Chapter 9

Geneva Conference, 1954: ● May 1954: after French govt and public lost interest in retaining Vietnam as a colony as the cost outweighed the benefits, an international conference commenced → Viet Minh demanded the recognition of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and removal of French troops, where Vietnam was then divided into 2 along the 17th parallel ○ Part of the agreement was that elections would be held by 1956 to establish a single govt for a unified Vietnam North Vietnam in 1950s ● After Geneva Conference: Ho worked fast to consolidate his hold on NV ○ Thousands fled from NV early on, but at the same time many Viet Minh soldiers and supporters also fled northwards → strengthening the regime as it got rid of potential opponents ● Ho also had much support from NV ○ He was recognised as a great leader who fought the Japanese invaders and the French + introduced land reforms which ensured land was confiscated from larger landowners and redistributed to peasant farmers → however this led to decline in agricultural output and later on, Famines ● To ensure (political) stability of the govt, NV was ruthless in dealing with opponents ○ When faced with violent resistance from large landowners during land redistribution → thousands ended up being executed South Vietnam in 1950s ● End of Geneva Conference: Diem was the PM of SV ○ He was an anti-communist + prepared to imprison/exile communists + a patriot who hoped to modernise Vietnamese economy and society to strengthen the country against interference by foreign powers, so he introduced modernisation programmes → However his regime proved to be increasingly unpopular bc of his authoritarian methods (regime frequently imprisoned/executed opponents)

A rigged referendum ● July 1955: Diem announced Vietnam-wide elections agreed at G.C. would not be held + in October he held a referendum to remove Head of State/last emperor of Vietnam and install himself as President BUT referendum was rigged (votes didn’t add up) ● Diem’s actions had the support + involvement of US → SV depended heavily on US financial and military support → show how deeply involved US is with Vietnam’s political affairs Problems of SV An unpopular and corrupted regime: ● US tried to pressure Diem into land reforms bc this would help increase support for the regime and help counter effects of communist propaganda BUT diem was not interested ○ His suppo