WHIB Zimbabwe & Vietnam

Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos

• Rainy season, May - October

• Hot

• Humid

France

Vietnam

• 1893

  • Merger of Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos

Replaced emperor with Republic of China

• 1887-93

• Local leaders as figureheads

• FR actually in control

French strategy of playing colonies against each other

• 1884-5

• French wins

• Gained North Vietnam

• Rubber

• Mining

111 BC - 939 AD

Gave Vietnam wariness of Chinese control

• Vietnamese revolutionary

• Lead 1885-95 revolt in VN

French colony in Southern Vietnam, part of French Indochina

• Revolt against FR in southern VN

• Part of the uprising intended to free the mystic Phan Xich Long from prison

• Failed

• Religion founded in 1921, split apart in 1946

• Militarily active in both Indochina Wars

• Started as a publishing house, which failed due to French censorship

• Party founded 1927

• Modeled on the Kuomintang of China

• Assassinated colonial leaders

• Led Yen Bai mutiny

• Declined after Yen Bai mutiny

• 1929

• Done by Nationalist Party of Vietnam

• Alfred Bazin was a hated labor recruiter

• Led to crackdown on Nationalist Party, many of its leaders were arrested

• 1930

• Vietnamese soldiers in the French army mutinied

• Failed when other Vietnamese soldiers did not join in

• Led to executions of Nationalist Party leadership

• 1941

• Founded by Ho Chi Minh and the Indochinese Communist Party

• Political Leader: Ho Chi Minh

• Military Leader: Vo Nguyen Giap

• Started as a French-administered territory of Japan

• 1940: FR allows Japan to station 30k troops in VN

• 1945: Japan, fearing FR betrayal, ousts FR and allows Bao Dai to declare (nominal) independence

• 1945: Viet Minh lead August Revolution

• Emperor of Vietnam, 1913-45

• French puppet, then Japanese puppet (nominally as the Empire of Vietnam)

• Abdicated in 1945 August Revolution

• Chief of State for State of VN

• Causes:

  • Flooding (compounded by dike damage after US bombing)

  • French price ceilings on rice (farmers did not make enough to buy new rice)

  • 140k Japanese troops eating the rice

  • US airstrikes on infrastructure

• Viet Minh encouraged attacking Japanese granaries, gained popularity

Groups created during the 1945 famine by the Viet Minh. Took over local administration during and after the August Revolution

• 1945, immediately after Japanese surrender in WWII

• Against Empire of Vietnam and Empire of Japan

• Led by Viet Minh

• Resulted in declaration of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam

• Smooth victory in northern VN, but faced challenges in more diverse south

  • Large divisions in south as the Cao Dai, Hoa Hao, and Trotskyists were active there

• Done by Office of Strategic Services (CIA precursor)

• “Deer Team” trained Viet Minh fighters

• Airdropped weapons and ammo

• North Vietnam

• Governed by the Viet Minh

• 1945 (August Revolution) - 1976 (end of 2nd Indochina War)

• Opposed FR-backed State of Vietnam

• Many parties were barred from participating

• 2 opposition parties: Viet Quoc and Viet Cach

• Misinformation

• Viet Minh won majority

• History of resisting foreign rule (Chinese rule until 938)

• Vietnamese paid for development of French interests

• The French required taxes to be paid in currency, but Vietnam was largely subsistence farming

• Forced labor by French

• French monopolies

• System of forced labor for a certain number of days each year

• French used it in Vietnam to construct infrastructure

• Salt, opium, and alcohol

• Provided 44% of budget in 1920

Gave French an interest in continuing opium use

• 1946-54

• GB refused to recognize the DRV

• FR overthrew local DRV government in Saigon

• US provided aid to FR

• Spent a year as an insurgency-style war, before escalating into conventional warfare

• Ended after Battle of Dien Bien Phu

• Ended with VN split into North and South VN

• DRV vs FR, Cao Dai, Hoa Hao, and Binh Xuyen

• 1954 battle at Dien Bien Phu

• Viet Minh (led by Vo Nguyen Giap) vs FR (w/ US support) and State of VN

• Viet Minh hauled artillery to the battle

  • Dug tunnels to hide artillery while not firing

• FR relied on airdropped supplies

  • Believed Viet Minh had no anti-air guns (they were wrong)

• Viet Minh initially planned an assault, but canceled it and switched to siege tactics

  • Destroyed FR positions w/ artillery

• Battle ended with a massed charge by Viet Minh

• Triggered Geneva Conference

1954 accords splitting Indochina

• Religion founded in 1939

• Incorporates elements of Bhuddism

• Founded by Huynh Phu So

• Fought in both Indochina Wars

Founder of Hoa Hao

• Assassinated by the Viet Minh after they realized he would not join them

• Led to decline of Hoa Hao’s political and military power and factionalism in Hoa Hao

• Caused Hoa Hao to join FR in 1st Indochina War

• Criminal organization

• Initially fought against FR in 1st Indochina War

• Switched sides when Bao Dai named non-communist armies independent armies in the national army and gave a rank to its leader Bay Vien

Leader of Binh Xuyen during the 1st Indochina War

• 1949-1955

• FR-controlled until 1954

• South VN

• Chief of State: Bao Dai

Theory that if one east Asian country became communist, the rest would

Succeeded State of Vietnam in 1955 after Geneva Accords

• President of South Vietnam from 1955 to 1963 (when he was assassinated)

• Catholic

  • Favored Catholics, leading to conflict with Buddhists

• US-backed

• Removed emperor Bao Dai

• Corruption in his family

  • His brother Can was involved in rice smuggling and the opium trade

• Eliminated private armies (Cao Cai, Hoa Hao, Binh Xuyen) at great expense

• Suppressed opposition - Had right to ban candidates from elections

Opposition leader under Diem. Allowed to run in 1959 elections, but arrested after victory

• Newspaper could not publish independent candidates’ names or policies

• No political meetings with more than 5 people

• Candidates threatened with charges of conspiracy with the VC, a capital offense

• 1954-6: Executed 13k+ landowners

• Collectivized farms

  • Largely unsuccessful

• Attempted industrialization

• Officially the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam

• Allied with the Viet Minh

• Created by Viet Minh in 1960

• Active in South VN

• Intentionally left peasants untouched while fighting SVN

Army of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam’s army)

• Large

• Low morale

• Corruption

• Dependent on US aid

• Ill-prepared for counter-insurgency

• Poor

• Large landowners

Vietnam War

• Start: 1955

• First major US deployment: 1965

• US leaves: 1973

• War ends: 1975

Road network running from North to South that let the VM supply the VC

• 1962

• Relocated peasants into villages to isolate them from communist influence

• Ran by Pham Ngoc Thao, who was actually a communist agent and deliberately made the plan fail

• Failed, alienated peasants

Communist sleeper agent who ran the Strategic Hamlet program in south VN.

• Failed

• Caused by politicization of the military

• Diem trapped inside his Independence Palace, but stalled until relief troops arrived

Failed attempt to kill Diem

• Diem’s brother who had no official position, but had immense power

• Led Xa Loi Pagoda Raids

• Killed in 1963 coup.

1963 raids by ARVN special forces on Buddhist pagodas. Orchestrated by Diem’s brother Nhu

• 1963

• Followed the Xa Loi Pagoda Raids

• US wanted Nhu out of power

• Gave permission for a coup if Nhu was not removed

• Diem and his brother Nhu assassinated

• US-backed

• Allowed by Cable 243

• Established military junta

1963 unrest by Buddhists, ended with 1963 coup

Buddhist monk who burned himself to death during the Buddhist Crisis

• Ousted junta

• Bloodless

• Led by disgruntled generals

• Surprised US, but portrayed positively by media

South VN land redistribution program in early 1970s

South East Asia Treaty Organization, fought in 2nd Indochina War

• 1964

• Confrontation between US and VM

• US falsely claimed a second incident occurred

• Led to Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and escalation of the war

1964 US resolution supporting US involvement in 2nd Indochina War

• 1965-8

• US bombing campaign

• Intended to boost South VN morale and hurt VM’s capability to support VC

• Countered when VM received Soviet anti-air defenses, such as surface-to-air missiles

• Seal off areas and saturates them with troops

• Failed

• Hurt civilians

• Provided civic programs and aid

• Effective, but limited in scope

• Soviet interceptor aircraft

• Given to VM in 1967

• Countered Operation Rolling Thunder

• VM and VC had bases and troops in Cambodia

• 1970 campaign

• US and ARVN operations in Cambodia

• Mostly failed

• 1968 siege (5 months)

• VC attacked a US base meant to block Ho Chi Minh Trail

• Technically a VC victory, but they took 10-15k KIA

• Distracted from buildup to Tet Offensive

• 1968 VC offensive

• Massive and widespread

• Tet (the new year) is a time of truce

• ARVN held out until reinforced by US

• “Failed,” as VC attempted conventional warfare

• Turned US opinion against the war and led to peace talks

• VC had placed many traps

• Increasing casualties

• Growing drug use

• Increase in fragging (killed unpopular officers with a frag grenade)

• Increase in desertion

• 1968

• 400-500 civilians dead

• Grew VC support

• 200k more troops

• Attacks on Cambodia and Laos

• Rejected

• 1968-1973

• US stops bombing in 1968 but resumes in 1971 to encourage negotiation

• Took office 1969

• Planned to withdraw

• US plan to make South VN self-sufficient

• Nixon’s withdrawal plan

• Failure

Switched to conventional warfare

• Final VC campaign

• Victorious

• Chaotic South VN retreat

Marxist for developing nations

Maoist military strategy for protracted war. Adapted by Vo Nguyen Giap

1. Preparation

2. Guerrilla warfare

3. Conventional warfare, capture geographic and political objectives

• Standard issue US rifle from 1957-67

• Heavy and long → unwieldy

• Wooden stock swelled in Vietnamese jungles → hurting accuracy

• Could fire full auto, but unusable when doing so due to recoil

• Replaced by M16

• Outclassed by AK-47s

• US standard issue rifle after 1967 (including M16A1)

• Replaced M14

• Lighter than M14, no wooden parts

• Military version of the AR15

• Mass-produced

• Unreliable during early use

• Supplied to North VN by USSR

• Standard VC rifle

• Cheap

• Outclassed M14s

• Superseded by AKM (also used in 2nd Indochina War, though less often)

• 1978

• Vietnam vs Khmer Rouge (led by Pol Pot)

• Vietnam stopped Cambodian Genocide

• 1979

• Vietnam vs China

• Response to Cambodian-Vietnamese War

  • China wanted VN out of Cambodia

• ~1 month long

• Harmed relations between the 2 countries

300k South Vietnamese sent to reeducation camps

Vietnamese secret police

• Pre-1975 works banned to counter western influence

• New works commissioned by government

• Government controlled media

• 1991

• USSR was biggest trade partner

• Only state-run churches allowed

• Land seized from Protestant Montagnards and Hoa Haoists

• 1975-90

• 1M+ people left on boats

• Used so many boats it hurt the fishing industry

• 1990: Ended when gov allow emigration

• 90% same ethnic group

• 80% rural peasants

• Elected legislature

• Candidates chosen by Communist Party

• Had experienced leaders

• 1975-85

• Heavy industry and state-owned farms

• Businesses nationalized