Background

[Home] [History] [US View] [Vietview] [Sources] [E-mail us]


[Air Force] [Attacks] [Biogs] [Chronology] [Documents] [Euroview] [Quotes]



Western Europe

While in East, people supported the VC because of the Soviet influence, in West, the situation was different. These agreed with the US since they thought that the US just helped the South Vietnamese government. Later, when it turned out to be a vicious war on a wrong place, the policy of the Great Power as questioned. Mostly, this issue was dealt by the UN and France. According to the UN, the only way to solve the war was the meeting of 16 countries where a solution should have been worked out for the problem in South Vietnam.

France was particularly deeply concerned in this issue since South Vietnam was French colony in 1954. De Gaulle, the French Prime Minister explained his point of view. He criticized the US that aspired to occupy the former French positions in South Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia after the Geneva Agreements in 1954. He declared that the accord signed on the conference of 14 countries was the only way that lead to the restore of the peace in Southeast Asia. Although the secretary general of the UN, U Thant and De Gaulle initiated the conference, Johnson always refused this proposal so the war went on.

Meanwhile, more and more American asked for asylum in some European countries. For example, to 1968, 138 military deserter or person refusing military service asked for asylum. They realized that it wasn't a good war and it had a vast number of casualties. They didn't want to fight. News came from the USA that hundreds of people, students went out to demonstrate. In Europe, the movements for peace started as well in Frankfurt, Paris etc. 'In the beginning of September in Cairo, at the conference of the Afroasian solidarity organization the representatives of 60 countries took the initiative to condemn the outrage of the US in Vietnam with a large-scale demonstration series. They suggested the beginning on the 15th October, the anniversary of the martyrdeath of Nguyen Van Troi, who was executed in Saigon and the end on the 21st October, the international date of the protest against the guilty genocidous warfare of the US.' Although it was cited from a daily of a communist country, that still show the movements in Western Europe.

Not only did the American public opinion make the States solve the problem of the situation in Vietnam, but also the demonstrations in Japan and Europe and the political pressure as well. When the fights had ended, everybody could gave a sigh of relief.


[Back]