Study notes on the conflict in indo-china (Aust syllabus)

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Conflict in Indo-China

Extras:

Evidence::

1.         Medical photographs of Napalm Burns

2.         My Lai Massacre - over one hundred unarmed Vietnamese civilians

                 àOfficial army photographer - hidden camera

3.         Secret Bombing of Cambodia - America uninformed

                          àRichard Nixon's November 1969 speech conceals illegal 8 month long bombing of neutral Cambodia         

        

4.         Deep revulsion felt by majority of Western intellectuals @ atrocities + manipulation of public opinion

                          = highly critical of US motives + strategy

5.         Australia's role in Vietnam à refer to Terry Burstall

6.         Internal politics of NVA/ NV àrefer to Bui Tin

Historiography:

Right Wing Interpretations

1.         Conservative

2.         See as war waged in defence of democratic values

                 àUS intervened to prevent communist oppression - authoritarian government

3.         Blame war on North aggression

4.         Argue war must be seen in context of communist attempt at global domination

                 àpart of the cold war

5.         Blame media and anti-war movements for US defeat

6.         See Pol Pot's excessive brutality as an expression of communist ideology

                          àArgue continued US intervention could have prevented such genocide

7.         some concede US miliary strategies:

1.         terrible consequences for civilian populations

2.         counter productive to gaining support

                 ààgeneral implication that ends justified the means

Historians:         1. General William Westmoreland

                 2. W. W. Rostow

                 3. Michael Lind Vietnam: The Necessary War (1999)

Left Wing Interpretations

1.         RADICAL LEFT

                 àNVA conducting a genuine national liberation struggle against US imperialism

                 àGabriel Kolko Anatomy of a war

2.         LIBERAL LEFT

                 àWar = tragic mistake of US policy

                 àStanley Karnow Vietnam: A history

3.         Civil war - US no right to intervene

4.         Not defending democracy - forcing despotic, unpopular dictatorship on SV

5.         suffering caused by US tactics = unjustifiable

         ...