The Vietnam War

Episode 1

Déjà Vu (1858-1961)

Sun, Sep 17, 201782 mins

After centuries of domination by neighboring empires (Chinese, Khmer), Vietnam (Annam, Tonkin and Cochinchina) and its neighbors Laos and Cambodia) were for a century a French colony as Indochina, not enjoying any measure of Enlightenment for natives. In World War Two, the Japanese presented themselves as Asia's liberators, but proved a particularly cruel occupying power. Yet the Allied victory meant liberation only in the sense of resuming colonialism, which native nationalists started to rebel against, as part of a wave of largely communist-inspired independence movements. Their leader Ho-Chi-Minh, one of a hundred pseudonyms, started theirs, the Viet Minh, initially not communist, but I the Cold War ended up following the Korean example, welcoming Chinese backing. The new de facto leaders transformed it into the Viet Kong, a guerrilla army liberating the north and a resistance movement in the south, where the French remained in control. After their bloody surprise defeat in Dien Bien Phu in the last rush to the peace agreement, the US took their place, fearing the 'domino theory' all of Asia could fall next to the red danger.