Background History of Vietnam
In the 18th century Vietnam was the colony of France. It is a country with vast Buddhist majority and farmer community. In 1946, France re-entered in Vietnam. But France faced resistance from the local organization Viet-in-Minh. Ho-Chi-Minh was the prominent leader of Viet-in-Minh organization.
For the next 6 years, France struggled in Vietnam. So, finally in 1954 is tired of this never-dying struggle France decided to leave Vietnam. Basically, in 1954, Viet-Minh forces defeated the French forces. The subsequent treaty negotiations at Geneva split Vietnam along the latitude known as the 17th Parallel. North Vietnam was under the leadership of Ho-Chi-Minh and South Vietnam was headed by the Bao.
There was an outcry for nationwide elections for reunification to be held in 1956. But as soon as the Vietnamese defeated France, the Superpowers of that time inclined towards Vietnam. Both the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic and the United States of America had their eye on Vietnam. And from here, starts the story of the Cold War in Vietnam.
North Vietnam v/s South Vietnam
Soon, both superpowers divided Vietnam according to the Geneva negotiation. North Vietnam came under the control of the USSR. And South Vietnam came under the control of the USA. Their objective was to take the charge from French forces and to arrange elections in Vietnam to establish a national government.
The USSR gave the charge of North Vietnam to Ho-Chi-Minh, while the USA gave the charge of South Vietnam to Ngo Dinh Diem. Ho-Chi-Minh was a popular personality who had the inclination towards communism. After coming into power he started promoting welfare programs like Land reforms etc. All these increased his popularity.
Soon, the National Liberation Front organization came into existence. This organization appealed to the world powers to unite Vietnam and leave it on its fate. In this background, the USA representative in South Vietnam was kicked out. And this incident compelled the USA to directly interfere in the affairs of Vietnam from 1960.
USA direct interference in Vietnam
With the end of World War-II, USSR succeeded in creating a first red wall (Communist Wall) in Eastern Europe. The USSR tried to build another one in the far east too. After the Russian Revolution of 1917, Russia became a communist country. Soon, in 1949 North Korea and China influenced by USSR became the communist country. Vietnam was also following the same path towards communism.
This created the fear of the Domino effect in the American Congress. In this scenario, John Foster Dulles came out with the policy of Brickmanship i.e. military action against communism. In this way, in 1960, America directly entered into North Vietnam, which started the clash between the USA and Viet-Congress (Guerrilla organization of North Vietnam).
The three Presidents with their respective policies failed to handle the situation in Vietnam. Example,
- John F. Kennedy, Safe Village Policy: Take out civilians and kill Guerrillas.
- Johnson, Military action.
- Nixon: Vietnamization, to provide arms and ammunition to local Vietnamese to fight against the Guerrillas.
As Americans failed to subdue Vietnamese in 1968, they committed the crime My Lai (Village in Vietnam) Massacre. The entire village population was killed by the American forces. But Viet-Congress refused to surrender. So, this was a big setback for the USA.
Soon, in 1971, the USA agreed to peace. Finally, in 1973, Vietnam became an independent nation. In this way, Vietnam remained undivided since then and defeated the USA the most empowered nuclear power of the world.
In the upcoming post, we will read the story of Israel. Till then have a wonderful day.
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