War in Korea and Vietnam

Chapter 17 Section 3

Main Idea

• In Asia, the Cold War flared into actual wars supported mainly by the superpowers

Why It Matters Now

• Today, Vietnam is a Communist country and Korea is split into Communist and non-communist nations.

Setting the Stage

• When WWII ended, Korea became a divided nation.

• North of the 38th parallel, Japanese troops surrendered to the Soviets.

• South of this line, the Japanese surrendered to the Americans.

• As in Germany, two nations developed.• One was communist (North) & One was Non-

Communist (South)

War In Korea

• By 1949 both superpowers had withdrawn most of their troops from Korea.

• USSR banked on the US not defending South Korea.

• So they supplied North Korea with military and economic aid in hopes they would take over the peninsula.

Standoff at the 38th parallel

• On June 25, 1950 North Korea crossed the 38th parallel in a surprise attack on South Korea.

• President Truman this aggression was not different than that of Axis powers from WWII.

• His containment policy was being put to the test.

• He resolved to help South Korea resist Communist influence.

Standoff at the 38th parallel

• South Korea also asked the U.N. to intervene.• When the vote came to the Security Council the

Soviets were boycotting the council to protest the seating of Taiwan and not mainland China.

• Thus giving up their chance to Veto any action taken by the U.N.

• The U.N. plan of action was to send a international force to Korea to stop the Invasion. 15 nations under the leadership of Douglas MacArthur.

Standoff at the 38th parallel

• Meanwhile, North Korea was continuing its advances into South Korea.

• By Sept. 1950, they controlled the entire peninsula except for a tiny part around the city of Pusan.

• This same month However, MacArthur launches a surprise attack and his troops are able to move North; Half of the North Army surrendered. The rest retreated.

The Fighting Continues

• The U.N. Army pushed the North Koreans back across the 38th parallel and into North Korea.

• By Late November the UN troops have pushed the North Koreans all the way to the Chinese border.

• These troops are mostly from the US.

The Fighting Continues

• The Chinese now feel threaten by the American fleet of their coast and by their borders.

• They send 300,000 troops to aid North Korea.

• The fight between North and South Korea has now become a war between the United States and China.

The Fighting Continues

• The Chinese greatly outnumbered the UN troops and begun to drive them South out of North Korea.

• They eventually capture the Capital city of Seoul.• General MacArthur wanted to drop nuclear

bombs on Chinese cities.• The President did not agree. He said, “We are

trying to prevent a World War, not start one.”• MacArthur tried using congress and the press to

go over the Presidents authority.

The Fighting Continues

• In response, the President fires General Douglas MacArthur.

• Over the next two years the UN forces fight to drive the North Koreans back across the 38th parallel.

• By 1952 the UN recaptures Seoul and regains control of South Korea.

The Fighting Continues

• In July of 1953, the UN and North Korean forces sign a cease-fire agreement.

• After 3 years of fighting, the borders between these two nations was set near the 38th parallel.

• This is almost where it had been before the war. But about 5 million people had died.

Aftermath and Legacy of the War

• After the war Korea remain divided into two different countries.

• In North Korean, the communist dictator Kim Il Sung established collective farms, developed heavy industry, and built up military power.

• Kim died in 1994, his son Kim Jong Il ascended into power.

• Under Kim Jong Il, North Korea has developed Nuclear weapons.

Aftermath and Legacy of the War

• But they also have huge economic problems and shortages of energy and food for the people in the country.

• South Korea has prospered, thanks to the massive aid by the US and other countries.

• At first they had a few dictators who ruled the country, but in 1987 they adopted a Democratic Constitution and established free elections.

Aftermath and Legacy of the War

• During the 1980’s and 1990’s South Korea had one of the highest economic growth rates in the world.

• Political differences keep these two countries apart.

War in Vietnam

• Like in Korea, war in Vietnam stemmed from the American Cold War policy of Containment.

• The Americans had one goal, to stop the spread of Communism.

• By 1950 the US was providing Vietnam financial aid, advisers, and 1/2 million soldiers.

• The US aim was to prevent Southeast Asia embracing Communism, like China had done.

The Road to War

• In the early 1900’s France controlled most of Southeast Asia.

• Independence movements had begun in French Indochina (Vietnam) when Ho Chi Minh turned to Communism for help.

• During the 1930’s Ho’s Indochinese Communist party led revolts and strikes against the French.

The Road to War

• The French responded by jailing the Vietnamese protesters.

• The French also sentenced Ho Chi Minh to death.• Ho fled his death sentence, but still inspired

Vietnam’s Nationalist movements.• Ho returned to Vietnam in 1941, a year after the

Japanese took over the country.• He formed the Vietminh (independence) League.• The Japanese left Vietnam in 1945.

War Breaks Out

• Ho Chi Minh believed Independence would follow the absence of Japan, but France intended to regain its former colony.

• The Vietnamese Nationalist and Communists joined to fight the French.

• French held most major cities, but were powerless in the countryside.

• There the Vietminh had widespread support.• Vietminh used hit and run tactics, to confine the

French to the cities.

War Breaks Out

• The French people began to questions if the colony was worth the money and lives lost.

• In 1954 the French lost a major military defeat at Dien Bien Phu, They surrendered to Ho.

• The US had been supporting France and now saw a rising threat in Southeast Asia. It was described as the Domino Theory.

• The fall of one Southeast Asian country would lead to the fall of another and another.

War Breaks Out

• After France’s defeat an international peace conference took place in Geneva to discuss the future of Indochina.

• The result was Vietnam would be divided at 17* north latitude.

• North of this line would be Ho Chi Minh’s Communist forces and the South would be the US and France’s anti-communist government lead by Ngo Dinh Diem.

Vietnam- A Divided Country

• Diem ruled South Vietnam as a dictator.• Ho Chi Minh began a popular land

redistribution program.• US feared Diem would lose in a election, so

the US supported the elections cancellation.• The Vietnamese oppositions to Diem’s

corrupt Government began to grow.• Communist Guerrillas, called Vietcong gained

strength in the Southern Vietnam.

Vietnam- A Divided Country

• Some Vietcong were trained soldiers from the North, but most were from the South and hated Diem.

• In 1963, backed by the US, a group of South Vietnamese generals overthrew and assassinated Diem.

• The new leaders were no more popular then Diem.

• A Communist take over now seemed inevitable.

The United States Gets Involved

• Faced with the Communist take over, the US increases its involvement.

• The US were only advisors to this point, but now they begin sending US planes, tanks, and other military equipment to South Vietnam.

• In August 1964 President LBJ told congress two US ships were destroyed by Vietnamese patrol boats in the Gulf of Tonkin.

• As a result Congress allowed the President to send American troops into Vietnam.

The United States Gets Involved

• By late 1965 185,000 US soldiers were fighting in Vietnam, although no war had been declared.

• By 1968 more than 500,000 soldiers were fighting in Vietnam.

• The US was the best trained and equipped army in the world, yet they struggled against the Vietcong.

• Because they fought against guerrilla warfare in jungle terrain and the Southern Government they were defending was not popular.

The United States Gets Involved

• Ho Chi Minh’s supported the Vietcong army with troops and munitions, as did the USSR and China.

• Unable to win a land battle against the Vietcong, the US turned to the air.

• US forces bombed millions of acres of farmland and forest in hopes of flushing out the Vietcong.

• This just strengthened peasant’s opposition to South Vietnam Government.

The United States Withdraws

• During the late 1960’s the was grew unpopular in the US.

• President Richard Nixon begins to withdraw troops in 1969.

• The plan of withdraw is called Vietnamization. It allowed for a gradual pull out, while the South Vietnamese army took more combat control.

• Nixon wanted to preserve the South Vietnamese Government.

The United States Withdraws

• So he authorized a massive bombing campaign against North Vietnamese bases and supply routes, along with the countries of Laos and Cambodia to wipe out Vietcong hiding places.

• In 1973 the last US forces left Vietnam.• North Vietnam took over South Vietnam 2 years

later.• Communist renamed the capital Ho Chi Minh city.• 1.5 million Vietnamese & 58,000 US troops died.

Ongoing Turmoil in Cambodia

• In Cambodia in 1975, Communist rebels known as Khmer Rouge set up a Government under the leadership of Pol Pot.

• They attempted to transform Cambodia into a rural society, in doing so they killed 2 million people.

• 1978 Vietnam invaded Cambodia and overthrew the Khmer Rouge.

• 1989 Vietnam left, in 1993 Cambodia becomes Democratic.

• Pol Pot is captured and detained in 1997.

Postwar Vietnam

• Communist took over the nation.• Send people to “reeducation camps,” for training in

Communist thought.• This caused 1.5 million people to flee Vietnam. Most

in overcrowded boats. Many died on these boats.• About 70,000 end up in US or Canada.• Vietnam is still communist, but welcomes foreign

investments.• Most investments are from the US. 1994 US lifts all

trade embargos against Vietnam.