1. Vietnam “two rice bowls at the opposite ends of a carrying pole”
Song Coi (red river) delta to the north
Mekong River delta in the south
population in 1960:
30.5 million people
Hanoi in north: 600,000 people
Saigon in south: 1.6 million people
Hanoi and Saigon are 700 miles apart
Vietnam

2. Vietnam timeline 2,000 BC – Vietnam inhabited
first migrants came from India, Thailand and Cambodia (the Khmers)
the direct ancestors of the Vietnamese came from China, the “Viets”
111 BC Han Dynasty of China conquers the region
– Vietnamese revolt against China
establish kingdom of Le Thanh-tong
Viet puppet/statue

3. French colonize Vietnam
1600s Viet kingdom splits into two subgroups
North and south
the Khmers move to the east (establish modern Cambodia)
1612 Europeans reach Viet kingdoms
1825 Vietnamese refuse to allow more Catholics into country
1859 French capture Saigon
1887 establish the “French indochinese Union”
Napoleon III of France as vulture, lampooned by Harpers Monthly, 1872

4. Ho Chi Minh (“he who enlightens”)
Born in 1890
Travelled to Paris, circulated a petition for Woodrow Wilson calling for Vietnamese independence
Joined the Communist Party
Lived in China
1930s returned to Vietnam to organize a liberation army: the Viet Minh

5. modern Vietnam 1931 Japan attacks China and occupies Manchuria
they name it “Manchuko”
1940 Japan attacks Vietnam
1942 the OSS establishes alliance with Ho Chi Minh
1945 Ho’s forces have taken partial control of North Vietnam
France reestablishes itself in Vietnam
Ho’s forces defeat French at Dienbienphu
Ho’s forces waive the Vietnamese flag at Dienbienphu, 1954

6. the 1954 Geneva accords temporary division of North and South Vietnam
the North under Ho’s control
a border between the two areas at the 17th parallel
with a small strip of land called the Demilitarized Zone (the “DMZ”
temporary until national elections in 1956
1954 Geneva conference

7. SEATO (South East Asian Treaty Organization)
established in 1954
included U.S., France, Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Taiwan, the Philippines and Pakistan
half the countries weren’t from South East Asia
Pakistan??

8. Ngo Dihn Diem Takes charge of South Vietnam in 1956
Creates the Republic of Vietnam
1960: supporters of Ho Chi Minh and other nationalists create the National Liberation Front (NLF)