S.3 Vietnam War

Phrase 2

Before the war

• 1887-1954 Vietnam =

French colonisation

• Occupied by the Japanese

during WWII

Phrase 2

• In 1954, Vietnam gained

independence, but divided
into two along the 17th
parallel

Phrase 2

South Vietnam

• Republic of Vietnam 越南共和國
• Led by Ngo Dinh Diem吳廷琰

North Vietnam

• Democratic Republic of

Vietnam 越南民主共和國

• Led by Ho Chi Minh 胡志明

Phrase 2

• US troops were sent to support South

Vietnam since 1965

• S.Vietnam and USA failed to defeat the

communist

Phrase 2

Phrase 2

• Richard Nixon尼克遜, the

37thUS president (1969-1974)
gave up the containment
policy 圍堵政策 and reduced
US intervention in Asian affairs

• South Vietnam lost and was defeated by the

North in 1975

• Fall of Saigon 西貢, capital of South Vietnam

Phrase 2

Impact

• Vietnam became a Communist country, Cambodia +

Laos also

• USA paid a heavy price for the Vietnam War
• US president Richard Nixon (1969-1974 in office)

reduced intervention in Asian affairs + improve
relations with the USSR

Phrase 2

Saigon à renamed as Ho Chi Minh City 胡志明市

Phrase 2

•Since the mid-1970s, HK adopted a humanitarian人道主義 policy to host refugees from Vietnam

​

Détente

French: Relaxation of tensions

關係緩和期

To reduce
tensions

Improve

relationship

Maintain
peace!!!

Phrase 3

SALT (STRATEGIC ARMS

LIMITATION TALKS)

Phrase 3

• 1969-1979, two SALTs were held
• Aims: limitation of missile systems

and nuclear weapons

Impacts

• Less financial burden of military expenditure
• US-Soviet relations improved

Phrase 3

Joint-Space Mission in 1975

Phrase 3

Normalisation of Sino-

American Relations

中美關係正常化

Phrase 3

Background

• During the Civil War (1946-1949), USA

supported the KMT (Kuomintang)

Phrase 3

Background

• In the Korean War (1950-1953), US

and Communist China were hostile

Phrase 3

•

1971 Ping-pong Diplomacy乒乓外交: World
Table Tennis Championships in Japan

•

Mutual visit of the Table tennis teams

Phrase 3

1971, the Peoples Republic of China replaced the Republic of

China as the representative of China in the United Nations

with no objection from the US

Phrase 3

1972 Nixon visited China

Phrase 3

•

PRC and the US established normal diplomatic
relations in 1979

Phrase 3

USSR’s invasion of
Afghanistan 1979

Phrase 4

•

1979, USSR invaded Afghanistan to help the pro-Soviet
government

•

Anti-government forces supported by the US

Phrase 4

Impacts

• US-Soviet relations worsened again: End of Détente

• USSR sent many troops and spent ~10 years in

Afghanistan à huge military expenditure à worse economy

Phrase 4

Extra

Extra

Before the Taliban 塔利班

Extra

End of the Cold War

Phrase 5

USSR in the 1980s

• Military expenditure
• Decreased Industrial and agricultural production
• Shortage of food and necessities

Phrase 5

• Soviet people lining up to buy daily necessities and food

Phrase 5

USSR in the 1980s

• Rise of nationalism in other Soviet republics
• Anti-USSR movements

Phrase 5

Mikhail Gorbachev 戈巴卓夫/ 戈爾巴喬夫

1931-2022

• Elected the new leader of the USSR in 1985
• At the age of 54, the youngest in Soviet history

Phrase 5

Gorbachev’s

reforms

To bring the USSR out of the

economic and political deadlock

while preserving Socialism

Phrase 5

Reform 1. Restructuring 重建

• Gorbachev aimed at increasing productivity

+ rebuilding the national economy

End of Cold War

Reform 2. Openness

• Aims: to improve relations with the west

Phrase 5

Geneva Summit 日內瓦高峰會 1985

• First face-to-face talk between the US-Soviet leaders

Phrase 5

Malta summit 馬耳他峰會 1989

• Gorbachev and George Bush declared together their

intention to end the Cold War

• Gorbachev promised not to intervene in the domestic

affairs of Eastern Europe

End of Cold War

• 1990, the first McDonald’s in Moscow, the USSR

Extra

1997 Gorbachev in a commercial

Extra

Difficulties

• USSR economy was not much improved in 1989, people

started to think that the reforms failed à discontent

End of Cold War

End of Cold War

• On one hand, Gorbachev was criticised by the

conservatives for carrying out radical reforms,
endangering the strength of the USSR

Democratic

movements in Eastern

Europe 東歐劇變

End of Cold War

Causes

• Gorbachev announced relaxation of USSR’s

control over Eastern Europe

• No more support for Communist governments

Regan:

Take this wall down speech

Extra

1989 The Berlin Wall was broken down = end of the iron curtain

End of Cold War

1990 Reunification of Germany 兩德統一

End of Cold War

• Establishment of Multi-party parliamentary

democracies 多黨制議會民主

End of Cold War

Collapse of the Warsaw Pact Alliance

• Warsaw Pact Alliance no longer supported by

non-communist governments

• USSR started to withdraw troops from other

member states

Dissolution

of the USSR

蘇聯解體

End of Cold War

• 25 December 1991, Gorbachev

resigned as the General
Secretary of the CPSU

End of Cold War

End of Cold War

End of Cold War

End of the

Cold War

End of Cold War