962.
2. Arab commando groups waging terrorist warfare against Israel.
a. After the Arab defeat of 1967, some 27 Arab terrorist groups–based in Lebanon,
Jordan, Syria, and Egypt–carried the initiative in attacking Israel, with two most
prominent groups being:
(1) Al–Fatha – the largest and most effective groups–based primarily in Jordan.
(2) The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PLO)–based in Lebanon, it has
specialized in attacks on Israeli passenger planes.
b. Israel has carried out frequent and extensive air and ground strikes on their bases.
3. The isolation of Israel.
a. Opposition from the United Nations.
(1) Israel condemned by a unanimous vote of the Security Council in January, 1969,
for its retaliatory strike on Lebanon’s International Airport (in which no Arab or
Israeli lives were lost).
(2) Israel censured by a unanimous vote of the Security Council in July, 1969, for its
annexation of the “Old City” of Jerusalem, won in the 1967 war.
(3) Israel cannot receive favorable treatment from the United Nations because
according to the structure of the Security Council–where the Soviet Union
exercises a pro–Arab vote–Israel cannot be a member, and in the Assembly the
Arab nations can always raise the necessary one–third vote necessary to block a
motion unfavorable to the Arabs.
b. Difficulty in purchasing arms from abroad.
(1) The oil–rich Arab states threaten any Israeli supplier with an economic embargo.
(2) France, its former supplier of military aircraft, cut off all military shipments to
Israel–including the delivery of fifty jets already paid for.
(3) The United States–during the Johnson administration–wavered in selling Israel
jet fighters for some time, while continuing to ship armaments to some of the
Arab nations.
(4) In desperation, Israel has begun producing its own tanks and jet engines.
c. The Israeli dilemma.
(1) Outnumbered 44–1 in manpower by the Arab states which receive a continuous flow
of Soviet armaments, Israel knows that time is clearly on the side of the Arabs.
(2) Some 1,500,000 Arabs–continually stirred up by the commando groups–live within
Israel’s new borders.
(3) Israel has consistently offered to enter into direct peace negotiations with the
defeated Arab states–but they refuse to recognize Israel.
(4) The continued protection of the United States cannot be assured as there is a strong
pro–Arab clique within the U.S. State Department which has always argued that the
populous and oil–rich Arab states are more important to the United States than a
small Israel.
(5) Logically, under such conditions the best possible chance for its survival would be
for Israel to develop nuclear weapons–Israel may be the only country in the region to
possess nuclear weapons.
4. The emergence of the Soviet Union as a major political power in the Middle East.
a. Has become a major Mediterranean naval power by basing in Arab ports a fleet
larger than the United States Sixth Fleet.
b. Supervises the military establishments of the United Arab Republic, Syria, Yemen,
and Algeria, and acting to do so in Libya.
c. Effect, has been to practically relegate the “Eisenhower Doctrine” to something
merely of historic interest.
(1) President Eisenhower announced in 1957 that the United States would send its
armed forces to assist any nation in the Middle East threatened by Communist or
Communist–inspired aggression – upon request by that nation.
(2) In 1958, upon such a request by Lebanon after the outbreak of a civil war
instigated by pan–Arabism, some 14,000 U.S. Marines occupied the country
from July to October, while British paratroopers were landed in Jordan to protect
the monarchy.
E. The War in Vietnam
1. Background
a. All of French Indo–China came under the control of Japan in 1940–41, in cooperation with Vichy – appointed French officials, and with impending defeat in in World
War II, the Japanese in March, 1945, granted independence to the three states of
Vietnam.
b. With the ending of World War II, Ho Chi Minh, Communist leader of the nationalist
Vietminh (Lea for the Independence of Vietnam) proclaimed the “provisional
Republic of Vietnam” at Hanoi in September, 1945, sending the French puppet–
emperor Bao Dai into exile.
c. France, however, was determined to restore French colonial rule over the entire
area.
(1) At first, France recognized the Vietnam Republic as a “Free State” within the
Indo – Chinese Federation and the French Union” – in March, 1946 – so on this
basis French troops reoccupied the northern part of Vietnam without opposition.
(2) The French had no problem in moving back into southern Vietnam, Cambodia,
and Laos as the departing British troops simply turned control over to them.
(3) Once in control of Hanoi in the north, and of Saigon in the south, the French
interpreted “Federation” as meaning French rule.
2. The First Indochinese War (1946 – 1954): the Vietminh versus France.
a. Differences between Ho Chi Minh and the French in the north resulted in the
outbreak of large–scale guerrilla warfare by December, 1946, with Ho Chi Minh
winning over all the major nationalist elements which desired independence from
France.
b. Attempting to split the nationalist Vietnamese forces, the French installed the ex –
emperor Bao Dai at Saigon as chief of state of a counter government in South
Vietnam.
c. In 1950, Ho Chi Minh began receiving military and economic aid from Communist
China and the Soviet Union–while the United States, under President Truman, sent
$25 million in aid to French forces and a military mission to the government in South
Vietnam.
d. By 1954 most of northern Vietnam was controlled by the Vietminh, and with the fall
of the French fortress of Dien Bien Phu in May to Ho Chi Minh’s troops, France
withdrew from Indo–China in July after the Geneva Conference settled the war.
(1) Bloody siege of Dien Bien Phu–under the Vietminh commander, Vo Nguyen
Giap–resulted in 16,000 French casualties, including 4,000 dead.
(2) United States supplied transport planes and pilots and over $1 billion in military
aid to the French, and considered send air and ground forces to relieve Dien Bien
Phu, at the strong suggestion of Secretary of State Dulles and Chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Radford, but this was vetoed by President
Eisenhower.
(3) Total French casualties in the eight – year war were approximately 300,000,
including over 30,000 French army and French Foreign Legion personnel killed.
e. The Geneva Conference (July, 1954)
(1) Attended by sixteen nations, including the United States and the government of
south Vietnam–neither of which signed the agreements but both of which agreed
to respect them.
(2) Scheduled national elections to decide unification of north and south for July 20,
1956, to be supervised by an international controlled commission.
(1) Balance of French Indo–China established as the two independent and “neutral”
countries of Laos and Cambodia.
A. Beginning of the war of unification of Vietnam.
1. Ho Chi Minh became president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in and 1954, and
1 million refugees (mostly anti–Communist Roman Catholics) began flowing southward.
2. In southern Vietnam the inept Bao Dai was deposed and the “Republic of Vietnam”
proclaimed in 1955 by the United States–supported Premier Ngo Dinh Diem–who
became president.
a. Some 500 United States military advisers took over the training of the South
Vietnamese army when the French troops moved out in February, 1955.
b. Under President Eisenhower a “crash” program of military and economic aid was
adopted, at the rate of $250 million a year between 1955 and 1958.
B. The Second Indochinese War (1961–1985): North Vietnam versus the United States
1.
Dates from the first American soldier killed in combat, in 1961.
2. Increased United States involvement.
a. Under President Kennedy, number of military personnel and “advisers” increased to
11,000–under a four–star American general–in 1962, and was raised to 15,500 in 1963.
b. Under President Johnson, the number of personnel increased to 23,000 by the end of
1964.
c. Politically, the governments of South Vietnam were notably unstable, with one
military government following another after the increasingly dictatorial and anti–Buddist President Diem was overthrown and killed in a military coup apparently inspired
by the United States.
d. By late 1964, the cost to the United States was about $2 million a day, but still the Viet
Cong – well supplied with material from North Vietnam, primarily by the “Ho Chi
Minh Trail” running through heavy jungle from North Vietnam through Laos–
continued to win.
3. Under President Johnson, direct military involvement of large–scale numbers of American
troops was inaugurated.
a. 208,800 troops in 1965.
b. 460,300 troops in 1966.
c. Over 545,000 troops in 1968.
4. Military and economic aid from Communist China and the Soviet Union continued to increase, while increasing numbers of North Vietnamese regular army troops flowed southward to fight the American troops.
5. Undeclared but open, war on North Vietnam by the United States began in 1965.
a. In August, 1964, two United States destroyers were reportedly attacked by North Vietnamese PT boats (without success) in the Gulf of Tonkin, off North Vietnam.
(1) President Johnson ordered a massive retaliatory air strike on North Vietnamese installations.
(2) The United States Congress supported the administration by passing overwhelmingly the Tonkin Gulf Resolution which authorized “all necessary measures” to
protect United States forces and “prevent further aggression.”
b. Systematic aerial bombing of North Vietnam proper began in February, 1965 – augmented by naval bombardment along the coast–and continued until November, 1968.
6. By mid–1967 the war was costing the United States $2 billion a month – with no evidence
of any weakening of the enemy’s morale or war potential.
7. The “Tet” Offensive (January–February, 1968).
a. The Viet Cong, supported by North Vietnamese force s, launched a massive offensive
throughout South Vietnam on January 31, 1968, which caught the United States and
South Vietnamese forces by complete surprise.
b. Though termed a military failure by the United States commanders as it failed in its
aim to topple the Thieu – Ky government of South Vietnam, it raised havoc with the
United States’ “strategic hamlet” pacification program of winning over the
countryside.
c. Its psychological impact, however, was tremendous, for it led to a basic shift in
United States policy–to a policy of de–escalation.
8. The United States bombing halt.
a. On March 31, 1968, President Johnson announced that aerial bombing of North
Vietnam north of the 19th parallel had ceased.
b. All bombing of North Vietnam was halted on October 31, 1968.
c. However, bombing of enemy target in South Vietnam and adjacent areas in Laos was
continued – with an estimated 1,800 B – 52 sorties a month throughout 1968.
d. All told, by November, 1968, the United States ha dropped close to 3 million tons of
bombs on targets in both North and South Vietnam – much more than the total by the
United States in World War II.
e. Official United States aircraft losses, between January 1, 1961 and January 1, 1969:
4,768 aircraft (of which 2,493 were planes and 2,275 were helicopters), at an estimated
cost of almost $5 billion – as against 3,001 aircraft in the Korean War.
9. The Paris Peace Talks
a. Preliminary peace talks between the United States and the North Vietnamese began in
Paris on Mat 13, 1968, with much wrangling.
b. Actual negotiations began in January 1969 (Nixon now President).
c. Meanwhile the fighting continued, with U.S. “seek and destroy” operations and continued Communist attacks, which included stepped rocket assaults on bases and cities.
10. Military forces.
a. Communists: estimated by American commanders as high as 150,000 to 200,000, its
hard core field strength has generally been from 22,000 to 40,000 Viet Cong, plus
40,000 North Vietnamese regulars – but fighting a guerilla – style war.
b. United States and allies –in addition to the over half – million U.S. troops.
(1) South Vietnam—over 900,000, including its police forces, but the ARVN (Army of
the Republic of Vietnam) showed a desertion rate at 11,000 men each month by
mid – 1969 (a 25 percent increase over the3 previous year).
(2) American allies—50,000 troops from South Korea, over 11,000 from Thailand,
over 7,500 Australians, and 550 from New Zealand.
11. Military casualties.
a. Communists: estimated by the United States commanders as over 500,000 killed,
between January 1, 1961 and March 1, 1969.
b. United States: officially, for the period between January 1, 1961 and March 1, 1969,
the number of combat deaths(33,630) had just surpassed that of the Korean War, and
by May 10, 1969, the total was:
(1) Combat deaths – 34,835 (of which almost 15,000 were killed in 1968 alone).
(2) Total deaths – 40,711.
(3) Wounded – over 225,000.
12. In June, 1969, President Nixon announced Nixon announced the first unilateral withdrawal
of military forces from the war in Vietnam—25,000 American forces by the end of August
– with the expectation of pulling out more steadily as the ARVN could replaced them.