To what extent was nationalism a cause of conflict in Indochina in the period 1954-1968?
Nationalism was one of the principal reasons people supported the revolutionary movement in Vietnamin the period between 1954 and 1968.It, more than anything, was responsible for the Second Indochina War.
Vietnam has a long history of struggle against foreign occupation, dating back 2,000 years. Ho Chi Minh and the Vietminh were a part of that tradition. Although a communist, he was first and foremost a nationalist,who was willing to compromise his ideology in order to achieve independence for his homeland.
Following the Second World War, Ho declared Vietnama republic, and called upon the United States to support his new government. Although the US had been sympathetic to such calls during the war, by 1946 the mood in Americahad changed. Greater priority was now given to stoppingthe spread of communism than to satisfying nationalist aspirations in Asia. As such, the US opted to support the return of France to Vietnam, as a means of keeping Ho chi Minh from power. Thisdecision, more than anything else, led to the First Indochina War.
The defeat of France in 1954 provided the opportunity to rectify the mistake made in 1946. However, the USwas now locked into a foreign policy predicated on the fear of communism. Perceived communist advances had convinced the US that the Asian nations would fall like a row of dominos if left exposed to Marxist influence. This meant that Ho Chi Minh had to be prevented from taking control of all of Vietnam. The result was the Geneva Agreement, which temporarily dividedthe country, pending an election in 1956. Ho was given control of the north, Ngo Dinh Diem was given the south. The Vietminh were confident that they would be in power in two years time. This was America’s pessimistic assessment too.
The seeds of the Second Indochina War lay in the decision by the US and Diem to cancel the 1956 election and give sovereignty to South Vietnam. This represented a betrayal of those committed to reunification. Diem now launched a campaign of oppression against Vietminh. As many as 50,000 were killed. In 1957, the survivors formed a guerrilla army in South Vietnam, and launched a war against Diem. Some who joined this force were communists; others wanted land reform. Most, however, were motivated by a sense of nationalism. Ho Chi Minh soon pledged his support, and the flow of men and arms began to flow south. The Second Indochina War had begun.
Despite clear evidence that the war in Vietnam had nationalist roots, the United States refused to see it that way. Instead, itsawthe war as part of a communist conspiracy led by the USSR. This view – known as the Domino Theory – dominated American thinking in the 1950s and early ‘60s, during the presidencies of Eisenhower and Kennedy. Both men stepped up military and economic aid to South Vietnam, in the hope of shoring up the most vulnerable domino in the pack.
By the mid 1960s, it had become apparent in Americathat the communist world was not as monolithic as had been assumed, and that the Domino Theory was simplistic in the extreme. By this time, however, the US was locked into a foreign policy which would not accept withdrawal from Vietnam, through fear of looking weak. The war was set to drag on for another decade before public opinion finally shifted in America.
So it can be seen that nationalism played a crucial role in triggering the Second Indochina War, though it was not the only factor at work.