Michael Bennett

yeah, ive found this whilst reading Robert J. Mcmahon's 'Major Problems in the history of the Vietnam War' which he sums up the reign of Diem very well indeed "by the end of 1958, diem had succeeded brilliantly in routing his enemies and arrogating power. but he had also alienated large segments of the south vietnamese population, creating a swell of animosity throughout the country." also "even as old enemies regrouped, diem was busy adding new ones. in the countryside he destroyed at a blow the dignity and livelihood of several hundred thousand peasants by canceling the land-redistribution arrangements instituted by the vietminh in areas they had controlled prior to 1954." i think these two extracts show the ineffectiveness of diem's presidency, the nepotist oligarchic government certainly didnt help either and ultimately diem was not the leader to create the south vietnam, the us had hoped under the policy of nation-building, merely he pursued us support as a powermonger with authoritarian and dictatorite means, ironically in my perception, the government of the south was no better than the 'evil cliche image of the communist north'

Ok, thanks for your input guys, I saw my tutor today over the question(s) and after consultation I've broken it down to the question of 'How did the Geneva Agreements of 1954 lead to war?' With this question ill be basing my argument that war was not entirely inevitable after Geneva until the free elections (proposed for 1956) were not held for the whole of Vietnam, only the south. this I believe was the catalyst for the north, also the failings of the Diem government obviously only deepened these wounds. The era I will be focusing on will be from 1954 up until the death of Diem in 1963

Hi, I'm currently doing an essay for my Vietnam module, I have 2 main questions I have thought of, don't quite know which to use yet, however I'm struggling for exactly what information should be included, any pointers would be much appreciated. Here are the questions I have thought of: 1) Was war inevitable after Geneva, 1954? or 2) Did the origins of the second Indochina war lie in US foreign policy or in Vietnam itself For the second question, so far I have devised a plan to look at the problems in South Vietnam after Geneva, eg the corruption of the Diem government, the failure to hold free elections which were scheduled for 1956 under the Geneva accords, other problems would include Diem's poor policies of repression of the Buddhists, other oppositionary groups in SVN such as the Binh Xuyen, Hao Hoa, and Cao Dai, and Diem's anti-communist policies provoking the NLF to arise. Also looking at the north's role, the help to the insurgencies such as the NLF. And finally looking at America's role, the policy of containment, the domino theory, problems over the cold war context. In terms of 'origins of the war' my argument would be ultimately the origins lay with the USA since they always focused on the region since WW2, this was evident in the economic support given to the French in the first indochina war, and the us were also seen as yet another foreign invader to the Vietnamese, however a culmination of events can also be argued as origins of the war, with problems sparking conflict in both North and South Vietnam.

I’m 20 years old and I am currently studying history at Hull University, I came across your website forum when surfing the net for information on one of my modules - Vietnam, I am currently gathering research for my essay question, I haven’t decided on the final title, but either (Was War inevitable after Geneva, 1954?, or something along the lines of the origins of the Vietnam War), anyway the reason for requesting to join the forum was to ask for some tips or guidance, also I noticed some members are past veterans, their opinion if very valuable as a primary source of evidence for my essay, therefore any feedback would be very grateful.