The Collaboration And Divergence Between Britain And America During The Vietnam War (1964-1967)

The United States had been involved into the Vietnam affairs from the Second World War.As the most important ally of America after the WWII,the Great Britain also played the special role in the evolution of the Vietnam affairs during the war time and the Cold War.During the period of President Lyndon Johnson in power,the US Government decided to escalate the Vietnam War and eventually it became an"American war".The Johnson Administration longed for the assistances from its allies during the escalating,specially the British.So the Johnson Administration could dissolve the anti-war stress from and out of America.What the Johnson Administration most hoped was Her Majesty's Government's combat troops to execute the military operation in South Vietnam.·However,the Wilson's government had different understanding on the Vietnam War from the US.Wilson also faced the pressure comes from the Malaysian-Indonesian Confrontation,the sterling crisis and the anti-war movement in his country and even in the Labour Party.So the Wilson's government failed to provide the assistances his American colleague longed for.What's more,British believed that the political settlement was the only solution to the conflict and tried to mediate between the east and west.British had promoted some mediations such as the "Commonwealth initiative"and "Sunflower action".Because the positions of two countries were so far,British and American didn't meet the demands of other side in the end.The "Special Relation" also fallen to "Natural Relation" in this period.This study aims to systematically research the interaction between the HMG and USG on the affairs of the Vietnam War based on the previous studies and different reference materials,so that people could know the different demands on the matter of the war of the two countries and the interaction between the two governments to realize their goals and the reasons why they failed to meet opposition other side's demand.And this could help people to thoroughly understand the relation between US and its allies during the Cold War.This study is divided into three chapters:Chapter one is designed to discuss the origin of the Anglo-America relation and the "Vietnam affairs(or Indochina affairs).American and British had different design for the future of French Indochina when the Pacific War started and they both provided the assistances to France during French returned to the Indochina and the First Indochina War.On the Geneva Conference,British had successfully achieved the compromise between the east and west together with the Soviet Union supported by the US.After Geneva,American built the anti-communism bastion in the south of Vietnam and put a great deal of manpower and resources to maintain the regime.British also provided substantial support to the USG and the South Vietnam regime.For example,London had send the BRIAM to South Vietnam and BRIAM played very important role in the "Strategy Helmet".British kept pace with American in the anti-Diem military coup.Chapter two focus on the origin and process of Johnson Administration seek for HMG's support,the reason why British refuse to provide.During the period of President Johnson in power,the USG finally decided to continue to safeguard the South Vietnam regime and escalated the Vietnam War after nearly one year's consideration.In order to dissolve the pressures,the White House called for the support for its allies,especially the British.The HMG and USG had plenty of interactions on the Vietnam affairs.However,Wilson's government didn't provided the support which American needed for its own reasons because of the military strength,economic strength and the anti-war pressures come from the Labour Party and even "Dissociated" with American's policy and withdrawn the political support when the USG decided to bomb North Vietnam's civilian targets.Chapter three study the British attempts to promote the political settlement for the Vietnam War.From its own position,Wilson's government hoped to realize the compromise between the both sides of the war as soon as possible and launched several diplomatic mediations between east and west,such as the "Commonwealth initiative"and "Sunflower action".The "Commonwealth initiative" was a mediation that Wilson promoted under the endorsement of Commonwealth to visit the capitals of related countries and Wilson even arranged special envoy to Hanoi."Sunflower action" was another mediation which Wilson hoped to cooperate with Soviets to promote the peace talking when Kosygin visited the UK,But because British couldn't resolve the differences of standpoints between the US and North Vietnam,British's attempts tune to meaningless in the end.The last part is epilogue.In epilogue,I will summarize the Anglo-America relation and the Vietnam War.