National People's Party
Jiang Jieshi (Chiang Kai-shek)
*Mao Zedong
Corruption
Hyperinflation
Mass nationalism
Strict discipline
Economic policies favor poor
Land
Occupation of Manchuria, 1945
Recognition of GMD, 1946
*General George C. Marshall
Special Envoy to China, 1946
Secretary of State, 1947-49
Moderate financial support
No US troops
Internal sources of tensions
Decolonization
Nation building
External sources of tensions
U. S.-Soviet rivalry
Seesaw conflict
Truce, 1953
French Colonial Rule, 1862-1941, 1945-54
Japanese colonial rule, 1941-45
North Vietnam
*Ho Chi Minh, 1892 -1969
Resisted Japanese, 1941-5
Resisted French, 1946-54
Mass nationalism
Economic policies favor poor (land)
South Vietnam
Dictatorship
Associated with French then Americans
Corrupt
Economic polices favor rich
Vietminh (Vietcong) rebellion in South Vietnam
Trained and supplied by N. Vietnam
Aid from China and Soviet Union
600 military advisers, 1961
16,000 troops,1963
70,000 troops, 1965
500,000 troops, 1969
Based on the video, what are some of the reasons why the U.S. and South Vietnam could not win the war?
Was this a war of communism versus democracy?
Limits of U.S.'s Cold War perspective
Ignored internal situation of Vietnam
Ignored parallels with China
Vietminh soldiers more motivated than U.S. and S. Vietnamese troops
Jungle terrain neutralized US technology
Lack of public support in U.S.
TV exposed war's flaws
1. Why did decolonization trigger civil wars in Korea and Vietnam? How did the civil wars become entangled conflicts between the U.S. and Soviet Union during the Cold War?
2. Compare and contrast the reasons for communist victories in China and Vietnam. How and why did the US policies toward the Chinese and Vietnamese civil wars differ?
3. Why did the United States lose the Vietnamese War?
1. What is Nguyen Thai Hoc's view of French colonial rule in Vietnam?
2. Why did French rule of Vietnam encouraged Nguyen to become a nationalist
demanding independence?