The Brits could have prevented the Vietnam War

[old man emu]

Here's another example of how American posturing and politics brought death and destruction to thousands in South-East Asia after WWII.

 

General Douglas MacArthur's arrogant attitude to all but American military forces lead to the failure to nip off Ho Che Min at the very beginning of his campaign to make Vietnam a country ruled by its own people and not some European or other Asian  nation. Had the British forces in Vietnam after the surrender of the Japanese been properly reinforced and retained a little longer, then all the wars in Vietnam from 1950 to 1975 would most likely have been avoided.

 

Here's an interesting short documentary on Britain's involvement with post-WWII Vietnam.

 

 

[Yenn]

I cannot see that the war was caused by the Yanks posturing. the British had control in Indo china and gave it back to the French. The French eventually lost the war by the Vietnamese wearing them down by hit and run type warfare, until when they had weakened the French, they beat them soundly at Dien Bien Phu.

If the Yanks had accepted the fact that the French had lost and Viet Nam should be self governing, all would have been well, but the Yanks decided to prop up a corrupt regime and pour vast numbers of troops and money int a stupid war. Another of USAs stupid deceitful wars trying to control the world and never telling the truth about their aims or anything else.

Have a look at some of the other US wars, such as The Korean War. Another pack of lies and also involving Mc Arthur.

[old man emu]

Yes, the British did assume control of most of the outer Japanese conquered countries, probably because they had the military organisation close by in India and Malaya. The French did not have a military force in late 1945 to go in and take back their pre-war colonies. MacArthur was the one who did the posturing in the south-west Pacific. He really did the dirty on the Commonwealth forces, leaving them to do the clean-up work on the Japanese forces isolated by the Allies dominance of sea routes.

[Bruce Tuncks]

My impression was that when the locals saw that white armies could be defeated by asians, as happened when the japanese occupied during WW2, then the die was cast.

How stupid was our government to try to stop the Vietnamese from running their own country.

 

[Old Koreelah]

24 minutes ago, Bruce Tuncks said:

My impression was that when the locals saw that white armies could be defeated by asians, as happened when the japanese occupied during WW2, then the die was cast.

How stupid was our government to try to stop the Vietnamese from running their own country.

 

To its credit, Australia’s ALP government supported Indonesian independence from the Dutch, but the next government, under Menzies, had a far more colonial attitude.

[willedoo]

It's an interesting documentary, but the narrator makes a big assumption at the end. It might not have worked out the way he thinks it would have. It's just as possible that Ho's forces would have re-grouped, changed tactics and flogged the crap out of the British. We'll never know.

 

I don't know how accurate it is, but some time ago I read that Ho put it to the Yanks that his lot govern the whole of Vietnam with U.S. support and was rejected. I guess the Yanks wouldn't have been too keen on having a socialist country for an ally.

Edited October 29, 2020 by willedoo

[Old Koreelah]

8 hours ago, willedoo said:

...some time ago I read that Ho put it to the Yanks that his lot govern the whole of Vietnam with U.S. support and was rejected. I guess the Yanks wouldn't have been too keen on having a socialist country for an ally.

Ho worked in NY for a time and admired many aspects of the US. He and his forces helped the Yanks during WWII. His declaration of Vietnamese independence from France is closed based on the American document.

What a betrayal when the Yanks helped the French shoot up his countrymen.

 

[old man emu]

9 hours ago, willedoo said:

I guess the Yanks wouldn't have been too keen on having a socialist country for an ally.

A week is a long time in politics. Now the US wants to be pally with Vietnam in order to have a buffer between the US allies and China.

 

I wonder if the version of Vietnamese communism is a lot less dogmatic now than it was in the 60's. After all, Vietnam has developed its economy along Western lines since peace was restored. We tend to forget that the Vietnam war ended 45 years ago - that's two generations. Look how the rest of the World has changed in that time.

[Yenn]

Old Koreelah. We didn't do so well with Indonesia. We let them trample over East Timor, completely ignored the local Timorese. We have also completely ignored West papua, where the Indonesians are still committing atrocoties, while Western nations turn the blind eye.