23. Post war america
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before the second world war Vietnam had been part of the French Empire
during the second world war it had been invaded by Japan Ho Chi Minh was the leader of the Vietminh (army fighting for Vietnamese independence)
After the war Ho Chi Minh captured Hanoi in 1945 and declared Vietnam independent. The French tried to take regain control, but this was unpopular with the people. The French were defeated by the Vietminh.
Peace was discussed at Geneva in 1954 and the Treaty of Geneva agreed that the French would leave Vietnam and the country would be split along the 17th Parallel until elections could be held.
The elections were never held and the country remained divided. North Vietnam was a communist republic led by Ho Chi Minh x South Vietnam was a capitalist republic led by Ngo Dinh Diem.
The Vietminh wanted to unite the country under the communist leader Ho Chi Minh. Many of the South Vietnamese people supported Ho Chi Minh as well.
War broke out between the North and South. The South came under increasing attacks from the communists in South Vietnam itself.
Diem was a corrupt leader who refused to give peasants land. He did not like Buddhism and treated the mainly Buddhist population badly. As a result, much of South Vietnam’s population was rebelling against him.
President John F Kennedy sent 16,000 military ‘advisers’ to help the South Vietnamese army. Diem’s Government was overthrown there was no strong capitalist government in control of the South The North Vietnamese attacked the US Navy in the Gulf of Tonkin. This incident gave the USA the excuse to escalate the war authorization to increase U.S. military presence. He ordered the deployment of combat units for the first time and increased troop levels to 184,000 (IT BECAME AN ALL OUT WAR FROM THE AMERICAN POINT OF VIEW).
WHEN DID AMERICA WITHDRAW?
The USA were met with growing opposition to the war back home (It was the first televised was, people empathised with the people they were seeing and did not like the violence inflicted upon them) loss of public support.
The Army had to fight in unfamiliar territory (the weather was very different - disadvantage), was lacking in moral, were not prepared for the conditions, could not shut down the Ho Chi Minh Trail, and were untrained to respond to guerilla warfare. This combination of disadvantages and the loss of public support led to the United States withdrawing from Vietnam
Why was Vietnam known as the first televised war?
The Vietnam War took place in 1955-75. From 1950 to 1966, the percentage of Americans who owned a television increased from 9 % to 93 %. Advances in technology and especially video and audio recording enabled more news coverage. News networks strived to have the most attractive and interesting stories. Because most people now had a television, news networks competed for largest number of viewers and for the reporters. If they wanted to succeed, they had to do on-site coverage of the war in Vietnam.
During WW1 the newscasters shared only good news and government censorship over the media influenced this outlook. It means, that the news didn’t report anything that the military didn’t want public to know.
On the other hand, after Tet Offensive, which was a defeat in eyes of the public, reports turned unfavourable. The censorship was more relaxed, and journalists wrote day to day coverage straight from the battlefield.
Because of this, Americans could see all the things that are happening in more realistic way. They casualties and television commentators had great influence on the public.