Vietnamese Quest for Independence
by:Keani Jarrett
Fighting the French
- After WWII Vietnam struggled to free itself from French control
- Ho Chi Minh (1890-1969) issued the Vietnamese Declaration of Independence, which he modeled after America - France was armed with British and U.S. weapons and in 1945 recaptured Saigon and most of southern Vietnam - The French retook the north brutally by bombing Hanoi and Haiphong, killing at least 10,000 civilians - The Vietnamese resistance forces, led by Ho Chi Minh and General Vo Nguyen Giap, went to the countryside and mounted a campaign of guerilla warfare - Vietnamese communists grew increasingly influential, especially after 1949 when communist China sent aid and arms to Viet Minh (Viet Minh is what northern communist Vietnam was referred as) - Due to help from China, Viet Minh defeated the French at their fortress at Dienbienphu in 1954 |
Aerial view of Saigon, Vietnam 1945
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Geneva Conference & Partial Independence
- The peace conference was held in Geneva, 1954 and determined that Vietnam would be divided temporarily; North Vietnam would be controlled by Ho Chi Minh and the communists and South Vietnam would remain in the hands of non communists
- The U.S. first lent its support to the French war effort and then to South Vietnam - Ngo Dinh Diem was the first president of the Republic of (South) Vietnam - Many other South Vietnamese leaders didn't have much support from the people, however a growing discontent sparked the spread of guerilla war - In 1960 Vietnamese nationalists formed the National Liberation Front (NLF) to fight for freedom from South Vietnamese rule Cold War Stalemate |
Ngo Dinh Diem (1901-1963), first president of the Republic of South Vietnam
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- Due to lack of popular support and U.S.- style democratic reforms, nationalist communist attacks against South Vietnamese government continued
- President Lyndon B. Johnson embarked on a course of action that increased U.S. involvement in Vietnam in 1965 - He ordered a bombing campaign against North Vietnam and sent U.S. ground troops to South Vietnam to augment the South Vietnamese army - By 1968 there was over half a million in military personnel, but the U.S. and South vietnamese were at a draw when it came to defeating the Viet Cong (name given to South Vietnamese communists) - North Vietnam was accepting of the stalemate and continued to trap U.S. troops in a war of attrition using guerilla operations |
U.S. troops landing on the beaches of South Vietnam near Da Nang
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Video
Maps
Educational Interactive
Bibliography
- Bentley, Jerry H., Herbert F. Ziegler, and Heather E. Streets. Traditions and Encounters. a Brief Global History. Boston: McGraw Hill Higher Education, 2008. Print.