Cold War: Europe & Asia

HIS 187

Taking up where Britain leaves off

Geography and motives; containment

Economic Assistance Act / Marshall Plan, 1948

Blockade, 1948–1949

Airlift, 1948–1949

US presence

“Empire by invitation”

Vietnam wars

Call from the Viet Minh

rich people, soldiers, workers, peasants, intellectuals, employees, traders, youth, and women who warmly love your country! Let us unite together

Ho Chi Minh, 1941

Flashback Friday

Appeal to the Americans

While waiting for the principle of national self-determination to pass from ideal to reality through the effective recognition of the sacred right of all peoples to decide their own destiny . . .

Ho Chi Minh, 1919

War for Vietnamese liberation, 1941–

Office of Strategic Services agent

Another American appeal

All men are created equal. The creator has given us certain inviolable rights: the right to life, the right to be free, and the right to achieve happiness. . . . these immortal words are taken from the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America

Vietnamese Decelaration of Independence, 1945

US agreements

the US has no thought of opposing the reestablishment of French control in Indochina and no official statement . . . has questioned even by implication French sovereignty over Indochina

Dean Acheson, US Under Secretary of State, 1945

Yet another American appeal

France is not entitled because she . . . ignominiously sold Indochina to Japan and betrayed the allies . . . Vietnam is qualified by Atlantic Charter and subsequent peace agreement and by her goodwill and her unflinching stand for democracy . . .

Ho Chi Minh, telegram to Harry Truman, 1945

A British war in Vietnam

Full force

There is no front in these operations. We may find it difficult to distinguish friend from foe. Always use the maximum force available to ensure wiping out any hostilities we may meet. If one uses too much force, no harm is done.

British Army orders, Vietnam, 1945

French takeover, April 1946

American arms

Thoughts on empires

Colonial empires in the 19th century sense are rapidly becoming a thing of the past [but the US has] no interest in seeing colonial empire administrations supplanted by [the] philosophy and political organization emanating from and controlled by [the] Kremlin

US State Department cable, January 1947

Capitalism and imperialism

the whole world is now divided into a large number of oppressed nations and an insignificant number of oppressor nations. . . . we, as Communists, should and will support bourgeois liberation movements in colonies

Lenin, 1920