The contrarians maintain that the dominoes were not in danger of toppling in the early 1960s because the dominoes didn’t fall in 1975 when the South Vietnamese government fell to the communists of North Vietnam. “The key argument against the Domino Theory is that the Eisenhower and JFK administrations were wrong in their basic assumption. “So, what is your interpretation of the situation and the events?” It’s good deductive reasoning on their part, in my view.” I essentially agree with their assessment. “My thinking is influenced by two prominent historians: Mark Moyar and H. It could be argued that our involvement in Vietnam bought time for the world to transform in a positive direction geopolitically, all changes favoring U.S. “That proposition takes out of consideration several major world events occurring in the ten- year interval between 19 that greatly influenced the outcome in Indochina. “It’s not that simple, Biff,” Ann quickly countered. “How do you explain that? Shouldn’t we totally disregard the Domino Theory? When Vietnam fell, all of Southeast Asia did not topple like dominoes as predicted as you pointed out.” Third, all the other SEATO countries remained intact after South Vietnam fell into communist hands.”īiff pursed his lips in thought. Not to discount the tragedy, but Cambodia’s genocide by the Khmer Rouge hardly fits the Domino Theory. Second, the war in Laos lasted twice as long and ended in a coalition government. Southeast Asia didn’t collapse either after we left Vietnam. “My three key observations are: First, South Vietnam didn’t start to fall until 1973, four years after the Nixon Doctrine put the war back in the hands of the Vietnamese. “Good point, it seems to me it might have been a flawed concept.” “What about the Domino Theory? What’s your final impression?” A capsule summary of a mismanaged, illogical war that we’ll be discussing for years to come,” Ann concluded.īiff had listened intently. Many Vietnamese who failed to escape, also perished. Over the next two years, after we pulled out, hundreds of thousands died, mostly in Cambodia at the hands of the vicious Khmer Rouge. “What most people would like to forget are the unintended consequences of our withdrawal from Southeast Asia. The complexity is discussed in my historical narrative, RECALL, and excerpted below. Laos fell to the Pathet Lao, Cambodia fell to Khmer Rouge, but not the other countries. Three years later, LBJ escalated the war – as I have written about here and here. JFK bought into the concept of the monolithic threat and introduced military advisors in ’61 to contain the spread of communism. Here is how the theory’s concept is generally defined – If South Vietnam falls to North Vietnam’s communist proxy, the Viet Cong, the other contiguous SE Asian countries would topple like dominoes.Įisenhower coined the term in 1955 at the height of the Cold War with China and Russia. How well do you understand the Domino Theory? Do you know the background? Half our population was not born in the sixties, so I doubt they have any idea why it was the pretext for our involvement in a SE Asian war lasting from 1961 to 1975.
0 kommentar(er)
