Back to 1940; Japan doesn't invade Indochina.
Why did we not think of this before? That makes fine sense.
Back to 1940; Japan doesn't invade Indochina.
Because it's the most outrageously improbable of the options offered so far?Will Kürlich Kerl said:Back to 1940; Japan doesn't invade Indochina.JVM said:Why did we not think of this before? That makes fine sense.
I have real doubts he'd have done anything like allow a genuine democracy, given the OTL outcome, seeing he was a Communist. IMO, that trumps his claims to nationalist credentials.Ho was, first and foremost, a nationalist. He was also, of course, a communist ...
I think he'd have been willing to head a 'popular front' government, possibly even one that was semi democratic.
Hey man, relax. The whole damn thing's improbable, that's why it's speculative fiction and not history.If you like this idea, what's wrong with FDR telling France to go screw?
Hey, just askin' if there's an objection.JVM said:Hey man, relax. The whole damn thing's improbable, that's why it's speculative fiction and not history.
Why is giving Vietnam over to the Viet Minh a good thing?TxCoatl1970 said:I've said too many times to count that the US could've avoided the Vietnam War several ways:
Any of the above would've worked
- Getting France to accept devolution to Viet Minh control gracefully in 1945.
- Diplomatically recognizing the PRC off the bat in 1949 and establishing soome sort of defense and economic cooperation deal that butterflies the Korean War and Vietnam wars at a stroke and the Great Leap Backward.
- Allowing the plebescite in 1954 to go through and unite all of Vietnam under Viet Minh control w/o trying to preserve French colonialism in the RVN.
- As y'all have mentioned, Tricky Dicky winning 1960 election and not feeling quite so needy to prove himself a Cold Warrior as JFK and especially LBJ were IOTL.
Why is giving Vietnam over to the Viet Minh a good thing?![]()
This is essentially the reason so many people died: the assumption that Vietnam (and anywhere else brown people live) was America's to "give over" in the first place.