Causes of:

The Vietnam War

Background to Vietnam
During the Age of Exploration and colonisation, Vietnam
was absorbed into French Indochina.
Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia

From the late 1800s, Vietnam was heavily influenced by

European, specifically French, culture, social and
educational values.
During WWII, Japan invaded Indochina and removed the
French forces.
Indochina swapped one empire for another

Post WWII
During the Peace Conferences, it was decided that
Indochina would be returned to its original country
borders
Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam
Vietnam would be split in 2 at the 16th parallel
British forces would take the South, Chinese forces the North

Ho Chi Minh
Vietnamese revolutionary communist leader who was
prime minister of North Vietnam from 1945-1955 and
president from 1955-1969 (his death)
In the mid 1930s he spent many years in the Soviet
Union.
In 1938 he moved to China and served as an advisor to
the Chinese Communist armed forces
1941 Ho Chi Minh returned to Vietnam and advocated
for Vietnamese independence
Saw communist revolution as a path to freedom

Ho Chi Minh
United all the communist parties in Vietnam as the
Indochinese Communist Party and created an umbrella
organisation for nationalist resistance movements, the
League for the Independence of Vietnam (or the Viet
Minh)
Remained a very influential and important leader
throughout the Indochina War and Vietnam War

First Indochina War

December 19, 1946 August 1, 1954
Fighting mainly occurred in North Vietnam between
French and British forces and the Viet Minh (North
Vietnam military forces)
France wanted to retake their old territory, North
Vietnam wanted independence from the French
Both sides wanted a unified Vietnam but with different
agendas
Viet Minh wanted a communist government
British & French forces wanted capitalist democracy run by
their empires.

USA opinion
During the beginning of the war, the US was neutral in
the conflict
They were opposed to European colonialism and believed in
independence from Europe

The progression of communism in Asian countries and the

success of the communist forces in North Vietnam
changed Americas mind
Feared that if Ho Chi Minh was to win the war he would
implement a puppet communist government with
Moscow really in control
Didnt want the spread of Soviet-allied communism to spread
into Southeast Asia

USA involvement
May 1950 Harry S. Truman began covertly authorising
direct financial assistance to the French
June 27, 1950 - After the outbreak of the Korean War the US
publically announced it was helping the French

From 1951-54 the US gave the French forces Navy

assistance
From 1952-54 the US gave the French forces Air Force
assistance
CIA undertook covert operations in 1954

USA involvement
Operation Passage to Freedom (1954)
August U.S. Navy launched hundreds of ships to
evacuate non-communist especially Catholic
Vietnamese refugees from the North of Vietnam
following the armistice signed on July 20
Up to 1 million Vietnamese civilians were transported
from the North to the South of Vietnam
Around 100,000 moved from the South to the North

South Vietnam v. North Vietnam

War broke out again between the governments in the
North and South of Vietnam
North supported by China, USSR and other communist allies
South supported by the USA, Philippines and other noncommunist allies

Viet Cong (South Vietnamese military force) fought the

Viet Minh and North Vietnamese Army (NVA) (North
Vietnamese military forces) using guerrilla tactics in both
North and South Vietnam.

Vietnam War
1 November 1955 30 April 1975
US involvement escalates in support of the South from
the early 1960s onwards
Troops levels tripled from 1961 to 1962

Events such as the Gulf of Tonkin incident (1964) and the

Tet Offensive (1968) gave the US more reasons and
incentive to keep increasing their involvement in the
war.

 We will focus on the Australian involvement in the

Vietnam War over the next 2 weeks.
However if you have specific interest in the
American point of view there is plenty of
information on the internet that can fix your
curiosity