Chapter 30.4War in

Southeast Asia

This is another part of the Cold

War

Focus Q: May 30

• “If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.” Maya Angelou• What does this mean to you? And/or….• How can these words impact your life?

Indochina After WWII

2 parts1. 1st part: war against the FR 1946-542. 2nd part: war against the US 1955-753. Like Korean War, is an undeclared war

French Rule in Vietnam1. French build plantations and exploit the peasants

—extract rubber, rice2. Peasants revolt, strike against the French3. Indochinese Communist Party—1930—Ho Chi

Minh leader—want independence4. 1941 Japanese take control of Vietnam—

Vietnamese Communists combine to form Vietminh (North Vietnamese Communists)

5. Ho Chi Minh declares Vietnam independent in 1945.

Ho Chi Minh Defeats the French1. After Japan is defeated, the FR try to re-conquer

Indochina2. In 1954, the Vietnamese led by Ho Chi Minh

smash the FR at Dienbienphu

3. Ho Chi Minh is a communist and nationalist

Wants independence for Vietnam Their George Washington

Vietnam is Divided1. In 1954, Western and communist countries agree to

temporarily divide Vietnam at the 17th parallel

2. Ho Chi Minh rule the North, Ngo Dinh Diem rules the South

3. Elections are supposed to occur, US blocks them, afraid Ho Chi Minh will win

4. Must CONTAIN communism

US Enters the War1. US strongly believes in containing communism and the

2. **domino theory: if 1 country falls to communism, neighboring countries could fall**

3. South Vietnam—gets support, soldiers from US

4. North Vietnam—support from USSR, China, but not soldiers

Domino Theory

Vietnam War Intensifies

1. Ho Chi Minh wants to unite N and S Vietnam—Supports the Vietcong

2. **Vietcong: communist soldiers in South Vietnam**

3. **goal of Vietcong: overthrow S. Vietnamese govt**

4. In the beginnning, the US supplies SV w/ supplies and military advisors

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution1. August 1964—SV are raiding NV islands2. NV gunboats shoot at USS Maddox, thinking

we were involved—Maddox allegedly attacked 3 days later too

3. LBJ asks Congress to authorize him to “take all necessary measures to prevent further aggression in SE Asia”

4. Gets the BLANK CHECK—only 2 Congress vote no

Vietcong are Elusive

1. Vietcong lack high-powered weapons—use hit and run tactics and knowledge of the jungle terrain

2. Hard to tell the enemy from the locals3. many booby traps and land mines,

tunnels--“tunnel rats”4. Body count 10:15. VC, Charlie are very motivated—don’t have

to win, just “not lose”

Body Count.Does this mean we are winning?

Cu Chi Tunnels

Bunker connected to tunnels

B/c of Ho Chi Minh Trail,Lots of supplies came

From Cambodia.

US Tactics are _______1. Napalm—gas based jelly used to set the jungle on

fire2. Agent Orange—herbicide that kills vegetation—

toxic, causes cancer3. search and destroy missions—try to get rid of

villagers who have ties to Vietcong

–kill livestock–burn villages–1967 3 M refugees in South Vietnam

Napalm

Napalm

Spraying Agent Orange

Impact of Agent Orange

Agent Orange birth defects?

Searchand

Destroy

US Morale Sinks b/c1. frustrations of guerilla warfare, jungle

conditions2. the failure to make much headway against

the enemy3. Booze, drugs, b/c war doesn’t seem winnable 4. Fragging: 800 confirmed, 1400 unconfirmed5. disunity in South Vietnam b/c of corruption,

govt. unstable6. civil war w/in a civil war

Testimony from the My Lai trial……• In addition, Vietnamese women were raped;

other civilians were clubbed and stabbed. Some victims were mutilated with the signature "C Company" carved into the chest. One soldier would testify later, "I cut their throats, cut off their hands, cut out their tongues, scalped them. I did it. A lot of people were doing it and I just followed. I lost all sense of direction."

Monk settinghimself on fire to protest Diem’s govt.

Tet Offensive: the Turning Point

1. **January 1968—turning point for public support for the war**

2. Tet—Vietnamese New Year—week long cease-fire

3. Villagers stream into South Vietnamese cities to celebrate and hold funerals for those killed in the past year TET Offensive–Caskets held weapons–Many villagers were Vietcong agents

Tet OffensiveJan. 1968

Tet Offensive: the Turning Point

1. Attack over 100 cities, 12 US bases, even Saigon

2. US repels the attackers after one month3. Westmoreland claims military victory

Kill over 32 K Vietcong US, ARVN lose 3 K

4. Credibility gap

Psychologically and politically the US public was shaken

1. Walter Cronkite—“more certain than ever that the bloody experience of Vietnam is to end in a stalemate”

2. Clark Clifford, new Sec. of Defense—concludes the war in not winnable

US Begins to Bring Troops Home

1. March 31, 1968—LBJ changes his war policySeek negotiations to end the warBegin pulling out troops outWant South Vietnamese to play a larger

role (Vietnamization)

US Troops in Vietnam

“Americanization”

“Vietnamization”

Tet

LBJ and Vietnam

1. b/c his popularity had sunken so far b/c of the war

“I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term of president” Lyndon Baines Johnson

2. “That war…killed the lady I really loved—the Great Society”

Pol Pot in Cambodia

1. Pol Pot—brutal dictator of the Khmer Rouge

2. Wants to destroy all Western influence in Cambodia—1970 US bombed supply routes in Cambodia

3. **commits genocide in Cambodia**4. Over 1 million die, about 33% of pop.

“The Killing Fields”

Torture, then death