THE VIETNAM WAR AND THE IRANIAN REVOLUTION

Vietnam War A conflict primarily between the United States and Vietnam The United States entered Vietnam in 1955 officially, though American troops had been training Southern Vietnamese to fight against the North prior to that The conflict was part of the Cold War: the North favored Communism, so the American backed the South in trying to oust the North

Protests The war was not popular in the United States

Vietnam War: The Major Players North Vietnam: stationed in Hanoi, called the Viet Cong, and backed by the Soviet Union and China South Vietnam, stationed in Saigon, backed by the United States

Some Chilling Tactical Statistics 26,000,000 bomb craters pockmark Indochina 21,000,000 bomb craters are in South Vietnam alone. 18,000,000 gallons of poisonous chemical herbicides were sprayed over 6 million acres of forest and croplands in South Vietnam alone (an area the size of Massachusetts) 1,200 square miles of South Vietnam leveled by U.S. bulldozers 1,000 square miles of South Vietnam was leveled by incendiary and high explosive bombs. 150,000 to 300,000 tons of unexploded ordnance is strewn about Indochina, still killing many hundreds of farmers. 700,000 fewer water buffalo, oxen and cows in South Vietnam in 1973 than in 1964.

Human Cost The war primarily affected the Vietnamese (with estimates of 4 million casualties for the Vietnamese on all sides). More than 700,000 civilians in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia were killed In comparison, about 60,000 American soldiers were killed

Legacy Anti-war protests in the United States A generation missing of Vietnamese men Agent Orange lasting effects and unexploded bombs

Iranian Revolution The Revolution occurred between 1978 and 1979 The gap between rich and poor had been increasing, as had dissent against the Shah’s autocratic rule The Western backed Shah was overthrown by a people-backed government, that quickly became very extreme

Increasingly Violent Protests The Shah did little to respond to the protests until it was too late

Protests Violence erupted in early 1979, with uprisings in the streets The main radio station in Tehran was seized by revolutionaries who declared “this is the voice of the Iranian People!” Anger at the Shah being to Western was part of the cause, causing people to support the more traditional, and religious coup

New Government Ayatollah Khomeini won a landslide victory in a national referendum. He declared an Islamic republic, and was appointed Iran's political and religious leader for life. The new government quickly set into motion different religious and political regulations

Iran-Iraq War ( ) Following the Revolution, Iraq attacked Iran (likely to show they were the main power on the Persian Gulf, and also because the new government in Iran was Shi'a compared to Iraq’s Sunni government) The war lasted 8 years, with heavy casualties (civilian and military) on both sides The war included the use of chemical weapons