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Indochina is made up of Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. It was colonized by the French in the
late 1800's and given up in 1939. Japan took over France’s loss after that. After Japan’s
defeat in 1945, Vietnam’s patriot and communist, Ho Chi Minh and his Viet Minh declared
Vietnam independent. After that, France came to claim their loss. The US supported France
fearing the "Domino Theory" would take affect after in 1949 China fell to communism. In
1950, the US sent troops to South Korea to prevent the dominos from falling. The
Vietnamese took fort Dien Bien Phoo in May of 1954, so then the French finally pulled out.
That set up 2 nations North Vietnam and South Vietnam split at the 17th parallel.
Ho Chi Minh was in the North and was a Communist
Ngo Dinh Diem was in South and disliked communism.
He argued that if there was an election to choose a leader of 1 unified nation, that Ho
would not permit fair elections.
Viet Cong Rebellion
In 1956, Diem closed all elections, and appointed local officials. That gave him less of
support. Also he didn’t win the support of the peasants, that was a major mistake... in
the south Vietminh members who were located in South Vietnam formed their own communist
party. Diem called them the Viet Cong meaning Vietnamese Communists. North Vietnam
supported the rebellion in the early parts. In 1959 the Vietminh set up a supply route to
South Vietnam through Laos and Cambodia. They were then named the Ho Chi Minh trail. Also
in 1959, the first American advisors were killed during a battle. By 1960 the Vietcong had
about 10,000 troops and were threatening to overthrow Diem. Then the US sent
15,100(WorldBook) more US advisors in from 1961 - 1963. The Buddhist’s also had a hard time
with Diem, they felt he did not give enough religious freedom. The Buddhists also held the
better part of Vietnam’s population. On June 21, 1963, an old Buddhist Monk Quang Duc lit
himself on fire as a form of protest. Diem who was a Roman...
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