Why didn't Britain fight in Vietnam? (Short Animated Documentary)

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TL:DW - Had no money. The war was unpopular. Dodged a bullet.

Sources:

A Decision Delayed: Britain's Withdrawal from South East Asia Reconsidered, 1961-68 by Matthew Jones in: The English Historical Review, Vol. 117, No. 472 (June 2002).

No Secrets Between ‘Special Friends’: America’s Involvement in British Economic Policy, October 1964-April 1965 by Raj Roy in: History, Vol. 89, No.3 (July 2004).

The Johnson Administration and the British Labour Government: Vietnam, the Pound and East of Suez by John Dumbrell in: Journal of American Studies, Vol. 30, No.2, Part 2. (August 1996).

The Johnson Administration and the Recruitment of Allies in Vietnam, 1964-1968 by Jonathan Colman and J. J. Widén in: History, Vol. 94, No. 4 (October 2009).

[TukikoTroy]

I was with my Royal Marine friend in a pub in Portsmouth. There were a lot of sailor and marines there as usual, and a lot of Americans from the USS Forestall (sp) which was paying a visit at the time. Anyway, this drunk American sailor suddenly got up and pretty much bellowed. "Hey, why weren't you guys in Vietnam?!" There was instant silence, then my friend said, "Well, the VC seemed to be doing well enough without our help." That was the only pub brawl I ever witnessed.

[SnoutBetter]

As Al Murray said ‘we stayed out of the Vietnam war for one reason: we wanted our war films to remain cheerful’

[flavio]

Fun Fact: LBJ wrote a letter to General Franco in the sixties asking for spanish troops to vietnam. Franco sent a Reply warning about the risks of guerilla Warfare based on his experience in northern Africa in the early 20th century. He even got the balls to say that a conventional war would be a costly one for the US with no real results whatsoever. In the end, he sent some volunteer doctors but they never saw combat.

[captain_hammer]

USA: "Britain, get over here and help us!"
UK: "OK, here's some advisors who are experienced in counter-insurgency tactics and jungle warfare, from both WW2 and the Malayan Emergency. Do what they say and the war will be over in no time"
USA: "Don't try to boss us around, we know exactly what we're doing! Just give us some of your troops to command and we probably won't accidentally drop Agent Orange on them"
UK: "Erm... no."

[ffrederickskitty]

Britain had just finished fighting a 12 year jungle war in Malaysia

[homeboy]

The UK fought the Communists in Malaysia at around this time... and won.

[scottcameron]

I think Eisenhower's actions during the Suez were still fresh of mind for many British politicians.

[herrdoktorprofessoreldritc]

I love the "totally to scale" comparison between the tiny continental United States and the humongous British Isles. It's those little touches that make your videos great.

[robertwatts]

I was a Royal Marine based in Singapore at the time. We would have been the first British troops involved. Thank goodness we weren't involved in this pointless war.

[solehsolehsoleh]

1:38
US : "We don't need your help Nerd."
UK, with *hundred of years experience colonising jungles of India, Africa and Malaysia* : "Am I a joke to you?"

[kennethoconnell]

I remember that my Father, and his Avro Shackleton crew regularly patrolled the South Vietnam coast searching for Russian submarines during the Vietnam War. I even got on a flight out of RAF Changi, when an Air Cadet. Exciting, my first war zone.

[vejet]

1:09 Automatic weapons in a History Matters video!? Never thought I'd see the day

[frederickg]

The brits knew about the talking trees and flashbacks thing beforehand lol

[Groundsey]

Britain: ‘So you asked us to decolonise, and you played an important part of why we had to retreat from Suez, now you want us to help occupy another sovereign nation on the other side of the globe?’

[jimr]

God your channel is simply amazing. All of your videos all answer such semi-obscure questions that are never brought up in documentaries and would require extensive research (as you obviously do) for one to answer on their own. So, thank you!

[nonvalidOT]

From what I've read over the years, and from speaking to my father and his mates, it seems that the entire Vietnam experience was one of people constantly refusing to listen to what anyone else was saying.

To me, that is the biggest tragedy of all, and while naive, I really hope it never happens again.

[vulthuryol]

USA: the war isn't going very well
UK: have you considered opium?

[whatonearth]

Well the US let the UK down with the Suez Canal and the UK had just been fighting the communists in Malaysia and beat them. The UK public was tired of war and rightly wanted no part in it.

[stevegandalf]

As someone who was born in the late 1960s this is a fascinating insight into Britain's reluctance to get involved in the war.
I don't know what, if anything, they teach in schools nowadays about the Vietnam war, but we (kids who grew up in the 1970s and 1980s) were never given any insights like this about the Vietnam war by either the education system or the mainstream media. All that was commonly understood amongst the general British populace was that it turned into a big disaster for the USA.

[enderman_of_dm]

the Vietnam war is evidence of the true strength of America: It's allies. With so few allies willing to help, America eventually lost the war in the public eye. If more allies had joined in, America would've probably been able to win. Also, not listening to those British advisors wasn't a good idea, since the British military has great experience in dealing with guerillas.