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The Building of Global Empires. The New Imperialism The Colonization of Africa and Asia. THE NEW IMPERIALISM 1870-1914 Europe’s influence continued to expand in the late 19 th century, and for all the same old reasons… - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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The Building of Global Empires
The New Imperialism
The Colonization of Africa and Asia
• THE NEW IMPERIALISM 1870-1914• Europe’s influence continued to expand in the late 19th
century, and for all the same old reasons…– What was new, was the extent; for the first time, European
imperialism became global in nature, with Great Britain as the leading colonial power. (“The sun never sets on the British Empire”)
– It was also contradictory…while many European nations explored the ideals of liberalism, nationalism, and socialism for their own people, imperialism remained as exploitative as ever.
Characteristics of the“Old Imperialism”1500-1815 COLONIES OF SETTLEMENTNumerous citizens of the colonizing country settle in the colonial area
They displace the native population though murder or disease and become the majority of the population
Through revolution or reforms they become politically independent of the mother country
Examples: The United States, Canada, Chile, Argentina
COLONIES OF EXPLOITATION (tropical dependencies)These colonies do not attract a large number of European settlers
Europeans come as soldiers, planters and administrators
They establish political control by force
They exploit local inhabitants or bring in African slaves to labor on plantations
Examples: Mexico, Haiti, Cuba and most Caribbean and South American colonies (under the Old Imperialism)
Nigeria, Vietnam and most African and Southeast Asian colonies
(Under the New Imperialism)
What was “new” about the new imperialism
Before the 19th century, Europeans cooperated with local rulers in Africa, India, China, Japan, Indonesia, and other areas, where trade flourished between locals and European coastal trading centers.
The “new imperialism” tended to favor direct conquest and formal empire
Africa and Asia had seen limited European intrusion, and most contacts had been coastal in nature
Now, entire continents now came under European influence
IndustrialRevolutionIndustrialRevolution
Source forRaw
Materials
Source forRaw
Materials
Markets forFinishedGoods
Markets forFinishedGoods
EuropeanNationalismEuropean
Nationalism
MissionaryActivity
MissionaryActivity
Military& NavalBases
Military& NavalBases
EuropeanMotives
For Colonization
EuropeanMotives
For Colonization
Places toDump
Unwanted/Excess Popul.
Places toDump
Unwanted/Excess Popul.
Soc. & Eco.Opportunities
Soc. & Eco.Opportunities
HumanitarianReasons
HumanitarianReasons
EuropeanRacism
EuropeanRacism
“WhiteMan’s
Burden”
“WhiteMan’s
Burden”
SocialDarwinism
SocialDarwinism
Major Cause for the New Imperialism
The desire of the capitalist class to invest surplus capital for the highest profit (at the expense of the citizens of the European nation)
J.A. Hobson, Imperialism: A Study 1902
Imperialism is an outgrowth of monopoly capitalism, an alliance of the largest industrial and banking firms to dominate the markets of the world.
V.I. Lenin, Imperialism: the Highest Stage of Capitalism 1917
How was Imperialism sold to the public in Europe and the United States?
• "White Man's Burden": racist patronizing that preached that the “superior” Westerners had an obligation to bring their culture to “uncivilized” peoples in other parts of the world - Poem by Rudyard Kipling
• Germany and Russia used imperialistic drives to divert popular attention from the class struggle at home and to create a false sense of national unity.
“The White Man’s Burden”
Rudyard Kipling 1899
The White Man’s BurdenBy Rudyard Kipling
Take up the White Man's burden--
Send forth the best ye breed--
Go, bind your sons to exile
To serve your captives' need;
To wait, in heavy harness,
On fluttered folk and wild--
Your new-caught sullen peoples,
Half devil and half child.
The White Man’s BurdenBy Rudyard Kipling
Take up the White Man's burden--
In patience to abide,
To veil the threat of terror
And check the show of pride;
By open speech and simple,
An hundred times made plain,
To seek another's profit
And work another's gain.
The White Man’s BurdenBy Rudyard Kipling
Take up the White Man's burden--
The savage wars of peace--
Fill full the mouth of Famine,
And bid the sickness cease;
And when your goal is nearest
(The end for others sought)
Watch sloth and heathen folly
Bring all your hope to nought.
The White Man’s BurdenBy Rudyard Kipling
Take up the White Man's burden--
No iron rule of kings,
But toil of serf and sweeper--
The tale of common things.
The ports ye shall not enter,
The roads ye shall not tread,
Go, make them with your living
And mark them with your dead.
The White Man’s BurdenBy Rudyard Kipling
Take up the White Man's burden,
And reap his old reward--
The blame of those ye better
The hate of those ye guard--
The cry of hosts ye humour
(Ah, slowly!) toward the light:--
"Why brought ye us from bondage,
Our loved Egyptian night?"
The White Man’s BurdenBy Rudyard Kipling
Take up the White Man's burden--
Ye dare not stoop to less--
Nor call too loud on Freedom
To cloak your weariness.
By all ye will or whisper,
By all ye leave or do,
The silent sullen peoples
Shall weigh your God and you.
The White Man’s BurdenBy Rudyard Kipling
Take up the White Man's burden!
Have done with childish days--
The lightly-proffered laurel,
The easy ungrudged praise:
Comes now, to search your manhood
Through all the thankless years,
Cold, edged with dear-bought wisdom,
The judgment of your peers.
H.T. Johnson, “The Black Man’s Burden” 1899
• Pile on the Black Man’s Burden.• 'Tis nearest at your door;• Why heed long bleeding Cuba,• or dark Hawaii’s shore?• Hail ye your fearless armies,• Which menace feeble folks• Who fight with clubs and arrows• and brook your rifle’s smoke.• Pile on the Black Man’s Burden• His wail with laughter drown• You’ve sealed the Red Man’s problem,• And will take up the Brown,• In vain ye seek to end it,• With bullets, blood or death• Better by far defend it• With honor’s holy breath.
British Imperialism in India
The Mughal Empire
Reached it’s height in 1708
Contained Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs
Granted exclusive trading rights to the British East India Company to trade for for exotic and rare goods
Decline of the Mughals began with religious conflict between Muslims and Hindus and resulted in infighting and a divideddivided empire
The British East India Company (1600-1857)
• Received its first charter from Queen Elizabeth I in 1600
• One of a number of “east India companies” vying for influence and trading rights in India
• Company obtained right to build fortified trading posts on Indian coast
• Got monopoly of trade in Indian pepper and cotton
• Benefiting from the Mughal decline, the company expands its territory.
• Gained control of Bengal after Robert Clive’s decisive victory at the Battle of Plassey in 1757
• Enforce their rule with a native army—the Sepoys
British East India British East India Company AgentsCompany Agents
1-E
Sepoy soldiersSepoy soldiers
1-F
Sepoy Mutiny or War of Independence of 1857
• Divide and conquer strategy had worked well for the British– Religious differences offered an easy way to divide Hindus from Muslims
• Uniting factor– Racist, superior and paternalistic attitudes of the British in India gave the
Indians something to unite against
• East India Company used Sepoy: Indian soldiers• New Gunpowder cartridges were rumored to be sealed with
cow or pig fat• Sepoy rebelled against East India Company rule
– Resulted in the end of 100 years of company rule in India
• British government took direct control to protect their valuable trading empire and ruled from 1858 to 1947– Known as the Raj, British rule was eventually undermined by Mohandas
K. Gandhi's passive resistance movement
The Sepoy The Sepoy Mutiny: 1857Mutiny: 1857
2-A
Outlawing Outlawing SutteeSuttee ((satisati) )
Fighting the Fighting the ThuggeesThuggees
British Opium British Opium Warehouse in Warehouse in
Patna, Patna, India India
Selling Patna Selling Patna Opium in Opium in
ChinaChina
Selling Patna Selling Patna Opium in Opium in
ChinaChina
Sir Raghubir Singh, Sir Raghubir Singh, Maharaja of BundiMaharaja of Bundi
Sir Raghubir Singh, Sir Raghubir Singh, Maharaja of BundiMaharaja of Bundi
1876:1876: Queen Victoria Queen Victoria Becomes Becomes
“Empress of “Empress of India”India”
2-D
Queen Victoria in Queen Victoria in India India
PAX BRITANNICAPAX BRITANNICA
Living Like a Living Like a MaharajahMaharajah
Causes of Indian nationalism:
1. discontent with British rule
2. India more unified than it had been before British rule
3. leadership: Western-educated Indian elite
4. common language
5. new print culture
6. nationalist orgs:• 1885 – Indian National Congress• early 1900s – Swadeshi movement• 1906 – Muslim League
Political nationalism• Evolves from a demand for greater political freedoms, such as:
– suffrage– more Indians in governmentTo a demand for complete independence
Cultural Nationalism• development of “Indian” cultural identity• rewrite histories
– emphasis on Hinduism– Indian contributions to math and sciences– ideal of Indian art– Return to pre-industrial Indian way of life
the Indian National the Indian National CongressCongress 1885 1885 The Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress
was founded in Bombay. was founded in Bombay.
At first an organization of the Hindu eliteAt first an organization of the Hindu elite
In 1920’s Gandhi makes it a mass movementIn 1920’s Gandhi makes it a mass movement
swarajswaraj “independence.” goal of movement “independence.” goal of movement
Swadeshi Movement
• early 1900s
• Swadeshi = “one’s own country,” self-sufficiency– boycott British goods– Indians produce own goods– Indian schools nationalist education
• nationalism = mass movement
Indian National Muslim League
• 1905 British partition Bengal based on religion
• 1906 Muslim league founded
• advocate for Muslim political rights
Muhammad Ali Jinnah – leader of Muslim League, founder of Pakistan, and first Governor-General of Pakistan
Gandhi (1869-1948)
• leader of INC, 1920s-1930s
• nonviolence (satyagraha)
Young Mohandas K. Young Mohandas K. Gandhi, Gandhi,
18761876
1869 - 19481869 - 1948
Early life & training for his future role:
• 1869 – born in Gujarat
• 1888-1891 – studies law in Britain
• 1893-1899, 1902-1915 – fight racism as a civil rights lawyer in South Africa
• In South Africa, he develops his philosophy of “satyagraha” (truth force)
Gandhi as a Lawyer Gandhi as a Lawyer in in
Johannesburg, So. Johannesburg, So. AfricaAfrica
Protest against British rule builds & Gandhi becomes its leader:
• 1915 – Satyagraha (harijan) Ashram• 1919 – Amritsar Massacre (379 dead)• 1922-1924 – imprisonment• 1924 – 21-day fast: Hindu-Muslim unity• 1930 – Salt March• 1942- leads “Quit India” movement—imprisoned for two
years• 1947 Partition of India• January 1948 – fasts to encourage Hindu-Muslim unity
during sectarian rioting• 1948 – assassinated by Hindu zealot
Gandhi spinning cloth at the Gandhi spinning cloth at the Satyagraha Ashram in Satyagraha Ashram in
AhmedabadAhmedabad
Indian weaving had been Indian weaving had been ruined by the competition ruined by the competition of British machine-made of British machine-made
textiles!textiles!
Amritsar Massacre, Amritsar Massacre, 19191919
379 dead; over 1200 wounded!379 dead; over 1200 wounded!
Salt March, 1930Salt March, 1930
MakingMakingSaltSalt
On the beach at Dandi, the end of the Salt March
Issues in the Indian nationalist movement
• method – nonviolence vs. violence
• religion – Hinduism vs. Islam
• women’s rights
• Q of westernization/modernization
Independence and Partition
• August 14, 1947 – Pakistan (Muslim majority)
• August 15, 1947 – India (Hindu majority)
India before (left) and after (right) 1947
Post-Independence Violence
• Hindu vs. Muslim
• 1 million deaths
• 12 million relocated
• Gandhi fasts to support end of sectarian violence
• Gandhi’s assassinated on January 30, 1948 by a Hindu fanatic
Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964)
• 1st PM of India (1947-1964)
• goal: modernize India, via socialist economics & democratic politics
Imperialism in Africa
• In 1880, Europeans controlled 10% of Africa; by 1914, they controlled all except Liberia & Ethiopia
• Belgian Congo– At behest of King Leopold II, , a
British journalist and explorer, H. M. Stanley established trading stations, signed “treaties” with African chiefs, and claimed land for Belgium – rubber tree plantations were created
– Leopold’s incursion into Congo basin also raised the question of the political fate of black Africa
Africa: Berlin Congress 1884-85 • Established the
"rules" for conquest of Africa = “Paper Partition”
• Sponsored by Bismarck & Jules Ferry ; sought to prevent conflict over imperialism
• The Congress coincided w/ Germany's rise as an imperial power
• Agreed to stop slavery & slave trade in Africa
Africa
1890
Africa
in
1914
Harvesting Rubber
History of South Africa
Dutch Landing in 1652
First European Settlement in Southern Africa
• First settlers were people working for Dutch East Indian Company – arrived in 1652– Set up present-day city of Cape Town as a
trading base– Had slavery– Soon let employees go into interior to set
up farms: became known as Boers, which means “farmers”
• Started offering free land, and Dutch, French, and German settlers came
• Became Cape Colony• Khoikhoi and San wiped out by smallpox
British Rule• 1795, France (Napoleon) conquered Netherlands
and British took Cape Colony– English made official language in 1828, abolished
slavery throughout empire in 1834– This was intolerable to the Boers
“And yet it is not their [the slaves’] freedom that drives us to such lengths, as their being placed on an equal footing with Christians, contrary to the laws of God and the natural distinction of race and religion, so that it was intolerable for any decent Christian to bow down beneath such a yoke; wherefore we rather withdrew in order to preserve our doctrines in purity” – Piet Retief’s sister ( a voortrekker)
The Great Trek - 1836
•The Boers relocate to escape British rule
•Went on historic journey along the Vaal River
•The Boers create two independent republics: the Transvaal and the Orange free State
•Come into conflict with the Xhosa and Zulu kingdoms
The Zulu
• Bantu-speaking people from the north who migrated south and conquered vast lands under great leader Shaka Zulu, (1787-1828)
• He ruled over 250,00 people and could raise an army of 50,000 warriors
• He was assassinated in 1828• His successor, Dingane, was
defeated by the Boers at the Battle of Blood River in 1838
• The Zulus did not make peace until the treaties that ended the Zulu Wars with the British in 1879.
The Struggle for South Africa
Afrikaner Republics and the Anglo-Boer Wars
• In their isolation, the two Boer republics that were formed (Transvaal and Orange Free State) lost all contact with their Dutch origins – developed own language (Afrikaans) – The Enlightenment passed them by and so did the
Industrial Revolution– Afrikaners also settled in Natal
• Britain annexed Natal in 1843 – seemed like wherever Boers went, British were one step behind them
• 1870: Diamonds discovered in Transvaal• 1877: British annex Transvaal• 1880: First Anglo-Boer War – Boers win in 1881
• 1886: gold discovered near present-day city of Johannesburg – “uitlanders” [foreigners], many of whom are British, flock to gold fields seeking their fortune
• By 1895, uitlanders make up half the white population of Transvaal– Given no political rights
• Cecil Rhodes (Prime Minister of Cape Colony) wants to control the gold, but also has a dream of linking British colonies from north to south across Africa: “from Cape to Cairo”
• December 1895: Jameson Raid – Rhodes sent force under Leander Starr Jameson to invade Transvaal in hopes that the uitlanders would rise up in revolt against the Boers– Jameson was captured and Rhodes forced
to resign• 1899: Boers demand that all British troops
being sent to Cape Colony be sent back, or it would be seen as a formal declaration of war– Boers made mistake of appearing the
aggressor (just what Britain wanted)– Britain refuses and Transvaal and Orange
Free State declare war• 1899-1902: Second Anglo-Boer War
The Boer War: 1899 - 1902
The BoersThe British
2nd Anglo-Boer War• British commander Lord
Horatio Kitchener began a “scorched earth policy” – burned 30,000 Boer farmhouses and partial or complete destruction of 40 towns
• Also set up “Concentration Camps” – 60,000 women and children interned
• 26,370 women and children died (81% were children)
South Africa and the Boer War (1899-1902)
• Massive British force eventually defeated Boers and in 1910 the Transvaal, Orange Free State, Cape Colony, & Natal combined to form the Union of South Africa
• Although the Boers (calling themselves Afrikaners) lost the war, they won the peace. They became the dominant political force in South Africa
RISE OF THE APARTHEID STATE
UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA
NATIONALIST PARTY 1948
THE UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA
• 1909 SOUTH AFRICA ACT CREATES A WHITE MINORITY GOVERNMENT—FEDERATION OF
• 1. TRANSVAAL• 2. ORANGE FREE STATE• 3. CAPE (COLONY)• 4. NATAL• INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF RACIAL
DISCRIMINATION AGAINST THE BLACK MAJORITY
APARTHEID
• AFRIKAANS WORD• DEFINITION: APARTNESS OR
SEPARATENESS• 1ST USE OF THE TERM WAS IN 1917 BY JAN
SMUTS WHO BECAME PRIME MINISTER IN 1919
• SYSTEM OF SEGREGATION AND INSTITUTIONAL RACISM IN SOUTH AFRICA FROM 1948-1990s
UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA & APARTHEID
• 1911 & 1926 MINES & WORKS ACT• Color Ban on certain jobs; Salaries for whites higher at all
times• 1913 & 1936 NATIVES LAND ACTS• Land Raid—Allocated 13% of total land to the black majority
and 87% to the white minority• 1923 NATIVES ACT (URBAN AREAS)• Segregation in residential areas of cities—BLACKS HAD TO
CARRY SPECIAL PAPERS TO STAY IN THE CITIES• 1937 NATIVES LAWS AMENDMENT ACT• Pass laws required Blacks to carry identification and
authorization to enter white areas.
CREATION OF THE APARTHEID STATE
• 1948– THE NATIONAL PARTY GAINS POWER
• WINS ELECTION ON THE PROMISE TO INSTITUTE APARTHEID
APARTHEID LEGISLATION
• 1950 POPULATION REGISTRATION ACT• Registration by Color Forced all South Africans to register as : White,
Bantu (Black), Asian (Indian & Pakistani) or Colored (people of mixed race)
• 1950 GROUP AREAS ACT• Geographic Separation in business and residence• 1953 RESERVATION OF SEPARATE AMENITIES ACT• Segregation of public areas and transport Buses, Parks, and other
Public Places• 1953 Bantu Education Act• Separate but Not Equal: Enforced Racial segregation of schools• 1959 PROMOTION OF BANTU SELF-GOVERMENT ACT• Black Homelands—THE BANTUSTANS
AFRICAN RESISTANCE TO MINORITY WHITE RULE
• One Man’s Freedom Fighter is Another Man’s Terrorist
• 1912 SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVE NATIONAL CONGRESS BECOMES THE AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS—THE ANC
• STRIKES, BOYCOTTS AND SYMBOLIC ACTS OF DEFIANCE
• 1950s DEFIANCE CAMPAIGN MASS RESISTANCE—PUBLIC DISOBEDIENCE
• 1955 FREEDOM CHARTER
SHARPEVILLE MASSACRE: March 21,1960
Demonstration organized by the Pan Africanist Congress, a rival to the ANC
Crowd of 20,000 gathers to offer themselves for arrest for not carrying their pass books
Police fire on the crowd, killing 69 people, including women and children, and injuring 180.
Followed by riots, strikes and demonstrations throughout nation; 18,000 are detained by the police
The Government bans both the PAC and the ANC
The ANC develops a military wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation) to engage in armed struggle against the apartheid government
REACTIONS TO THE TERRORIST STATE
• 1961 SOUTH AFRICA IS EXPELLED FROM THE COMMONWEALTH OF NATIONS
• MANDELA—”SPEAR OF THE NATION”— 200 ACTS OF SABOTAGE AGAINST PASS OFFICES, GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS, AND POWER SUPPLIES
• 1963 RIVONIA TREASON TRIAL –Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and 17 others; eight sentenced to life imprisonment.
• Mandela will spend nearly thirty years in prison on Robben Island
ROBBEN ISLAND
• 10 MILES FROM CAPE TOWN
• USED AS A PRISON FOR
400 YEARS USEDTO
ISOLATE
OPPONENTS OF
APARTHEID
SOUTH AFRICA THE APARTHEID STATE
• 1970s INCREASED GOVERNMENT REPRESSION
• COLOR BAN ON FREEDOM OF TRAVEL AND WORK—BLACK AFRICANS BECOME MORE IMPOVERISHED
BLACK CONSCIOUSNESS MOVEMENT
• MID-1960s ANTI-APARTHEID MOVEMENT THAT FILLED THE POLTICAL VOID AFTER
• 1. THE BANNING OF THE ANC & PAC • 2. SHARPEVILLE MASSACRE• STEVE BIKO (1946-1977) • STUDENT LEADER• COMMUNITY LEADER
SOWETO STUDENT MASSACRE 1976
• STUDENT RIOT AGAINST GOVERNMENT MANDATE TO TEACH AFRIKAANS LANGUAGE
• Police fire on crowd:1,000 DEAD
SOUTH AFRICA IN A STATE OF EMERGENCY
• RESISTANCE MET WITH BRUTALITY• INCREASED DEMANDS FOR • 1. CIVIL RIGHTS • 2. IMPROVED EDUCATION • 3. UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE• 4. ELIMINATION OF JOB
DISCRIMINATION AND PASS LAWS
• MOUNTING INTERNATIONAL SANCTIONS
FW DE CLERK
• 1989 FW DE KLERK REPLACES BOTHA
• 1. DISMANTLES APARTHEID• 2. 1990 LIFTS BAN ON
ANC• 3. FREES MANDELA
• 1992 WHITE SOUTH AFRICA VOTES TO END
APARTHEID
General Election: April 27,1994
• First multi-racial election (universal suffrage)
• ANC gets just short of 2/3 of votes
• Nelson Mandela elected President of South Africa
• Served 1994-1999
Imperialism in Asia• China: Coastal cities
divided into “spheres of influence” after the Opium Wars (Britain, France, Russia, Germany, Japan)
• Indochina: France completes conquest of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos by 1893.
• Burma, Malaysia and Borneo—British colonies
• Indonesia-Dutch colony
• Spanish-American War, 1898: U.S. defeated Spain, took Philippines, Guam, Hawaii & Cuba
Hanoi
Hue
Saigon
• 1857 – Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia become colonies of France (Indochina)
• Attempt to win freedom following WWI rebuffed
• 1930 – Ho Chi Minh founds the Vietnamese Communist Party
• Revolts in 1930 & 1931 fail but strengthen the party
Ho Chi Minh 1890-1969
• Born 1890• In 1911, jumped on
board a ship to France. Travels in Europe and China. – During this time, he
embraced Communism and joined the political groups rallying for human rights and equality in French Indochina.
In 1930, founds Communist Party of Vietnam
• 1940 – Vichy France allows Japanese passage through Indochina
• Ho Chi Minh takes command of anti-Japanese coalition supported by both the West and Communist Chinese
• 1945 – Japanese remove Vichy French from power in Indochina
• 1945 – Japanese surrender
• Ho Chi Minh seizes Hanoi and proclaims the independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam
• China disarms Japanese in North, British in South
• British favor French rule and use Japanese forces and French colonials to reestablish French rule in southern Indochina
• Ho Chi Minh appeals to the United States to support Vietnamese Independence
• 1945- Vietnamese Declaration of Independence, modeled on the American and French Declarations
Re-armed Japanese troops police Indochina
• French and Viet Minh make deal: Ho will allow French troops in North while French will recognize the DRV as an independent state but part of a French Indochinese federation
Ho Chi Minh at negotiations
• 1946 – The French commissioner of Indochina proclaims the south as Cochin China, an independent state
• French forces attack the Viet Minh in the north
• Haiphong is bombed- resulting in 6,000 dead Vietnamese
• The Viet Minh, now openly communist, resist but are defeated
Fighting in the streets
• Viet Minh turn to guerilla warfare
• French hold cities and coast / Viet Minh hold highlands
• An attempt by Giap at open warfare is disaster- guerilla warfare resumed
Ho Chi Minh
• 1954 – Battle of Dien Bien Phu French seek to pull
Viet Minh into open battle and destroy them
Test of will between French and Viet Minh
French defeatedFrench dead
2,293, 5,134 wounded, 11,000 surrender
Vietnamese dead 8,000, 15,000 wounded
French soldiers march into captivity following defeat at Dien Bien Phu. Few made it home alive.
• Vietnam divided at 17th parallel• Peace agreement calls for elections in
North and South- none are held• Almost one million Vietnamese flee to
the South• 6,000 North Vietnamese killed by Viet
Minh in relocation and collectivization
• 1954 – France recognizes South Vietnam under rule of Bao Dai (emperor 1925-1945)
• Ngo Dinh Diem (Catholic), commander of military, overthrows Bao Dai
• Viet Minh in South become Viet Cong
• Government of South Vietnam corrupt, army poorly led, discriminates against Buddhist majority
• Kennedy, embarrassed by Bay of Pigs, takes hard line in Vietnam
• Sends military advisors
Viet Cong in training
• Buddhist riot against Diem’s rule
• CIA orchestrates a coup against Diem – Diem and family are killed
• JFK assassinated three weeks later
• August 1964 – Tonkin Resolution allows dramatic increases in US forces
• Ho Chi Minh Trail• Search and Destroy –
body counts• Development of military
technology – use of helicopter
American soldiers on Search and Destroy mission
• The US begins a military draft
• 1967 – President Thieu and VP Ky elected
• 1968 – Tet Offensive Country-wide assault by
Viet Cong Attack on US embassy in
Saigon Public opinion turns against
the war Viet Cong suffers massive
defeat Saigon Police Chief executes captured Viet cong guerilla
• 1968 – Nixon elected president on platform of ending war “with honor”
• 1969 – Formal truce negotiations begin in Paris
• Nixon begins withdrawal of US troops – bombs North
• US attacks supply lines in Cambodia
President Nixon
US MPs with sapper captured at US embassy
• 1970 – Massive peace demonstrations in US
• May – Four students killed at Kent State
• Vietnamization becomes US policy
• 1971 – Pentagon Papers released
• Troop withdrawals continue
Dead student at Kent State University, Ohio
• 1972 – North Vietnamese army invades South Vietnam
• 1973 – Paris Peace Treaty signed
• March - Last US combat troops leave Vietnam
North Vietnamese tanks enter Saigon’s presidential palace
• 1974 – Communists overrun Cambodia
• Communists take over Laos
• April 1975 – Saigon falls to North Vietnam
• Renamed Ho Chi Minh City
• North and South reunited as the Democratic Republic of Vietnam US helicopters evacuate Vietnamese and Americans