Korean and Vietnam Wars

Mr. HardyRMS IB Middle School

READ & LEARN• Read pages 397-399 and pages 415-417 in the History Alive textbook. • After reading, carefully examine the map on page 401 and answer the

following questions.1) Based on what you have read, explain the term, “proxy war.” Do not look

up the meaning.2) Do you see a pattern in the places cold war conflicts took place?3) Defend the argument, that the cold war was in reality a hot war.

• Be sure to fully explain your answer with details and examples!

Korean War

• Japan controlled the territory throughout World War II- after their defeat – Soviet Union controlled Northern areas– USA under UN controlled Southern Areas

• 1950 North Korean troops entered South Korea (with Soviet Union’s help)

• UN Troops fought back all the way to the Chinese border.• China entered the war and pushed the UN troops back• 1953- cease fire signed creating the DMZ- demilitarized zone

Comparison of the Two Koreas

North Korea• Once Communist based

Government, now totalitarian (totally controlled by the government)

• Korean Worker’s Party• Dicator- Kim Jong Il• Economy- Run by the state

South Korea• Government divided into 3

branches• President- 5 year term and

head of the govt.• Economy- “Production,

Exports, and Construction!”• Western Influence

Kim Jong Il • Dictator of North Korea, • 1994-2011• Under his regime, North Korea

was charged with many human rights violations– Starvation– Public executions– Slave labor

• Very secretive society• Nuclear program against UN

policies created before the Korean War

• Died in December 2011- Son, Kim Jong Un took over North Korea

USA and North Korean relations

• Struggle to keep peace and communication open between the nations.

• See what President Obama has to say about North Korea missile program.– What was President Obama’s warning to North

Korea’s government?– How did he describe looking into North Korean

territory?– Do you agree that nuclear weapons should not be

used?

Vietnam War

• Controlled by France during Imperialist Era• Known as French Indo-China• 1954- peace agreement between the French

and Vietnamese– Created 2 countries– Communist- North Vietnam– Non-Communist- South Vietnam

• 1957- Vietnam War breaks out– Battle between the 2 for control of the nations

French Indochina

• French Indochina war lasts from 1947-1954.• French lose to Communist Viet Minh.

Ho Chi MinhLeader of the Viet Minh

Ho Chi Minh and Võ Nguyên Giáp, thegeneral who would eventually defeatboth the French and Americans.This photo was taken during their time fightingfighting the Japanese during World War 2.

Ho Chi Minh was born in French Indo-China in 1890. He became active in the communist party while living in France in the 1920s. He was the first president of North Vietnam from 1945 until his death in 1969.

French Indochina War

• BATTLE OF DIEN BIEN PHU – LASTED FOR 56 DAYS. FRENCH SURRENDER TO VIET MINH BRINGS PEACE TREATY AND FRENCH EXIT FROM INDOCHINA.

VIETNAM WAR

AMERICAN MILITARY LEARNS NOTHING FROM FRENCH DEFEAT AT DIEN BIEN PHU.

• U.S. MARINES WILL REPEAT ALMOST THE SAME THING AT THE BATTLE OF KHE SANH IN 1968.

FRENCH 1954 AMERICANS 1968

Vietnam War Cont. • United States become involved in the early 1960s. • 1963- 16,300 U.S. military “advisors.”• 1965 – 50,000 U.S. Marines enter South Vietnam• 1968 – 536,000 U.S. troops in South Vietnam

Why did the U.S. go to war in South Vietnam? The U.S. government felt it had a duty to protect all countries

from communism. It was part of the cold war policy of containment. The U.S. government believed if one country fell to communism, so would its neighbors, one after the other. This became known as the “Domino Theory.”

U.S. Involvement In Vietnam

• U.S. involvement in Vietnam caused massive civil unrest in the United States.

• Not since the American Civil War, had the country been so divided.

• There were huge protests and riots around the country in opposition to the war and the draft and the U.S. invasion of Cambodia and the spread of the war into Laos.

• The draft was forced conscription in to the army.

Opposition to Vietnam War• USA citizens divided on whether or not to

become involved in the war.• Many felt it was not “our place” to become

involved.• Protests- Kent State• Music –OHIO by Crosby, Stills, Nash, &Young.

Fall of VietnamU.S. troops began to turn the defense over to

the South Vietnamese military and leave Vietnam. This process of turning over Vietnam to the Vietnamese was called Vietnamization.

• By 1972, there were only about 24,000 U.S. troops left in Vietnam.

• 1975- North Vietnam takes full control of the country.

• Following the Vietnam War, the entire peninsula becomes communist.

• The Vietnam war had ended in defeat and failure for the United States. Vietnam was a united communist country, and it had cost 58,156 U.S. deaths, and over 400,000 North Vietnamese and Viet Cong deaths. Approximately 587,000 Vietnamese civilians had been killed.

North Vietnamese tank in Saigon, nowknown as Ho Chi Minh City.

OptionalComparison Cartoons

• Each person will be assigned 1 topic to depict in their cartoon

• The cartoon must be composed of 3 slides that depict your assigned topic.

• Your cartoons must be colored• Must include a caption or quote on each slide.