A Hmong is a member of a south east Asian highland people. They are predominantly hill farmers, rearing pigs and cultivating rice and grain, and many are involved in growing the opiumpoppy. Estimates of the size of the
Hmong population vary between 1.5 million and 5 million, the greatest number being in China. Although traditional beliefs remain important, many have adopted Christianity. Their language belongs to the Sino-Tibetan family. The Hmong wear distinctive costumes and elaborate silverjewellery. They are relatively recent arrivals on the south east Asian peninsula, many having moved south in order to avoid harassment by Chinese emperors. Today the
Hmong live in China (Guizhou, Yunnan, Hunan), Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, and Myanmar. Research Hmong
The Lao are a people who live along the Mekong river system in Laos (about 2 million) and north Thailand (about 9 million). The Lao language is a member of the Sino-Tibetan family. The majority of Lao live in rural villages. During the wet season, May-Oct, they grow rice in irrigated fields, though some shifting or swidden cultivation is practised on hillsides. Vegetables and other crops are grown during drier weather. The Lao are predominantly Buddhist though a belief in spirits, phi, is included in Lao devotions. There are some Christians among the minority groups. Research Lao
The Laotian are an Indo-Chinese people who live along the Mekong river system. There are approximately 9 million Laotians in Thailand and 2 million in Laos. The Laotian language is a Thai member of the Sino-Tibetan family. Research Laotian
The Shan are a people of the mountainous borderlands separating Thailand, Myanmar (Burma), and China. They are related to the Laos and Thais, and their language belongs to the Sino-Tibetan family. Research Shan
The Tai are the groups of south east Asian peoples who speak Tai languages, all of which belong to the Sino- Tibetan language family. There are over 60 million speakers, the majority of whom live in Thailand. Tai peoples are also found in south-west China, north west Myanmar (Burma), Laos, and north Vietnam. Research Tai
The Yao are a people living in south China, north Vietnam, north Laos, Thailand, and Myanmar (Burma), and numbering about 4 million. The Yao language may belong to either the Sino-Tibetan or the Thai language family. The Yao incorporate elements of ancestor worship in their animist religion. The
Yao are generally hill- dwelling farmers practising shifting cultivation, growing rice, vegetables, and also opium poppies. Some are nomadic. Research Yao
The Yi are a people living in south China; there are also Yi populations in Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam, totalling about 5.5 million. The Yi are farmers, producing both crops and livestock. Their language belongs to the Sino- Tibetan family; their religion is animist. Research Yi
The Battle of Dienbienphu ended the first Indochina war, and with it any hope of French control in Indochina and paved the way for the heavy American involvement in the area from 1965 to 1975. Late in 1953 the French occupied a small mountain outpost named Dienbienphu, located in the northern part of Vietnam near the Laotian border. The French hoped to cut Vietminh supply lines into Laos and to set up a base from which to attack. The Vietnamese, in control of the countryside, quickly cut off all roads to Dienbienphu, so the French could only be supplied from the air. The French remained quite confident of their position, and they were thus completely taken by surprise when General Vo Nguyen Giap of North Vietnam surrounded their base with 40, 000 troops and used heavy artillery to batter the French lines. In spite of massive infusions of American aid, the outpost was overrun on May 7, 1954. By this time support in France for the war had virtually evaporated, and the American Congress refused any more aid to support a lost cause.
The French government sought an end to the fighting, and an agreement was signed in Geneva on July 21, 1954. The agreement also divided Vietnam in half along the 17th parallel. The Vietminh controlled the north, and the stage was set for their eventually successful attempt to conquer the south. French dismay at the defeat, which was soon to be followed by a similar turn of events in Algeria, led to the end of the French Fourth Republic in 1958. Research Battle of Dienbienphu
The Green Berets, the US Army's Special Forces, originated in the early 1950s and established a base at Fort Bragg, South Carolina, site of the Army Special Warfare School. America has a rich history of operations by unconventional forces, dating back to the French and Indian wars in the days when the thirteen colonies were still British and including Rogers' Rangers who were active during the War of Independence. A vast conglomeration of special operations units grew like mushrooms during the Second World War, but they were quickly disbanded after the war. Interest was revived in the 1950s following the Korean War, and that led to the formation of the Special Forces. At the time they were kept at low strengths. They were only grudgingly tolerated by the traditionalists in the army's high command, who did not like any unit with pretensions to elite status. Army administrators discouraged officers who wanted to spend more than one tour with the Special Forces, on the basis that they would lose experience in their basic branch, and thus be unfavourably looked on at promotion time. With the inauguration of President John F Kennedy in 1961 the fate of the Special Forces changed. Kennedy strongly believed that such units were the best way to counter communist 'wars of liberation'. As it became chic in Washington to support the Green Berets: so named because of their distinctive headgear which had been approved by the President, their numbers increased by several orders of magnitude.
The original Special Forces mission was to organise guerrilla warfare in enemy-held countries. That role changed as more and more Green Berets were sent to South East Asia, where they became increasingly involved in counter-insurgency operations. The Special Forces were among the first Americans in action in Vietnam: the 5th Special Forces Group took over the CIA's border surveillance programme, teaching the fundamentals of reconnaissance and local defence to remote tribes in Laos and the Vietnamesehighlands. Operating in small teams with large numbers of native auxiliaries, often only marginally less hostile to the government in Saigon than to the communists, they ran patrols from border camps to uncover communist infiltration on the HoChi Minh Trail.
In more settled parts of Vietnam the Green Berets were assigned as advisors by the US military authorities, to provide anything from advice on personal health and drainage to teaching unarmed combat and demolitions to members of the Civilian Irregular Defence Groups. Following the end of the war in South East Asia, the Green Berets suffered under the general malaise which afflicted the US armed forces but the low intensity conflict that now prevails worldwide ensured that they would not be disbanded. In 1987 Special Forces were made a separate branch of the army, and their orders now come via the US Special Operations Command, which incorporates all special operations units from all US services. Research Green Berets
Abbreviations
Research Hmong
