Decolonisation of Indochina
Which country were the Viet Minh fighting against?
France
Who became the leaders of the North and South respectively?
Ho Chi Minh was North and Diem was leader of the South
what are the three attacks that link during the Tet Offensive?
What are the triple D's?
Death, Disfigurement and displacement
“Your boys just shat on the American flag.”
Johnson on the Kent State University incident
What is the name of the battle that is considered to have ended this conflict, who were the victors and what was the original name?
Dien Bien Phu won by the Viet Minh, originally called operation Castor
What was WHAM?
Winning Hearts and Minds - strategic hamlets
Moved people from where they were originally living (usually spiritual areas) to where they had to build their own houses with no pay
Viet Cong undermined it by sneaking in and gaining allies with the people in the Hamlets
What is guerrilla warfare?
- Hide in Plain sight
- Ambush
- Hit and Run
- Booby Traps
- Use of Tunnel Networks
- Find and Kill
- Acts of Sabotage
- Use of knowledge regarding the Tearrain
What happened at My Lai?
“Killed anything that breathes”
March 16th 1968
Destroyed entire village
Was a VC hotspot
Mostly killed children and women since most if not all VC had escaped through tunnels
500 people killed
“These bastards have never been bombed like they are going to be bombed this time.”
What were conditions of the Geneva Conference?
- Demilitarised zone along the 17th parallel
- Residents had 300 days to decide if they wanted to moce
- It was only temporary
- North would be led by Ho Chi Minh
- South would be under control of the French
- A democratic election would be scheduled for July 1956
How was Buddhism involved with opposition to Diem in South Vietnam?
7 monks set themselves on fire in protest
Diem banned the Buddhist flag on the 2725th birthday of Buddha - allowed catholic flag to fly the week before
Diem banned Buddhist radio broadcast
Thousands of Buddhists protested - Dispersed by civil guards with poison gas and guns - killed 9 people
What was Operation Rolling Thunder?
- Bombing campaign from the US in North Vietnam
- Dropped 27 tonnes of bombs in a single mission
- V formation
- ‘Puff the magic dragon’ AC47D - which could drop flares capable of lighting up an area 2kms and fire on targets at a rate of 18 000 rounds a minute
What happened at the Kent State University Protest?
On May 4 the national guard fired on the student protests at Kent State University killing 4 people and wounding 9, igniting further protests around the country
Following this students marched on the national guard armoury, broke windows, and damaged some downtown businesses.
Curfews were given however this had little impact
On May 6th a boycott of classes occurred and over 600 people had a sleep in in font of the Old Capital, about 50 people broke in and set off a smoke bomb
The following morning mass arrests occurred
The day after the old armoury temporary building was burned down and there was a smaller fire in the East Hall Annex
"Let them burn and we shall clap our hands" - referred to Buddhists on fire as "Barbeques"
Madam Nhu
What was the date of the Geneva Convention and who was in attendance?
26th of April 1954 and representatives of France, the USSR, and the US met in Geneva, Switzerland
What were the economic developments in North Vietnam?
- Resources nationalised by State
- Fixed Prices
- Unemployment eliminated
- Land taken from Landlords (seen as unloyal)
- Land redistributed to peasants
- Agricultural Reform Tribunal
- Heavily relied on Russian and Chinese funding
- 50 000 (estimated) landlords were executed
Name the nine strategies used by the US and the four used by the Viet Cong
America:
Americanisation, Vietnamisation, Pacification, War of Attrition, Counter Insurgency, Winning Hearts and Minds (WHAM), Chemical Warfare, Ground Troops, Air Warfare
Viet Cong:
Guerilla Warfare, Idea of People’s War, Insurgency, Regular Warfare
What was Operation Menu?
Operation Menu in 1969, led to 100,000 tonnes of bombs being dropped on Cambodia in secret missions codenamed, ‘Breakfast,’ ‘Lunch,’ ‘Dinner,’ and ‘Snack.’ This enabled the continued bombing of the Ho Chi Minh Trail and continued to kill thousands of Vietnamese and Cambodians.
“The Oriental doesn’t put the same high price on life as does a Westerner… We value life and human dignity. They don’t care about life and human dignity.”
William Westmoreland
What were numbers of the Viet Minh and French Forces during Dien Bien Phu?
40 000 Viet Minh vs 15 000 French Troops
How muc money did Russia and China invest in North Vietnam respectively between 1955 and 1957?
China: $325 million
Russia: $100 million
What is operation Ranch Hand?
- The use of herbicides and defoliants on jungle in Vietnam
- The main defoliant became known as Agent Orange
- Purpose being to destroy vegetation and deny the Vietcong the chance to take advantage of the jungle to escape an American ‘search and destroy’ mission
- Up to 75 million litres of defoliant were dropped in Vietnam and the environmental effects are still being seen today as crops and trees struggle to grow back
- Was mostly ineffective with VC too since they would rarely stray from thick jungle and their cover as civilians
- President Nixon ended defoliation in 1969 because US farmers complained of the lack of herbicides (only ended cos Americans complained)
How did US involvement in the Vietnam War cause oppression in Laos?
Aided the political destabilisation of Laos, which then subjected citizens to death and political oppression. The US and NVA/VC consistently used Laos as ‘more or less willing proxies.’ By bombing the Ho Chi Minh Trail, it ensured that Laotian civilian lives would be lost in the Vietnamese conflict and political freedom was jeopardized and therefore, oppressed.
“The white-faced soldier cannot be assimilated by the population; he cannot distinguish between friendly and unfriendly Vietnamese.”
Maxwell Taylor (US ambassador to SV)