Open your eyes look within Are you satisfied

“Open your eyes, look within. Are you satisfied with the life you're living? ” - Bob Marley If there are two full moons in a month, the second one is called a blue moon.

The Vietnam War: The Beginning 1859 -1950

French Gain Control: 1859 -1885 l Through a series of colonial wars lasting from 1859 -1885 the French were able to est. French Indochina. l Fr. Indochina consisted of a federation of 4 protectorates: Tonkin, Annam, Cambodia and Laos and one directly-ruled colony Cochina. l Fr. control would eventually be challenged through a revolt led by, Phan Dinh Phung from 1885 -1895

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Phan’s Rebellion l Due to the political turmoil both within the country of Viet. and with the new Fr. control, Phan organized a rebellion in which he and his guerrilla fighters were attempting to place the boy emperor Ham Nghi back on the throne and restore Viet. independence and political stability. l However, after 10 years of fighting (1885 -95) and despite the efforts of his well trained guerrilla forces, Phan was defeated by the Fr. forces; Fr. re-est. control.

Vietnam and WWI l At the Versailles Conference in 1919, Ho Chi Minh (Enlightener) requested that a Vietnamese delegation be present to work toward independence for Vietnam. l He hoped U. S. President Woodrow Wilson would support the effort. l While he was sorely disappointed that Wilson gave no response to Ho's words, he did draw attention from some French socialists; seeds of a rev. were beginning to grow.

Vietnam and WWII l During WWII, the puppet gov. of Vichy Fr. coop. with Imperial Jap. forces - Viet. was under de facto Jap. control, although the Fr. cont. to serve as the day-to-day administrators. l In 1941 the Communist-dominated ntl. resistance group called the "League for the Independence of Vietnam" (a. k. a. the Viet Minh) was formed. Ho Chi Minh returned to Viet. and quickly assumed the leadership. He had been a Comintern agent since the 1920 s, but as the leader of an independent Vietnamese communist party, Ho freed himself from the control of the S. U. ; he maintained good relations with the Soviets, however. l l l The Viet Minh began to craft a strategy to seize control of the country at the end of the war. Ho appointed Vo Nguyen Giap as his military commander.

Vo and Ho

Vietnam and WWII l Ho Chi Minh's guerrillas were given funding and training by the U. S. Office of Strategic Services (OSS) (the precursor of the CIA). l These teams worked behind enemy lines in Indochina, giving support to indigenous resistance groups; the Viet Minh provided valuable intelligence on Jap. troop movements and rescued downed Am. pilots. l The Pentagon, however, viewed Indochina as a sideshow to the more important theatre of the Pacific War. l In 1944, the Jap. overthrew the Vichy Fr. administration and humiliated its colonial officials in front of the Viet. pop. The Jap. began to encourage nationalism and granted Viet. nominal independence. l On March 11, 1945, Emperor Bao Dai declared the independence within the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.

Emperor Bao Dai

Vietnam and WWII l Following the Japanese surrender, Vietnamese nationalists, communists, and other groups hoped to take control of the country. l The Japanese army transferred power to the Viet Minh. (Emperor Bao Dai abdicated). l On Sept. 2, 1945, Ho Chi Minh declared independence from Fr. , in what became known as the August Revolution. l U. S. Army officers stood beside him on the podium. In an exultant speech, before a huge audience in Hanoi, Ho cited the U. S. Declaration of Independence:

Ho’s Speech l “All men are created equal. They are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. ' This immortal statement was made in the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America in 1776 … We … solemnly declare to the world that Vietnam has the right to be a free and independent country. The entire Vietnamese people are determined … to sacrifice their lives and property in order to safeguard their independence and liberty. ”

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Post WWII l Ho hoped that America would ally itself with a Vietnamese nationalist movement, communist or otherwise. l He based this hope in part on speeches by U. S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt opposing a revival of Euro. colonialism. l Indeed, Ho Chi Minh told an Office of Strategic Services (OSS) officer that he would welcome "a million American soldiers … but no French. l Power politics, however, intervened. The U. S. changed its position. It was recognized that Fr. would play a crucial role in deterring communist ambitions in continental Europe. Thus, its colonial aspirations could not be ignored.

Post WWII l l l l Ho’s new gov. lasted only a few days. At the Potsdam Conference the Allies decided that Viet. would be occupied jointly by China and Brit. , who would supervise the disarmament and repatriation of Jap. forces. The Chinese army arrived a few days after Ho's declaration of independence; Ho Chi Minh's gov, effectively ceased to exist: The Chinese took control of the area N of the 16 th parallel north. Brit. forces arrived in the S in Oct. and restored order: The first soldiers arrived on Sept. 6, 1945 and increased to full strength over the following weeks. In addition, they re-armed Jap. prisoners of war, known as "Gremlin force". The British began to withdraw in December 1945, but this was not completed until May 1946; the French prevailed upon them to turn over control.

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The French Take Back Control l l Once the Brit. left, the Fr. officials immediately sought to reassert control: They negotiated with the Chinese Nationalists - by agreeing to give up its concessions in China, the French persuaded the Chinese to allow them to return to the N and negotiate with the Viet Minh. While this was happening, Ho took advantage of the negotiations to kill competing nationalist groups. He was anxious for the Chinese to leave: "The last time the Chinese came, " he remarked, "they stayed one thousand years … I prefer to smell French turd for five years, rather than eat Chinese dung for the rest of my life. ”

The French Take Back Control l l l When the Fr. went to the N. to negotiate with the Viet Minh: Negotiations soon collapsed over the formation of a joint gov. The Fr. then began to bombard Haiphong; in Dec. 1946, they reoccupied Hanoi. Several telegrams were sent by Ho Chi Minh to U. S. President Harry S. Truman asking for U. S. support, but they were ignored. Ho and the Viet Minh fled into the mountains to start an insurgency, marking the beginning of the First Indochina War (Vietnam War). After the defeat of the Nationalist Chinese by the Communists in the Chinese Civil War, Chairman Mao Zedong provided direct military assistance to the Viet Minh. On the eve of the war, Ho Chi Minh had warned a French official that "you can kill ten of my men for every one I kill of yours, but even at those odds, you will lose and I will win”