Challenge: America's Vietnam in the Congo

[Douglas]

With a POD no earlier than August 2, 1964 (Gulf of Tonkin incident), have the United States get involved in a major ground war in the country known today as the Democratic Republic of the Congo; the war should inspire roughly the same domestic attitudes that the Vietnam War inspired in OTL.

[Hades]

Perhaps the USA could perform better in South Vietnam, leaving a more intense Korea situation.

Meanwhile, the MPLA could spill over into the DRC, which takes place the same time as Mobutu's death in 1970 due to an assassination attempt, causing chaos to descend upon Central Africa.

With chaos not being in the US's best interest, they can try and restore order in the fractured region, leading to various insurgencies.

[037771]

With a POD no earlier than August 2, 1964 (Gulf of Tonkin incident), have the United States get involved in a major ground war in the country known today as the Democratic Republic of the Congo; the war should inspire roughly the same domestic attitudes that the Vietnam War inspired in OTL.

That's very hard to do with a POD no earlier than '64. Feasibly, with a bit of luck and a massive, the sustained Soviet supply of Pierre Mulele's revolutionary army that somehow removes General Mobutu could create enough US concern for the region. A massive chunk of equatorial Africa suddenly espousing Communist sympathies would be enough to raise large American concern; an indication of that paranoia can even be seen when British Guyana threatened to turn 'red' in 1961. Then, it would probably be justifiable to the Johnson administration to step up CIA operations to destabilise Mulele's campaign, and begin to send 'advisors.'

However, that's really too easy; Mulele led a Maoist, not a Moscow-approved Communist, faction during 64-65, and Soviet-Chinese relations were getting downright poisonous by '64. It would be far harder, in the wake of the slow uptake of former KGB chief Alexandr Shelepin's 'world revolution' agenda, to convince the Presidium (or Khrushchev) that such a supply would be desirable. Supporting Laurent Kabila too was actually tried, when Che Guevara went over in 1965; Che's verdict though was poor as to the broad discipline of the insurgents under his tutelage, and he left eventually disheartened. Throw a bunch of Soviet advisors (read KGB men) into the mix instead, and that disdain will probably reach very heated levels. After all, an African posting for a KGB officer was considered one of the worst duties; alcoholism and suicide were rife among the ranks there.

Then you have to work out just how to supply these guerrillas; Congo is farther away than Vietnam is from the Soviet Union. Covert supply is problematical, in the wake of US naval dominance and the likelihood that a US-friendly regime would at least control the ports at first. Not to mention the probable enthusiasm of regimes such as South Africa and Rhodesia to join in any anti-Communist action.

I think to have the USA intervene militarily there, you'd have to have political change there instead of in the Congo, and possibly within the Soviet Union. You'd have to have someone like Shelepin to come to power instead of Brezhnev in the Kremlin, and Goldwater instead of Johnson in the White House, which in itself is...well.