Opposition to Diem besides Buddhist monks → various groups opposed Diems regime throughout 1950s
- most of them → farmer members of Viet Minh
- believed in unification of North + South Vietnam.
After Diems cancellation of promised 1956 reunification elections :
- former Viet Minh members → started wage low level campaign of disruption + harassment of regime
Diems Harsh Crackdown Diem responded to insurgency → with harsh and recessive measures.
- thousands of suspected communist → locked up
- many tortured + executed
- tried to strike at insurgents’ military bases → had some success between 1954 and 1957
Formation of Viet Cong
this did not stem insurgency.
- May 1959 → North Vietnam communist party → approved setting up of group 559 → specialised unit of North Vietnam army.
- job was to transport weapons, ammunition, other equipment to → Viet Cong (National liberation front for South Vietnam)
Viet Cong included:
- South Vietnamese opponents of govt.
- large numbers of communist North Vietnamese → taking orders from Ho
Escalation of Violence
1957 - 1960 → Viet Cong carried out 1700 assassinations.
- attacks on anyone associated with South Vietnamese govt
- police officers, officers of the law court and administrators.
- assassinated anyone suspected of collaborating with govt.
- staged hundred of attacks on govt forces.
Ho Chi Minh Trail Group later created a supply route → known as Ho Chi Minh Trail
- would become central to Vietnam was as it escalated
By early 1960s → result of growing insurgency → Diem’s regime → was in serious trouble