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CONFLICT IN ASIA 1955-1963 - Coggle Diagram
CONFLICT IN ASIA 1955-1963
HOW DID HO CHI MINH CONSOLIDATE COMMUNISM IN NORTH VIETNAM?
Decision
not to hold national elections
in
1956 forced Ho Chi Minh to concentrate on consolidating communist control in North Vietnam.
His priority was to construct a solid communist state in the North, in order to
fight for the reunification of Vietnam
.
A key component of this process for his Vietnam Workers' Party was
land reform
. The regime
seized privately owned land and redistributed it among the rural farming population.
Thousands were
executed and many imprisoned in labour camps
. In 1956, the military put down a revolt - about 6000 killed in this action.
About 1 million refugees fled North Vietnam for the South.
The land reform policies were carried out on
advice from China.
The achievements of Ho Chi Minh's agricultural reforms were significant.
FULL SCALE COLLECTIVISATION was well under way and agricultural production increased
COLLECTIVISATION
= The
practice of combining farming units into large single units
, these would be
controlled by the state
and each would have
production targets.
REVOLUTIONARY VIOLENCE STRATEGY 1958
At end of 1958, the decision was taken at a meeting of the Vietnam Workers' Party Central Committee to commit to a strategy that would reunify Vietnam.
Initial strategy of strengthening communism
in North Vietnam was
well underway by 1959
.
The
power of the party was well established
and this enabled Ho Chi Minh to
consider the route to a united communist Vietnam more fully.
In effect this served as a
declaration of war
on the
South
This aim was to
use military force to overthrow Diem's regime
Despite this
seemingly aggressive revolutionary position take by the North, there remained a powerful emphasis on a political struggle
The struggle would be based on
creating national unity in South Vietnam, in order to overthrow Diem’s regime
and the influence of its US backers.
This meant that the
North undertook a policy of supporting anti-Diem groups in the South
. This culminated the following year in the creation of the National Liberation Front in South Vietnam.
NATIONAL LIBERATION FRONT (NLF)
December 1960
, North Vietnamese est a new organisation in the South, the National Liberation Front (NLF)
Purpose = to free South Vietnam from ‘US imperialism’ and to create a unified independent Vietnam.
Was a
coalition of different groups, all united by their rejection of Diem.
Diem had created much opposition by his policies; such as to destroy communists in South Vietnam, ignoring the interests of the rural peasants, government appointed officials replaced by local council
Diem = barrier to reunify Vietnam
Nationalistic
and
Democratic**
imperatives
drove
many South Vietnamese to join the NLF.**
Ho Chi Minh was
seen as the ‘spiritual father’
of the Viet Minh movement and
acted as a major influence of the NLF.
Relationship between nationalism and communism in the NLF was supportive and symbiotic.
Many members were primarily nationalists, rejecting American imperialism and Vietnamese lackies of imperialism, like Diem and his followers.
Gave affinity between the nationalists and the communists who also saw the USA as a shared enemy of Vietnam.
NLF leader Nguyen Huu Tho was a figurehead.
NLF did have its own clear voice
, as Northern communism and Southern communism did diverge.
Argued that the
NLF was a way by which the communists could infiltrate and influence groups in the South with ease -
it was an agent of communisation.
NLF was
presented as a nationalist/resistance movement
The
NLF political manifesto
(10 point programme,
reflected the wide ranging support the NLF held in the South
, through its anti-imperialist focus.
North set up a
complex support network for the NLF
based on what became known as the
Ho Chi Minh Trail
- provided a
supply route into the South for equipment and personnel
From the air,
the Ho Chi Minh Trail was
impossible to identify
and although the
United States Air Force tried to destroy this vital supply line by heavy bombing
, they were
unable
to
stop the constant flow of men and supplies
KENNEDY'S POLICIES TOWARDS INDOCHINA
Kennedy revealed his view of the importance of Vietnam to the US as early as 1956
He
emphasised that making sure South Vietnam remained a democracy
, despite communism growing was of
key importance for a democratic future in South East Asia.
Kennedy
committed to containment
and the notion of
domino theory.
Kennedy's foreign policy was focused on the
strategy of flexible response
He
believed that USA's non-nuclear capabilities should be expanded
, thus reducing threat of nuclear war and enabling US to react to a wider range of threats like insurgency and subversion.
Reflected Kennedy's fear of threats posed by increasing tensions of both China and USSR.
Communist led insurgency
in South Vietnam
threatened to spread beyond South Vietnam.
Eisenhower’s method
of dealing with such problems with the
threat of nuclear weapons
could not be employed here, as such a
strategy just would not work against insurgency.
Kennedy backed counter insurgency measures
delivered by ground forces.
INSURGENCY
=A group who refuse to accept the ruling/government power
SUBVERSION
= Undermining a power/authority of an institution
COUNTER-INSURGENCY
= Tactics that are used to defeat guerrilla or unconventional warfare focusing on intelligence gathering, targeting leaders and infiltrating the enemy.
MAXWELL TAYLOR'S REPORT OF 1961:
Vietnam
was described by General Maxwell Taylor as a
‘laboratory’ for counterinsurgency tactics
.
In
Nov 1961
Kennedy sent General Taylor and Walt Roscow, to Vietnam to assess the situation.
They presented the
following recommendations:
Increase in helicopter forces to facilitate counterinsurgency actions
Greater training support for the South Vietnamese Army
An increase in the numbers of US combat forces
Some strategic bombing of North Vietnam
The report
recommended sending up to 10,000 US ground troops
Kennedy
chose to adopt a
compromise
, he remained
committed to counterinsurgency
rather than sending in troops. but did
see reason in strengthening the S. Vietnamese army.
STRATEGIC HAMLET PROGRAM 1962
Strategy was est in
March 1962
via Operation Sunrise.
aimed to create armed stockades which would
house South Vietnamese rural peasants.
This would then
isolate such people from the Vietcong
.
For
Diem and Nhu
this Program was a
way to spread their own influence
rather than to encourage Vietnamese peasant farmers to challenge the Vietcong.
Peasants were under pressure to move into the hamlets
but little clear planning or incentives were in place to facilitate the process
= forced relocation
By
Sept 1962
the regime claimed
over 4 million were in strategic hamlets.
By
end of 1962, over 3000 hamlets
The program was
largely a failure
- often
led to improved recruitment to Vietcong
in reality.
Program
compelled peasants to build fences and construct defensive moats
and other fortifications against an enemy that
targeted government officials rather than them.
Corrupt officials took money
meant for medical aid, irrigation projects, fertiliser and seed, and this
further alienated the disaffected peasants.
Scheme was flawed
- impossible to isolate Vietcong agents from hamlets
Diem described the SHP as ‘a means to institute basic democracy’ in Vietnam.
Program soon collapsed