Case Study 2:The Vietnam War Origins of the Conflict

Case Study 2:The Vietnam War Origins of the Conflict

Origins of the Conflict• Since 1800s France ruled Indochina

– (F) forced heavy rice taxes on Vietnamese– 1930: Vietnamese rebellion crushed

• 1940: Japan and Vietnamese resistance– (F) defeated by Germany, (J) took over– (J) took resources (coal, rice, rubber)– Strong anti-(J) resistance (Viet Minh)

• Communist Ho Chi Minh leads V-M– Had lived in USA, (E) & (F)– Tried to represent Vietnamese @ Versailles– 1920s: Studied Communism in USSR– 1930: Founded Indochinese Communist

Party– Inspired Vietnamese to seek independence– Drove (J) out of northern Vietnam– 1945: @ war’s end he took over Hanoi &

declared Vietnam an independent country

Tibetan Lullaby by the Beijing Angelic Choir. It is not Vietnamese, but I couldn’t find Vietnamese lullabies

Origins of the Conflict• France had other ideas for Vietnam

– 1945: W/ USA help, (F) returned

– This was a huge missed opportunity (Major Archimedes Patti)

– 1946: war erupted between (F) & Viet Minh

• 1949: Everything changes– Oct 1: Mao Zedong declares People’s

Republic of China (PRC) (Communist)

– PRC began supplying Ho, Viet Minh

– USA saw ‘Red Tide’ sweeping S E Asia

– USA gave $500 million/year to (F) for war

– (F) set up non-Communist, non-democratic gov’t in southern Vietnam

The incomparable Edith Piaf giving her rendition of La Marseillaise

• 1946-1954: The war drags on– (F) controlled towns, Viet Minh countryside– Viet Minh’s guerilla tactics impossible to beat– Kept 190,000 (F) troops immobilized– 90,000 (F) casualties, many officers targeted– Heavy-handed (F) raids in countryside stirred up

more support for Ho, Viet Minh

• 1954: (F) paratroopers @ Dien Bien Phu– Elite (F) unit surrounded in fortress– 3000 dead in battle, 8000 later in captivity– Viet Minh defeated (F) elite in open battle– Small Asian state defeated rich European state

by good leadership, tactics, willpower (@ DBP supplies (weapons. Ammo, food, medicine) were carried by peasants for 40,000 soldiers)

– Geneva peace conference split country in two w/ calls for national elections, just like Korea in 1945

Dien Bien Phu

Vo Nguyen Giap plots Dien Bien Phu strategy

1000s of French Foreign Legion soldiers surrender @ Dien Bien Phu

Boris Vian sings Le Deserteur (The Deserter), a 1954 French war protest song

Activity• It is 1954. The Geneva peace accords

have just concluded. The French President, Rene Coty, must explain to the French media why the modern developed state of France has been forced to pull out of Indochina. You have to prepare some briefing notes for his presentation. Explain, either in paragraphs or bullet points, how each of the following played a part:– The Second World War– The French decision to continue ruling in 1945– Viet Minh attacks, 1946-1954– The support of the Vietnamese people (or lack

of it)– Support for the Viet Minh by communist USSR

& China

Fin

PSDs on the Vietnam War• A poor feudal nation had beaten a great colonial power

… It meant a lot; not just to us but to people all over the world.– Viet Minh commander Vo Nguyen Giap commenting on the

victory over France in 1954