Background to Vietnam war
- Originally a French colony (Indochina)
- Ho Chi Minh and his communist supporters resisted Japanese occupation during WWII
- After WWII the French reoccupied
- Ho Chi Minh fought the French and defeated them in 1954 (Dien Bien Phu)
- Laos, Cambodia granted independence
- Vietnam divided along the 17th parallel
You can kill ten of our men for every one we kill of yours. But even at those odds, you will lose and we will win.
- Ho Chi Minh
- Ho Chi Minh
A divided country
- South Vietnam was led by a Catholic named Ngo Dinh Diem
- The mainly Buddhist south had opposition in the form of the National Liberation Front (NLF) and the Viet Cong (a guerrilla force)
- The North (Ho Chi Minh) supported both of these groups
- The north never accepted the Geneva agreement of 1954
American involvement in vietnam
- U.S. saw this as another situation in which containment was necessary (SEATO)
- The U.S. had supported the French (military advisors)
- Kennedy increased troops in 1962 from 500-10,000
- CIA overthrows Diem in 1963 (corruptness)
The Gulf of Tonkin incident, 1964
- A fabricated incident was set up; an American destroyer (USS Maddox) was torpedoed
- Led President Johnson to install the Tonkin Gulf Resolution
- Lead to the commitment of regular ground troops and air support
- 200,000 troops in 1965 - 600,000 in 1968
Turning Point- The Tet Offensive, 1968
- Offensive launched by the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) in 1968
- Surprises Americans
- Is played up as a major victory for the North although very little is achieved
- Public relations victory
- Anti-war demonstrations increase as a result
Summary:Following Vietnam's division along the 17th Parallel a fabricated incident was put in place by which an American destroyer ship was hit by torpedo's. As a result President Johnson put the Tonkin Gulf Resolution in place in which 200,000 troops were installed in Vietnam in 1965, with an additional 600,000 following in 1968.
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