[TMJC] Second Indochina War

SUPPLEMENTARYNOTESONTheSecondIndochinaWar(Focusingontheperiod1964-1975) Learning Outcomes ● Analysethefactors contributing totheinvolvement of external powers intheSecondIndochinaWar from1964-1975.● Analysethediffering actions andconditions that shapedoutcomeof theSecondIndochinaWar.● Analysetheimpact of theSecondIndochinaWar onColdWar developments inAsia. Brief Timeline 1954 TheBattleof DienBienPhu– GiapdefeatedtheFrenchforcebasedthere.Aceasefirewas agreedat Genevathat splits VietnamintoNorthandSouth. 1955 Thepro-AmericanNgoDinhDiembecamePresident of SouthVietnaminOctober. Diemstarts toarrest anyonesuspectedof beingintheViet Minh(NorthVietnamesecommunists) andAmericaagrees totrainDiem’s army. 1956 SouthVietnamesePresident NgoDinhDiembegantocampaignagainst political dissidents. 1957 ThePeople's Army of Vietnam(PAVN) startedacampaignof guerrillawarfareinSouthVietnam. Weapons andmenfromNorthVietnambeganinfiltratingtheSouth. Americanmilitary advisors werekilledinVietnam– they werefirst UScasualties of thewar. 1960 AmericanaidtoDiemincreased. TheNational LiberationFront (NLF) was formed. It was knownas theVietcongorVCfor short. 1961 President Kennedy pledgedextraaidtoSouthVietnam. 1962 Thenumber of US military advisors inSouthVietnamroseto12,000. 1963 TheVietcong, thecommunist guerrillas operatinginSouthVietnam, defeat units of theARVN, theSouthVietnamesearmy. President Diemwas overthrownandthenkilledinaUS-backedmilitary coup. 1964 TheGulf of Tonkinincident - theUS says that NorthVietnamesepatrol boats havefiredontwoUS Navy destroyers.US Congress approvedtheGulf of TonkinResolution, whichauthorises military actionintheregion. 1965 OperationRollingThunder began. Thefirst US combat troops weresent toVietnaminMarch. By theendof theyear, thereare20,000US troops stationedthere. 1966 US troopnumbers inVietnamroseto400,000, thento500,000thefollowingyear. 1968 Tet Offensive- on31January, 70,000NorthVietnameseandVietcongforces launchedaco-ordinatedseries offierceattacks onmorethan100cities andtowns inSouthVietnam. Morethan500civilians diedintheUS massacreat MyLai. Secret peacetalks begininParis. By 1968, therewere540,000US troops inVietnam. 1969 HoChi Minhpassedaway. Thepolicy of Vietnamisationbeganas President Nixonstarts toreduceUS groundtroopsinVietnamas domestic public oppositiontothewar grows.Nixonorderedthesecret bombingof Cambodia. TheMy Lai massacre, whichtheUS Army triedtocoverup, was madepublicinNovember. 1970 Nixon's national security advisor, Henry Kissinger, andLeDuc Tho, for theHanoi government, startedtalks inParis.US troops inVietnamwerereducedto280,000. 1971 140,000US troops inVietnamremained. Lt WilliamCalley convictedof murder at My Lai andjailed. 1972 TheChristmas bombingof Hanoi 1973 Aceasefireagreement inParis was reached. TheUS trooppull-out was completedby March. 1975 Fall of Saigon 1

1. Background: SecondIndochinaWar● The SecondIndochinaWar (calledthe VietnamWar inthe US or the AmericanWar inVietnam) beganas aconflict betweentheUnitedStates-backedSouthVietnamesegovernment andits opponents,boththeNorthVietnamese-basedcommunist Vietcong (National LiberationFront) andthe People'sArmy of Vietnam (PAVN), knownintheUS West as the NorthVietnameseArmy (NVA).● Theconflict beganin1955andlasteduntil 1975whentheNorthVietnameseconqueredSouthVietnam. ● 1964was asignificant year indevelopment of theSecondIndochinaWar becauseit markedthebeginningof theescalationof theUS military efforts inVietnam.● TheSecondIndochinaWar endedon30April 1975withthecapturingof Saigon, thecapital of SouthVietnam, by thePeople's Army of Vietnam(PAVN) andtheVietcong. Theevent markedtheendof theVietnamWar andthestart of atransitionperiodtotheformal reunificationof VietnamintotheSocialist Republic of Vietnam. 2. USinvolvement intheSecondIndochinaWar ● In1954, theFrenchwerefinally defeatedby theViet Minhat theBattleof DienBienPhu.● This defeat was formalisedintheGenevaAgreement.● Theagreement temporarily separatedVietnamintotwozones - anorthernzone, officially knownastheDemocratic Republic of Vietnam, tobegovernedby theViet Min, andasouthernzone, theRepublic of Vietnam, governedby theanti-communist government ledby NgoDinhDiem.● Becauseof thefear of thedominotheory, theUS government begantosupport SouthVietnameconomically andmilitary tocontainthespreadof communism.● Under Presidents Eisenhower andKennedy, theUSAhadgivenmillions of dollars toand sent militaryadvisers tosupport theRepublic of Vietnam.● Withtrainingandequipment fromAmericanmilitary andthe CIA, Diem’s security forces crackeddownonNorthVietnamesesympathisers inthesouth, whomhederisively called Viet Cong (orVietnameseCommunist), arrestingsome100,000people, many of whomwerebrutally torturedandexecuted.● By 1957, theViet Congandother opponents of Diem’s repressiveregimebeganfightingbackwithattacks ongovernment officials andother targets, andby 1959they hadbegunengagingtheSouthVietnamesearmy infirefights.● InDecember 1960, Diem’s many opponents withinSouthVietnam—bothcommunist andnon-communist—formedtheNational LiberationFront (NLF) toorganiseresistancetotheregime.ThoughtheNLFclaimedtobeautonomous andthat most of its members werenot communists,many intheUS assumedit was apuppet of Hanoi.● By 1962, US military advisers grewtomorethan12,000, whichincreasedto16,000in1963. Kennedyalsosent 300helicopters withUS pilots.● On1November 1963, theSouthVietnamesegovernment was overthrowninacoupandPresidentDiemwas assassinated, possibly withthesupport of CIAandthetacit approval of theKennedyadministrationwhobecamefrustratedwithDiem’s ability touniteSouthVietnam. .● BeforeKennedy was assassinatedon22November 1963, hewrestledwiththeideaof escalatingUSinvolvement inVietnamtostabilisethecountry anddefeat thecommunist insurgencies.● LyndonB. Johnson, Kennedy’s vice-president, becamepresident of theUnitedStateafter Kennedy’sassassination. 2

3. Reasons for theescalationof USinvolvement in1964 ● Johnson's decisions ontheVietnamWar wereinfluencedby theneedtogather support for hisdomestic policies [great society] andpresidential bid, andtheUS foreign-policy priority ofcontainingCommunismduringtheColdWar. 3.1. Containingcommunism ● President Johnsonbelievedinthe‘DominoTheory’ andthethreat of worlddominationby thecommunists.● President Johnsonviewthepolitical developments inVietnamthroughthelens of history, andrecalledhowappeasingHitler ledtoWWII, andhowPresident Trumanfailedtotakedecisiveactionstoprevent theloss of Chinatocommunism● Johnsonfearedthat SouthVietnamwouldsoonfall intocommunist hands, whichwouldresult inthefall of dominos intherest of Asia.● Evidently, evenafter thedeathof Diem, thenewSouthVietnamesegovernment continuedtoexperiencepolitical instability, military losses toNorthVietnamandconstant raids by theVietcong.● Hopingtoapply morepressureonthecommunists, theJohnsonadministrationbegantopursueamorevigorous programmeof US military andeconomic support for SouthVietnam, whichincludedamoreaggressivepropagandaoffensiveas well as sabotagedirectedagainst NorthVietnamwiththesupport of theUS military.● It was alsofor theJohnsonadministrationthat theUS was committedtocontaincommunisminAsiaagainst thegrowingSoviet andcommunist Chinesethreats. 3.2. Gatheringsupport for President Johnson’s domestic policies andpresidential bid ● In1964, LyndonJohnsonhadtorunfor election. Johnsononly becamepresident after thedeathofKennedy inNovember 1963.● Hence, it was important for Johnsontosecurehis electoral legitimacy. Inaddition, winningtheelectionwas important toPresident Johnsonwhowantedtoenact his ‘Great Society’ welfareprogramme, whichhecouldonly dosoif remainedtheUS president.● Towintheelection, Johnsonneededtosecurevotes fromtheconservatives. Republicanpresidential candidateBarry Goldwater attackedby President Johnsonfor beingsoft onthecommunists.● Therefore, it was imperativethat Johnsonprovedhewas atoughleader whocouldstand-uptocommunismby escalatingUS military involvement inVietnam. Theopportunity cameinAugust 1964withtheGulf of TokenInciden