How successful was the USA policy of containment

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How successful was the USA policy of containment?

• Case Study 2 The Vietnam War

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Learning Objectives

• Today I will
• Learn about the origins of the conflict.
• Gain an understanding of the French involvement
  in the conflict.
• Be able to explain why the French had to pull out
  of Indochina in 1954.
• Be beginning to understand why America got
  involved in the conflict.

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French Indochina

• Since the late 19th century, Vietnam had been
  ruled by France and its was known as Indochina.
• French rule had been unchallenged (apart from in
  1930 when a rebellion was crushed) until 1940

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Outbreak of WW2
Had studied Communism in the USSR during the
1920s.
Lived in Britain, France and the USA

• In 1940 the French were defeated by the Germans.
• The Japanese, Germany's allies, took control of
  the resources of Vietnam ie. Coal, rice, rubber,
  railway, roads.
• During the war a strong anti-Japanese resistance
  movement emerged the Viet Minh under the
  leadership of Communist Ho Chi Minh.

Founded the Indochinese Communist Party
Inspired Vietnamese to fight for an independent
Vietnam
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Ho Chi Minh and the Viet Minh

• By the end of the war the Viet Minh controlled
  the whole of the north of Vietnam and were
  determined to take the rest of it.
• However, the French had other ideas

Viet Minh in 1944
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First Vietnam War 1946-1954

• After the defeat of Germany in 1945, the French
  came back to Indochina wanting to rule again.
• However, the Viet Minh and Ho had not fought the
  Japanese just to hand Vietnam back over to the
  French again.
• In 1946 war broke out between the French and the
  Viet Minh in Vietnam.
• Ho Chi Minh cleverly kept quiet about wanting a
  Communist Vietnam and so countries such as the
  USA were, if anything, sympathetic to him. They
  saw it as a fight against French colonial rule.

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1949a year of BIG changes

• However, in 1949 things changed. The Communists
  took over China and began to give help to Ho Chi
  Minh.
• Now the Americans saw the Viet Minh as the
  puppets of Mao Tse-Tung and the Chinese
  communist.
• The Americas feared a Communist plan to dominate
  all of south-east Asia.
• The USA started pouring 500 million a year into
  the French war effort and to help the French set
  up a non-Communist government in south Vietnam.

Mao Tse-Tung Chinese dictator
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Guerrilla warfare

• The war dragged on from 1946-1954.
• The French generally controlled the towns, the
  Viet Minh the countryside.
• The Viet Minhs guerrilla tactics meant they
  could not be defeated.
• They tied up 190,000 French troops in hit-and-run
  raids causing 90,000 casualties.
• French raids against peasant villages simply
  increased support for the Viet Minh.

The Viet Minh transported supplies for 40,000
soldiers by peasants on foot and on bikes.
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Dien Bien Phu

• The decisive event came at Dien Bien Phu in 1954.
• A large, well-armed force of French paratroopers
  were defeated.
• The French lost 3000 dead in battle and 8000 more
  died in captivity.
• The Viet Minh defeated a rich European state
  through a combination of effective leadership,
  the right tactics, modern weapons from the USSR
  and China, and sheer determination.

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1954 Geneva Peace Conference

• At the 1954 peace conference held in Geneva, the
  country was divided into North and South Vietnam
  until elections could be held to decide its
  future.

A poor feudal nation had beaten a great colonial
powerIt meant a lot not just to us but to
people all over the world.
Vo Nguyen Giap, 1954
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Your Task Why did the French pull out of
Indochina?

• It is 1954. The French president must explain
  to the French media why the modern developed
  state of France has been forced to pull out of
  Indochina. You have to prepare some briefing
  notes for his presentation.

The Lack of support from the Vietnamese people
The support for the Viet Minh by communist USSR
and China
Why did the French pull out of Indochina?
The Second World War
Viet Minh attacks 1946-1954