Strategy of Revolutionary War

Lesson Objectives

• Understand the Vietnam War as part of the Cold War.

• Be able to describe the evolution of U.S. policy toward Indochina from

Presidents Roosevelt to Eisenhower.

• Understand and describe the challenges posed by the Democratic

Republic of Vietnam (DRV) against the south.

• Understand and describe the situation in the Republic of Vietnam (RVN)

after 1959 and the RVN reaction to the challenge from the north.

• Understand the doctrine of limited war and counterinsurgency as

espoused by the Kennedy Administration.

• Understand the timeline of events that led to U.S. involvement in

Southeast Asia.
The Vietnam War
 The Vietnam War

To understand the Vietnam War, you only need two books:

Link Link

Both are available online

 The Vietnam War

Technically, The Second Indochina War

or

The Southeast Asia War

French Indochina
Southeast Asia

Central Highlands

The Delta
 Terms

Viet Minh: Communist independence movement in Vietnam, founded 1941

VC: Viet Cong, political/military insurgent group in South Vietnam (1959-1975)

NLF: National Liberation Front, formal name for Viet Cong

COSVN: Central Office for South Vietnam, US term for NLF HQ

DRV: Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam)

PAVN: Peoples Army of Vietnam (North Vietnamese Army, also NVA)

RVN: Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam)

ARVN: Army of the Republic of Vietnam

Surrender Ceremony
Tokyo Bay, September 2, 1945

Newsreel - 8:36
 First Indochina War
1945 - 1954

vs.

Viet Minh France

Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DVR)

Declared September 2, 1945

Ho Chi Minh
1890 - 1969
 Vietnamese
Declaration of Independence

Hanoi - September 2, 1945

"All men are created equal. They are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable
rights; among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness."

This immortal statement was made in the Declaration of Independence of the United
States of America in 1776. In a broader sense, this means: All the peoples on the earth
are equal from birth, all the peoples have a right to live, to be happy and free.

The Declaration of the French Revolution made in 1791 on the Rights of Man and the
Citizen also states: "All men are born free and with equal rights, and must always remain
free and have equal rights."

<snip> Source
 Ho Chi Minh

George Washington or Joe Stalin?

 Ho Chi Minh

Born Nguyen Sinh Cung (May 19, 1890)

Adopted name “Ho Chi Minh around 1940 in China

Chi = spirit Minh = light => “~ enlightened spirit”
 Ho Chi Minh

Ho Chi Minh with American OSS* agents

Formed Viet Minh in 1941 as an independence movement

Fought against French, then Japanese in WW II

* Office of Strategic Services (forerunner of CIA)

 Indochina

Truman pledged to return Indochina to France after WW II

 First Indochina War
1945 - 1954

vs.

Viet Minh France

Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DVR)

Declared September 2, 1945

Viet Minh began a long, bitter war with French

Ho Chi Minh
1890 - 1969
• US supported France
• Chinese Communists, USSR supported Viet Minh

Was fought as a guerilla war …

A war of national liberation
What if …
HANOI FEBRUARY 26 1946

TELEGRAM

PRESIDENT HOCHIMINH VIETNAM DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC HANOI

TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA WASHINGTON DC

ON BEHALF OF THE VIETNAMESE GOVERNMENT AND PEOPLE I BEG TO INFORM YOU

THAT IN THE COURSE OF CONVERSION BETWEEN VIETNAMESE GOVERNMENT AND FRENCH

REPRESENTATIVES THE LATTER REQUIRE THE SECESSION OF COCHINCHINA AND THE

RETUN OF FRENCH TROOPS IN HANOI STOP MEANWHILE FRENCH POPULATION AND TROOPS

ARE MAKING ACTIVE PREPARATIONS FOR A COUP DE MAIN IN HANOI AND

FOR MILITARY AGGRESSION STOP I THEREFORE MOST EARNESTLY APPEAL TO YOU

PERSONALLY AND TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE TO INTERFERE URGENTLY IN SUPPORT

OF OUR INDEPENDENCE AND HELP MAKING THE NEGOTIATIONS MORE IN KEEPING WITH

THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ATLANTIC AND SAN FRANCISCO CHARTERS.

RESPECTFULLY

HOCHIMINH
 Viet Minh Strategy

Strategy of Revolutionary War

Objective: The seizure of power in a nation-state …
… by any means possible

Characteristics:
• Integrated military conflict and political conflict
• War on multiple fronts
• Geographical
• Programmatic
 Strategy of Revolutionary War

Characteristics of Political Conflict

• Political, diplomatic, psychological, ideological,
sociological, economic components
• Three programs
• Mobilize people into conflict
• Undermine morale, loyalty of population
• Undermine morale, loyalty of state military
 Strategy of Revolutionary War

Phase I: Targeted state stronger militarily

• Revolutionaries avoid combat
• Guerrilla war: raids, ambushes, sabotage, terrorism
• Political conflict predominant

Phase II: Rough military parity

• Combined guerrilla and conventional war
• Military and political conflict equally important

Phase III: Revolution stronger than targeted state

• Revolutionary forces go to totally conventional war
• “General Offensive” linked to political “Great Uprising”
 Strategy of Revolutionary War

General Characteristics

• It is a total war
• It is waged with total unity of effort
• It is, by necessity and choice, a protracted war
• It stresses gaining and keeping the initiative
• It is a changing war (shift between phases)
• It is a mosaic war (different phases, different areas)

Davidson
 First Indochina War
1945 - 1954

vs.

Viet Minh France

After end of Korean War (July 1953), China

* funneled aid to the Viet Minh

Conflict transitioned to Phase III revolutionary war

War ended with defeat of French forces

at Dien Bien Phu (May 7, 1954)
 Dien Bien Phu

“ … greatest defeat in French history.”

 Significance: First Indochina War

Did not settle principle issues over which it was fought:

• Political unity of Vietnam
• Vietnam's independence from foreign influence
Created basis for second war

Dictated the way that war would be fought

• Strategy that worked against French would work against US

- First Indochina war judged insignificant by US military

- - Only after US was bogged down was there an interest in this war

George Herring Lecture: First Indochina War

 (55:37)
 Geneva Accords
April 27, 1954

Viet Minh State of Vietnam

Divided Vietnam into two independently

administered parts

Unification to follow elections in July 1956

US did not support the accords

 Geneva Accords
April 27, 1954

Viet Minh State of Vietnam

"In connection with the statement in the Declaration concerning free

elections in Vietnam, my government wishes to make clear its position
which it has expressed in a Declaration made in Washington on June 29,
1954, as follows: 'In the case of nations now divided against their will, we
shall continue to seek unity through free elections, supervised by the
United Nations to ensure they are conducted fairly'"

U.S. Under-Secretary of State Walter Bedell Smith

The elections never occurred

 Vietnam

17th parallel
 So why did we get
involved in Vietnam?
Roots of U.S. Strategic Mindset
For Vietnam War

• Munich
 Legacy of Munich

No historical event has exerted more influence on

post-World War II U.S. use-of-force decisions than
the Anglo-French appeasement of Nazi Germany
that led to the outbreak of the Second World War.

Jeffrey Record
“Appeasement Reconsidered: Investigating the Mythology of the
30’s”
US Army Strategic Studies Institute, August 2005
 Legacy of Munich

DoD Orientation Film (1965 )

( 31:01 )
Roots of U.S. Strategic Mindset
For Vietnam War

• Munich
• Truman Doctrine (Containment)
 Truman Doctrine
March 12, 1947

 (2:30)

US foreign policy designed to stop spread of Communism

Pledged to provide economic and military aid to Greece and Turkey
US foreign policy transitioned from détent to

containment
Roots of U.S. Strategic Mindset
For Vietnam War

• Munich
• Truman Doctrine (Containment)
• Chinese Intervention in Korea
 Korean War

Approaching the Yalu River

October-November 1950
 Korean War
China Enters the War
November 1950 - January 1951
Roots of U.S. Strategic Mindset
For Vietnam War

• Munich
• Truman Doctrine (Containment)
• Chinese Intervention in Korea
• Domino Theory
 Domino Theory

Term coined by President Dwight D. Eisenhower

(April 7, 1954)

Described how, if one country in Asia fell to

Communism, others would follow in succession.
• Munich
• Truman Doctrine (Containment)
• Chinese Intervention in Korea
• Domino Theory
• Cuban Missile Crisis
 Why Vietnam?

What were the U.S. objectives in Vietnam?

Stated: Preserve a non-Communist government in South Vietnam

Understood: Containment
 U.S. Post-WW II Attitude

Nuclear weapons nullified all previous military theory

• Total war (nuclear) unthinkable
• Future wars would be limited

Problem:
One country’s limited war = Another country’s total war
 U.S. Attitude Toward Vietnam

Eisenhower (1954-1961): US Military Assistance

• Trained ARVN to resist cross-border invasion

Kennedy (1961-1963): Counterinsurgency

• Resisted by US military leaders

Johnson (1963-1969): Limited War

• Attempted to force North Vietnam to negotiate

Nixon (1969-1973): Vietnamization

• Increased pressure on North Vietnam to negotiate
 South Vietnam

The Republic of Vietnam

 Ngo Dinh Diem

1901 - 1963

President of Republic of Vietnam (RVn)

1955-1963
 Ngo Dinh Diem

Led effort to establish RVn after Geneva Accords

Elected president in 1955
Catholic in a majority Buddhist nation
Staunchly anti-Communist
Supported by US in early years
 Ngo Dinh Diem
Instituted unpopular strategic hamlet program (1961)
Took a hard line against Buddhist majority
Protests put down violently
World-wide attention from monk’s self-immolation (June 1963)

This plus growing insurgency caused US to lose faith in Diem

 Ngo Dinh Diem

Toppled by US-sanctioned coup (November 2, 1963)

He and his brother assassinated by generals

• Not US intention
RVn plagued by series of coups over next few years

• Counterinsurgency effort faltered

US reconsidered its strategy in Vietnam

Cronkite, Vietnam War

Seeds of War - 14:38 - 22:38
 Viet Cong
“Vietnamese Communists”

National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam (NLF)

• Local insurgent forces fighting against the Republic of Vietnam

• Founded 1960 (some mark this as start of 2nd Indochina War)

 North Vietnam

Democratic Republic of Vietnam ( DRV )

 Timeline

Mar 59 Ho Chi Minh declares People’s War to unite Vietnam

May 59 DRV establishes Central Office of South Vietnam (COSVN)

 Oversee coming war in South Vietnam

May 59 NVA* unit established to construct, maintain Ho Chi Minh Trail

Apr 60 DVR establishes universal conscription “for the duration”

The Stage is Set

* North Vietnamese Army

 References

Col. Harry G. Summers, USA (Ret)

On Strategy: A Critical Analysis of the Vietnam War

Interview with Harry Summers:

http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/conversations/Summers/summers2.html

Lt. Gen. Phillip B. Davidson, USA (Ret)

Secrets of the Vietnam War
Vietnam: In Search of a Strategy
 Lesson Objectives

• Understand the timeline of events that led to the decision for major U.S.
troop deployments to Southeast Asia in 1965.

• Be able to articulate the issues and discussions surrounding the 1965

decision to escalate the war in Vietnam.

• Understand the evolution of U.S. objectives and strategy for the

Vietnam War.
End
 Terms

Viet Minh: Communist independence movement in Vietnam, founded 1941

VC: Viet Cong, political/military insurgent group in South Vietnam (1959-1975)

NLF: National Liberation Front, formal name for Viet Cong

COSVN: Central Office for South Vietnam, US term for NLF HQ

DRV: Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam)

PAVN: Peoples Army of Vietnam (North Vietnamese Army, also NVA)

RVN: Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam)

ARVN: Army of the Republic of Vietnam