Indochina Notes

Conflict in Indochina 1954–1979
1 INDOCHINA AFTER THE FRENCH
a) Consequences of the Vietnamese victory against the French
→ 1000 year occupation by Chinese, Vietnamese rebelled against the Chinese constantly.
→ Trung sisters is AD40 = symbol of nationalism
Indochina under the French

→ Began in 1858
→ French ‘mission civilisatrice’ aimed to civilize the Vietnamese people- Missionaries converted
thousands of Vietnamese to Catholicism
→ Vietnamese were oppressed, despised French colonial control and nationalistic feelings grew.
→ Won the 1st Indochina War at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu.
Dien Bien Phu

→ The French were humiliated and France’s hope for a role in South Vietnam ended with the
appointment of Diem
→ French suffered 7000 casualties and 11 000 POW, this, in addition to events in Algiria, brought the
end of the Fourth French Republic
→ The victory at Dien Bien Phu granted the Vietminh a strengthened bargaining position at the Geneva
conference
b) Consequences of the Geneva Peace Agreement for the Vietnamese people to 1964
The Four major world powers at the time, USA, Soviet Union, Britain and France were to meet at Geneva to
discuss the issue of Korea.
→ Indochina was due to be discussed on May 8, the day after Dien Bien Phu
→ The conference was attended by the USA, Soviet Union, China, France, Britain, Cambodia, Laos, the
Vietminh and the Bao Dia government
There were significant tensions throughout the conference: British Foreign minister commented that the
parties would not make direct contact with each other.
→ Vietminh representative, Pham van Dong: refused to recognize the Boa Dai government in the South
as genuine
→ US Secretary of State refused to shake hands with the Chinese or Viet Minh representatives (John
Foster Dulles was a vehement anti-communist
→ French premier announced he would resign if a formal ceasefire was not achieved by July 20
Pressure was placed on the Vietminh to accept a divided Vietnam

→ A compromise that they were not satisfied with
OUTCOMES
1. DNZ
2. 300 days free movement → during this period military personnel were instructed to return to their
place of origin however, some North Vietnamese cadres remained in the south.
3. Nation wide elections were to be held in 1956 for a unified Vietnam controlled by either the
Northern or Southern government
In the meantime, Vietnam would remain divided by the 17th parallel into the two governments.
1
Problems:
● The accords appeared to provide a means for Vietnam to achieve stability however, in reality, they
were hastily drafted (completed only 2 months after the battle of Dien Bien Phu.
● Not negotiated in good faith, many stakeholders refused to sign or signed under pressure. (USA &
South Vietnam ‘acknowledged the accords but did not sign)
● The Viet Minh were reluctant to sign as they were skeptical about the elections and reluctant to loose
territory to the south
● The Viet Minh only signed under the instruction of Ho Chi Minh, who was himself under pressure
from the Soviet Union and China.
Throughout the 300-day grace period, the USA began to provide support for Vietnamese who wanted to
move south.
● US personnel and aid workers organized refugee camps food and medical supplies in South Vietnam
● Called Operation Passage to Freedom, and was part humanitarian but also part propaganda ploy,
placing the USA in the position of a benefactor and appearing as a benevolent superpower on the
world stage. This program also aimed to encourage North Vietnamese to travel south
● Approx. 660 000 Vietnamese chose to relocate from the North to the South and almost half did so
aboard American ships.
● Around 140 000 Vietnamese chose to relocate in the other direction with little to no assistance.
Historiography:
Stanly Karnow
The Geneva conference provided no durable solution to the Indochina Conflict. The US refusal to sign the
Geneva agreement shows that it was not going to provide a permanent solution to any conflict.
c) Political, social, economic and military developments within North and South Vietnam
SOUTH VIETNAM
Diem’s Consolidation of power 1955-1956 (and beyond)
POLITICAL
Sized power by the
end of 1955.
Attempted Coup
1954:
Denunciation Anyone who fought the French or was close to the resistance or sympathetic to
campaign 1955: Viet Minh
→ 90% of Vietminh cells in the South were destroyed
over 80 000 people were imprisoned
1956: Only one Only the Can Lao, or the Personalist Labour Revolutionary Party, under the
Political Party control of Nhu, was allowed to exist
Ordinance 47: 1956 Law which made it a capital offense to be a communist or associate with
communists
→ estimated 12 000 people died between 1955-1957 under ordinance 47
Refusal to hold Diem refused to hold the elections, claiming he believed that the North would lie
Geneva elections in about results, in truth, he and the Americans feared that the North would win the
2
1956 election.
Law 10/59, passed in Gave military Tribunals the right to try people suspected of communist links
1959 → deteriorated separation of power
→ gave military power over the judiciary
CONSTITUTIONAL
Nepotism Nepotism in government:
→ Ngo Dinh Nhu- brother was advisor and head of police, military and
intelligence services
→ Can, another brother was in control of the nations economy
→ Thuc, a third brother, was the arch Bishop of Hue
→ Madame Nhu, Nhu’s wife was the first lady of South Vietnam
Referendum in South Vietnam to become a republic and abandon the monarchy
October 1955 → 98.2% voted yes
2000 more people in Saigon voted yes than lived there = obviously faked
ECONOMIC
Economic Aid Diem cut economic ties with France and US Aid increased from 1955
→ US aid funded textiles, cement and sugar factories = development of
industry
→ Saigon became a bustling western city
Discrepancy between Most of US aid stayed in Saigon or other cities
city and country → Saigon became a western hub of luxuries
→ Whereas the countryside was in poverty
SOCIAL
Overthrew powerful Binh Xuyen,
gangs with their own → Known as the Battle of Siagon
militias → Diem’s forces prevailed over the crime bosses
Attacked the powerful Cao Dia
religious sects Hao Hoa
→ These sects had militias which had fought during the French war
→ Members of militias were adopted into the ARVN or removed
Favoured Catholics → Thuc, Diems brother was the archbishop of Hue
→ Catholics were given prime land outside of SIagon and peasants were
displaced
→ Thuc developed a Catholic network which provided a powerbase of
support for Diem
Women Madame Nhu, who held the position of first lady, ran the:
→ Women’s Solidarity Movement
→ Aimed to impose strict morality on Vietnamese women
→ Limited divorce, access to conception, prostitution, dancing and beauty
contests
Can Lao (Secret Nhu used the Can Lao as a Gestapo-like secret police force
Police) → Anyone suspected of opposition could be arrested, imprisoned, tortured
or executed
→ By 1958, there were over 40 000 political prisoners in South Vietnam
3
→ By 1961, there were over 150 000

Strict censorship Any newspaper which did not adhere to Diem’s party line was closed down
NORTH VIETNAM
POLITICL
Political Stability Technically, the new government included not only communists but also non-
1954 communists who had fought with the Vietminh against the French
→ However, in reality, Lao Dong, the Vietnam Worker’s party, held the
power
→ Leadership within the party was extremely stable with Ho Chi Minh as
President,
→ Truong Chin as party secretary
Post Geneva, political Divisions within the Government disagreed on which path to follow to create a
divisions ‘great socialist society in the North’
→ Giap wanted moderate reform: he thought that radical policies would
only make the struggling Northern economy worse
→ Truong Chin: wanted to follow the Chinese model of rapid land reform.
Truong Chin won the argument
Ho Chi Minh was 64 years old at this point and took a back seat.
Agricultural Tribunals The purpose of the tribunals was to supervise the redistribution of land in
1955-1958 accordance with socialist policy
→ Turned into a witch hunt purging of landlords, wealthy peasants, French
collaborators and anyone who questioned the regime- these people were
labelled ‘feudalists’
Tribunals became known for their terror, denunciation and death
→ People were accused, given quick trials and sentenced to re education or
execution
→ Many were sentenced without trial
→ 100 000 died during the campaign
Panic and fear took over
→ people denounced friends to prove their own loyalty
→ Vietminh who had fought against the French were subject to accusations
Peasant Uprising In June 1956, there were peasant uprisings throughout North Vietnam
1956 → In November, there was a revolt in Ho’s home province of Nghe An
→ Over 6000 people were killed or deported
→ Same month, an intellectual revolt in Hanoi was met with vicious
treatment
Ho Chi Minh steps in Ho Chi Minh asserted his authority in North Vietnam
1957 → He admitted that errors had been made
→ Truong Chin lost his position as General Secretary
→ People who had been incarcerated were released
In 1958 the tribunals were abandoned for a more moderate program of
Cooperativisation Plans
→ The Cooperative was based on the idea that villagers shared labour and
responsibilities
→ Based of traditional peasant practices of shared lands
By 1960, 80% of the North was participating in the cooperativisation program
4
HISTORIOGRAPHY Stanley Karnow: Vietnam

Karnow states Vietnam was lucky to get away with the repression of peasants
and Agricultural tribunals and outlines that Truong Chinh was used as a
scapegoat to lay the party’s blame.
SOCIAL
Shortage of food The Mekong Delta had provided the majority of rice to North Vietnam for
1954 centuries
→ As this was now in South Vietnam, the North faced a significant food
shortage
→ The Red River delta became over populated and could not support the
population
→ Land reforms exacerbated the problem
Chinese rice imports were crucial (strengthened ties with China)
Party associations The Lao Dong ran several groups throughout society, which organized the
1954 population
→ Peasants association, youth association
→ All people, including journalists, writers and cultural groups, were under
some form of party control
ECONOMIC
Shortage of Skilled 1 million people moved to the South after the Geneva accords
labour → Predominantly Catholics who feared persecution under the communist
1954 regime
→ Many were skilled technicians and professionals
→ denied the economy of their skilled labour
Lack of infrastructure North Vietnam had been at war for almost 15 years, with the French and
1954 Japanese
→ Japanese deprivation and exploitation had ruined much of the North’s
agricultural infrastructure like irrigation, roads and bridges
→ Despite aid from China and the Soviet Union, the North was still short of
the aid it needed to rebuild critical infrastructure
Success of By 1960, 80% of the population participated in the program
Cooperativisation → Food production had increased to the point where the North could feed
Program itself, requiring only occasional imports
1958-1960 → This allowed aid to be directed into investing in infrastructure
Soviet Technological aid had been vital to resurrect the industrial sector
Three-year Economic Systematic process of nationalization of previously French owned companies
Plan → Coal, textile and major businesses were nationalized
1958 → Banks and public utilities were nationalized
→ Government imposed regulations on prices, wages and output of private
businesses
= set lower prices = better living standards
Significant aid came from China and the Soviet Union

By 1960:
5
→ North Vietnam had the highest economic growth rate of any Asian
country
MILITARY
Geneva Accords 10 000 military Vietmin and 15 000 Cadres returned North
1954 → Tens of thousands remained in the South remained in South Vietnam to
await future developments
→ These cadres were ordered to become absorbed in Southern life until the
North was ready to peruse unification
Southern Communists During Diem’s denunciation campaigns, Southern Communists pleaded for
pleas for help Northern help
→ Le Duan moved to the North in 1957 to promote the Southern Cause
Group 559 The purpose of Group 559 was to facilitate the movement of supplies and men to
1959 the South
Rather than try cross the DMZ, Group 559 developed supply routes which went
through Laos and Cambodia (beginning of Ho Chi Minh trail)
COSVN 1959 Northern Government created the Central Office for South Vietnam (COSVN)
→ To coordinate activities in the south
→ Run by Le Duan
National Liberation A broad coalition group comprising of a range of ethnic, political and religious
Front (NLF) groups = not specifically a communist orginisation, however it would eventually
1960 be dominated by communists
Northern Economic stability + pressure from Southern communists allowed them
to embark on attempted unification
The aim was to remove Diem.
→ 10 point plan stared with Diem’s removal and ended with the
reunification of the country
Not part of the NVA but supported by it

→ Strengthened by supplies from the Ho Chi Minh Trail
→ Sough to infiltrate every corner of Southern Society using 2 man cells
→ Had a presence in villages, farms, factories and other associations
→ Many recruits were teenagers and peasants resentful of Diem’s landlords
and arbitrary tax collectors, who favoured Catholics
Initially had a regular force of 5500 with 30 00 guerillas

→ By the end of 1961, the US estimated the NLF controlled around 80% of
the country side
→ Principle targets of the NLF were people who worked for the Diem
regime, police, village leaders, tax collectors
→ The NLF would give warnings to cease collaboration with Diem’s regime
and if these were not met, they would be swift and violent
→ In 1961 alone, over 4000 government officials were systematically
assassinated by the NLF
Most Southern peasants greeted the NLF as liberators

→ NLF focused on education the Southern population about the goals of the
NLF, a unified Vietnam and the benefits of communism
6
→ NLF soldiers could be brutal with opponents but were under strict
instruction to respect the South Vietnamese peasants.
HISTORIOGRAPHY Stanley Karnow: Vietnam
While the US saw the NLF as a puppet of the Hanoi government, in reality there
were serious differences between northern and southern communists.
Gabriel Kolko:
The structure of South Vietnamese society gave the NLF the ‘ingredients for
complete victory’
Foreign Policy:
USA Context of the Cold War meant relations between South Vietnam and the US
were icy
→ US closed its Hanoi embassy in December 1955
→ The DRV became part of the Cold War, seen by the US as directed by
Moscow
China North Vietnam received Chinese aid with hesitancy as the 1000 year occupation
made then wary of China
→ Chinese aid during the rice shortages during the Agricultural Tribunal
period however was crucial
Soviet Union The Soviet Union gave both monetary and technological aid to North Vietnam
which allowed it to develop industry
Ho Chi Minh was grateful for both Chinese and Soviet aid however he did not
allow the nations to dictate him in response to it
Chinese/ Soviet As China and the Soviet Union drew apart, North Vietnam continued to receive
tensions in the late aid from both
1950s → North Vietnam did not take sides in the conflict, realizing it would need
the support of both when it eventually tried to take on the South and the
USA.
d) Political and social issues in Indochina by 1960
SOCIAL
Remnants of those → Binh Xuyen, gangs with their own militias

targeted in Diems → Religious Sects: Cao Dia, Hao Hoa,
Consolidation: → These had gone underground but gathered strength to pose a threat to
Diem
General Dissatisfaction: → Vietminh cadres, who remained in the South after 1954
→ Rights for women taken away: Madam Nhu
→ Denunciation campaigns
→ US aid changing the values of Pop Culture
→ Vietcong assassinating government officials in the hundreds
Buddhism: 1963 → Diem’s regime showed favoritism to SV Catholics (given best land,
escape taxes)
→ As Buddhists protested, repression against them increased
→ May 1963: Dispute broke out in Hue, Buddhists flags being flown
higher than Diem’s flags = Diem ordered the celebrations to stop =
7
Buddhist monks, leady by Tri Quang began to protest. 9 Buddhists

were kill and and 14 were wounded.
→ June 11: Monk in his 60s, Quang Duc made the ultimate protest
against the Diem Regime. Practiced Self Immolation, by lighting
himself on fire.
→ Madame Nhu “we are not concerned about Buddhists barbecues.
→ Pagodas were fenced off with barbed wire
→ 1400 monks were arrested in August
→ Took the army 8 hour to take the Deiude Temple in Hue from monks
and nuns who were defending it
Women: → Madam Nhu’s programme for women was extremely concervative
Peasants → Reversal of pre-1954 land reform by the Vietminh favoured land
owners
The Agroville program, which removed peasants from their ancestral land
was extremely unpopular
→ Peasants were sent to extremely poor land, which lead to crop failures
and poverty
→ By the end of 1961, 80% of peasants supported the NLF
The US Strategic Hamlet program, alienated peasants further and they felt as
if they were imprisoned.
Ideology → The worst of western values, cronyism, greed and materialism were
evident in Vietnam and many saw the selflessness an dsense of
purpose in the North attractive e
POLITICAL
Remnants of Cadres and ● Diem’s repression and denunciation campaigns had greatly reduced the
growing NLF influence of Communists
● However, the 10 000 cadres that survived formed the nucleus of the NLF
Reliance on US Aid ● Diems regime was completely reliant on US aid
● Massive discrepancy between living conditions in the City and
Countryside
● NLF presented Diem as a puppet of the US, due to his reliance on their
aid.
Nepotism ● Stretched into military ranks, promotion in ARVN was decided not on
merit but merely on the degree of ones loyalty to Diem
Military resistance ● Coup attempted by the military against Diem in November 1960, lead by
1960 Nguyen Chanh Thi. Failed following the intervention of US ambassador
Durbow and CIA chief
● Two years later, Nguyen Van Cu and Phan phu Quoc, rebel air force
piolots attacked the Presidential palace with napalm and rockets.
Assassination of Diem ● Senior military officials approached the US ambassador about a potential
1963 coup in Vietnam
● US said it would support the military during the period of breakdown
● On November 1 army and air force offices staged the coup
● Diem and his brother surrendered to air force officers and were murdered
8
● The country was lead by General Duong Van Minh.

Instability post-Diem ● 10 governments in 20 months between 1963-1965
2. THE USA AND INDOCHINA
a) Nature and development of US policy towards Indochina generally and Vietnam in Particular
Why America became involved with Vietnam.
Us involvement during the French War

● Truman did not share Roosevelts anti-colonial idealism, was more concerned with the containment
of Communism.
● If the US had France on their side, they could be a bull work against communism in Europe. Wanted
to support the French
● Korean war 1950-1953: Geneva about the Korean war.
● In American eyes, Ho was a puppet of the Soviets
● Truman saw a cheap way to stop communism: lives lost would be Vietnamese and French.
● USA refused to negotiate with communists at the Geneva conference.
● Green Berets: = Special forces.
After WWII the US plan for European security required a stable France. To be economically stable,
France needed economic gains from its colonies
To provide post 1945 Japan with substitutes in SE Asia for the China trade embargo (due to communism)
To reorganize the world on the basis of liberal capitalism

Cold war fear of the spread of communism had been behind the 1954 creation of SEATO and the 1955
direction of aid to South Vietnam
War was the primary instrument of US foreign policy
Under Kennedy, 1961 the US send more military advisers to aid the ARVN, Army of the Republic of
Vietnam, also helicopters and sanctioned the coup against Diem
By 1961: 50 000 political prisoners in South Vietnam
● 1963: Kennedy considered withdrawal but his decision was cut off by his assassination
● Kennedy saw Vietnam was weak but the subsequent policy decision wasn’t made
From November 1963, after Diem was assassinated, Great political instability. Johnson was convinced
that South Vietnam did not have the capacity to prevent communist victory reflecting Kennedy’s view
By 1964, the NLF were overrunning the South with VC raids on US bases. Johnson wanted a strong
foreign policy to complement his ‘Great Society’ domestic policy
Johnson offered Ho Chi Minh’s government economic aid if North Vietnam would cease assistance to
the Vietcong. The aid was refused. This contributed to LBJ’s decision to escalate the war to achieve
Americanization from 1965.
REASONS FOR US MILITARY INVOLVEMENT

9
Cold War The USA was involved in an ideological war against the Soviet Union, US foreign
motivations policy aims focused on stopping the spread of communism.
Nature of Marxist theory:

→ that once one nation fell to communism, others would follow.
→ This is evident in Eastern Europe and China and the USSR.
→ China had already had a communist revolution in 1949, US feared that if
South Vietnam fell to communism, so would the whole of South east Asia
→ Domino Theory
Policy Containment theory

→ Established by Eisenhower
→ Upheld by Truman Administration: 1945-1953
→ Containment theory was a reaction to the ‘spread of communism’. USA was
concerned threat other Indochina states would fall to communism under the
domino theory, particularly Lao and Cambodia.
US political After JFK’s assassination in November 1963, Vice President Johnson assumed the
sphere Presidency
→ President Johnson believed that if South became communist while he was
President, he would likely lose the 1964 election
→ This belief was strengthened by President Truman’s ‘loss’ of China to
communism in 1949
→ As Truman was a Democrat, like Truman, he believed that if South Vietnam
became communist under his Presidency, the Democrats would be electorally
punished for their inability to prevent communism
Previous Since 1945 the US had been investing economically and militarily in South Vietnam
investment in 1954→ 600 military advisors to train ARVN and RVNAF fighters
South Vietnam 1960→ 900 US advisors
1962→ over 1100 US personnel in Vietnam
Aid:
$322 million in 1955
Also provided ARVN with technology such as helicopters and air craft, if the South
fell to communism the US feared this technology would fall into soviet hands.
Social WHAM- Winning Hearts and Minds
Investments → Develop social infrastructure in the South, this involved health services and
subsidized rice as well as education and schools
→ Strategic Hamlets (ended in 1963 as the Vietcong had infiltrated)
→ Propaganda to teach the peasants that the Vietcong was loosing
Tonkin Incident July 1964
→ USS Maddox was patrolling in waters only 7km away from NV waters.
→ NV vessels attacked the Maddox, which retreated.
→ Two days later, in poor weather conditions, the Maddox returned to the water and
US personnel claimed that the boat had been attacked again. (it has since been
suggested the US fabricated these claims to deliberately escalate conflict)
→ Johnson took to national television saying the US would not be complacent in
being attacked
→ Congress passed the Tonkin Resolution: giving LBJ power to take “all necessary
measures” to prevent any further aggression and power to do so without congress
10
approval.
ESCALATION OF CONFLICT:
● Pentagon (military HQ) papers: top secret study which was commissioned by the former secretary of
defense, Robert McNamara, that released secret document. Revealed the USA deliberately escalated
conflict in Vietnam.
● Revealed errors and miss judgements in US policy and military strategy, undermined the government
and fueled the anti-war movement.
Hawkes and Doves: The Congress was split between Doves, who belived the US should remain as removed
from Vietnam as possible
→ Hawks, who belived who wanted hard line military action in Vietnam
→ IN June, LBJ made two Hawkish appointments, Westmoreland to chief in Vietnam and Maxwell
Taylor as the US Ambassador.
HISORIOGRAPHY: Michael Maclear:

Under LBJ, America’s attitude toward Vietnam was motivated by political self-defense as much as defense
of the free world. LBJ feared, that a loss of Vietnam would equal a loss of leadership domestically and on
the international stage too.
Introduction of troops;
→ Nov 1964: VC units attacked the American air base of Bien Hoa, 4 US killed and 70 wounded. Sever
B57 aircraft were damaged.
→ Feb 1965: VC attack at Plieku killed 9 US and killed over 1000. Johnston launched Operation
Flaming Darts and Rolling Thunder
→ March 8 3500 combat troops arrived in Da Nang.
→ July: LBJ announced to increase troop levels by 125 000 men.
LBJ:
→ Escalated the war, introduced more troops.
→ Opposition to the war increased greatly throughout LBJ’s presidency. 1968 saw draft burning, sit in s
and protest marches.
→ Rolling thunder was suspended in October 1968 in exchange for negotiations without preconditions
but the agreement never fully took force
→ LBJ refused to stand for the 1968 Presidential elections due to embarrassment over Vietnam
(specifically Tet) and the failure of his plan for the ‘great society’ which was suspended due to
investment in Vietnam.
Richard Nixon.
→ Became president in 1968, ran a campaign that promised new leadership in the Vietnam war.
→ Inherited a disillusionment with the war, the USA was loosing 300 soldiers a week and the
Communists showed little sign of defeat.
→ Nixon compromised and allowed an ‘honourable’ US withdrawal.
→ Nixon offered to suspend American bombing if Hanoi agreed to unconditional peace talks.
→ Began Vietnamization of the war and pledged “an honorable end to the war in Vietnam”
HOWEVER
→ Behind the scenes, Nixon began to expand the war. He authorized Operation Menu, which was a
covert bombing campaign aimed at VC in Cambodia from 1969 to 1970.
11
→ The US dropped over 2 million tons of bombs. 11 000 bombing sites were indiscriminate.
This expansion of the war was concealed from the US public but released in May 1970
HISTORIOGRAPHY: Stanley Karnow

→ Nixon had threatened NV with renewed bombing if it didn’t agree to the compromise at Paris and
worried that the whole of the US would be in convolutions. Aware of US public opinion, but not
necessarily swayed by it.
b) Impact of direct US military involvement in Vietnam and the consequences for

Vietnam and Cambodia
US military involvement meant US money:

→ American money and presence of soldiers had an impact of Vietnam and its culture → establishment
of brothels, bars etc.
→ Traditional family and economic values started to be challenged due to their presence.
o Also, consumer goods from US damaged local industry and increased prices of goods and
services.
▪ Linked to this also is an increased dependence on US imports and growing corruption and
the establishment of a black market.
US military tactics impacted on the Vietnamese people:

→ American ‘search and destroy’ tactics had a huge social impact on the villagers of Vietnam and
alienated them from the Americans.
→ The South Vietnamese resented US tactics and there were protests The US and South Viet WHAM
strategy aimed to win the support of villagers through ‘nation building’ including construction of
schools, roads and other infrastructure, conducting medical programs etc.
→ This was undermined by other programs and strategies of the American Military such as the
Strategic Hamlets Program.
→ Strategic Hamlets Program (instigated in early 1962) which involved the forced relocation of
villagers from their traditional land to protected villages built from scratch by the villagers
themselves without pay, leaving behind their homes, crops, and livestock.
o This led to resentment of US and the South Vietnamese government.
→ Operation ‘Rolling Thunder’ and the use of chemical agents such as Agent Orange meant led to the
destruction of lives, houses, crops, forests, livestock and whole villages.
o Constant bombing took its toll on the villagers leading to starvation, health problems, and
contributing to South Vietnam’s refugee problems.
US military tactics impacting on Cambodia

→ The US supplying financial support for the Lon Nol government’s fight against communism meant
that Cambodians faced a five-year civil war between the Royal Cambodian Army and the NVA, the
VC and the Khmer Rouge.
→ More than 500 000 Cambodians were killed during this period as a result of US aerial bombing and
armed conflict between the opposing armies.
− It was at the end of this conflict that the Khmer Rouge came to power.
→ The conflict in Indochina placed considerable stress upon the traditional elements within Cambodian
society and this stress
HISTORIOGRAPHY: Pollock
12
“shattered most of what remained of Cambodian society and provided ideal preconditions for the further
expansion of the Khmer Rouge insurgency.”
→ US bombing of Cambodia, in ‘Operation Menu’ resulted in widespread destruction, both in terms of

civilian deaths and long term economic damages.
− Cambodia’s infrastructure was destroyed—over 40% of roads and 30% of bridges were unusable.
− This damage further compounded the economic debt of Cambodia.
− Death tolls for the damages caused by ‘Operation Menu’ are often cited between 600 000 and
750 000.
→ Khmer Rouge support rose concurrently with the US bombing programs, from 3000 in 1971 to over
60 000 in 1973.
− By 1975, the Khmer Rouge controlled of most of Cambodia.
→ The Nixon administration's bombing campaign in 1973 probably saved the Lon Nol regime but it also
allowed Pol Pot's group to consolidate their grip on power.
HISTORIOGRPAHY: Kiernan
“Terrified and half crazy, the people were ready to believe what they were told... That was what made it
so easy for the Khmer Rouge to win the people over... it was because of this dissatisfaction with the
bombing that they kept on cooperating with the Khmer Rouge.”
● The NVA joined the combat in significant numbers

● The war turned from mostly Guerilla to traditional warfare.
3 THE SECOND INDOCHINA WAR.
a) Nature and effectiveness of the strategy and tactics employed by the North Vietnamese Army and the
National Liberation Front (NLF), and by the South Vietnamese and the USA
Strategy of NLF and VC:
Strategy =overall plan

NVA: attrition, elephant and tiger
Tactic = methods of achieving the strategy
Elephant and Tiger: → Ho explained the Elephant and Tiger analogy to Journalist David
Schoebrun in 1946, in relation to the 1st Indochina war
→ In the analogy, France/The Usa is the elephant, large, seemingly powerful
and equipped with the latest military might and technologies. Vietnam is
the tiger, smaller but agile.
→ For the tiger to win, it must never stand still and never let the elephant get
a chance to use its greater strength =gurilla tactics.
Guerrilla Warfare: → The Vietcong were not a homogenous group. Some werer full time
fighters, others regulars of the NVA and some part-time guerrillas who
were peasants by day
13
→ The tactics followed the Chinese commusists in their struggle for power
→ Avoided major confrontations with US forces
→ Attacked at night and operated in small groups
→ Used the tactic of Ambush: booby traps (pits with sharpened punji sticks
and faeces on the ends)
The Terrain of SV was suited to guerilla tactics.

→ Mountainous, jungled landscape made it difficult for traditional US forces
to move, but ideal for lightly armed guerrillas
→ The Vietcong knew their locale intimately
→ They wore no uniform and could blend with the local population = very
difficult for US foces to distinguish civilians for Vietcong, the US
assumed all locals were VC = hostility with locals = encouraged others to
join the VC
Local populations: → Ho and Giap insisted on a high level respect for villagers from their men,
they assisted when they could and treated women with respect, such
behaviour earned the VC strong local support
→ Mao Zedong said: “the army are the fish, the people are the sea”
→ VC were also known to be ruthless toward people who were suspected of
working for the US/SV regime and were merciless. = received a
perception of brutality
Propaganda: The SV were educated about the aims of the movement, about the aim of
independence and freedom from colonial US control and the prospect of greater
equity once freedom was won.
Tunnels → Vietminh and VC developed hundreds of tunnels in SV between the
Cambodian border and Saigon, which provided sanctuary for the guerillas
→ These structures contained makeshift hospitals and schools
→ Frustrated Americans who thought the VC could disappear.
Booby traps VC- guerilla warefare
Punji sticks,
Tunnels in the Parrots beak (only 60kms from Saigon)
Hit and Run
Night raids
Peasant support: Stanley Karnow:
HISTORIOGRAPHY Some peasants welcomed the Vietcong and saw them as liberators, but most
peasants were indifferent and favored the side who abused them less.
Ho Chi Minh trial: → The Viet Cong relied heavily on the North for supplies, encouragement and
reinforcements
→ With 538 000 US troops on the ground by 1968 and ARVN, the VC
needed supplies and reinforcements
→ Truong Son or HCM Trail: not a single track but a mass of crisscrossing
routes. In some places, as many as 25 trails which varied in size and quality
→ US Rolling Thunder attempted to bomb the track however, by 1966, there
were over 20 000 men working to keep the trail in usable condition
→ By 1975, the track had been paved and an oil pipeline had been installed.
→ Soviet and Chinese aid made its way to the VC through the trail.
→ By the late 1960s, there were an average of 2000 trucks a day carrying 10
14
000 tonnes of supplies to SV.

→ In 1968 alone, over 100 000 NV moved along the HCM trail
NVA: 1968 onwards, conventional warfare

SET PIECE BATTLES:
→ TET
→ KHE SAHN
EASTER OFFENSIVE
→ March 30 1932
→ A three pronged attack against the south
→ NVA forces gained control over the Central Highlands, northern provinces and areas north of Saigon
→ Nixon responded by bombing targets with extreme firepower.
→ Haiphong harbor was bombed and then mined
→ US were dropping 3000 tons of bombs a day
Strategy of NVA:
Guerilla warfare
Dominated the NVA’s tactics in the early stages of the war, from the late 1950s to
early 1960s, the war was almost entirely fought in a guerilla nature,
predominantly by Viet cong.
NVA Regulars → From 1946 onwards, regular units of the NVA began moving south in
significant numbers
→ Between 1964-1968, Giap was willing to engage the US in occasional set
piece battles.
→ The strategy of the DRV was attrition, to prolong the war until the US saw
it as no longer feasible to continue, just as they had done with the French
→ NV was willing to lose a dozen men for each American who died.
→ After Tet in 1968, Vietcong losses were considerable (60 000) and as a
result, the bulk of the fighting against the US and ARVN was carried out
by NVA regulars.
→ By 1972, the NVA was able to launch full-scale conventional campaigns,
→ The was a large presence of NVA troops in the South was a dangerous
decision as it could justify an American invasion of North Vietnam
→ To safeguard this, Hanoi ensure it had good relations with both the Soviet
Union and China
→ By 1966, there were Chinese anti-aircraft an mine-sweeper units present in
the North.
Chinese Aid → Hanoi receive Chinese aid with mixed feelings
→ It needed it to fight against the technological Americans and to safeguard
against US invasion
→ However, historic Vietnamese fears of China (1000 year occupation)
persisted, even if their ideology was now the same
HISTORIOGRAPHY → Regardless of aid, NVA troops could never match their American
adversaries, each man carried some food for the trip south and were
supposed to take a malaria tablet daily.
→ Robert Schulzinger says that four men out of each company (160) would
die of disease, accidents, snake bites or air raves on the trip south.
15
Strategy of the USA and ARVN
The strategy was attrition:

→ The US had the most modern, sophisticated and technologically advanced weaponry in human
history
→ It seemed inconceivable that the US would not emerge triumphant
→ President Johnston: called NV “a raggedy-ass little fourth-rate country”
→ Philip Caputo: US soldiers shared the “implicit conviction that the Vietcong would be quickly
beaten”
HISTORIOGRAPHY: Stanley Karnow

→ By 1967, a million tons of supplies a month entered Vietnam to keep US forces going, that’s 45kgs
per day per every American that was there
→ The Americans were certain “American omnipotence would triumph”
Injection of Troops:
→ 3/1963: 3500 troops at Da Nang
→ End of 1964: 184 000
→ 1968: 538 000
Tactics: Softening Up
Heavy weaponry:
Helicopters: →
by 1968, there were over 5500 helicopters
→
helicopters were quick and could move into isolated areas but incredibly noisy
Huey and gave VC the opportunity to hide
→
Made the quick evacuation of wounded easy
→
VC gradually learned of favored landing spots of helicopters and dug giant pits
covered with grasses which hid bamboo punji sticks.
B52s → More bombs were dropped in Vietnam than in WWII
→ B52s flew at 35 000 feet often in a V formation = too high to be shot down
→ Could drop 27 tons in a single mission
→ VC could not prepare for a bombing
Cluster bombs → Dropped by B52s, on VC and villiages.
→ Would shatter and hurl hundreds of metal blades and steel balls (shrapnel) which
would injure and maim
Puff the magic → Converted DC 3 which could drop flares capable of lighting an area of 2kms
Dragon: → Could fire on targets at a rate of 18 000 rounds a minute
Napalm → Jellied petroleum substance dropped in canisters

→ As the canisters were forced open upon hitting the ground, the napalm ignited
→ Entire villages were incinerated in raids where dozens of napalm canisters were
dropped
→ Effects on civilians were horrific
Chemical → Part of Operation Ranch Hand
Defoliants → Chemical Defoliants as well as herbicides were dropped on the dense
(Agent Vietnamese Jungles
Orange) → The aim was to destroy vegetation and the hiding places of Vietcong during US
16
search and destroy missions

→ 75 million liters of defoliants were dropped on Indochina
→ Angered South Vietnamese peasants and turned more of them against the
government
→ Ended in 1969 when US farmers suffered shortages of herbicides.
Sophisticated → People sniffer: could pick up the smell of ammonia (urine) and therefore track
Electronic people
Devices → The device however, could not differentiate between animal and human urine
and often lead targeted bombings a stray.
Traditional → Mortars
weapons: → Grenades
→ Rocket launchers
→ Rifles → m16 automatic
→ Artillery
US Tactics under President Johnston (1964)

→ General Westmoreland had experience in WWII and had prepared for a continental war across
Europe against the Soviet Union, he expected conventional warfare.
→ Conducted attrition warfare against the enemy
Search and Destroy missions:

→ locate the enemy, clear the area of civilians, destroy villages to deny use by VC, carpet bomb the
area, capture any surviving VC
→ These were successful in the short term but shortly after areas were neutralized and the Americans
withdrew the VC would return
→ The immense destruction of civilian towns and crops prompted peasants to support the VC
→ Villages who lost their homes moved to the cities, where they would witness US servicemen
drinking, gambling and hiring prostitutes
→ The already unstable SV government struggled to support the influx of people to the city
→ Traditions of filial piety broke down as young Vietnamese were lured to western affluence
→ Search and Destroy missions pushed the VC into Cambodia
Rolling Thunder
→ In progress for three years but had little effect on VC morale
→ Constant bombing had no effect on the HCM trail as Giap had thousands of workers repairing it
daily
Linebacker II
→ 18th December 1972 after the North walked out of peace agreements.
→ Us newspapers described the bombing as barbaric
→ 2000 sorties were flown over the heaviest populated areas of North Vietnam and dropped over 40
000 tons of bombs
→ destruction was massive but fatalities low due to effective mass evacuation
→ Americans lost 15 B52s and 93 airmen.
Operation Phoenix:
→ Instituted in 1965 to kill or capture suspected VC members and supporters
17
→ Many were allegedly tortured in interrogation centers in an attempt to gain intelligence on VC

activities in the area. The information extracted at the centers was then given to military
commanders who would undertake further capture and assassination missions.
→ Between 1968 and 1972 Operation Phoenix neutralized nearly 82 000 people suspected of VC
membership and more than 26 000 were killed.
→ Eventually a series of US congressional hearings over Operation Phoenix. In 1971, a former
serviceman described the Phoenix program as a “sterile depersonalized murder program.
Westmoreland told Johnson that by mid-1967 there were only 285 000 VC remaining, the CIA had told him
that the figure was more like 500 000. = completely false
→ Wanted more troops and support
Political issues in the US

→ Divisions appeared in the administration and the military
→ Senate hearings in 1967 saw civilian and military hawks ask to end limits on the already considerable
bombings of NV
→ Secretary of Defense, McNamara, who converted from a Hawk to a Dove, asked to reduce the
bombing and then resigned.
→ The official administration line was that “there was a light at the end of the tunnel” (Westmoreland)
Madman Theory:
→ Nixon wanted the Vietnamese to believe that he was willing to bomb and possibly nuclear bomb if
necessary to pressure Hanoi and to end the war.
→ Nixon had 4 simultaneous aims in Vietnam
1. Withdraw US troops
2. Survival of the Thieu regime
3. Make NV negotiate in Paris
4. Get re-elected
→ Followed a philosophy of Realpolitik: everything was about national interest, ethics and morality had
no place in foreign policy.
Late 1960s through to the 1970s:

→ The morale of US troops decline rapidly
→ Troops were aware that Saigon was riddled with corruption (for example the ghost armies) and had
little incentive to fight for it
→ Desertion rates in 1971 ere five times what they had been in 1966
→ Fragging, the attempted murder by troops of their own officers, became a serious problem. In 1971
there were over 500 known attempts of fragging = major collapse of army discipline.
→
ARVN:
→ Had a reputation of being open to corruption and quick to desert.
→ Generals were appointed according to family ties rather than competence (corruption)
→ Senior Commanders lied about the numbers under their control: ghost soldiers, to accept extra
wages.
→ ARVN had poor recruits, from peasantry
18
→ However, the majority of its negative reputation comes from Western Journalists who would prefer
to travel with the Americans and therefore reported to the American public that the Us was carrying
the weight of ARVN.
→ ARVN fought bravely in the Tet Offensive and the NVA’s Easter Offensive of 1972
→ Neil Davis, an Australian photo-journalist said he could only recall three weeks in three years when
US casualties had exceeded those in Arvin and that he never saw them run once.
→ ARVN would also employ Guerilla like tactics of ambush as they moved silently and take the Viet
Cong unawares.
Operation Lam Son:

→ In February 1971, 5000 ARVN troops were sent into Laos to attack NVA supply lines.
→ Within two weeks half the ARVN force was dead
→ US film crews sent back US pictures of ARVN soldiers fighting each other to escape on US
helicopters.
Attempts at peacemaking:
Mid 1968- Jan 1973
Nixon’s promise of ‘peace with honor’ determined that steps toward peacemaking needed to be persued.
In May 1969, Nixon publically proposed withdrawing all American troops from South Vietnam provided
North Vietnam also did so and for South Vietnam to hold internationally supervised elections.
→ In mid 1969 Nixon began efforts to negotiate peace with the North Vietnamese, sending a personal
letter to North Vietnamese leaders and peace talks began in Paris.
→ Initial talks did not result in agreement.
Detente: softening of relations between the Soviet Union and the USA.
→ Reduced threat of nuclear war under Nixon.
→ Visits to China: Nixon + Mao Zedong. New way of looking at communism, softening toward view
of USSR/China and communism
→ Desire for peace in Vietnam.
→ Military withdrawal or Political negotiations.
North Vietnamese Perspective

→ BUT. North Vietnam didn’t care about negotiations. They believed that they would win with a long
term military view. The longer the war went on, the more likely it would be for the Americans to
withdraw.
→ Geneva (didn’t uphold the conditions of Geneva→ refused to have elections). North Vietnam did not
have confidence that the US would uphold conditions of negotiations.
→ Americans wanted to negotiate with north Vietnam but were frustrated with the North Vietnamese
who would walk out of negotiations.
→ The North Vietnamese were frustrated in the contradictory nature of American actions
→ Paris peace talk stalled
World Context
→ By 1969, China and the Soviet Union had become rivals, not allies.
→ Armed conflict was engaged on their common boarders
19
→ Nixon believed that he could build upon this tension and thereby put pressure on North Vietnam to
compromise in the peace talks.
→ In other words, Nixon would put diplomatic pressure on China and the Soviet Union to in turn put
pressure on North Vietnam
HISORIOGRAPHY: Philip Davidson:

The greatest consideration for the Americans in the peace deal was their own global role and American
national pride, the US saw American defeat as an opportunity for communist expansion throughout the
world.
Realpolitik
→ Nixon heavily relied on the National Security Advisor, Henry Kissinger, who was a beliver in
Realpolitik
→ Realpolitik sees no place for morality in the exercise of power, for Kissinger this meant America’s
interests were all that should be considered.
Madman theory
→ Norht Vietnam was lead to believe that Nixon was a mad anti-communist who would not shy away
from nuclear bombing
→ The White house would leak that Nixon was about to do something outrageous to pressure Hanoi
→ This was not an empty threat as Hiroshima provided a precedent for fear.
Declined deal of 1971

→ Nixon offered a deal to North Vietnam: the withdrawal of US forces, on the condition that US POWs
would be freed, there would be a ceasefire, an end to more Northern troops moving south, Thieu
would remain in power and Laos and Cambodia would be left alone.
→ With no specific mention about US bombing, the North did not take up the offer.
October plan 1972

→ On October 8, the US ended their bombing campaign
→ Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho seemed to reach an agreement.
→ The main elements of the agreement included:
1. US withdrawal within 60 days
2. A return of US POWs
3. The right of South Vietnam to decide its own future
4. A promise of a new DRV/US relationship
5. US promise to help with reconstruction
→ The US flew in almost $2 billion worth of aid to Saigon in the next two weeks
However, the deal struck difficulties:
→ Thieu was annoyed he was left out of negotiations, he ordered ARVN troops to attack the NVA. The
North saw this as American bad faith
→ Nixon was advised to hold off signing what was perceived as a weak agreement that could harm the
republican position in the elections.
US Amendments to the deal:

→ After the Republican’s won the election, Kissinger handed Le Duc Tho a list of amendments to the
October plan
20
→ Le Duc Tho walked out of the talks and returned to Hanoi

→ Nixon sent the North Vietnamese an ultimatum to resume talks or face major consequences
(Madman theory )
→ Hanoi did not reply and on the 18th of December the Americans initiated Operation Linebacker Two
(the Christmas Bombings)
1973:
→ IN January, Le Duc Tho resumed talks
→ Nixon informed Thieu that the Americans intended signing the agreement with or without him
→ January 15: the Americans ended all action against the North.
→ 27th January: The peace treaty was signed.
January 1973 Peace Treaty

1. NVA troops allowed to remain in South
2. All US troops withdrawn
3. US POWs released
4. International Control Commission to monitor ceasefire
5. Hostilities in Laos and Cambodia to end
6. US aid promised to South Vietnam
7. Council of National Reconciliation set up to sort remaining political issues inside Vietnam.
Failure of Peace Treaty:

→ Once Congress had passed laws stating that the US could not reenter the conflict once they had left,
The North Vietnamese re-entered South Vietnam
→ After US bombing ceaced, the North send 100 000 men to South Vietnam and increased its
tank/artillery strength fourfold
→ The International Control Commission was not able to suppress the North and maintain the ceasefire.
HISTORIOGRAPHY: Anthony Jones

The Peace Agreement as absurd. The North Vietnamese never intended to honor the agreement for longer
than they had to for the Americans to leave the conflict.
b) Impact of the 1968 Tet Offensive
Before Tet After Tet

US war aims had been to win Us war aims had become “to get out of Vietnam with
the minimum loss of face”
President LBJ was planning for re-election LBJ career was in Tatters (did not stand for reelection)
Lost popularity
Most decisive US victory BUT North Vietnam knew it could win
Anti-War movements were limited to campuses Anti-war movement had become mainstream (loss of
and radicals US lives and poor image of the war on the homefront)
Tet:
→ Tet is a new year festival which took place in January, throughout the war, it had been customary for
both sides to observe a truce
→ In 1968, the Communists broke the truce and Hanoi launched a massive nationwide attack across
South Vietnam
21
→ A communist force of 84 00 regular troops and 17 000 Guerrillas.

→ Mistake of timing: Giap had originally planned the assault for the 29/30 of Jan but changed it to
30/31, due to poor communications, some cells attacked on the original date and alerted US and
ARVN forces to the plan.
→ 36/44 provincial capitals were targeted along with 66 other towns, including Siagon
Communist Aims:
→ the offensive would spur the people of SV to rise up against the Southern Regime
→ Cause the collapse of the Theiu (president since 1967) regime
→ Convince the Americans of Communist determination and encourage them to leave
ARVN and US advantages

Better weaponry and technology- helicopters
More men- 538 000 US troops
Bases- Da Nang, Khe Sanh,
Training in conventional warfare
Result:
→ Tet was over within three weeks, aside from the battle in Hue (ended March) and Khe Sanh (ended
April)
→ 140 000 civilians Died
→ The NVA used approx. 67 000 troops and the VC 17 000. Overall 84 000
→ 45 000 communists were killed. 1/3 were VC
→ and none of their aims were achieved.
→ Significant US Victory
→ Highly televised in the USA
Psychological embassy:
● Fighting at Hue took so long to resolve (until March)
● Communists broke into the embassy
Khe Sanh
→ IN September 1967, captured Vietcong intelligence told Americans that the NVA were beginning to
move large numbers of troops and supplies into the area around Khe Sanh, near the demilitarized
zone.
→ Westmoreland argued that the NVA were attempting to stage another Dien Bien Phu
→ US moved 6000 troops into the area and carpet bombed the areas surrounding Khe Sanh (Operation
Niagara)
→ Harpur estimates that the US dropped the equivalent of five Hiroshima-sized atomic bombs.
→ Six B52 bombers flew from Guam and Thailand dropped 162 tonned of bombs every 3 hours
→ Fighter aircraft attacked every five minutes, aircraft were as high as 36 000 feet
→ Hoitzers and cannons fired approx. 159 000 rounds at the NVA
→ In January 1968 (as part of Tet) the NVA attacked the American Base.
→ Major battle lasting 3 month (until NVA pulled out on April 17)
→ The Us left the base in June
Historiography:
→ Michael Maclear: 10 000 day war
22
→ Khe Sanh was not the big picture, the NVA intended to distract the US at Khe Sanh so that they did
not have enough troops to deal with the aftermath of the Tet Offensive.
From 1969: the NVA formed the fighting force
Tet and the Americans:

→ Westmoreland
c) Impact of the war on civilians in Indochina
Overall, it is estimated that 2 million civilians died throughout Vietnam during the war.
North Vietnam
Operation Rolling Thunder and flaming Dart.

→ 7,662,000 tons of ordnance
→ One million tons of bombs.
→ More ordnance was dropped on North Vietnam than the whole of Europe in WWII
Economic:
→ US bombing damaged over 70% of the industries in the North
→ The nations production was cut in half
→ Infrastructure was destroyed: schools, hospitals and 4000 villages.
→ Road and railway were targeted and destroyed
Social:
→ Since many peasant men were recruited to join the North Vietnamese Army, many of the farming
tasks were performed by women during the war years.
→ Total war was implemented in the North Vietnam.

− This centralised objective of assisting the state in the overall pursuit of unification and
independence
− Meant villagers in the North were devoted in all aspects of life to the war effort.
South Vietnam
Political?
WHAM- Winning Hearts and Minds
→ Develop social infrastructure in the South, this involved health services and subsidized rice as well as
education and schools and hospitals
Strategic Hamlets (ended in 1963 as the Vietcong had infiltrated).

→ Effectively placed Villages under security
→ Aimed to combat communist insurgency by ‘pacifying the countryside’ and reducing the influence of
VC
→ Villages were relocated, alienating them from extended family and traditional ancestral worship and
fenced into their allocated areas.
23
Impact on life:
Spraying of Chemical defoliants such as Agent Orange and Napalm used to burn vegetation
→ Crops destroyed immediately = lack of food for civilians
→ Hunger and Starvation
→ Devastated the economies of many villages = poverty and much lower living conditions
→ Long term consequences were equally severe, as soils were poisoned
→ 18.2 million gallons of Agent Orange was sprayed by the U.S. military over more than 10% of
Southern Vietnam, as part of the U.S. herbicidal warfare program, Operation Ranch Hand, during the
Vietnam War from 1961 to 1971.
→ Vietnam's government claimed that 400,000 people were killed or maimed as a result of after effects,
and that 500,000 children were born with birth defects.
Economic
Bombing raids on cities and the country side
→ Destroyed more farmland
→ The bombing did terrible damage to the land. It destroyed many of the dams and canals that the
peasants had installed to irrigate their farmland. It also created huge craters in the rice paddies and
hillsides. By the end of the war there were an estimated 21 million bomb craters in South Vietnam.
→ Before the war, the country had been one of the largest exporters of rice in the world. But during the
war, the loss of crops forced South Vietnam to import one million tons of rice each year. Much of
this rice came from the United States. Despite the U.S. aid, however, hunger and starvation were
common among rural people.
A flood of refugees from affected areas crowding into the cities = caused instability in urban areas in cities,
civilians had to make a living any way they could which was often illegal
→ Many people left the rural villages where their families had lived for generations and became
refugees.
→ as many as four million Vietnamese (one-fourth of the total population of the South) fled to the
outskirts of cities and towns, where they hoped to escape the bombing and find a way to make a
living.
→ Before the war, ninety percent of South Vietnam's population had lived in rural villages in the
countryside. But during the war, sixty percent of the population lived in urban areas. The cities were
not equipped to handle the huge number of refugees. In Saigon, many peasants ended up living in
makeshift refugee camps.
Social/ Cultural Impacts

→ The destruction of villages also separated families and eliminated the family structure that was so
important to Vietnamese culture. By 1972—when the United States was removing its troops from
Vietnam—there were an estimated 800,000 orphaned children roaming the streets of Saigon and
other cities.
→ Siagon was transformed: wealthy American military leaders, journalists, aid workers, businessmen
moved to the city throughout the war. They brought wealth and comfort with them, creating a market
for luxury goods
→ Thousands of Vietnamese found jobs in service industries that sprang up to cater to the Americans.
Some worked in hotels, restaurants, or construction sites, but many others became involved in illegal
24
activities. For example, an estimated 500,000 South Vietnamese women became prostitutes during
the war, many of whom were peasants who had no other way of supporting their families.
→ A drug trade also opened up in Saigon, due to demand from the Americans.
→ Traditional Vietnamese morals were abandoned.
HISORIOGRAPHY: Stanley Karnow:

→ "The United States, motivated by the loftiest intentions, did indeed rip South Vietnam's social fabric
to shreds,"
→ “The refugees, uprooted from the devastated land and fearful of renewed offensives, remained in the
cities and towns—their disrupted, dispirited families aggravating the instability of South Vietnam's
already fragile society,"
Americans destroying entire villages and committing war crimes, such as the My Lai Massacre and
atrocities committed by North Vietnam.
→ occurred in 1968. Between 300 and 500 unarmed South Vietnamese civilians were killed by US
Army Soldiers. Women were gang raped and men women children and infants were all murdered.
→ 2,800–6,000 civilians were killed by the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces in the Massacre at
Huế throughout February 1968
→ Land mines and booby traps killing and maiming innocent Vietnamese who were often trying to
escape the war
Cambodia:
Laos.
d) Impact of the spread of the Vietnam War to Cambodia
The American’s were determined to stop the movement of troops and supplies along the Ho Chi Minh trial,
which ran through Eastern Laos and Cambodia
→ The parrot’s beak in Easter Cambodia is less that 65kms from Saigon.
→ Nixon ordered the bombing of bases in Cambodia to halt the spread of arms from North Vietnam to
the South- Operation Menu
→ Sihanouk supported this bombing, however it aided the Khmer Rouge rebels who used the confusion
caused by the bombing to advance from their bases and extend their influence in the countryside and
gained support from disillusioned peasants.
Nixon’s campaign promised to curb the war, contrasted with the escalated bombing, led to claims that Nixon
had a credibility gap on the issue. (Madman theory)
→ It is estimated that between 50 000 and 150 000 people were killed during the bombing of Cambodia
between 1970 and 1973
→ IN 1970, Nixon ordered a full scale invasion of Cambodia to end supply lines along the Ho Chi Minh
Trail.
Instability lead to a rise of support for the Khmer Rouge
Siding with the American’s lead Sihanouk to lose support
25
The war lead to the assumption of power by the Khmer Rouge.
Impact of Khmer Rouge.
e) Nature and significance of anti-war movements in the USA
Reasons for Anti-war movement:
Death toll and the Draft:

First began in 1965 with the Americanization of the war.
→ Injection of 3500 troops in Da Nang
→ By the end of 1965, 184 000 troops
→ By the end of 1968, 538 000 troops
→ More than 300 dead a week by 1969
→ 90 220 Americans died during the war.
TV reporters/footage on the news every night

→ From 1960 onwards, American Journalists began to document the Vietnam war, which documented
the brutality of the Diem regime but was on the whole, supportive of America in Vietnam.
→ After the Tet Offensive, however, media coverage of the war became predominantly negative,
images of civilian and military casualties were televised. This acted to reduce the amount of support
for the war.
→ Images of napalmed villages caused many in the ‘silent majority’ (in Nixon’s words) to question
America’s moral right to wage the war in Vietnam
→ Photos such as Eddie Adams photo of Nguyen Ngoc Loan executing a Vietnamese man had a great
impact on American support for the war.
→ 1970: an option poll showed that more than half of Americans thought the war in Vietnam was
morally wrong.
Failed Censorship of Media
● US Homefront believed govt. who deliberately misleading them. E.g. After linebacker II (Christmas
bombing Nixon claimed the assault was a response to a planned offensive in SV, however 50% of
Americans believed it was inhumane and immoral for them to bomb the civilian center
● By mid 1969, Nixon administration openly discussed ways to intimidate networks, e.g Tax audits
(attempts to bully media corporations) (legal means to stop reporting)
● US and SV restricted journalism in Vietnam
Horrors of the war:

→ Images of US soldiers burning down villages were continues on Television.
→ My Lai Massacre: occurred in 1968. Between 300 and 500 unarmed South Vietnamese civilians
were killed by US Army Soldiers. Women were gang raped and men women children and infants
were all murdered.
→ News of the Massacre did not surface in mainstream media until 1969 and in November Time
Magazine and Life magazine both published articles about the massacre.
→ The American public was outraged by the news of the massacre and it contributed strongly to the
sentiment that American presence in Vietnam was morally wrong and also established that US
conduct was immoral and presented an image of madness and brutality
26
→ March 1971: Lieutenant William Calley was found guilty of pre-meditated murder at Mai Lai. He
was the only individual convicted.
Deception of the government

● Westmoreland’s claim TET
In 1967, Westmoreland said the ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ could be seen
● He needed more troops for victory
● LBJ said, if we’re winning, why do we need more troops, did not send more troops.
● Contradictory nature of Nixon’s presidency, Americans could not reconcile ‘peace with honor’ and
the invasion of Cambodia. In addition, the attempted cover up of this resulted in a loss of faith in the
American government
● Pentagon (military HQ) papers:. Revealed the USA deliberately escalated conflict in Vietnam.
● Revealed errors and miss judgements in US policy and military strategy, undermined the government
and fueled the anti-war movement.
Watergate:
● Huge impact on war: soon after voted Nixon that the pubic turned against him
Legality of the war

→ The US Constitution states that Congress must provide a declaration of war which then allows the
President to direct the military
→ The President, as the Commander in Chief of the armed forces can send troops to battle without an
official war declaration, however, many saw this as a violation of the US Constitution.
→ In June 1970, a Senate resolution prohibited military operations in Cambodia
→ The illegality of the war persuaded many to oppose the war.
Zeitgeist of the time: peace and hippies

→ Free spirited
→ Majority of protests on University campuses
→ Was it the times that lead to the protest or the protest that lead to the times
→ Radicalism
→ Growing radicalism of civil rights movement (black panthers)
→ Beginnings of the Women’s movement
→ As the war progressed, demonstrations changed from
1. Peace Activists
2. Students
→ Students for a democratic society, SDS.
3. Middle Class (1968)
Social Inequality
→ Martin Luther King, against the war since 1965
→ War killed the great society hopes of black people
→ Disproportionate number of black boys being sent to war → white people could afford to defer the
draft and go to college
→ Saw resources wasted on the war that could be put toward social justice.
Government Response:
→ In 1969, Nixon presented a speech in which he stated “NV cannot defeat and humiliate the United
States. Only Americans can do that”
27
→ This quietened anti-war feelings and brought support for Nixon’s dealings with North Vietnam.
HISORIOGRAPHY: Stanley Karnow

Nixon was worried at the moratorium demonstrations, which were described as moderate and sober, he was
also concerned that moderate and respected figures were joining the anti-war movement. His ‘silent majority
speech’ is evidence of his concern and was successful in defusing a considerable amount of anti-war
feelings.
Nature of the Anti-war Movement

→ Demonstrations
→ Sit ins
→ Burning draft cards
→ ‘teach ins’
Timeline
27 November Benjamin Spock and Coretta King addressed 35 000 demonstrators in Washington
1965
19 May 1967 Defense Secretary McNamara advised Johnson to scale down ambitions in Vietnam
1967 Vietnam Veterans against the War formed
October 1967 Anti-war demonstrations clashed with troops in Washington
Feb 1968 McNamara left the government
15 October 1969 First Moratorium held in 1200 cities
15 November ‘March against Death’ followed the publication of detail of the events at My Lai.
1969
23 April 1970 700 Veterans publically threw away their medals.
24 April 1970 200 000 demonstrated in Washington
1 May 1970 Senate Foreign Relations Committee demanded a meeting with Richard Nixon to
accuse him of constitutionally unauthorized war in Cambodia
4 May 1970 Kent State Shootings, Four Kent University students were shot dead by the National
guard while protesting against the invasion of Cambodia. 9 others were wounded.
9 May 1970 400 Universities shut and 100 000 marched on Washington
14 May 1970 State police killed two students at Jackson State College Mississippi during
demonstrations
June 1970 Senate resolution prohibited military operations in Cambodia
March 1971 Lieutenant William Calley was found guilty of pre-meditated murder at Mai Lai,
sparking outrage that he had been made a scapegoat for those responsible for the war.
May 1971 Steele Report published finding 15% of servicemen used Heroin
June 1971 Pentagon papers released.
Impact of the Anti-war movement:
Impact on war: YES:

→ US Humiliated on national stage/ eroded support for the war from moderate and some conservative
parties
→ Effectively changed the belief of the national majority opinion from blind support to chalening
28
→ Widened the credibility gap between people and the government = people realized the government
was not being honest with them and therefore began to doubt the government
→ Without the support of its people, the government could not function and was therefore forced into
declining involvement and eventual abandonment of the war
→ Gov. forced into premature and weak peace agreement
HISTORIOGRAPHY: Andrew Katz:

While Nixon claimed he did not pander to public opinion, he hired polling experts and ensured his chief of
staff would consider public relations angles in meetings on foreign policy, due to this, public opinion on the
war did impact the government to a degree at the least.
Impact on war: NO:

→ Tet, which occurred before anti-war protest became mainstream, is the clear factor in the change of
the American attitude toward the war.
→ Tet lead to Johnsons easing of the bombing campaign and lead to Nixon’s winning campaign of an
‘honorable peace’. It was Tet, and not anti-war protests, which convinced the US government that
Vietnam could not be won.
→ Nixon despised antiwar protestors, calling them “bums blowing up the campuses” and spoke to quiet
protests, North Vietnam cannot humiliate America, only American’s can do that.
→ Nixon, despite apparently following a policy of Vietnamization, expanded the war despite protests
with Linebacker II and Operation Menu and attempted invasion of Cambodia
→ Despite protests condemning Nixon’s actions, he still won the 1972 election in a landslide majority
Impact: North Vietnam

→ Strengthened North Vietnamese confidence in their strategy of attrition, they became more confident
that the Americans would eventually leave the war and this accounts for denial to accept early peace
agreements
Impact: US troops
→ Knowing that they were risking their lives in abhorrent conditions while the Homefront was
protesting against the war greatly reduced morale
→ Many veterans received poor reception, which made morale even worse
→ Lack of morale lead to a breakdown of discipline and heightened instances of AWOL and Fragging
as well as drug abuse.
f) The defeat of the South Vietnamese forces
Why did the Communists win and Americans loose?

● TET
● Contradiction actions of Nixon
● Anti-war movement + Role of Media
● Us fighting forces
● Political instability of South Vietnam
● Vietnamese nationalism and determination
● Vietnamesization
● Communist strategies and tactics (attrition). Guerilla warfare was effective
● US fighting forces
29
4 POL POT’s REGIME
a)Rise to power of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia
Cambodia 1965-1969
Issues with King Sihanouk.

→ Built a cult of personality around himself, his picture was placed everywhere
→ Played favorites and created factions within his party, would frequently sack ministers, between
September 1955 and January 1958, there were 9 ministries = enhanced corruption and destabalised
the government
→ Corruption became a byword under Sihanouk and was either unable or unwilling to stop it
→ Sihanouk was an interesting political character in himself, he played the saxophone and produced
music tracks while also perusing film making.
→ Before conflict these actions brought him popularity however, when Cambodia began to face
Economic crisis and Sihanouk was producing films, which occupied much of his time and lessened
his involvement in the state, respect for him was lost and opposition grew.
→ Sihanouk also opened a Casino in Phnom Penh in 1969 which proved disastrous both economically
and politically, with Cambodian’s believing he’d lost touch with his people.
HISTORIOGRAPHY: Milton Osborne:

Sihanouk’s commitment to film making was a significant matter with serious political consequences.
Economic
→ There was a disproportionate expansion of education and the economy. Education was expanded
however the economy was not, which meant that there was a generation of young, strongly educated
citizens with little ability to play a role in the nation. This strengthened opposition from the educated
class.
→ IN 1963, Sihanouk nationalized Cambodia’s banks and import/export trade as well as cancelled US
aid. The effect of this was disastrous, Cambodia’s revenue fell almost 15%
→ The army was short of everything from uniforms to petrol to equipment and salaries
→ These measures led the army into further corruption and fueled opposition to his rule
→ By the mid 1960s, the economy stagnated and unrest in the countryside steadily increased
→ In 1967 and 1968, 10 000 were killed in the army’s opposition to unrest.
HISTORIOGRAPHY: David Chandler

→ Sihanouk chose to ignore the problems within Cambodia (poverty, lack of land, corruption) and
hoped that something would come and save the country’s economy.
→ This decision to ignore land reform and corruption contributed to his fall in 1970.
Foreign policy
→ Initially Sihanouk was concerned in maintaining a neutral foreign policy. He understood the Cold
War interest in his region an dealt carefully with the USA on one side and China and the Soviet
union on the other. His goal was to avoid antagonizing either side.
30
→ At the Bandung Conference in 1955, Sihanouk emphasized Cambodian neutrality and refused to join
SEATO (South East Asia Treaty Organization- US sponsored anti-communist alliance)
→ However, Sihanouk became concerned at American behaviour.

→ In 1965 he cut all diplomatic relations with the US, becoming closer to North Vietnam and the NLF,
allowing Chinese ships to lands supplies at Sihanoukville and allowing VC bases in Eastern
Cambodia
→ Leftist groups within Cambodia, however, were brutally smashed by Sihanouk, who became
concerned about growing support of communist insurgents.
→ As a result of this concern, Sihanouk re-established diplomatic relations with the United States in
1969
Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge

→ Pol Pot went to China in 1965 to receive training, despite China being an ally with Sihanouk, Pol
Pot’s visit was kept secret.
→ Pol Pot admired Mao’s radical Cultural Revolution
→ In 1966 Pol Pot renamed his communist group the Kampuchean People’s Revolutionary Party
(KPRP) and it was popularly known as the Khmer Rouge
→ Pol Pot visited North Vietnam in 1966 but despised their patronizing attitudes toward him.
→ In 1966 it became the KCP (Kampuchean Communist Party) and was headed by Pol Pot who was
referred to as Angkor
Conflict:
→ In 1969 Sihanouk re-established diplomatic relations with the Americans, concerned about the
growing Communist influence.
→ The KPRP was engaged in an armed struggle against the Sihanouk regime, beginning with
insurgency and acts of terrorism.
→ Sihanouk sided with the Americans despite the beginning of Operation Menu, which turned and
radicalized many Cambodians towards supporting the KPRP.
→ By 1970, the KPRP was in control of up to a fifth of the country
Cambodia 1970- 1975
Coup:
→ In March 1970 Sihanouk went to Paris for medical treatment and was overthrown by a coup led by
Lon Nol, a pro American General who was strongly anti-Vietnamese and anti-Communist
→ Lon Nol closed down Sihanouk’s casino in January 1970
→ In February, several moves were made which showed a move away from support for North Vietnam:
− Nationalist Chinese and South Vietnamese flags were flown in Phnom Penh
− Arms shipments to the VC were deliberately held up
− The government changed the country’s bank notes, which meant all currency in VC hands was
worthless
→ On March 11 Chinese and North Vietnamese embassies in Phnom Penh were sacked
→ ON march 13 VC bases in eastern Cambodia were ordered to leave
Under Lon Nol:
31
Sihanouk announced he had formed th National United Front of Kapuchea in 1970 with his old enemy the
Khmer Rouge to fight against Lon Nol
→ In 1973 Sihanouk posed for photographs with Khmer Rouge Guerrillas
→ This acted as tremendous propaganda for the Khmer Rouge, building upon the Khmer culture of
deference and respect for authority
→ Sihanouk’s sponsorship of the Khmer Rouge gave it credibility for many Cambodians.
Stags of Conflict:
Vietnamese conflict
→ Long-held racism toward the Vietnamese by Cambodians fueled the desire to eradicate the VC from
Cambodia
→ Conflicts broke out between FANK (the Cambodian army) and VC and NVA forces quickly, several
NVA divisions moved into eastern Cambodia with the intension of overthrowing Lon Nol
→ In April 1970, there were NVA- Cambodian clashes close to Phnom Penh and Lon Nol’s regime
accused Vietnamese living in Phnom Penh of collaborating with the invading forces and as a resut
many Vietnamese living in Cambodia were massacred.
→ In response to the NVA assault, thousands of Cambodian students volunteered to join military units
to push the NVA out, at this point Lon Nol was popular amongst Cambodian nationalists
Conflict with US/ARVN forces and VC/NVA in Cambodia

→ Throughout May and June 1970, 80 000 US and ARVN troops invaded Cambodia to eradicated
suspected communist camps. As a result:
− The VC/NVA retreated deeper into Cambodia
− Cambodia also had to face the South Vietnamese army, who treated the local Khmer
populations poorly, old hatreds reignited
Chenla II- 1971 (and consequences)

→ FANK was undoubtedly weaker than the VC/NVA forces, however managed to maintain morale into
1971
→ Disaster hit during the operation to open a road from Phnom Penh and Kompong Som
(Sihanoukville) to the North
→ Despite having American air support the Cambodian army was destroyed by NVA troops, who
trapped soldiers in groups and destroyed them
→ Throughout 1971 FANK deteriorated. It was short of supplies and arms, weakeaned from Chenla II
and from the weakened command of Lon Nol, who suffered a stroke.
→ Defeat of Army of Cambodia allowed the NVA to come down and support the Khmer Rouge
Groups vying for power in 1972:

1. Lon Nol’s official republican government and Fank forces.
− Were growing as distant from the ordinary people as Sihanouk’s government had
− Lon Nol’s supporters were presenting him as a ‘God President’ as Sihanouk’s supporters had
presented him as a ‘God King’
2. The Khmer Rouge in the Country side had become a force to be reckoned with
3. Sihanouk was in China, proclaiming his opposition to both Lon Nol and the Communists
4. There were also many small insurgent groups.
Factors which account for the Khmer Rouge Victory:
32
Civil War 1973/1974:

→ In early 1974, the Khmer Rouge launched an attack on Phnom Penh, which fialed
→ By 1974 the Khmer Rouge was dominant in rural areas and the humanitarian situation in the capital
was becoming desperate
→ In early 1975, the Khmer Rouge attacked Phnom Penh again and by early April it had cut all
communication link with the capital and began to tighten control around the city
→ On April 1 1975 Lon Nol fled
→ The Khmer Rouge gained control of Phnom Penh on April 17 1975
Failure of Lon Nol’s regime

→ The corruption and detachment of the Lon Nol regime persuaded many Cambodians, including
intellectuals, to join the Khmer Rouge. Lon Nol’s government took on the feudal elements of
Sihanouk’s regime and was mired in corruption.
→ Lon Nol’s forces also attacked suspected Khmer Rouge supported villages. To escape the carnage,
there was a mass movement of Refugees into Phnom Penh.
→ Lon Nol’s government was increasingly being seen as a US puppet responsible for the bombing. As
a result, many Cambodians living in the countryside rallied to the Khmer Rouge against the Lon Nol
regime (many were also however forced to join the Khmer Rouge)
→ The self-seeking of Lon Nol’s government contrasted poorly with the apparent selflessness of the
Khmer Rouge
United States Impact

→ Operation Menu greatly destabilized Lon Nol’s regime.
→ The US supported the 1970 coup of Sihanouk
→ US aid fed the corruption of the Lon Nol regime which increasingly became seen as a US puppet.
→ US aid to Lon Nol was in the billions yet the American bombing had been of horrific proportions.
Between February and August, up to 275 000 tons of bombs were dropped and killed 750 000
Cambodian peasants. More than Japan received in WWII. This devastated large parts of the
countryside.
→ The enormity of the 1973 bombing completely devastated the countryside, radicalizing the
population and growing the support of the Khmer Rouge.
HISORIOGRAPHY: John Pilger

The rise of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge was made possible by the horrific scale of American bombings
between 1969 and 1973 and the US invasion in 1970.
Economic:
→ The Cambodian economy almost completely collapsed under the burden of military action against
the United States and ferocity of the Cambodian civil war
→ Food production plummeted due to destruction of the countryside and infrastructure
→ Irrigation and dyke schemes were destroyed and much of the country’s infrastructure was either
damaged or destroyed
→ This lead to the massive refugee influx to Phnom Penh, which could not function under the strain of
the increased population
→ The mass population in Phnom Penh also made it easier for the Khmer Rouge to instigate their final
campaign.
33
Presence of NVA/VC forces

→ In eastern Cambodia helped to destabalise the country and create the circumstances which made it
possible for the Khmer Rouge to take over
→ The Vietnamese presence weakened Sihanouk, drove Lon Nol to side with the Americans and
justified the US bombing of the country which played on old Khmer- Vietnamese hatreds.
End of Foreign involvement

→ In January, the Paris Peace Accords were signed, which ended the Vietnam War. The accords called
for all foreign troops to be withdrawn from Cambodia
→ However, NVA forces lingered in Cambodia for several months and US bombing continued in
support of the Lon Nol regime.
→ Foreign activity in Cambodia ended in late 1973 as the North Vietnamese focused on action against
South Vietnam and the US congress ordered an end to bombing
→ Some Khmer Rouge leaders saw the NV peace agreement with the US as a ‘stab in the back’ as it
allowed the full brunt of the US to be brought upon them
b) Nature, aims and methods of Pol Pot
Aims of Khmer Rouge.
1. Preservation of Khmer racial purity
Theory
→ There was a racist aspect which ran through Cambodian society which the Khmer rouge built upon.
→ Traditional communist movements are meant to reject such racism however the Khmer Rouge built
upon them
→ Non-Khmer groups were targeted
→ The fanatical hatred of the Vietnamese was exaggerated, those Vietnamese who were still in
Cambodia, some of whom had lived there for generations, were persecuted. Many fled to Vietnam
and others were killed
→ ‘New arrivals’, such as the Chinese, who were wealthy traders in Cambodian society were driven out
or killed
→ Ancient minorities, such as the Muslim Cham people and the Montagnards (mountain people), were
also targets of Khmer Rouge
Practice
The Killing Fields:
→ In 1975, Cambodia’s population was approx. 8 million
→ There will never be a 100% accurate figure of the total loss of life. Many were executed, whole
groups were massacred, many died following torture in Tuol Sleng (the S-21 interrogation)
→ Ben Kiernan suggest 1.67 million people died (21% of the population)
→ The new Cambodian government in 1982 suggested 3 million died
34
2. Preservation of Khmer cultural purity
Theory
→ Pol Pot had visited China in 1965, during the violent cultural revolution and attempts to sever ties
with the past and reject foreign influences. Pol Pot brought these same ideas to Cambodia in an even
more radical form
→ The Khmer Rouge had a maniacal obsession with what was perceived as better, pure and Khmer
historically. Modern or Western influences were to be eliminated
→ Not only the material but foreign influences such as ideas, education and languages were also to be
eliminated
Practice
→ Material influences, such as technology, was rejected. When Australian Journalist, John Pilger
described pyramids of cars, ambulances, typewriters and washing machines in the streets of Phnom
Penh when he visited Cambodia after the Khmer Rouge had taken over. However, the Khmer Rouge
still used modern weapons.
→ Modern or Western Ideas were also banned, Antibiotics were flushed away, hospitals left to decay,
incubators destroyed, only natural remedies native to Cambodia were allowed.
→ Electricity and machinery were banned, all farm work had to be done by hand or using primitive
equipment.
→ Western economic life was eliminated, there were no banks, no currency and no trade, however the
Khmer Rouge accepted significant amounts of economic and military aid from China.
Religion
→ Religion was a particular target, as it was foreign, ignorant and superstitious, more than anything it
promoted a loyalty beyond that of Ankor so it could not be tolerated.
→ Up to 90% of the Cambodian population was Buddhist, the Khmer Rouge sought to destroy all
remnants of Buddhism.
→ 3000 pagodas were destroyed and very few of Cambodia’s 82 000 monks survived.
→ The regime destroyed any evidence of Islam. The 114 Mosques of the Cham people were destroyed.
→ Similar treatment was given to any ethnic minority throughout Cambodia.
HISTORIOGRAPHY: V. Shubin
→ Calculated that out of a Muslim population of about 20 000 in the Kompong Cham province, not a
single inhabitant survived. In the Koong Nease district, only 4 out of 20 000 inhabitants survived.
→ People under the Khmer Rouge were under severe police control, not allowed to display emotion or
think for themselves. They were so closely watched that they could be sent to the killing fields for
wearing the wrong facial expression
3. The development of a communal way of life
Theory:
→ The traditional family was decried, loyalty of children was to be not to their parents but to Angkor
→ There was no private life and the usual life activities were carried on communally- whether it be
eating, sleeping of getting married. End of traditional family structures and loyalties.
→ The state was everything, no individual rights mattered.
Practice:
35
Evacuation of Phnom Penh:

→ Phnom Penh fell to the Khmer Rouge on April 17 1975, the Lon Nol regime had been unpopular and
peace was welcomed, however the reality of the Khmer Rouge regime was felt soon
→ The mass evacuation of Phnom Penh and other cities was ordered and reasoned to avoid urban
famine and to protect people from American bombing which it claimed was about to begin.
→ 2 million people were forced out of the city without food or belonging with them. Those who refused
where beaten or shot
→ No exceptions were made, the elderly, injured, children and pregnant women were treated the same
→ Up to half a million people died during the evacuations
→ The evacuations broke down existing social relationships and the development of any opposition as
the population was forced into a fearful acceptance of the Khmer Rouge authority
Life in the Communes

→ Work was all that mattered, peasants were forced ot work up to 16 hours a day and given only
meager rations as a reward
→ Family life and affection was frowned upon
→ Everyone was under constant surveillance and could be questioned punished for the slightest
indiscretion
→ Evenings were spent being given political instruction and singing patriotic songs
4. Creation off a new Cambodian society
Theory
→ Ankor, a reference to the Golden Empire of Cambodia, from the 13th-15th centuries, was the name of
the new society.
→ The society was to be agricultural like in the time of the Angkor Empire
→ The Khmer Rouge thought that a society organized as a system of communes would achieve a
harmonious pure existence.
→ There was no place for urban communities, all evacuations were meant to be permanent. No
urbanization
Practice
→ Intellectuals were targeted and killed. Anyone educated, who could speak English or French were
seen to have been ‘polluted by foreign influences
→ Only the Cambodian peasants were allowed in the society, the hands of commune workers were
checked, soft hands were evident of an urban, intellectual life
→ Wearing glasses invited punishment or murder
→ Many intellectuals were forced to hide their past and keep queit to survive
The tribunals of the 1980s were set up by the new regime to examine the impact of the khmer Rouge and
suggested that the intellectual life of the country had been decimated.
→ Only 50/725 Professors remained alive (6%)
→ Only 207 out of 2300 secondary school teachers remained alive (9%)
→ Only 2793 out of 21311 primary school teachers remained alive (13%)
Conflict within the Khmer Rouge:

→ The party kept its identity secret from the people until well into its period of rule
36
→ Pol Pot was not known as the leader until 1978

→ In 1976 the first major purge of the party occurred, after disagreement on whether to consider 1951
or 1960 the date of the party’s founding. Many high ranking officials were executed and treated as if
they had committed treason for this simple disagreement.
→ Pol Pot talked about ‘microbes’ within the party and by 1978 thousands of party members were in
Tuol Sleng accused of treachery.
Foreign Policy
→ Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge was an isoclated country, all contact with the rest of the world
was forbidden to maintain Khmer purity
→ Communist China was the only exception, Pol Pot held the leaders of Communist China in high
regard.
→ Close links with China were valuable to the Khmer Rouge and China in turn used its links to
Cambodia as part of its geopolitical strategy
→ Vietnam’s links with the Soviet Union made it an enemy of China, as the Khmer Rouge were an
enemy of Vietnam, they became an ally of China. China and the Khmer Rouge became close allies.
→ Khmer Rouge forces were in conflict with Vietnamese forces as early as April 1975 over small
islands in the gulf of Sian
→ Pol Pot aspired to create a greater Cambodia, to re-create the Great Khmer society of the 13th- 15th
centuries. The Khmer Rouge wanted control of the Mekong delta to have surplus food.
Relations between Cambodia and Vietnam deteriorated throughout 1978

→ Cross- border raids continued. On one occasion, Vietnam took thousands of Cambodian villagers
hostage and they joined the many Cambodians who had fled the Khmer Rouge.
→ Many of these were trained as possible government in exile and given military training, such as Hun
Sen, who wanted to gather an army to defeat the Khmer Rouge.
→ Vietnam signed a 25 year Friendship Treaty witht eh Soviet Union and in December 1978,
announced that a Kampuchean Front for National Salvation had been set up to remove the Khmer
Rouge regime.
Vietnamese Invasion
→ On Christmas Day 1978, 100 000 Vietnamese invaded North Eastern Cambodia. Most Khmer Rouge
troops were in the east and south west of the country and the Vietnamese faced little opposition.
→ The original Vietnamese aim had been to occupy the north east but as opposition was so limited they
moved onto Phnom Penh
→ Phenom Penh contained about 50 000 workers, it was abandoned on January 7 1979
→ Most people welcomed the Vietnamese invasion and end of Pol Pot
HISTORIOGRAPHY: D. Chandler
The Cambodians felt as if what happened in the 1970s had made little sense and was not desired by the
nation. He compares it to an earthquake, a flood or a typhoon.
Essays:
→ Impact on civilians
→ Impact of anti-war movement in USA.
→ Account for the rise of the Khmer Rouge
→ Impact of Khmer Rouge in Cambodia
37
→ Consequences of Geneva (to 1964)

→ Effectiveness of Peace talks
→ Factors which account for the victory of the Khmer Rouge
→ Why did the Communists win and Americans loose? https://www.slideshare.net/mod08/hsc-modern-
history-exam-questions-2002-13
38

Indochina Notes

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Indochina Notes

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Conflict in Indochina 1954–1979

1 INDOCHINA AFTER THE FRENCH

a) Consequences of the Vietnamese victory against the French

Indochina under the French

Dien Bien Phu

Pressure was placed on the Vietminh to accept a divided Vietnam

→ By 1961, there were over 150 000

HISTORIOGRAPHY Stanley Karnow: Vietnam

Significant aid came from China and the Soviet Union

Not part of the NVA but supported by it

Initially had a regular force of 5500 with 30 00 guerillas

Most Southern peasants greeted the NLF as liberators

d) Political and social issues in Indochina by 1960

Remnants of those → Binh Xuyen, gangs with their own militias

Buddhist monks, leady by Tri Quang began to protest. 9 Buddhists

● The country was lead by General Duong Van Minh.

2. THE USA AND INDOCHINA

Why America became involved with Vietnam.

Us involvement during the French War

To reorganize the world on the basis of liberal capitalism

REASONS FOR US MILITARY INVOLVEMENT

Nature of Marxist theory:

Policy Containment theory

HISORIOGRAPHY: Michael Maclear:

HISTORIOGRAPHY: Stanley Karnow

b) Impact of direct US military involvement in Vietnam and the consequences for

US military involvement meant US money:

US military tactics impacted on the Vietnamese people:

US military tactics impacting on Cambodia

→ US bombing of Cambodia, in ‘Operation Menu’ resulted in widespread destruction, both in terms of

● The NVA joined the combat in significant numbers

3 THE SECOND INDOCHINA WAR.

Strategy of NLF and VC:

Strategy =overall plan

Tactic = methods of achieving the strategy

The Terrain of SV was suited to guerilla tactics.

000 tonnes of supplies to SV.

NVA: 1968 onwards, conventional warfare

Strategy of the USA and ARVN

The strategy was attrition:

HISTORIOGRAPHY: Stanley Karnow

Napalm → Jellied petroleum substance dropped in canisters

search and destroy missions

US Tactics under President Johnston (1964)

Search and Destroy missions:

→ Many were allegedly tortured in interrogation centers in an attempt to gain intelligence on VC

Political issues in the US

Late 1960s through to the 1970s:

Operation Lam Son:

North Vietnamese Perspective

HISORIOGRAPHY: Philip Davidson:

Declined deal of 1971

October plan 1972

US Amendments to the deal:

→ Le Duc Tho walked out of the talks and returned to Hanoi

January 1973 Peace Treaty

Failure of Peace Treaty:

HISTORIOGRAPHY: Anthony Jones

b) Impact of the 1968 Tet Offensive

Before Tet After Tet

→ A communist force of 84 00 regular troops and 17 000 Guerrillas.

ARVN and US advantages