AMERICA COMPAREDCh:20

Imperial Responses to Revolution in Colonial America and Vietnam

GREAT BRITAIN’S RESPONSE TO AMERICAN REVOLUTION In 1763 the British were victorious over the French in

what was known as the Seven Year’s War as well as the War for Greater Empire and the French and Indian War. This conflict had placed British troops in lands as far apart from each other as the western frontier of North America to India. This had been a costly war for Britain to sustain and its national debt had raised from 74.6 million pounds to 132.6 million pounds. To offset the cost of the war Great Britain attempted to impose a series of new taxes on the American colonies to which the American colonist rebelled at the idea of what they considered to be unfair and unjust taxations. King George III of Britain sought to squash the rebellion with force. The king was unable to finance a necessary number of British soldiers to the cause and also noted the issue that many British soldiers were not keen on the idea of battling a people they viewed as fellow countrymen. The king unsuccessfully attempted to recruit 20,000 Russian soldiers and also failed when he turned to the Dutch for recruitments. King George ultimately turned to the Hessian states of central Europe to recruit a total of 30,000 troops through the entire duration of the war.

BRITISH EMPIRE UNDERESTIMATES AMERICAN REVOLUTIONISTS British forces focused their assault on New England and the

mid-Atlantic states of New York and New Jersey from April 1775 until the American patriot forces defeated the British at Saratoga in October 1777. The revolutionist’s victory boosted their morale and gave much needed hope for their cause. After the battle of Saratoga British attempts to continue the war weakened and the king had hoped that the loyalist in North America would be able to help turn the tides of the war in his favor by assisting in stabilizing the colonies rebellions but it was a desperate thought as many of the loyalist in America had felt abandoned by Britain. The last major battle in the American Revolution war was on September 28, 1781 at the battle of Yorktown when British General Cornwallis surrendered his army to American forces.

By September 3rd 1783 the king signed preliminary articles for peace with North America. With Britain’s surrender of the war, loyalist in America indeed did feel that their country had abandoned them and left them to fend for themselves even though Great Britain had attempted to help loyalist with property rights and protection through signed treaties. After the American Revolution an estimated sixty to one hundred thousand loyalist left the country. In the end Great Britain failed to squash the American Revolution and nearly doubled their national debt in the process.

VIETNAMESE REVOLUTION There were 3 major contributing factors to the cause of the

Vietnamese Revolution. The first of which was French colonialism. Shortly after 1802 Vietnamese Emperor Gia Long was given missionary assistance by France but by the early 1860s French troops had subdued Vietnamese forces and took control of the country. The second factor was the forming of a Nationalist Ideology by the Vietnamese people over the three-quarters of a century that France had imposed rule on Vietnam. As leader of the Vietnamese Communist party a man named Ho Chi Minh brought national attention to the opposition of foreign domination. Ho Chi Minh declares the creation of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945 and sought to secure Vietnams independence. The United States sided with its ally France when they rejected Vietnams bid for independence. The U.S. was concerned that if France was not able to maintain and expand its colonial empire that its standing in Europe would decline. United States policy makers emphasized that it was Vietnams communist ideology which was the reason for U.S. involvement and aid to France while mentioning little of Vietnams push for independence. The U.S. emphasized communism within Vietnam as a way to justify its involvement since America was locked in the Cold War against the communist Soviet Union.

Even with $2 billion in aid from the U.S. France soon surrendered its control over Vietnam in May 1954. The United States gave support to a Vietnamese leader named Ngo Dinh Diem as an alternative to Ho’s claim of authority. The U.S. gave aid to the Vietnamese and tried to create a battle line between the Northern and Southern parts of the country in hoping to establish their own loyalist who would support Ngo Dinh Diem and help stabilize the situation. The U.S. became far more involved in the fight then they had anticipated and total cost came to $168 billion and the loss of many American lives. By 1973 the U.S. began peace talks with the prevailing North Vietnamese.