HS 210 Lecture 9: Lecture 9
Document Summary
After wwii - the french were trying to reclaim their colonies in indochina. Vietnam was part of that colonial empire. Ho chi minh (fought against the japanese during wwii and when truman came into office he started fighting against the french) - nationalist/communist who fought against french imperialism. Truman gave the french money to fight war (80% of war - truman doctrine) 1954 - battle of dien bien phu. The french were pinned down - asked for us air support - eisenhower refused. Ceasefire, divide the country at the 17th parallel. 1956 - elections would determine which government would rule vietnam. Cia - gets involved in vietnam - they don"t have elections - instead they train the south vietnamese to fight (counter insurgency) Viet-cong (ho chi minh"s group now called) - rhetoric to make them. The us did not recognize the communist chinese government. The us supported the government in taiwan (formosa)
