Vietnam Conflict Vietnam Cold War heats up After
- Slides: 7
Vietnam Conflict
Vietnam: Cold War heats up • After gaining independence in 1954, Vietnam was temporarily divided. • The nationalist leader, Ho Chi Minh, created a Communist state in North Vietnam, while South Vietnam established ties to the West. • South Vietnam refused to hold elections to reunify the country, as previously agreed, arguing that elections in the Communist North would not be free. • Vietnamese Communists, known as Viet Cong, launched a guerilla war against the South Vietnamese government.
US enters Vietnam • The United States stepped in to resist Communism • American leaders feared Southeast Asian countries might otherwise fall like a row of dominoes. • At first American soldiers acted only as advisors to the South Vietnamese army. • However, that changed when American combat troops were sent to Vietnam in 1964
Struggles in Vietnam • Although the United States eventually used extensive bombing, had large numbers of helicopters, and sent in a half a million troops, it was never able to turn the tide against the Viet Cong and North Vietnam • The 1968 Tet Offensive demonstrated the strength and lack of quit in the Viet Cong. • Resistance to the war grew in the US as many boys were drafted into service in the war • This was the first war which was vividly broadcast to the public through pictures and video on the news • In 1973, American troops withdrew from Vietnam in accordance with an agreement reached in Paris. • In 1975, South Vietnam fell to North Vietnamese forces and the country was finally reunited under Communist rule.
Cambodia • The withdrawal of American forces from Vietnam also led to the collapse of the government in neighboring Cambodia. • In 1975, Cambodian Communists, known as the Khmer Rouge, seized control. • Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge leader carried out a policy of genocide (mass murder) against city-dwellers and opponents. • The Khmer Rouge killed as many as four million Cambodians between 1975 and 1978, until they were finally overthrown by Vietnamese intervention
