The Vietnam War began as a conflict between Vietnam's nationalist movement led by Ho Chi Minh and the French colonial government. After the French were defeated in 1954, Vietnam was divided between a communist North backed by Ho Chi Minh and a non-communist South. Tensions rose as South Vietnam's leader Diem grew increasingly authoritarian and suppressed Buddhists. As the Viet Cong insurgency in the South expanded due to Diem's unpopularity, the US increased support for South Vietnam but struggled against guerrilla warfare. Despite withdrawing troops under Nixon, the US was unable to prevent a North Vietnamese victory and the reunification of Vietnam under communist rule in 1975.

1. Cold War:
The Proxy Wars
Vietnam

2. Background
 The French had controlled the
area known as “Indochina” as
a colony since the Age of
Imperialism in the early
1900’s.
 After WWII, the French
wanted to regain control of
the region- which included the
nation of Vietnam.

3. Vietnamese Nationalism
 The nationalism movement was led
by a young cook who took the
name Ho Chi Minh.
 Ho Chi Minh had received support
from various Communist groups.
 When the French tried to regain
control after WWII, Ho Chi Minh
and his followers known as the Viet
Minh fought back.
 The French were defeated in 1954
in the city of Dien Bien Phu.

4. Geneva Conference 1954
 The purpose of the meeting
was to discuss the possibility
of restoring peace in Vietnam
 The Soviet Union, the United
States, France, the United
Kingdom, and the People’s
Republic of China were
participants throughout the
whole conference.
 The conference produced a
set of documents known as
the Geneva Accords.

5. Geneva Accords (Agreements)
 These agreements separated
Vietnam into two.
 The north ruled by Ho Chi Minh’s
communist forces.
 The South ruled by a French
educated Catholic man named Ngo
Dinh Diem.
 The Accords also said that there
was to be a "general election" be
held by July 1956 to create a
unified Vietnamese state.
 Ideally the people would vote who
they wanted as their leader- Ho Chi
Minh or Ngo Dinh Diem.

6. War in Vietnam
 Even though there were to be
free elections, the southern
leader Ngo Dinh Diem backed
out.
 Many believe it was because he
knew that Ho Chi Minh would
have easily won.
 This led to conflict between the
North Vietnamese (with support
from the Communists) and
South Vietnamese (With
support from the United States)

7. USA Supports South Vietnam
 President John F. Kennedy, who
entered the White House in 1961,
chose to initially to give full
support to Diem and the South
Vietnamese.
 President Kennedy increased
financial aid to Diem’s regime &
sent thousands of military
advisers to help train South
Vietnamese troops. By the end of
1963, 16,000 U.S. military
personnel were in South Vietnam.

8. Unrest in South Vietnam
 But military aid by itself could not
ensure success. The problem was that
Diem lacked support in his own
country. Diem ruled south Vietnam as
a dictator.
 Anti-Communist- Allowed the torture
and execution of thousands of
communist supporters.
 Money from the U.S. and others
meant to help the South Vietnamese
was often stolen by corrupt political
officials.
 When Diem insisted that Buddhists
obey Catholic religious laws, serious
opposition developed (almost 90% of
Vietnam was Buddhist).

9. Buddhist Monk Thích Quảng Đức sets himself on fire as a protest of Ngo
Dinh Diem’s treatment of the Buddhist population in South Vietnam.
On June 11, 1963, a sixty-six year old monk, sat down in the middle of a
busy Saigon road. He was then surrounded by a group of Buddhist monks
and nuns who poured gasoline over his head and then set fire to him. One
eyewitness later commented:
"As he burned he never moved a muscle, never uttered a sound, his
outward composure in sharp contrast to the wailing people around him."

10. The government's response to this suicide
was to arrest thousands of Buddhist monks.
Many disappeared and were never seen again.
By August another five monks had committed
suicide by setting fire to themselves. One
member of the South Vietnamese government
responded to these self-immolations (Suicide
by setting yourself on fire) by telling a
newspaper reporter: "Let them burn, and we
shall clap our hands."
Another offered to supply Buddhists who
wanted to commit suicide with the necessary
gasoline!

11. Rise of the Vietcong
 As a result of Ngo Dinh Diem’s harsh
policies, opposition in the south to his
government grew.
 Communist militia’s (militia: an army of soldiers
who are civilians) called Vietcong, began to gain
strength and support in the South.

12. US Relations with Diem fail
 The United States, who had
always supported Diem’s
democratic government, began
to question Diem’s leadership
and his ability to keep
communism from spreading into
South Vietnam.
 US President JFK agreed that
there needed to be a change in
leadership in South Vietnam.

13. Coup d'état and Assassination
 The United States provided a
group of South Vietnamese
generals with $40,000 to carry
out the coup with the promise
that US forces would make no
attempt to protect Diem.
 At the beginning of
November, 1963, President
Diem was overthrown by a
military coup.
 After the generals had
promised Diem that he would
be allowed to leave the country
they changed their mind and
killed him.

14. US Military Enters Vietnam
 After Diem’s death in 1963 the
U.S. wanted to make sure the
battle again communist forces
continued in Vietnam.
 American troops had been
present in Vietnam since the
1950’s, but in 1964 the United
States Congress agrees to
send thousands more to fight
in Vietnam.
 By 1968, more than 500,00
American troops were fighting
to stop Communism from
spreading into Vietnam.

15. United States Struggles in Vietnam
The United States had the worlds most powerful , advanced,
and best-equipped military, yet it struggled to defeat the
communist backed opposition forces. WHY?
They Fought a New Type of War
• The Vietnamese opposition used guerilla warfare (the use
of hit-and-run tactics by small groups of soldiers) in terrain
that the United States soldiers were unfamiliar with
(Vietnam is covered in jungles)

16. United States Struggles in Vietnam
WHY? of South Vietnam.
Lack of support from the people
• The government that the United States was supporting was not popular among
the people of South Vietnam.
• Americans bombed farm land – this strengthened peasant’s opposition to the
United States.
• The Vietnamese were receiving support from both the Soviet Union and
Communist China

17. United States Struggles in Vietnam
•Lack of support from American Citizens
•Widespread protests among young Americans led many to
question why were at war.
•Thousands of young Americans were being killed: in one
week in May 1968, 5,550 U.S. soldiers were killed.
•The war was widely reported. Every day people watched the
news on television and saw the horrors of war.

18. End of Vietnam Conflict
 As the war grew increasingly unpopular,
President Nixon began to withdraw American
troops from Vietnam in 1969.
 Nixon called the plan Vietnamization. The goal
was to have American troops slowly leave while
the South Vietnamese would increase their role.

19. End of Vietnam Conflict
 The last WAR FACTS
American U.S. Soldiers Killed 58,132
troops left U.S. Soldiers still missing M.I.A 1,689
Vietnam in Vietnamese Soldiers Killed (North & South) 1.1 Million
Vietnamese Civilians Killed 500,000
1973. Cost to U.S. taxpayers $150 Billion
 Two years later
the North
Vietnamese, ba
cked by
communist
nations, took
control of South
Vietnam.

20. Iconic Images of Vietnam
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21. Iconic Images of Vietnam
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