the vietnam war bbc4

[5siamese7]

A well thought out series comparing the mistakes the French made and later the Americans. A war that we could watch on TV whilst eating our dinner. You know we in Britain were so lucky that we had Harold Wilson as Prime Minister he kept us out of that terrible war which was such a disaster for so many people.

[Hughie]

Luckily I was old enough to miss out on the ballot to be conscripted into the Australian Army. When member Chriso's dad was gravely ill back in Stevenston, I remember going with him so he could get a clearance to leave Australia because from what I recall he would have been subject to that ballot for national service and would have probably gone to Vietnam.

[5siamese7]

Luckily I was old enough to miss out on the ballot to be conscripted into the Australian Army. When member Chriso's dad was gravely ill back in Stevenston, I remember going with him so he could get a clearance to leave Australia because from what I recall he would have been subject to that ballot for national service and would have probably gone to Vietnam.

Sorry about his dad but that probably saved his life. The Aussies as you know were slaughtered. Didn't have the same firepower as the Yanks and thankfully they were withdrawn.

[exile]

I've just watched the 1st two episodes of this series and feel distinctly underinformed that I didn't know the background to how the USA got so deeply involved. I knew they propped up some awful regimes in South America but didn't know that the South Vietnam regime they favoured was just as bad, nor that the French felt so entitled to their old pre-war colony that they just invaded Vietnam again in 1946, starting the whole desperate situation.
Required viewing.

[5siamese7]

I think it was Mountbaton said to the leader of the French army in Vietnam in 1945 after the Japanese surrender, look they want their independence so why don't you just give it to them. Look you don't understand I have to follow orders. Well we know what happened there after all that torture and inhumane treatment by the French.