CAS HI 284 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Tet Offensive, Lyndon B. Johnson, Anti-Communism
Document Summary
France humiliated by nazi surrender to germany, hypersensitive to prestige. General leclerc sent out to restore the empire in french indochina. Easily regained control of cambodia and southern vietnam. Never regained control of rural north vietnam. Ho chi minh declared independence for his nation, taken from declaration of. France held a referendum to see if the south wanted to vote for independence. Paris reneged on the deal, instead, declared south vietnam a republic. North vietnam declared independence, fighting broke out in 1946 when french attacked the viet minh positions. Wanted to reconquer north vietnam and recombine the colonies. Viet min waged guerrilla warfare against the french. Nguyen giap commanded the communist forces, called the red napoleon. Moscow began to send aid to ho chi min. France turned to the us for aid, but us remained neutral. Roosevelt and truman suggested that france not to go back into vietnam.
