Indo-China

• Ho Chi-Minh's long-term goal was to unify Vietnam under communism. He had support from the USSR and China.
• As well as the DRV, Ho Chi Minh also used the Vietnamese Workers Party (VWP), People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN) and the National Liberation Front (NLF) to help him fight for unity.
• Ho Chi Minh ran North Vietnam using communist principles which had mixed results.
• The Soviet system of agricultural collectivisation saw agricultural production increase.
• Some communist policies were not well received in North Vietnam and around 6,000 people were killed in revolts.

• Diem had very little support in the South of Vietnam due to his style of government.
• He used nepotism to rule which involving giving jobs within government to his family members.
• Diem was corrupt; he received large sums of money from the US government as did his family and government officials.
• The support from the US helped Diem to stay in power despite feelings of growing resentment towards him.
• Diem also used violent repression to those who opposed his religious and political ideologies.

• John Dulles was the USA Secretary of State under Eisenhower. Dulles had an aggressive anti-communist stance. He didn’t want communist control in Vietnam and set out to make the division of Vietnam permanent after the 1954 Geneva Conference. He was responsible for appointing Diem as the leader of South Vietnam. Diem's survival relied on funding from the USA.
• According to Stephen Kinzer (2006), Diem outlasted two attempted coups by paying off rebels using $12 million, given to him by the CIA.

Stephen Kinzer (2006) quotes Lyndon B. Johnson saying, ‘Shit, Diem's the only boy we got out there.'

• Kennedy sought to strengthen the Southern Vietnamese armed forces by providing support through economic and material assistance.
• He also sent military advisers into Vietnam to train them on counterinsurgency.
• Kennedy thought that Vietnam as a nation should be helped in order for it to become democratic in the future.
• He thought a strong democratic government would make sure that the Vietnamese did not want to support communism.

• Kennedy and Diem embarked on the policy of building strategic hamlets.
• Rural peasants were placed in hamlets that had big walls around them; creating fortress-like villages that were surrounded by barricades.
• These were meant to protect the peasants from the NLF. By the end of 1962 3,000 hamlets existed in South Vietnam.
• Yet, the NLF did not want to attack peasants. Their targets were corrupt officials who were taking the village's money for personal gain.
• The hamlets became ideal places for NLF recruitment and the policy was abandoned.

• In May 1963, the Buddhists in South Vietnam were banned from flying flags to honour the Buddha’s birthday.
• The military also prevented the Buddhists from hearing their leader speak.
• The Buddhists had been discriminated against since Diem’s appointment as he was a Catholic.

• In response to the events of May, the Buddhists began to mount organised opposition.
• The Buddhists trained themselves in how to create anti-communist propaganda, organised non-violent mass rallies and hunger strikes.
• In a few extreme cases the killed themselves in protest by setting themselves on fire.
• Some Buddhists met with US officials to express their feelings about Diem and much pressure was put on the Americans to intervene.

• Due to the opposition of Diem’s regime and his refusal to reduce his repression on the Vietnamese people, the US considered removing their support from Diem to force him to make reforms.
• This encouraged South Vietnamese generals to overthrow and assassinate Diem and his brother.
• The USA claimed that these generals acted alone however it is still debatable on how much the USA were involved.
• Some believe that the assassination was at the hands of the American CIA.

• The NLF opposed the leadership of Diem as they thought his policies were imperialistic and favoured the Catholic elite that existed in Vietnam due to the fact that Vietnam had been a French colony.
• The NLF promoted the unification of Vietnam and the idea that Vietnam should be a socialist state.
• The NLF was led by Nguyen Huu Tho and his belief (shared by Ho Chi Minh) was that the USA had taken over Southern Vietnam in an imperialistic nature, just like the French.
• The NLF said the leadership of Diem was subservient to American rule.

• The Americans saw the NLF as Ho Chi Minh’s communist tool in the South.
• In fact, the nature of communism in the North and South were very different.
• The NLF included intellectuals, middle classes and the rural working class.
• The NLF had a 10 Point Programme which had much support in the South. It emphasised democracy, security, neutrality and an independent economy for a peacefully united Vietnam.
• However, Diem branded the NLF as the Vietcong (short for Vietnamese Communists) and stated that they were a revolutionary army.

• The NLF started a guerrilla war to undermine Diem’s regime.
• They used tactics such as gaining peasant support, attacking road and government buildings and sabotaging American supply bases.