30-1: Moving Toward Conflict
Background information
• France controlled
“Indochina” since the late
19th century
• Japan took control during
World War II
• France attempted recolonization in the post
world-war II period
and was able to conquer
the southern half of
Vietnam
• The Players:
• Ho Chi Minh: Communist
Leader of North Vietnam
• Vietminh: Communist
group led by Ho Chi Minh
• Vietcong: Communist
rebel group living in
South Vietnam (noncommunist controlled
region)
• Ngo Dinh Diem: Leader
of South Vietnam
1941: What did the Vietminh declare as its
main goal?
• Vietnam’s independence from foreign rule
2. 1945: What did Ho Chi Minh
declare after Japan was forced out?
• He vowed that Vietnam
was an independent nation
3. 1946: How did Ho Chi Minh
respond to the return of the French?
• He vowed to fight from North Vietnam to
free South Vietnam from French control
1950: Whom did the U.S. Support
and what aid did the U.S. provide?
4. France
5. Economic (military
purposes)
1950: Why did the U.S. get
involved in the struggle?
• The U.S wanted to prevent another
country from falling to communism
• The U.S. wanted to keep its ally, France,
against the Soviet Union
7. 1954: What did
Eisenhower compare to a
row of dominoes
• Eisenhower compared countries on the
brink of communism to a row of dominoes
ready to fall = Domino theory
1954: What did the Vietminh victory
at Dien Bien Phu cause the French
to do?
• The French
surrendered and
pulled out of Vietnam
1954:How did the Geneva Accords
change Vietnam?
• The Geneva Accords,
a peace agreement,
divided the country
along the 17th parallel
• The peace agreement
also called for an
election to unify the
country in 1956
1956: Who canceled the
Vietnamese elections? Why?
• Ngo Dinh Diem, with U.S.
support cancels the elections
because all felt that Ho Chi
Minh would win the
elections?
• Ngo Dinh Diem was a corrupt
leader with a terrible human
rights record – He did not
have the support of his
people.
1964: What
authority did the
Tonkin Gulf
Resolution grant
to the U.S.
president?
• Broad military
powers to
make war in
Vietnam
1965: What did Operation Rolling Thunder
do in North Vietnam?
• Sustained Bombing raids of
North Vietnam
Ho Chi Minh Trail
• Ho Chi Minh’s Trail, a
network of paths
running between
North and South
Vietnam, was North
Vietnam’s main
supply and troop
route