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American Involvement in French Indochina
During and after WWII the issue of Indochina, the region which contained Vietnam, was a matter of question. FDR sided with Chiang Kai-Shek and Stalin in stating that the region of Indochina should be turned over to a trusteeship and set on the road to independence rather than returned to the French as a colonial territory. Eventually, American support was given to the French and Indochina was returned to a state of French colonial rule. Millions died in Vietnam due to starvation under the French -
Ho Chi Minh
Ho Chi Minh was a Vietnamese revolutionary nationalist leader who organized Vietnamese opposition to foreign occupation, first against Japan and then against the French. He became leader of North Vietnam and led the was to unify the country in the face of increased military opposition from the United States. -
Battle of Dien Bien Phu
The Battle of Dien Bien Phu was between French colonial forces and Viet Minh guerillas in Indochina. The Vietnamese nationalists came out victorious and Vietnam was divided into two halves, with the North controlled by a Communist regime led by Ho Chi Minh and the South governed by pro-Western Ngo Dinh Diem. It was a significant turning point in Indochina because it reveals Vietnamese dissatisfaction with being under foreign rule. This would mark the start of a long battle to fright Communism. -
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Political, Economic, and Social Effects On U.S.
The Vietnam War damages the U.S. economy severely. The U.S. had spent about $168 billion into the war. The conflict led Congress to end the military draft and replace it with an all volunteer army as well as reduce the voting age to 18. Congress also passed the War Powers Act which restricted the president's power to send American troops into combat for more than 90 days without explicit congressional consent. -
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Course of the War
During the 1950s and 1960s, the U.S. fought wars to stop Communism. Vietnam had been a French colony since the 1880s. The Vietnamese fought for independence and won in 1954. The country was split into communist North Vietnam and non-communist South Vietnam Communists in South Vietnam were called the Vietcong. In Early 1960s, they tries to overthrow the government. North Vietnam helped the Vietcong. The U.S. sent military advisers and supplies to help South Vietnam fight the Vietcong. In 1965, th -
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Vietnam War: Opposition and Support
In 1695, after the U.S. began bombing North Vietnam, anti-war marches and other protests sprang up on college campuses. The Students for a Democratic Society attracted a widening base of support over the next three years, and peaked in early 1968 after the successful Tet Offensive by North Vietnamese trooped proved that war's end was nowhere in sight. The some participated in the pro-war movement. Believing the Vietnam War was a just and necessary cause and pushed for more direct American milita -
Assassination of Ngo Dinh Diem
South Vietnamese leader Diem was losing support in South Vietnam and his decision to go after the Buddhists and make Catholicism the primary religion of the country brought violent demonstrations and a crisis. Kennedy gave his tacit approval to a plan by a group of South Vietnamese generals to overthrow Diem. The group assassinated him and the U.S. was forced to deal with a secession of South Vietnamese governments that had less stability than the one headed by Diem. -
Gulf of Tonkin
In August of 1964, U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson said that North Vietnamese forces had twice attacked the American destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin. Although there was a first attack, claims of a second attack were later said to be exaggerated. This led to the United States getting directly involved in the Vietnam War with the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. -
Tet Offensive
The name given to a campaign in January 1968 by the Viet Cong to attack twenty-seven South Vietnamese cities, including Saigon. It ended in a military defeat for the Viet Cong, but as the same time, proved that Johnson's "gradual escalation" strategy was not working, shocking an American public that believed the Vietnam conflict was a guaranteed victory. -
Cambodian Campaign
The Cambodian Incursion was a series of military operations conducted in eastern Cambodia during the early summer of 1970 by the armed forces of the U.S. and South Vietnam. It was known as the most successful military operation of the entire war. -
Paris Peace Accords
The Paris Peace Accords were intended to establish peace in Vietnam and out an end to the Vietnam War. It ended direct U.S. military combat, and temporarily stopped the fighting between North and South Vietnam. -
The Fall of Saigon
The surrender of South Vietnamese forces and withdrawal of American troops. It ended the Vietnam War.
