War in Korea and Vietnam

Chapter 17, Section 3

War in Korea

• By 1949 both the USA and USSR withdrew their troops from Korea

• The Soviets gambled that the USA would not support South Korea

• They supplied the North Koreans with tanks, airplanes, and money

Standoff at the 38th Parallel

• June 25, 1950 the North Koreans poured across the 38th Parallel into South Korea

• Truman was convinced this was another War that echoed WWII

• Containment was being put to the test• South Korea asked the UN for help• The Soviets were not there because they

boycotted the organization after Nationalist China (Taiwan) was entered thus losing their veto power

Standoff at the 38th Parallel

• The plan was to send an international army to stop the invasion

• 15 nations sent troops• Douglas MacArthur was the supreme

commander• By September of 1950 the North Koreans

controlled the whole peninsula except for a small area around Pusan

• UN forces landed around the 38th Parallel trapping the North Koreans, almost half surrender

The Fighting Continues

• The UN forces pursued the retreating N Koreans past the 38th Parallel

• By November the UN forces had almost pushed the N Koreans out of Korea

• China felt threatened by the USA so they sent 300,000 troops to help the N Koreans

• The war shifted from a war between the North and South Koreans to a war between the USA and China

The Fighting Continues

• The Chinese overwhelmed the UN forces and pushed them south of the 38 Parallel and capture the South Korean capital of Seoul

• MacArthur wanted to drop an Atomic Bomb on North Korea, Truman said “no”

• MacArthur was upset and tried to go over Truman’s head to congress

• Truman fired MacArthur

The Fighting Continues

• Over the next two years the UN forces fought to drive the North Koreans out of the South

• 1952 they recapture Seoul• 1953 everyone is back to where they

started• They signed a cease-fire and the

boarder was set at the 38th Parallel• 5 million soldier and civilians died in

the war

Aftermath and Legacy of the War

• Korea remains divided• Kim Il Sung was the leader of the North and created

collective farms, heavy industry, and a large military state

• He dies in 1994 and his son Kim Jong Il takes over the country

• He creates a nuclear weapon• 2011 Kim Jong Un takes power (son of Jong Il)• North Korea is in a bad state: Shortages of food and

energy, heavy police state, many prisoner camps and other civil rights violations plaque the country

Aftermath and Legacy of the War

• South Korea has fair much better• 1987 S Korea creates a constitution • Their economic growth today is

fueled by technology (ever hear of Kia, LG, Samsung?)

• Korea looks like it will be divided into the near future

War in Vietnam

• This war all stems from the policy of containment

• By 1950’s the American had sent advisers, financial aid, and finally half a million soldiers to the former French colony

The Road to War

• France controlled most of resource-rich Southeast Asia

• Nationalist independence movement started to force them out

• Ho Chi Minh – a nationalist leader in Vietnam turned to the communists for help

• He and his followers started to fight the French

The Road to War

• The French fought back• Ho Chi Minh was forced into exile but

continued his fight• He returned in 1941, the year after

the Japanese took control of Vietnam• After the Japanese defeat in WWII Ho

was convinced that independence would happen

• The French did not

War Breaks Out

• The country united to fight the French

• The French controlled the major cities but lost control of the countryside

• The Vietminh (soldiers) used guerrilla tactics

• The French did not think it was worth the effort so the surrender to Ho in 1954

• The Americans thought this was a sign of things to come

War Breaks Out

• Eisenhower called this the domino theory– Southeast Asian countries were a row of

dominos, when one fell they all would

• This became a major justification in Cold War policy

• At an international peace conference Vietnam was to split along the 17° north latitude

• North – communist South – anti-communist

Vietnam the Divided Country

• Ngo Dinh Diem became the leader of the south and was unpopular

• Ho Chi Minh was extremely popular in the north

• Vietnamese opposition to Diem’s corrupt gov. grew

• Communist guerrillas, known as Vietcong or VC, gained strength in the south

Vietnam the Divided Country

• Many in the south that turned to the VC did so because of their hatred for Diem

• The VC started to control the southern countryside

• In 1963 the US backed a coup in South Vietnam• The coup was designed to overthrow Diem, it

succeed and they captured and assassinated him• Diem’s processors however fared no better• It looked like the North Vietnamese would take

over the South and the whole country would turn communist

The United States Gets Involved

• The USA now escalates their involvement

• They started out as advisers (’50s) but now they increase military personnel

• August of 1964 Lyndon B Johnson told congress that the VC attacked two American destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin– This has been debated for years, did it

really happen

The United States Gets Involved

• Congress authorized LBJ to send troops to Vietnam

• By 1965 185,000 troops are in country• The US also starts bombing North Vietnam• By 1968 half a million troops are in Vietnam• The USA had the best military in the world

but faced two major problems– Guerrilla warfare– The South Vietnamese gov. they were

supporting became increasingly unpopular

The United States Gets Involved

• The North Vietnamese continued to grow in strength

• Supported by the USSR and Chinese, plus the Americans unwillingness to send troops into the north and Laos and Cambodia allowed the VC to gain momentum in Vietnam

The Dark Side

• The US used tactics like:– Search and Destroy– Napalm– Agent Orange

• Other problems for the USA– Drug use– The draft– Growing discontent at home

The United States Withdraws

• During the 1960s the war becomes very unpopular

• Typically younger generations protested the war

• Nixon bowed to the growing pressure and started withdrawing troops

• His plan was Vietnamization– US would gradually pullout and leave

the fighting to the South Vietnamese

The United States Withdraws

• While the US withdraw they increased their bombing campaign hoping to give the South Vietnamese a chance

• By 1973 the last of the US troops left Vietnam and shortly after the country fell to the communist

• 1.5 million Vietnamese died• 58,000 Americans

Ongoing Turmoil in Cambodia

• Cambodia is the neighboring country of Vietnam and they had a deadly “war” in the 1970s

• Communist rebels known as the Khmer Rouge setup a brutal gov. under Pol Pot

• Trying to reform the country they slaughtered over 2 million people, that is ¼ of the entire population

Ongoing Turmoil in Cambodia

• The Vietnamese invaded in 1978 and overthrew the Khmer Rouge

• They withdrew from the country in 1989• In 1993 under the supervision of the UN

Cambodia adopted a constitution• In 1997 Pol Pot was arrested for his war

crimes• In 1998 he died before he could go on

trial for his crimes

Postwar Vietnam

• The North imposed strict control over the South

• They sent many people to “reeducation camps” to be trained in communist thought

• Many people fled to other countries• Communist still govern Vietnam

today but they welcome foreign investment