War in Korea and Vietnam

War in Korea and Vietnam Chapter 17 Section 3

Main Idea • In Asia, the Cold War flared into actual wars supported mainly by the superpowers

Why It Matters Now • Today, Vietnam is a Communist country and Korea is split into Communist and non-communist nations.

Setting the Stage • When WWII ended, Korea became a divided nation. • North of the 38th parallel, Japanese troops surrendered to the Soviets. • South of this line, the Japanese surrendered to the Americans. • As in Germany, two nations developed. • One was communist (North) & One was Non-Communist (South)

War In Korea • By 1949 both superpowers had withdrawn most of their troops from Korea. • USSR banked on the US not defending South Korea. • So they supplied North Korea with military and economic aid in hopes they would take over the peninsula.

Standoff at the 38th parallel • On June 25, 1950 North Korea crossed the 38th parallel in a surprise attack on South Korea. • President Truman this aggression was not different than that of Axis powers from WWII. • His containment policy was being put to the test. • He resolved to help South Korea resist Communist influence.

Standoff at the 38th parallel • South Korea also asked the U.N. to intervene. • When the vote came to the Security Council the Soviets were boycotting the council to protest the seating of Taiwan and not mainland China. • Thus giving up their chance to Veto any action taken by the U.N. • The U.N. plan of action was to send a international force to Korea to stop the Invasion. 15 nations under the leadership of Douglas MacArthur.

Standoff at the 38th parallel • Meanwhile, North Korea was continuing its advances into South Korea. • By Sept. 1950, they controlled the entire peninsula except for a tiny part around the city of Pusan. • This same month However, MacArthur launches a surprise attack and his troops are able to move North; Half of the North Army surrendered. The rest retreated.

The Fighting Continues • The U.N. Army pushed the North Koreans back across the 38th parallel and into North Korea. • By Late November the UN troops have pushed the North Koreans all the way to the Chinese border. • These troops are mostly from the US.

The Fighting Continues • The Chinese now feel threaten by the American fleet of their coast and by their borders. • They send 300,000 troops to aid North Korea. • The fight between North and South Korea has now become a war between the United States and China.

The Fighting Continues • The Chinese greatly outnumbered the UN troops and begun to drive them South out of North Korea. • They eventually capture the Capital city of Seoul. • General MacArthur wanted to drop nuclear bombs on Chinese cities. • The President did not agree. He said, “We are trying to prevent a World War, not start one.” • MacArthur tried using congress and the press to go over the Presidents authority.

The Fighting Continues • In response, the President fires General Douglas MacArthur. • Over the next two years the UN forces fight to drive the North Koreans back across the 38th parallel. • By 1952 the UN recaptures Seoul and regains control of South Korea.

The Fighting Continues • In July of 1953, the UN and North Korean forces sign a cease-fire agreement. • After 3 years of fighting, the borders between these two nations was set near the 38th parallel. • This is almost where it had been before the war. But about 5 million people had died.

Aftermath and Legacy of the War • After the war Korea remain divided into two different countries. • In North Korean, the communist dictator Kim Il Sung established collective farms, developed heavy industry, and built up military power. • Kim died in 1994, his son Kim Jong Il ascended into power. • Under Kim Jong Il, North Korea has developed Nuclear weapons.

Aftermath and Legacy of the War • But they also have huge economic problems and shortages of energy and food for the people in the country. • South Korea has prospered, thanks to the massive aid by the US and other countries. • At first they had a few dictators who ruled the country, but in 1987 they adopted a Democratic Constitution and established free elections.

Aftermath and Legacy of the War • During the 1980’s and 1990’s South Korea had one of the highest economic growth rates in the world. • Political differences keep these two countries apart.

War in Vietnam • Like in Korea, war in Vietnam stemmed from the American Cold War policy of Containment. • The Americans had one goal, to stop the spread of Communism. • By 1950 the US was providing Vietnam financial aid, advisers, and 1/2 million soldiers. • The US aim was to prevent Southeast Asia embracing Communism, like China had done.

The Road to War • In the early 1900’s France controlled most of Southeast Asia. • Independence movements had begun in French Indochina (Vietnam) when Ho Chi Minh turned to Communism for help. • During the 1930’s Ho’s Indochinese Communist party led revolts and strikes against the French.

The Road to War • The French responded by jailing the Vietnamese protesters. • The French also sentenced Ho Chi Minh to death. • Ho fled his death sentence, but still inspired Vietnam’s Nationalist movements. • Ho returned to Vietnam in 1941, a year after the Japanese took over the country. • He formed the Vietminh (independence) League. • The Japanese left Vietnam in 1945.

War Breaks Out • Ho Chi Minh believed Independence would follow the absence of Japan, but France intended to regain its former colony. • The Vietnamese Nationalist and Communists joined to fight the French. • French held most major cities, but were powerless in the countryside. • There the Vietminh had widespread support. • Vietminh used hit and run tactics, to confine the French to the cities.

War Breaks Out • The French people began to questions if the colony was worth the money and lives lost. • In 1954 the French lost a major military defeat at Dien Bien Phu, They surrendered to Ho. • The US had been supporting France and now saw a rising threat in Southeast Asia. It was described as the Domino Theory. • The fall of one Southeast Asian country would lead to the fall of another and another.

War Breaks Out • After France’s defeat an international peace conference took place in Geneva to discuss the future of Indochina. • The result was Vietnam would be divided at 17* north latitude. • North of this line would be Ho Chi Minh’s Communist forces and the South would be the US and France’s anti-communist government lead by Ngo Dinh Diem.

Vietnam- A Divided Country • Diem ruled South Vietnam as a dictator. • Ho Chi Minh began a popular land redistribution program. • US feared Diem would lose in a election, so the US supported the elections cancellation. • The Vietnamese oppositions to Diem’s corrupt Government began to grow. • Communist Guerrillas, called Vietcong gained strength in the Southern Vietnam.

Vietnam- A Divided Country • Some Vietcong were trained soldiers from the North, but most were from the South and hated Diem. • In 1963, backed by the US, a group of South Vietnamese generals overthrew and assassinated Diem. • The new leaders were no more popular then Diem. • A Communist take over now seemed inevitable.

The United States Gets Involved • Faced with the Communist take over, the US increases its involvement. • The US were only advisors to this point, but now they begin sending US planes, tanks, and other military equipment to South Vietnam. • In August 1964 President LBJ told congress two US ships were destroyed by Vietnamese patrol boats in the Gulf of Tonkin. • As a result Congress allowed the President to send American troops into Vietnam.

The United States Gets Involved • By late 1965 185,000 US soldiers were fighting in Vietnam, although no war had been declared. • By 1968 more than 500,000 soldiers were fighting in Vietnam. • The US was the best trained and equipped army in the world, yet they struggled against the Vietcong. • Because they fought against guerrilla warfare in jungle terrain and the Southern Government they were defending was not popular.

The United States Gets Involved • Ho Chi Minh’s supported the Vietcong army with troops and munitions, as did the USSR and China. • Unable to win a land battle against the Vietcong, the US turned to the air. • US forces bombed millions of acres of farmland and forest in hopes of flushing out the Vietcong. • This just strengthened peasant’s opposition to South Vietnam Government.

The United States Withdraws • During the late 1960’s the was grew unpopular in the US. • President Richard Nixon begins to withdraw troops in 1969. • The plan of withdraw is called Vietnamization. It allowed for a gradual pull out, while the South Vietnamese army took more combat control. • Nixon wanted to preserve the South Vietnamese Government.

The United States Withdraws • So he authorized a massive bombing campaign against North Vietnamese bases and supply routes, along with the countries of Laos and Cambodia to wipe out Vietcong hiding places. • In 1973 the last US forces left Vietnam. • North Vietnam took over South Vietnam 2 years later. • Communist renamed the capital Ho Chi Minh city. • 1.5 million Vietnamese & 58,000 US troops died.

Ongoing Turmoil in Cambodia • In Cambodia in 1975, Communist rebels known as Khmer Rouge set up a Government under the leadership of Pol Pot. • They attempted to transform Cambodia into a rural society, in doing so they killed 2 million people. • 1978 Vietnam invaded Cambodia and overthrew the Khmer Rouge. • 1989 Vietnam left, in 1993 Cambodia becomes Democratic. • Pol Pot is captured and detained in 1997.

Postwar Vietnam • Communist took over the nation. • Send people to “reeducation camps,” for training in Communist thought. • This caused 1.5 million people to flee Vietnam. Most in overcrowded boats. Many died on these boats. • About 70,000 end up in US or Canada. • Vietnam is still communist, but welcomes foreign investments. • Most investments are from the US. 1994 US lifts all trade embargos against Vietnam.

War in Korea and Vietnam