Geneva accord part 2 and insurgence in South Vietnam and the VIETCONG
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Consolidation of communist control in North Vietnam
● To consolidate communist influence in the North, Ho Chi Minh introduced reforms to re-distribute land from the landowners to the peasants.
● Those who opposed his reforms were persecuted.
● A large number of Vietnamese Catholics also fled from the North to the South.
● Nevertheless, support for the communist government in the North remained strong.
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nstability in South Vietnam + Unpopularity of Diem
● Support for Diem's government in the South was eroding.
● Diem belonged to the landlord class, which treated the Vietnamese peasants with contempt.
o Landowners were allowed to retain their holdings, much to the disappointment of landless peasants who had hoped that land reform would improve their standard of living.
● President Diem had little regard for democracy 🡪 rapidly established a dictatorship and practised nepotism (The practice of unfairly giving the best jobs to members of one's family when one is in a position of power.) by assigning the majority of important government positions to close friends and family members.
o The Americans were concerned and frustrated by his actions, but said, 'We knew of no one better'.
● He was a Catholic and showed little respect for the Buddhist religion of most Vietnamese peasants.
o He gave preference to fellow Catholic believers for government jobs.
o 1963 Buddhist Crisis: One of Diem's unpopular policies was the declaration of Catholicism as the state religion as the majority of Vietnamese were Buddhists.
▪ On 7 May 1963, the day before Buddhist followers in Hue celebrated Vesak Day, the Diem government invoked a previously ignored law prohibiting the display of religious flags.
▪ The South Vietnamese police tore down Buddhist flags and this ignited waves of protest from the Buddhists.
▪ Many participated in marches and demonstrations calling for religious equality.
▪ The South Vietnamese police fired shots and grenades to disperse the protesters, resulting in severe casualties.
▪ The crisis ultimately caused Diem to lose the support of the USA.
● Opposition to his rule, including Viet Minh supporters, Buddhists and intellectuals in the South, was suppressed.
● In a bid to escape Diem's rule, many fled to the North, or the jungles in the South where they launched an armed struggle against Diem's regime.
● Extensive economic and military aid by the USA to prop up the Diem government failed to bring about stability in the South.
● American funds and military advisers helped to establish the South Vietnamese Army (SVA) against possible invasion attempts from the North.
● However, conventional warfare training for the SVA proved inappropriate for the jungle terrain that the troops were fighting in, and also against the guerrillas.
● Furthermore, American economic aid was diverted to sustain Diem's corrupt practices.
● Hence, American support did not boost South Vietnam's capabilities to contain an emerging armed struggle which had now turned into a communist insurgency in the South.
● Diem was overthrown by his own army leaders in November 1963, but the governments that followed were equally corrupt. Even so, they also received massive US support.
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Support from the North for the insurgency in the South
● The actions of these anti-Communist governments increased support among the ordinary peasants for the Communists.
● By 1959, the communist government in the North authorised armed struggle against Diem's regime, which included supporting armed groups that were carrying out guerrilla attacks on Diem's government officials.
● Ho Chi Minh encouraged these armed groups to join together in a collective resistance organisation to overthrow Diem's government and subsequently unify Vietnam.
● In 1960, the National Liberation Front (NLF) was established in the South.
o South Vietnamese opponents of the government (of various religious, political and ethnic minority groups)
o Large numbers of Communist North Vietnamese taking their orders from Ho Chi Minh.
● The military arm of the NLF, the People's Liberation Armed Forces (PLAF), was formed in 1961 to coordinate the insurgency in the South.
● These insurgents came to be known as the Viet Cong, a derogatory term used by the Diem regime and the USA, meaning Vietnam Communists.
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Strategies of the Viet Cong (Armed Struggle):
o Reinforcements and supplies to the guerrilla fighters were transported from the North to the South via a trail known as the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
o They attacked South Vietnamese government military forces, officials and buildings, gradually making the countryside unsafe for government forces.
o They also attacked American air force and supply bases to undermine American support for the Diem regime.
Strategies of the Viet Cong (Winning Hearts and Minds):
o Their promises of land reform to the peasants contrasted sharply with Diem's unpopular policies and practices, further undermining Diem's control of the countryside.
o Support for the NLF grew, with villagers readily supporting the guerrillas by providing food, shelter and information.
o Many others even joined the guerrilla forces.
o A network of anti-Diem and communist supporters began to form in the South, strengthening communist influence in the area.