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51 lines
3.3 KiB
51 lines
3.3 KiB
HistoryOf. ThingsWhichSuck. UpdateThis. Hasty transcription of notes hastily taken; take this with a grain of salt.
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[http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War Wikipedia::Vietnam War]
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FDR hadn't expected continued involvement in Europe, but the ColdWar changed things. NATO, etc.
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i18l politics had changed drastically since the start of WWII. 2 major powers peripheral to Europe - US & USSR. European powers greatly weakened - Germany occupied, France defeated, British empire crumbling. Traditional balance o' power out of whack.
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Iran :: brits & soviets had sent forces to protect iran from axis powers. American forces too, under Brits.
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[[March 2 1946]], they were supposed to leave. Brits and Americans did, Russians did not. Stalin was making demands on iranian government - oil & so forth. The iranian gov met most soviet demands until the troops left; shah ousted commies from gov once they were gone.
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WinstonChurchill came to FultonMissouri and delivered his Iron Curtain speech - thought Britain and the US had to join in containing soviet expansion.
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Turkey - [[summer 1945]] - Soviets had begun pressuring Turkey; wanted sea access, border changes, military alliance of sorts. August 46, turks appealed to brits and americans; US makes a firm committment to turkey.
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greece - civil war - "left & right" resumed 1946 - monarchy vs. leftists. Yugoslavia and bulgaria gave support to the left (at stalin's urging, supposedly). After election brought the king back, civil war kicked off again.
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February 21 1947, brits declare intent to pull out of Turkey & Greece by April 1.
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March 12, HarryTruman went to congress for $400 mil for turkey, greece, etc.
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'''TrumanDoctrine''': Stark division between communist and free world (apparently right wing dictatorships are "free"). Spring 1947, Marshall went to Moscow
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----
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Raise your skinny fists like antennae to the sky!
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Never start a land war in Southeast Asia.
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1950s - Korean War - unexpected - American policy shift
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July 25 1950 - North Korea attacks South; had been skirmishes previously but nothing huge.
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Truman, a self-described Wilsonian, saw NorthKorea as the first test of the UnitedNations.
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----
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Apparently General Westmoreland was an idiot.
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== Vietnam war - late 50s & 60s ==
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1956 - lull in war - Ho & communist party started consolidating power in the North; 'collectivisation' - rich peasants would lose land - peasant revolts 56, 57, 58 - just keeping power was hard enough. Lots in the North (900k +) fled South, mostly Catholics. (Diem was Catholic.)
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1957 - gov in North tightening control; in South, settlement of refugees from North, who became Diem's most loyal core of support. Not much land redistribution in South; there was land, which wasn't used much - 100k theoretically got some land, which actually meant receiving title for land they already held, meaning they actually had to ''pay'' for the title - not exactly happy - a million peasants got nada.
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Saigon government no more free than Hanoi, though less competent at dictatorship. Elections all rigged - legal system May 6 1959 - Death penalty by mil. tribunal for any opposition to Saigon government.
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Diem to Washington.
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1959 - war kicking back into gear in the South.
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1960 - CommunistParty in Hanoi calling for open resistance, united front in the South;
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