Việt Nam 1

Ho Chi Minh"It was patriotism, not communism, that inspired me." General Giap • Hồ Chí Minh was born in 1890 • During his childhood he developed a sense that the Vietnamese were not t

A MODERN DAY AVOIDABLE

DISASTER WAS GEORGE KENNON RIGHT?

A VERY INTERESTING POINT ABOUT LONDON ARE THE ‘BLUE PLAQUES’

BUT NOT ALL ARE WELL

KNOWN

Ho Chi Minh

"It was patriotism, not communism, that inspired me."

General Giap

• Hồ Chí Minh was born in 1890

• During his childhood he developed a sense

that the Vietnamese were not treated well by

the French colonizers and the monarchist

government Ho also received a modern

secondary education at a French-style lycee

in Hue

• 1911 he travelled to France working as a

kitchen helper Rejected by the French

Colonial Administration School.

• 1912 to 1913, he lived in New York and

Boston, where he worked at the Parker

House Hotel

• Between 1913 and 1919, Hồ lived in

London

• 1919-1923, again living in France, Hồ

embraced Communism Following WWI he

petitioned for recognition of the civil rights of

the Vietnamese at the peace talks, but was

ignored.

Linguist: Highly Traveled: Educated: Skilled

Insurgent War Organizer: Nationalist

• 1921, became a founding member of the Parti Communiste Français

and spent much of his time in Moscow, becoming the principal

theorist on colonial warfare

• In 1923, China He stayed there in Hong Kong In June 1931, he was arrested and incarcerated by British police until his release in 1933.

• He then made his way back to the USSR, where he spent several years recovering from TB

• In 1938, he returned to China and served as an adviser with Chinese Communist armed forces.

• In 1941, Hồ returned to Vietnam to lead the Viet Minh independence movement He oversaw many successful military actions against the Vichy French and Japanese occupiers.

• Supported closely but clandestinely by the United States Office of

Strategic Services He was treated for malaria and dysentery by

American OSS doctors.

FOR FRANCE: COLONIES WERE NOT JUST ECONOMIC, THEY WERE PLACES TO RECEIVE

FRENCH CIVILIZATION

• Many colonies were treated in

administration terms as if they

were part of Metropolitan

France.

• Also in comparison the British

did not tend to ‘Make a Stand’

when events went against

them.

• Having been beaten by the

Nazis France decided that in

1945 it must reassert its

position as a Great Power even

though its economy was in

ruins.

• This would lead to two

disasters: VIETNAM -

ALGERIA

Moroccan takes orders.

• France brining civilization

and prosperity to the

colonies.

• Moroccans look in awe as

gold spills out of the horn

of plenty carried by

Marianne

RAPID SPREAD OF CONTROL IN CHINA PARTICULARLY AFTER 1871

INDO-FRENCH EXHIBITION OF THE

COLONIES IN PARIS 1931

Sept.1940 Japanese Forces

Overwhelm Indo-China

• France signed an armistice with Germany on

22 June 1940, leading to the Vichy

government in the unoccupied part of

France Vichy also controlled most of French

overseas possessions, including Indochina,

one of the last access points for China to the

outside world.

• Sept 1940, Japan and Vichy Indochina

signed an accord.

• NOTE: the Vichy colonial government could

continue to rule Indo-China as long as they

did what Japan wanted.

• For Nationalists joint control was an

economic nightmare The country's wealth,

exploited by the French, was now bled dry by

the Japanese in order to finance their

military effort But politically it provided an

opportunity undreamed of as the French and

Japanese began to compete for the affection

of the Vietnamese

AMERICA BECOMES INVOLVED

• After the fall of France American diplomats faced a

problem They had no fondness for the pro-Nazi Vichy

government in France but did not want to do anything that

would weaken France's hold on its colonies and pave

the way for a German occupation The U.S thus

recognized Vichy and encouraged the government in its attempts to resist Japanese demands

• On the eve of WW2 the USA depended upon Indochina for 50 percent of its raw rubber Japanese control

deprived the U.S of its major source of this strategic

resource The U.S., acting in concert with Britain and

Holland, retaliated by cutting off Japan's oil supplies In negotiations that took place in the fall of 1941 with Japan, the United States made several demands, including the evacuation of Vietnam by Japanese forces The Japanese response to the American proposals was the attack on

Pearl Harbor.

U.S supports Ho Chi Minh

Ho, Giap and American OSS

• Ho Chi Minh and the Vietminh were happy to

receive the support of the U.S mission in

China especially from the forerunner of the

CIA, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS).

• When U.S policy makers finally decided after

World War II that Ho Chi Minh was an

enemy, the extent of OSS assistance

became a matter of controversy OSS

officials, perhaps fearful of accusations that

they had aided Communists, insisted that

only a few side arms had been given

• They also disputed how much help the

Vietminh had given in lighting the Japanese

• Bartholomew-Feis study hints that, had

America continued to champion the

anti-colonials and their quest for independence,

rather than caving in to the French, the USA

might have been spared our long and very

lethal war in Vietnam

The Vietminh Prepare To Strike

• With the French defeated, the

Vietminh moved consolidate their

position In April 1945 the Vietminh

began to plan for a national liberation,

placing the Vietnam Liberation Army

under the command of Giap

• Vietminh contact with American

intelligence officials also intensified

• Meanwhile, the British had established

their own commando operations in

Vietnam's northern mountains

• After the capitulation of the Japanese

in August 1945 Japanese troops still

occupied Indochina But they

surrendered to the Vietminh and

Britain rather than to French

forces

• A provisional partition of Vietnam was

set up in 1945 with British troops in

temporary control in the South

DECLARATION OF VIETNAMESE

INDEPENDENCE

• On February 16th, 1945 Ho Chi Minh wrote a letter to

President Truman asking for American assistance in

gaining Vietnamese freedom The letter closed with the remarks:

• “We ask what has been graciously granted to the

Philippines Like the Philippines our goal is full

independence and full cooperation with the UNITED STATES We will do our best to make this

independence and cooperation profitable to the whole world.”

President Ho Chi Minh delivered this address in Hanoi on 2 September 1945.

• "All men are created equal They are endowed by their Creator with certain

inalienable rights, among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of

Happiness"

• This immortal statement was made in the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America m 1776 In a broader sense, this means: All the peoples on the earth are equal from birth, all the peoples have a right to live, to be happy and free -

• In the autumn of 1940, when the Japanese Fascists violated Indochina's

territory to establish new bases in their fight against the Allies, the French imperialists went down on their bended knees and handed over our country

to them

• Thus, from that date, our people were subjected to the double yoke of the

French and the Japanese

-• We are convinced that the Allied nations which at Tehran and San

Francisco have acknowledged the principles of self-determination and

equality of nations, will not refuse to acknowledge the independence of

Vietnam

• A people who have courageously opposed French domination for more than eighty years, a people who have fought side by side with the Allies against the Fascists during these last years, such a people must be free and

independent

AS AMERICA SMASHES JAPAN IN 1945 THE VICHY COLONISTS THINK AGAIN

• The impending Japanese defeat was

not lost on the French population

remaining in Indochina

• Many of them had openly supported

the Vichy government in collaborating

with the Japanese

• The Japanese, too, were aware of this

change in attitude March 1945, Japan

ended nearly one hundred years of

French rule in Indochina

• NOTE True to their promise to aid any

Frenchman willing to fight Japanese

aggression, the Vietminh cared for

many Frenchmen, helping them

escape into China

BUT FRANCE IS TRYING TO GET BACK AS A COLONIAL POWER

• France had returned after the defeat of

Japan and sought to re-establish

colonial control

• France’s actions provoked open

warfare with Viet Minh forces—led by

Gen Vo Nguyen Giap—which in 1946

launched a broad armed uprising

against the French In October 1949,

China’s communists won their own

civil war and started sending aid

southward

• “Total Destruction”

• The Viet Minh prepared for all-out war

Giap sought not mere victory but “the

total destruction of French forces.”

• BUT: This was a guerilla war adapted

from Ho’s experiences in China

• France, like the USA later, wanted to

fight a ‘set piece’ war

• President Eisenhower deplored France’s colonial agenda Moreover, in late 1953 had

a bleak view of France’s military situation In his memoirs, he recalls that “France’s move into Dien Bien Phu raised eyebrows among soldiers “who were well-acquainted with the almost invariable fate of troops invested in an isolated fortress.”

• Eisenhower was not sure there was a way to win in Vietnam, and he was wary of getting the US involved.

• Yet America already was involved President Harry S Truman reluctantly had provided military aid to French forces in Vietnam, and,

now, the US was picking up as much as 75

percent of the cost of France’s adventure

in Indochina.

• According to biographer, Stephen E

Ambrose, the President ruled out use of US ground troops “This war in Indochina would absorb our troops by divisions.”

LEADS TO ONE OF THE DECIDING BATTLES OF THE 20 TH CENTURY

• In early 1953, France had roughly

200,000 troops in the field Some

200,000 Vietnamese troops fought

with them as allies French forces held

delta areas and towns but they did not

control the back country and

highlands

• The commander of French forces in

Indochina was Gen Henri Navarre

His plans called for the deployment to

Vietnam of roughly half a million

French troops by the end of 1954 With

such a large force, he thought, he

would be able to subdue the Viet Minh

once and for all

• In the fall of 1953, Navarre took a bold

step He sent French forces to seize

and fortify the town of Dien Bien Phu,

an outpost nestled in a deep valley In

Navarre’s view, establishing the

fortress served two purposes

Dien Bien Phu

• The 1954 battle sucked US

airmen into Indochina and helped

set the stage for the Vietnam War

• Note: Also added to French

incomprehension of the US

decision over Suez two years

later.

• The French strategy was to

make the 15,000-man garrison a

strong point and draw Giap’s

forces into battle in the valley

Navarre ringed Dien Bien Phu

with artillery outposts These

positions were deeply buried

and buttressed to withstand

artillery fire.

Tables Turned

• “The French had thrown down the

gauntlet, but, because the jungle

country concealed troop

movements, it took some time for

them to realize that Giap had

picked it up.”

• Giap had in place in January 1954

more than 200 heavy artillery

pieces, including the fearsome

“Stalin Organs,” Soviet-built

Katyusha rocket launchers.

• Dien Bien Phu would never be the

stronghold the French wanted

Instead, it had become a trap.

• The attack that formally began the

siege of Dien Bien Phu was

launched March 13, 1954.

OPERATION ‘VULTURE’

• The French—with the

encouragement of some US

officials based in Saigon—pressed

hard for the US to launch an

overwhelming air strike to save

Dien Bien Phu

• Operation Vulture was to be a

type of massive retaliation with

airpower The target was to be the

Viet Minh forces arrayed around

Dien Bien Phu This was the first

time that US leaders had seriously

contemplated a major military

intervention with airpower alone.

• The plan included an option to

use up to three atomic weapons

on the Viet Minh positions.

WITHOUT US GROUND TROOPS

THAT LEFT US AIRPOWER

• United States Air Force B-26s loaned to

France sit on the ramp at Tourane,

Vietnam—later known as Da Nang They

still wear the nose art they carried in

Korean American airpower was the last

hope for the French in Indochina

• French forces had borrowed and were using

a US Navy aircraft carrier, 10 US Air Force

B-26s, several C-47s and C-119s, and

hundreds of US Air Force personnel

• It was impossible to miss the significance of the American deployment “For all Eisenhower’s emphasis on reduced numbers and a definite date for withdrawal,” he had sent the first American military

personnel to Vietnam.”

• ‘Boxcars’ flown by Americans

MAY 07 1954

• Dien Bien Phu fell

• Six weeks later, on July 20-21,

1954, the US, France, Britain,

and the Soviet Union met in

Geneva Out of this conference

came measures that were

supposed to end the Indochina

war.

• The conference agreed to a

partition of Vietnam into north

and south Partition was to be

temporary, with unification to

come after national elections in

1956 Elections never came.

GENEVA CONFERENCE

THE FLAWED PEACE

• The U.S., immediately after Geneva, viewed

the Settlement's provisions for Vietnam as

"disaster," and determined to prevent, if it

could, the further extension of communist

government over the Vietnamese people and

territory

• The truce of 1954, in fact, embodied three

serious deficiencies as a basis for stable

peace among the Vietnamese:

• A) It relied upon France as its executor.

B) It ignored the opposition of the State of

Vietnam.

C) It countenanced the disassociation of the

United States.

• These turned partitioned Vietnam into two

hostile states, and brought about an

environment in which war was likely, perhaps

inevitable.

• A nominally temporary "line of demarcation"

between North and South at the 17th parallel

was transformed into one of the more

forbidding frontiers of the world

FRANCE WITHDRAWS

1954-1956

• France had agreed to full

independence and tested anew in

Algeria, abandoned its position in

Southeast Asia

• France had signed and

guaranteed the Geneva accords

but felt itself shouldered aside in

South Vietnam by the United

States over:

• A) US policy towards ‘new Tito’

Ho.

• B) France opposed Diem the US

sponsor for the South.

• C) Saw the USA and UK enforcing

anti-French de-colonialization.

• “We are not entirely masters of the situation The Geneva Accords on the one hand and the pressure of our allies on the other creates a very complex juridical situation The position in principle is clear: France is the guarantor of the Geneva

Accords But we do not have the means alone of making them

respected.”

Professor Hans Morgenthau

• “Actually, the provision for free elections

which would solve ultimately the problem of Vietnam was a device to hide the

incompatibility of the Communist and

Western positions, neither of which can

admit the domination of all of Vietnam by

the other side It was a device to disguise the fact that the line of military demarcation was bound to be a line of political division

as well ”