Title: Korea, Cuba, and Vietnam Theme: Challenges of limited war
1Korea, Cuba, and VietnamTheme Challengesof
limited war
2Korea
3Divided Korea
- After World War II, Japans former colony of
Korea was divided into two occupation zones along
the 38th parallel with the Soviet zone in the
north and the US zone in the south - Before the occupation forces departed, an
anticommunist regime was established in the south
and a communist one in the north
4US in Asia
- The US was uncertain as to the extent of its
commitment in Asia - It knew its umbrella definitely covered Japan,
Okinawa, and the Philippines, but it was unclear
about Taiwan, South Korea, and Southeast Asia - Believing the US did not intend to protect South
Korea, the USSR allowed the North Koreans to
invade the south in 1951
Secretary of State Dean Achesons speech to the
National Press Club omitted South Korea from the
US defensive perimeter
5North Korea Attacks June 25, 1951
- North Korean army crossed the 38th parallel with
an invasion force totaling over 90,000 troops and
150 Soviet-built tanks - By the night of June 28, Seoul had fallen and the
South Korean forces were in disarray. - South Korea appealed to the United Nations for
assistance - The UN passed a resolution recommending that the
members of the United Nations furnish such
assistance to the Republic of Korea as may be
necessary to repel the armed attack and to
restore international peace and security to the
area.
6United Nations
- As a member of the UN Security Council, the
Soviet Union could have vetoed UN involvement in
the war - However, at the time Moscow was boycotting the
Security Council in protest of the UNs failure
to seat a representative of the newly established
Peoples Republic of China - (Remember from last lesson the victory of the
communists over the nationalists in China) - In the absence of the USSR, the UN passed a
resolution sending a military force to South
Korea - The force was predominately American with Douglas
McArthur as the Supreme Commander. - There were also substantial contributions from
the UK, Canada and other Commonwealth countries.
7Pusan PerimeterJune 27 to Sept 15
- The American forces were unprepared for the North
Korean attack. - By the end of July, the North Koreans had pushed
the UN forces to the southeast corner of the
peninsula, where they dug in around the port of
Pusan.
8Inchon (Operation Chromite)Sept 15
- MacArthur completely changed the course of the
war overnight by ordering -- over nearly
unanimous objections -- an amphibious invasion at
the port of Inchon, near Seoul. - The Americans quickly gained control of Inchon,
recaptured Seoul within days, and cut the North
Korean supply lines. - American and ROK forces broke out of the Pusan
Perimeter and chased the retreating enemy north.
9Approaching the Yalu
- MacArthur continued to push north, ignoring
threats of Chinese intervention - On October 25, the Chinese army attacked after
having infiltrated into North Korea - After suffering setbacks, the UN forces
stabilized their lines by November 5 - Chinese withdrew northward
- MacArthur launched a great offensive toward the
end of November, which he optimistically hoped
would end the war in Korea
10Counteroffensive
- MacArthur's all-out offensive to the Yalu had
barely begun when the Chinese attacked en masse
on the night of November 25. - Roughly 180,000 Chinese troops shattered the
right flank of the Eighth Army in the west, while
120,000 others threatened to destroy the X Corps
near the Chosin Reservoir. - On November 28, MacArthur informed the Joint
Chiefs, We face an entirely new war. - UN retreat ended about 70 miles below Seoul.
11Stalemate
- Beginning January 15, Ridgway led the UN in a
slow advance northward. - UN re-recaptured Seoul (the fourth and final time
it changed hands) on March 15, and had patrols
crossing the 38th parallel on March 31. - In the meantime, MacArthur had been steadily
pushing Washington to remove the restrictions on
his forces. - Truman declined for fear of widening the war
12MacArthurs Relief
- MacArthur repeatedly made public statements that
were contrary to official US policy and suggested
that Truman Administration policies were
responsible for the retreat of the Eighth Army - Eventually Truman was forced to relieve MacArthur
and replace him with Ridgway
But once war is forced upon us, there is no
other alternative than to apply every available
means to bring it to a swift end. War's very
object is victory, not prolonged indecision. In
war there is no substitute for victory.
MacArthurs Farewell Address Apr 19, 1951
13Negotiation and Stalemate
- On June 29,1951, Ridgway broadcast a message to
his communist counterpart announcing his
willingness to negotiate - Eighth Army transitioned to an active defense
- Tried unsuccessfully to break communist supply
line with air and artillery
Matthew Ridgway
14Negotiation and Stalemate
- Both sides expended enormous amounts of effort to
solidify their lines - Costly seesaw battles like Bloody Ridge,
Heartbreak Ridge, and Old Baldy - Negotiations characterized by intransigence
- POWs a major obstacle
- Armistice not signed till July 27, 1953
Heartbreak Ridge with Bloody Ridge in background
15Korea Today
- An armistice is not a peace treaty so the Korean
War did not officially end with its signing - Today a Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) encompasses 2
kilometers on either side of the 151 mile long
Military Demarcation Line (MDL) - North Korea remains communist and a nuclear threat
Panmunjeom is the official diplomatic
headquarters at the DMZ. North Korean guards, in
brown, face their South Korean counterparts, in
blue.
16Cuba
17Fidel Castro
- In the early 1950s Cuba was controlled by a
moderate right-wing military regime that was
friendly to the US government and businesses - The US supported Fulgencio Batista as an
anti-communist and a proponent of the US in
domestic and international policies - However, in 1959 Fidel Castro was able to
mobilize the disaffected rural peasants and
topple Batistas regime
A Cuban crowd listens to Castro after his takeover
18Fidel Castro
- Castro assumed dictatorial powers and announced
his goal was to create a society based on Marxist
principles - He nationalized large-scale landholdings, sought
economic aid from the Soviet Union, and tried to
export revolution throughout Latin America
through peasant and urban guerrilla warfare
Che Guevara directed many of Castros Latin
American operations until he was killed in
Bolivia in 1967
19Bay of Pigs
- The US could not accept the presence of a
revolutionary Marxist government so close to its
borders and President Eisenhower authorized
planning for a force of anti-Castro Cubans to
invade Cuba and overthrow Castro - When Kennedy became president he authorized the
invasion but stipulated that the US not be
involved in the landing itself
20Bay of Pigs
- The invasion took place at the Bay of Pigs in
April 1961 and proved to be a disaster - Instead of rallying to the invaders, the local
population supported the Castro government - The failure embarrassed the US and weakened
President Kennedy in the eyes of the Soviet Union - However, it strengthened Kennedys personal
resolve to act more vigorously in any future
crisis
Castro helping to repel the invasion
21Cuban Missile Crisis
- Castro feared the US would try again to overthrow
him and he called for additional support from the
Soviet Union - Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev responded by
sending medium-range bombers and missiles to Cuba
to help defend Castro and threaten the US - In Oct 1962, US spy planes discovered missile
sites under construction in Cuba
22Kennedys Response
- Kennedy responded decisively, demanding that the
Soviets remove the missiles and bombers or face
their destruction by air strikes or invasion - He also imposed a naval quarantine of Cuba
23US Victory
- On Oct 28, Khrushchev agreed to remove the
missiles - Eyeball to eyeball, they blinked first.
- Dean Rusk, US Secretary of State
- The Cuban Missile Crisis had shown the dangers of
nuclear apocalypse in the bipolar world - It was a major Cold War victory for the US and a
major loss of face for the Soviet Union and
Khrushchev
1962 British cartoon showing Kennedy and
Khrushchev arm wrestling on top of nuclear weapons
24Cold War Society
25Vietnam
26Vietnam Post-World War II
- Vietnam was divided after World War II to
facilitate disarmament and then formally divided
in 1954 by the Geneva Accords - Communist forces in the north led by Ho Chi Minh
forced the withdraw of French forces in 1956 - In 1959, Ho declared a Peoples War to unite
Vietnam - In 1961, President Kennedy sent 400 Green Berets
to Vietnam - In Oct 1961, Maxwell Taylor visited Vietnam and
reported If Vietnam goes it will be exceedingly
difficult to hold Southeast Asia. (domino theory)
27Vietnam Major US Involvement
- 1964 North Vietnamese patrol boats attack a US
destroyer in Gulf of Tonkin. US begins bombing. - Mar 2, 1965 Operation Rolling Thunder begins.
- Mar 8, 1965 First US combat troops arrive. By
the end of the year, 184,300 troops are in
Vietnam.
The massive bombing campaign was plagued by
restricted targeting and the non-industrialized
nature of North Vietnam
28Conditions in South Vietnam
- Diems regime was illegitimate and corrupt
- Catholic in an overwhelmingly Buddhist society
- Ignored Geneva Accords call for elections in 1956
- Nepotism
- Succession of military coups resulted in a
revolving door government
Several Buddhist monks burned themselves alive to
protest Diems religious oppression
29Insurgent Leadership
- Increasing North Vietnamese infiltration created
security threat in South Vietnam - In Dec 1960, the insurgents formed the National
Liberation Front (typically called the Viet Cong
or VC), a broad-based organization led by
communists but designed to rally all those
disaffected with Diem by promising sweeping
reforms and genuine independence - Developed effective military and political
components
Flag of the National Liberation Front
30External Support
- North Vietnam began constructing a massive supply
route through Laos and Cambodia that allowed it
to infiltrate supplies and personnel south - The Ho Chi Minh Trail
- The Soviet Union and China provided equipment,
advisors, and diplomatic support
31Mao on Guerrilla Warfare
- Mao wrote On Guerrilla Warfare in 1937 while in
retreat after ten years of battling the
Nationalist Chinese army of Chiang Kai-shek - In 1949, Mao defeated the Nationalist Chinese and
validated his theories of revolutionary guerrilla
warfare - Remember from last lesson
- The National Liberation Front would pattern much
of its strategy and tactics after Mao
32Phases of Development
- Phase I Latent and incipient insurgency.
- Activity in this phase ranges from subversive
activity that is only a potential threat to
situations in which frequent subversive incidents
and activities occur in an organized pattern. It
involves no major outbreak of violence or
uncontrolled insurgent activity. The guerrilla
force does not conduct continuous operations but
rather selected acts of terrorism.
33Phases of Development
- Phase II Guerrilla warfare.
- This phase is reached when the insurgent
movement, having gained sufficient local or
external support, initiates organized continuous
guerrilla warfare or related forms of violence
against the government. This is an attempt to
force government forces into a defensive role. As
the guerrilla becomes stronger, he begins to
conduct larger operations.
34Phases of Development
- Phase III War of movement.
- When the guerrilla attains the force structure
and capability to directly engage government
forces in decisive combat, then he will
progressively begin to use more conventional
tactics and may obtain combat forces from an
external source. He may also begin to conduct
more extensive defensive operations in this phase
to protect the areas he controls.
35Pacification
- Between 1961 and 1963, President Kennedy launched
a full-scale counterinsurgency program in
Vietnam, part of which would become the
pacification program - Major goals
- Strengthen the South Vietnamese governments hold
on the peasantry - Cut into the heart of the Viet Cong
politico-military organization - Designed to win the hearts and minds of the
South Vietnamese
In 1967, Robert Komer, shown here with President
Johnson, was selected to head CORDS (Civil
Operations and Rural Development Support)and
coordinate all pacification programs
36Pacification Various Programs
- Strategic Hamlet Program
- Peasants from scattered villages were brought
together in defended and organized hamlets in
order to protect them, isolate the Viet Cong, and
show the superiority of what the SVN government
could offer - Combined Action Program
- Placed selected Marine squads within the village
militia to eliminate local guerrillas - Revolutionary Development Program
- Put armed social workers into Vietnamese villages
to begin grass roots civic improvement and
eliminate the VC shadow government - Chieu hoi (opens arms)
- Amnesty program designed to persuade VC to change
sides
37Pacification Overall Assessment
- Commonly considered a missed strategic
opportunity - Suffered from being too little, too late
- CORDS not activated until 1967
- Perceived as competition with the big war and
many military officers favored a military
solution
Air Force Chief of Staff Curtis LeMay reportedly
said, Grab em by the balls and their hearts and
minds will follow.
38Limited War
- When the Soviet Union and the US nuclear programs
reached the point of Mutually Assured
Destruction, the US faced the dilemma of
responding to communist challenges in peripheral
areas by either risking starting a nuclear war or
doing nothing - The alternative strategy of limited war was
developed to harness the nations military power
and employ only that force necessary to achieve
the political aim - The objective was not to destroy an opponent but
to persuade him to break of the conflict short of
achieving his goals and without resorting to
nuclear war
39Limited War
- The limited war theory was more an academic than
a military concept and its application resulted
in tensions, frustrations, and misunderstanding
between the military and civilian leadership
Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara is sharply
criticized for his technocratic and statistical
approach to the Vietnam War
40Strategy of Attrition
- Traditionally, the American way of war had been
a strategy of annihilation - Seeks the immediate destruction of the combat
power of the enemys armed forces - In Vietnam, the US would instead follow a
strategy of attrition - The reduction of the effectiveness of a force
caused by loss of personnel and materiel - This proved to be a poor strategy against the
North Vietnamese who used a strategy of
exhaustion - The gradual erosion of a nations will or means
to resist
41Problems with the Strategy of Attrition
- Led the US to fight according to the theory of
gradual escalation - A steady increase in the level of military
pressure would coerce the enemy into compliance
instead of employing overwhelming force all at
once - US never had enough forces to control the
countryside - US soldiers served one year tours in Vietnam
- North Vietnamese soldiers were there till the end
and recognized Victory will come to us, not
suddenly, but in a complicated and tortuous way.
42US Troop Levels in Vietnam
- 1959 760
- 1960 900
- 1961 3,205
- 1962 11,300
- 1963 16,300
- 1964 23,300
- 1965 184,300
- 1966 385,300
- 1967 485,600
- 1968 536,100
- 1969 475,200
- 1970 334,600
- 1971 156,800
- 1972 24,200
- 1973 50
43Problems with the Strategy of Attrition
- The nature of guerrilla war allowed the North
Vietnamese to avoid contact when it was not to
their advantage to fight - Low-tech nature of the enemy prevented the US
from bringing to bear the full effects of its
combat power - North Vietnamese were always able to replace
their losses while Americans became disillusioned
with the mounting death toll
44Tet Offensive
- On January 30, 1968, the North Vietnamese
escalated to Phase III, the War of Movement, when
84,000 Viet Cong and North Vietnamese attacked
throughout South Vietnam - Designed to foster antigovernment uprisings
against the South Vietnamese
45Tet A US Tactical Victory
- By attacking everywhere, the North Vietnamese
had superior strength nowhere - By fighting in a conventional fashion, the North
Vietnamese allowed the US to bring to bear its
full firepower and technology and use a strategy
of annihilation - The North Vietnamese had wrongly assumed South
Vietnamese were on the verge of a general uprising
Helicopters gave the US the ability to cover all
types of terrain, maneuver over large areas,
react quickly to enemy attacks, reinforce
embattled units, and conduct raids into enemy
territory
46Overall Results of Tet
- Tactical defeat for North Vietnam forces them
back to Phase 2 - North Vietnamese 32,000 killed and 6,000
captured - US and South Vietnamese 4,000 killed
- But a strategic victory
- I thought we were winning this war! (Walter
Cronkite) - Dramatic shift in public opinion in US
Returning from Vietnam after Tet, Walter Cronkite
reported, It seems now more certain than ever
that the bloody experience of Vietnam is a
stalemate and then urged the government to open
negotiations with the North Vietnamese.
47Societal Changes
Martin Luther King delivers his I have a dream
speech in 1963
Country Joe McDonald at Woodstock, 1969
Gloria Steinem helped found Ms magazine in 1971
48War Protests
49President Johnson
President Lyndon B. Johnson listens to tape sent
by Captain Charles Robb from Vietnam, July 31,
1968.
Democratic delegates protest the Johnson
administration's policies in Vietnam at the 1968
Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
50President Nixon
- Richard Nixon was elected president in 1968
campaigning for peace with honor - Under Nixon the process of Vietnamization the
gradual transfer of primary responsibility of the
war to the South Vietnamese that Johnson had
begun on a small scale after Tet was accelerated - Nixons involvement in Watergate, his
impeachment, and resignation hamstrung his
ability to influence peace negotiations through
sustained offensive operations
Nixon was succeeded by Gerald Ford. By this
point the US was traumatized by war-weariness and
economic recession. Ford had almost no maneuver
room to help the South Vietnamese.
51Kent State and Jackson State
Four students were killed and nine wounded at
Kent State and two students were killed at
Jackson State during protests against a number of
issues to include US operations in Cambodia
52Defeat
- The US concluded a peace agreement with the North
Vietnamese in 1973, but the South Vietnamese
continued fighting until April 30, 1975 when the
North Vietnamese captured Saigon
Americans and South Vietnamese who had worked for
the US are evacuated from Saigon
53Legacy and Lessons
- Sophisticated weaponry and conventional forces
have limits in low intensity conflict - The restrictive rules of engagement (ROEs) and
political considerations of limited war hamper
military operations - Domestic support is critical
- You can win the battles and lose the war
- Vietnam syndrome effects military and
diplomatic operations until finally exorcised by
Desert Storm. - Well take about that in Lesson 24
54Vietnam Today
- Vietnam remains communist
- However, since 2001, it has committed to economic
liberalization and is trying to modernize the
economy and to produce more competitive,
export-driven industries - An April 28, 2005 article in the Economist was
aptly titled America Lost, Capitalism Won - If youre interested, USM has a
nationally-acclaimed Vietnam Study Abroad Program
55Next
- Economic Globalization and Travel
- Media