Vietnam• “two rice bowls at the

opposite ends of a carrying pole”

• Song Coi (red river) delta to the north

• Mekong River delta in the south

• population in 1960:– 30.5 million people– Hanoi in north: 600,000

people– Saigon in south: 1.6 million

people– Hanoi and Saigon are 700

miles apart

Vietnam timeline• 2,000 BC – Vietnam

inhabited• first migrants came from

India, Thailand and Cambodia (the Khmers)

• the direct ancestors of the Vietnamese came from China, the “Viets”

• 111 BC Han Dynasty of China conquers the region

• 1418-26 – Vietnamese revolt against China– establish kingdom of Le

Thanh-tong

Viet puppet/statue

French colonize Vietnam• 1600s Viet kingdom splits

into two subgroups– North and south

• the Khmers move to the east (establish modern Cambodia)

• 1612 Europeans reach Viet kingdoms

• 1825 Vietnamese refuse to allow more Catholics into country

• 1859 French capture Saigon

• 1887 establish the “French indochinese Union”

Napoleon III of France as vulture, lampooned by Harpers Monthly, 1872

Ho Chi Minh (“he who enlightens”)

• Born in 1890• Travelled to Paris,

circulated a petition for Woodrow Wilson calling for Vietnamese independence

• Joined the Communist Party• Lived in China• 1930s returned to Vietnam

to organize a liberation army: the Viet Minh

modern Vietnam• 1931 Japan attacks China

and occupies Manchuria– they name it “Manchuko”

• 1940 Japan attacks Vietnam

• 1942 the OSS establishes alliance with Ho Chi Minh• 1945 Ho’s forces have

taken partial control of North Vietnam

• France reestablishes itself in Vietnam

• 1953-1954 Ho’s forces defeat French at

DienbienphuHo’s forces waive the Vietnamese flag at Dienbienphu, 1954

the 1954 Geneva accords

• temporary division of North and South Vietnam

• the North under Ho’s control

• a border between the two areas at the 17th parallel

• with a small strip of land called the Demilitarized Zone (the “DMZ”

• temporary until national elections in 1956 1954 Geneva conference

SEATO (South East Asian Treaty Organization)

• established in 1954• included U.S., France, Great Britain,

Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Taiwan, the Philippines and Pakistan

• half the countries weren’t from South East Asia

• Pakistan??

Ngo Dihn Diem• Takes charge of South

Vietnam in 1956• Creates the Republic

of Vietnam• 1960: supporters of

Ho Chi Minh and other nationalists create the National Liberation Front (NLF)