War In Southeast Asia

Ch. 15 Sec 4

Background – Indochina under foreign rule

• In the early 1900’s France controlled most of resource rich Southeast Asia (French Indochina included what is now Vietnam, Laos & Cambodia).

• Vietnamese resist the Japanese during WWII

• Vietnamese resist the French

Dien Bien Phu• Battle of Dien Bien

Phu convinces French to leave Vietnam

• Vietnam Divided into Communist North and Non-Communist South

Mao Zedong & Ho Chi Minh meetIn Beijing in 1959.

• Fought...– with the US against

the Japanese in WWII

– then against the French,

– against the US before dying in 1969

• “Domino Theory” - the belief that if Vietnam fell to communism, so could other nations of Southern Asia

The Vietnam War – The war intensifies

Vietcong - VC

• Vietnamese see U.S. support of corrupt govt. in the south as foreign interference.

• Communist Guerillas, called Vietcong, began to gain strength in the South.

• Most where South Vietnamese who hated Diem.

• U.S. soldiers commonly called the Vietcong, Charlie (from the NATO Phonetic alphabet VictorCharlie).

1964 - Gulf of Tonkin Resolution• North Vietnamese patrol

boats fired on the USS Mattox in the Gulf of Tonkin on August 2.

• On August 7, the U.S. Congress approves the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, granting President Johnson authority to send U.S. troops to South Vietnam.

Guerilla War - Problems for the U.S.

• Despite having the best equipped most advanced army in the world our soldiers faced 2 major problems:

1) U.S. Troops were fighting a guerilla war in unfamiliar jungle

terrain.

2) The South Vietnamese Gov’t that they were defending was

becoming more unpopular.

U.S troops in

Vietnam

1965-185,000 Troops in Vietnam

1968-Half a MillionTroops in Vietnam

Battle Conditions• US had learned how

to fight in jungles during island hopping in WWII

• The Vietcong were relatively “low tech” and did not have best weapons

• This war should be easy, right?

A Huey hovers to off-load members of the 101st Airborne (WWII’s famous

“Screaming Eagles”) in a search-and-destroy mission near the DMZ

Drop zone. A Huey lifts

off after dropping

Marines in the jungle

North Vietnam’s Strategy

• Ambushes, booby traps, and guerilla tactics

• Blend in with native population

• Led to the mistrust of almost all Vietnamese

A Determined Enemy

• US underestimated Vietcong’s will to fight.

• They were willing to accept huge losses of troops.

– For every 1 American who was killed, 10 Vietcong enemy soldiers were killed.

Mekong Delta villagers are seen in the “black pajamas”

of the VC guerrilla with Soviet-designed weapons

The NVA would use a the wide range of weapons

Problems for the US• The US was afraid to use

too much force –Feared of a Chinese or Russian intervention (remember Korea?)

• The goal of US army was not to conquer North Vietnam, but just keep the South safe. This is a difficult strategy.

• My Lai Massacre, March 1968, 500+

Tin-can Grenades Spiked Ball

Booby Traps-pungi sticks

The VC used a variety of everyday objects-in this case, a book-to make booby traps

http://www.diggerhistory.info/images/asstd/tunnel1.jpg

A NVA soldier reveals the

entrance to a tunnel used as a hiding place

by VC guerrillas

One of the tunnels in Cu Chi

• Vietnam US troop levels: 1963: 16,000, 1968:

500,000

Vietnam, 1968

Tet Offensive• Both sides agreed to a

truce to celebrate the New Year.

• Vietcong launched major attacks on over 100 cities and 12 U.S. air bases that lasted 1 month

• Militarily it was a defeat for the Vietcong.

• Marks the turning point for public opinion

• :Do you think a Military Draft is a good thing? Why or Why not?

Draft Lottery

Protests on the War• As casualties mounted

in the war, public protest intensified and demanded the U.S. pull out of Vietnam

Seeing this on TV led to a Seeing this on TV led to a loss of support at homeloss of support at home

1969 - Vietnamization

• On June 8, 1969 U.S. President Nixon announced his "Vietnamization" plan, designed to withdraw U.S ground forces from Vietnam and turn control of the war over to South Vietnamese forces.

1973 - Vietnam War agreement (Paris Accords)• US Withdraws in 1973 despite

losing very few battles• Communists take over S.

Vietnam in 1975

Impact

• 3 million Vietnamese killed 58,000 Americans killed 300,000 wounded

• Vietnam unified under Communism

Impact

• 2,583 American POWs / MIAs still unaccounted for today.