Review: The Viet Cong

1. Review: The Viet Cong

2. Communists of South Vietnam • Diem’s regime horrified many Vietnamese and Communists in the South fed on this • Despite (in spite of?) Diem’s ruthless anti-communist crackdown, a communist movement emerged • This movement strongly threatened the South Vietnam ‘domino’ Read the resource on page 40.

3. Contact with the North • Communists who weren’t arrested or killed by Diem had contact with the Communist Party in North Vietnam • Fighters, weapons and supplies moved along jungle trails from the North: the Ho Chi Minh trail Look at the map of the trail on page 43. What does the trail tell you about the communists?

4. Viet Cong & the North • VC was directed by Viet Minh in the North Read Ho Chi Minh’s quote on page 38. • VC launched a guerilla war against Diem and his supporters and a social revolution (sometimes using propaganda, persuasion, and terror)

5. Why were they fighting? • Reunification of Vietnam • Ho Chi Minh calls struggle against ‘US imperialism’ and its puppet (Diem) a “sacred duty” • They wanted the support of the people of South Vietnam

6. Who fought for the VC? • While many were communists, most were villagers who were angry at landlords, tax-gatherers, and Diem’s government Read the quote on page 39. • By 1961, it was estimated that the VC controlled 80% of the countryside and had 19,000 troops

7. Who did they fight? • The VC fought the South Vietnamese Army (ARVN) • In 1961, 600 US soldiers began arriving as ‘advisors’ to the ARVN • The US describes them as ‘outside agitators,’ ‘killers and looters’ who used terror to manipulate the people

8. How did they fight? • The VC built tunnels throughout the jungle Look at last lesson’s handout and Resource B on page 41. With a partner, discuss the questions. Some of these tunnels still exist…

9. Terrorists or Liberators? • Many peasants saw the NLF as liberators because: • They redistributed land amongst the peasants (the landlords fled to the cities) • They established hospitals and schools If you were a Vietnamese peasant, how would you view the VC coming in to your village?

10. The Decline & Fall of Diem • His regime was destined to end in violence… • His own military rebelled in 1960 (though this was quashed) • Diem stopped trusting the Americans when he found out that they knew about the rebellion • When they asked for democracy, he said it was a “Western disease”

11. …but they needed each other…. • US & Diem: ‘love-hate’ relationship • Dec 1961: John F Kennedy supplies training, transport, intelligence, weapons and equipment to the ARVN • From 2000 advisors in 1961 to 16,700 at the end of 1963 • American military almost like a second government • US ‘assisting’ SV government, not ‘Americanising’ the war

12. Strategic hamlets • Diem makes peasants move from their villages to live and work in a farm community protected by a fortification (stockade) • Americans call this strategy ‘progress’ and ‘countering subversion’ • This converts peasants into VV sympathisers though…

13. Even the Buddhists rebel… • Resented Diem’s favouritism for Catholics • Diem saw them as an association, not a religion • In 1963, Diem’s brother bans Buddhist flags and Buddha’s Birthday festival • Buddhist monks protest and Diem’s troops kill 9

14. Buddhists had rallies (protests), hunger strikes, daily news bulletins • 11 June 1963: elderly monk Quang Duc sets himself on fire in protest Read quote on page 44. (Photos) • Madame Nhu calls them ‘barbequed monks’: “Let them burn and we shall clap our hands.”

15. The Americans are shocked, and questioning their support for Diem • On 1 Nov 1963 ARVN generals plot a coup, and shoot Diem and his brother Nhu as they flee from the Presidential Palace Read quote on page 45.

16. Summary • Write 5 key facts you learned in today’s lesson. • Rank them 1-5. • Compare your top 3 with your partner’s top 3.