Objectives• To understand the origins of the Vietnam

Conflict. By matching dates to events. By adding events to your timeline.

• To analyse how inevitable America’s involvement in the conflict was.

By studying sources. By looking at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu.

Find your match!• July 1941 – Ho Chi Minh returns to Vietnam• 1941 – The Vietminh are formed.• 1943-45 – The Vietminh fight a successful guerrilla campaign

against the French.• September 1945 – Ho announces the formation of the new

independent Democratic Republic of Vietnam.• November 1946 – The Haiphong incident. 29 French soldiers

die.• 1949 – The French reinstate Bao Dai as a puppet leader. In

China Mao Zedong seizes power.• 1950-51 – The Vietminh are forced back. America is indirectly

involved in the conflict – funding French efforts.• 1954 – The Battle of Dien Bien Phu. The French are humiliated

and demoralised. Aim Higher – Find out more about your event using the Vietnam book.

Aim Higher – What are the events in blue? What do they signify the beginning and the end of?

Quiz• The Vietminh fought a successful guerrilla

campaign between 1943 and 1945 against whom?

• In what year did Ho Chi Minh announce the formation of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam?

• What happened in November 1946?

Aim Higher – What month?

Aim Higher – What did this event lead to?

Saigon, May 8, 1950: The French feel they are the only fighting force on hand to oppose the extension of dynamic Communism towards South-east Asiatic areas of vast interest to the West.

Therefore, they argue that the least Washington can do is make available more

equipment and economic aid.

Read the Source.

Discuss:Why are France being so needy?

What reasons do America have for wanting to support France in

Vietnam?Do you think their reasons for

fighting in Vietnam were the same?

The Battle of Dien Bien Phu

• Use pages 8 and 9 to create a fact file about the battle.

• It only needs to be a brief: four or five bullet points will be enough.

• Include dates, a brief outline of the plans and what happened.

Aim Higher – Think carefully about the “Omens for the Future” and the inevitability of the Americans now getting involved.

True or False?• The French fought a successful campaign against

the Vietminh.• Ho Chi Minh announced the formation of an

independent Vietnam years before the French left the country.

• The French wanted Chinese help in Vietnam.• The Battle of Dien Bien Phu led to French

withdrawal from Vietnam.• America and France’s reasons for wanting to

keep Vietnam from the Communists were the same.

F

TF

T

F