Indo-chinese War

Or
Vietnam War
1950 - 1970
Group 3
War Breaks Out in Vietnam
United States Involvement in the Korean war has
the same reason for its involvement in the Vietnam
war- COLD WAR containment policy.
 The Road to War
Jean Decoux - the French
governor-general appointed
by the Vichy government
Vietnamization – a plan
after the fall of France to Bao Dai, the last created by the US to
the Nazis, concluded an French-appointed emperor gradually pull out their
agreement with the of Vietnam, was allowed to soldier living the South
Japanese. proclaim the independence Vietnamese in combat.
 The Road to War
1930 Ho flew into an exile, but then
1941
Nationalist Ho Chi Minh – young return the year after in which
Independence Vietnamese nationalist Japan already seized control over
movement began to that turned to Communist his country.
develop because of for help in his struggle He and the other nationalist
French colonies in
founded the Vietminh
Vietnam
(Independence) League
The Fighting Begins
Vietnamese nationalist and communist joint forces to stop
French to reestablish their colonies

This leads for Vietminh to gain widespread support from the

people.

Vietminh use hit-and –run tactics to confine French into the

cities.
The Fighting Begins
1954
People in France began to believe to doubt if
their colony was worth the lives and money
from their country

In year 1954; the French suffered a major

military defeat at Dien Bien Phu and
surrendered to Ho.
The Fighting Begins
United States supported France in order to stop the successful
communist government in Vietnam.

This fear lives up to the theory that President Eisenhower

described as domino theory – southeast Asian are like dominos;
the fall of one communism would lead to the fall of its neighbors.
Vietnam A Divided Country
International peace conference is met at Geneva to discuss the future of Indochina
due to the defeat of France in the war
Vietcong –
Vietnam was South, the United Ngo Dinh Diem communist guerillas
divided at 17O States and France rule south as a began to gain strength
north latitude. anti-Communist dictator that leads in south, that is
North of this line set up government to opposition in his composed by trained
was governed by under Ngo Dinh government soldiers from the
Ho Chi Minh Diem north and southerners
that are against Diem.
Vietnam A Divided Country
1963
A group of Southern
Vietnamese generals
assassinated Diem, but the
new leaders who take the
lead.
The United States Get Involved
1950
United States troops had
been serving as advertisers to
the South Vietnamese
 US Troops Enter the War
1964
U.S. Pre. Johnson told the
congress that north
Vietnamese patrol boat
attack their two destroyer 1964 1964
More than half a million of
in Gulf of Tonkin, this More than 185 000 US
US troops were already in
leads for the congress to troops set foot and in
Vietnam fighting in
send US troops in the combat in Vietnam
Vietnam soil.
border of Vietnam
 US Troops Enter the War
Although US is advance in military tactic and power they still face two major problems
that stops their goal in Vietnam.

First, US soldiers were
fighting a guerilla war in an
unfamiliar jungles against
its people
Second, the South At the same time support
Vietnamese government to Vietcong rise because of
loses it popularity among the help that came from Ho
the Vietnamese people of Chi Minh together with the
the land. Soviet Union and China.
US Troops Enter the War
Because US can’t win the battle on the
ground they resort to hold the battle in the
sky in which they bomb the cities in hope to
erase the hideouts of the Vietcong, but these
only lead to the further opposition of the
Vietnamese in nationalist government.
 US Troops Enter the War
Gen. William
Westmoreland and the
In mid-February, without Joint Chiefs of Staff were
public announcement, the advising the White House
1965 United States began a that the United States
Many of Johnson’s advisers
campaign of sustained air would have to commit its
now began to argue for
strikes against the North own troops for combat if it
some sort of retaliation
that were code-named wished to forestall a
against the North.
Rolling Thunder. communist victory.
 US Troops Enter the War
In late July Johnson took
the final steps that would
commit the United States
to full-scale war in 1966
Vietnam: he authorized the More than 185 000 US an additional 100,000 US
dispatch of 100,000 troops troops set foot and in troops were dispatched in
immediately combat in Vietnam 1966
 US Troops Enter the War
By the end of 1966, the
United States had dropped
1967
By the end of 1966 the the communists decided on
more bombs on North
United States had already a bold stroke that would
Vietnam than it had
lost almost 500 aircraft and cripple the Saigon
dropped on Japan during
hundreds of air crewmen government and destroy
World War II and more
killed or held as prisoners once and for all American
than it had dropped during
of war. expectations of success.
the entire Korean War
 US Troops Enter the War
To distract attention from
their preparations and 1968 In late January 1968, two
attract U.S. forces away More than half a million of
North Vietnamese divisions
from the large cities, the US troops were already in
began a prolonged
communists launched Vietnam fighting in
offensive against the
diversionary attacks Vietnam soil.
Marine base at Khe Sanh,
 US Troops Enter the War
January 31, while
Although Johnson and his
approximately 50,000 U.S.
advisers had painstakingly
and South Vietnamese
examined the question of
troops were occupied in
Although US is advance in committing military forces
defending or supporting
military tactic and power to Vietnam they had given
Khe Sanh and other DMZ
they still face two major little thought tothe
bases, the communists
problems that stops their question of what the troops
launched an offensive
goal in Vietnam. might do once they arrived.
throughout South Vietnam.
 US Troops Enter the War
In order to deny the NVA
Washington declared that and Viet Cong the use of
the war was being won, but dense forest to conceal
American casualties their movements and to
continued to mount, and hide their supply lines and
much of what the public bases, the U.S. Air Force
could see of the war on sprayed millions of gallons
War of attrition strategy of
television appeared of a herbicide called Agent
Westmoreland
confusing if not futile. Orange
 The United States Withdraws
1960
The war grew increasingly
against the United States, 1969 1969
young people began to Hanoi announced that it President Nixon began
protest about the was prepared to talk to the withdrawing from the
tremendous amount of Americans. Discussions Vietnam
lives lost because of the began in Paris on May 13
bombing. but led nowhere.
 The United States Withdraws
Nixon supply bombing to
the North Vietnamese
bases and supply routes
Vietnamization – a plan more than 500,000 U.S.
that also leads to the
created by the US to military personnel were
bombing of neighboring
gradually pull out their stationed in Vietnam.
Laos and Cambodia to
soldier living the South
destroy Vietcong hiding
Vietnamese in combat.
place.
 The United States Withdraws

1973 The war ended, but more

The last troops of United that 1.5 million Vietnamese
states left Vietnam and 58 000 Americans died
in the war.
 PostWar Southeast Asia
Combodia (Kampuchea) was under the power of Communist rebels, and during the
war suffers bombing from the US because it is used as one of the hideouts of Vietcong
and North Vietnamese.

1975
Khmer Rouge – set up a
brutal Communist
government in Cambodia
into a under the rule of Pol
Pot.
In his attempt to make
Cambodia a communist 1978
The Vietnamese invaded
country his men Cambodia
slaughtered 2 million
people
 PostWar Southeast Asia
They overthrew Khmer
Rouge from its place and
installed a less repressive
government.
1993
Cambodia under the
1989 supervision of United
The Vietnamese withdrew
from Cambodia Nation slowly became a
democratic country.
PostWar Southeast Asia On one hand, the
January 1979 and Vietnamese entry into
Vietnamese forces have Cambodia helped stopped
invaded their Western the devastating massacres
Invasion or neighbor, Cambodia, by the Khmer Rouge under
Liberation? interrupting the plans of leader Pol Pot. On the other
the violent Communist hand, this Cambodian -
Party of Kampuchea, also Vietnamese War was more
known as the Khmer than just a battle to end Pol
Rouge. Pot’s wrath.
 The United States Withdraws

North imposed a tight hold They renamed Saigon the Communist oppression
in the south, building South’s former capital to resulted to around 1.5
‘reeducation camps’ for Ho Chi Minh City. million immigrants to flee
training in Communist Vietnam riding on
thought. dangerously overcrowded
ships.
 The United States Withdraws
200 000 “boat people” died
in the sea survivors often
stayed as a refugee in the
camps in Southeast Asia, 70
000 eventually settled in
United States or Canada.
1995
Communist still governs
Vietnam, but it is
eventually open for trade
relations with other
country and especially with
US.
as many as 2 million
civilians on both sides and
some 1.1 million North
Vietnamese and Viet Cong
fighters. The U.S. military
has estimated that between
200,000 and 250,000 South
Vietnamese soldiers died in
the war.
 The United States Withdraws
1982 Among other countries that
the Vietnam Veterans
Over the following years, fought for South Vietnam
Memorial was dedicated in
additions to the list have on a smaller scale, South
Washington, D.C., inscribed
brought the total past Korea suffered more than
with the names of 57,939
58,200. (At least 100 names 4,000 dead, Thailand about
members of U.S. armed
on the memorial are those 350, Australia more than
forces who had died or
of servicemen who were 500, and New Zealand
were missing as a result of
actually Canadian citizens.) some three dozen.
the war.
 Vietnam emerged from the war as a potent military power within Southeast Asia,
but its agriculture, business, and industry were disrupted, large parts of its
countryside were scarred by bombs and defoliation and laced with land mines,
and its cities and towns were heavily damaged.

A mass exodus in 1975 of people loyal to the South Vietnamese cause was
followed by another wave in 1978 of “boat people,” refugees fleeing the economic
restructuring imposed by the communist regime.

Meanwhile, the United States, its military demoralized and its civilian electorate
deeply divided, began a process of coming to terms with defeat in what had been
its longest and most controversial war. The two countries finally resumed formal
diplomatic relations in 1995.
Weapons Used in the war