Hue chemical attacks
Encyclopedia
The Hue chemical attacks occurred on June 3, 1963, when soldiers of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam
(ARVN) poured liquid chemicals from tear gas grenades onto the heads of praying Buddhist
s in Huế
, South Vietnam
. The Buddhists were protesting against religious discrimination by the regime of the Roman Catholic President Ngo Dinh Diem
. The attacks caused 67 people to be hospitalised for blistering of the skin and respiratory ailments. The protests were part of the Buddhist crisis
, during which the Buddhist majority in South Vietnam campaigned for religious equality after nine people were killed by government forces
while defying a ban that prevented them from flying the Buddhist flag
on Vesak
. The incident prompted the United States
to privately threaten to withdraw support for Diem's government and when the Americans finally reduced aid a few months later, the army took it as a green light for a coup.
An inquiry determined that the chemical used in the attack was a liquid component from old French tear gas grenades that failed to vapourise as they should have done. The findings exonerated the ARVN soldiers from charges that they had used poison or mustard gas. However, the outcry over the attack had already forced Diem to appoint a panel of three cabinet ministers to meet with Buddhist leaders for negotiations regarding religious equality. The talks led to the signing of the Joint Communique
, but the policy changes it provided were not implemented and widespread protests continued, leading to the assassination of Diem in a military coup
.
's policies generated claims of religious bias. As a member of the Catholic Vietnamese
minority, he pursued pro-Catholic policies that antagonized many Buddhists. Specifically, historians regard the government as being biased towards Catholics in public service and military promotions, as well as in the allocation of land, business favors and tax concessions. Many officers in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam
converted to Catholicism in the belief that their military prospects depended on it. Forgetting that he was talking to a Buddhist, Diem once told a high-ranking officer, "Put your Catholic officers in sensitive places. They can be trusted." In addition, the distribution of firearms to village self-defence militias intended to repel Vietcong guerrillas resulted in weapons only being given to Catholics. Some Catholic priests ran their own private armies, and in some areas, forced conversions, looting, shelling and demolition of Buddhist pagoda
s occurred. Some Buddhist villages converted en masse in order to receive aid or avoid being forcibly resettled by Diem's regime.
The Catholic Church was the largest landowner in the country, and the "private" status that was imposed on Buddhism by the French colonial authorities, which required official permission to conduct public Buddhist activities and restricted the construction of Buddhist temples, was not repealed by Diem. Furthermore, the land owned by the Catholic Church was exempt from redistribution under land reform
programs. Catholics were also de facto exempt from the corvée
labor that the government obliged all citizens to perform and the government disproportionately allocated funding to Catholic majority villages. Under Diem, the Catholic Church enjoyed special exemptions in property acquisition, and in 1959, he dedicated the country to the Virgin Mary. The Vatican flag was regularly flown at major public events in South Vietnam.
On May 7, 1963, government officials invoked a rarely enforced 1958 law known as Decree Number 10 to prohibit the display of religious flags, forbidding Buddhists from flying their flag
on Vesak
, the birthday of Gautama Buddha
. The application of the law caused indignation among Buddhists in the lead-up to the most important religious festival of the year, as Catholics had been allowed to display Vatican flags a week earlier at a celebration for Diem's brother, Archbishop Ngo Dinh Thuc. On May 8, 1963, in Huế, a crowd of Buddhists protested against the ban on the Buddhist flag. The police and army broke up by opening fire and throwing grenades at the demonstrators, leaving nine dead.
Diem's denial of governmental responsibility for the incident, and instead blaming members of the Vietcong insurgency, led to growing discontent among the Buddhist majority. The incident spurred a protest movement by Buddhists against the religious discrimination
of Diem's Roman Catholic-dominated regime. The dispute came to be known as the Buddhist crisis, and it provoked widespread and large-scale civil disobedience throughout South Vietnam, persisting throughout May. The objective of the protests was to have Decree Number 10 repealed, and to force the implementation of religious equality. At the time, the United States, the main backer of South Vietnam in the midst of the Cold War
, had 16,000 military advisors in the country to assist the Army of the Republic of Vietnam
in the war against the Vietcong insurgency
, who sought to reunify Vietnam under communist rule. Washington wanted the dispute to be resolved quickly so that it would not dampen public morale and detract from the fight against the Vietcong.
The situation was worse in Huế, where Diem had banned demonstrations and ordered his forces to arrest those who engaged in civil disobedience. At 1 pm, some 1,500 protestors attempted to march towards Tu Dam Pagoda
in Huế for a rally, having gathered at Ben Ngu bridge near the Perfume River
. A confrontation ensued when the protestors attempted to cross the bridge. Six waves of ARVN tear gas and attack dogs failed to disperse the crowd. Government officials stood on trucks, using loudspeakers to call out above the noise, urging the Buddhists—primarily high school and university students who had arrived on bicycles—to disperse. The announcements were met by jeers when the government spokesperson blamed the unrest on the Vietcong. At 6:30 pm, the military personnel at the scene dispersed the crowd by emptying vials of brownish-red liquid on the heads of praying protestors, resulting in 67 Buddhists being hospitalised for chemical injuries. The symptoms consisted of severe blistering of the skin and respiratory ailments. The crowd responded angrily to what they suspected was the use of poison gas, and the incident became a public relations disaster for Diem.
reported that police had lobbed blister gas into the crowd. Reports citing reliable sources claimed that Diem was planning a military showdown against the Buddhists. US consul John Helble suspected that the ARVN troops had used tear gas, and in a report to the US Embassy, Saigon, he noted that "possibly another type of gas which caused skin blisters" was used. Helble reported that the substance, although unidentified, had raised concerns by the US State Department that poison gas was used because the symptoms were not consistent with standard tear gas. If this were the case, Helble concluded that the United States should tell Diem that his regime must condemn the actions of the troops and punish the culprits. If Diem did not, the United States should threaten to publicly condemn and distance itself from Saigon. With the US also decrying the use of troops against civilian protests, the South Vietnamese government complained that unlike their Saigon counterparts, the Huế police were not trained in riot control. Diem's authorities requested that the Americans airlift 350 military personnel from Vung Tau
in the far south to quell the protests in Huế, but the Americans refused.
William Trueheart
, who was in charge of the US Embassy, Saigon while Ambassador Frederick Nolting
was on holiday, confronted Secretary of State Nguyen Dinh Thuan
about the allegations of blister gas usage the next day. Thuan appeared to be astounded and asked Trueheart what blister gas was. Trueheart explained that the symptoms of the victims were consistent with those of mustard gas and passed on the US threat to denounce the regime for the chemical attacks. As a result, Thuan started an inquiry into the usage of chemical weapons on the protestors. The investigation went on to exonerate the Diem regime of the most serious allegations of using poison or mustard gas. Before the president was deposed in November, the inquiry's report declared that only tear gas was used, and that the liquified components of the grenades were poured onto the protestors after they had failed to vapourise as they were designed to. A further commission chaired by General Tran Van Don
prior to February 1964 concluded that the tear gas was left behind by French colonial forces in the 1950s.
The tear gas used came in glass containers in the form of a liquid that was transformed into gaseous vapour upon activation by acid. The injuries were attributed to the acid failing to activate the liquid into gaseous form. US Army chemists in Maryland
confirmed that the tear gas had come from canisters dating back to French World War I
stocks. During World War I, France had used tear gas containing a mixture of chloroacetone
and ethyl bromoacetate
against German troops at Ypres
on the Western Front
, which was known to strongly irritate mucous membrane
s. Chloroacetone turns brown-orange when exposed to light, while ethyl bromoacetate is a yellow liquid at tropical outdoor temperatures. Both have similar colours to the liquid used on the demonstrators. Some varieties of French tear gas also contained phosgene oxime
or hydrogen cyanide. These two chemicals can be fatal, but none of the protestors in this incident died.
as chairman, Thuan and Interior Minister Bui Van Luong. Despite continuing protests, including public self-immolation
s by monks such as Thich Quang Duc, a Joint Communique
resulting from the discussions was signed in mid-June, which promised to end the Buddhist crisis. However, the Joint Communique was not implemented and the situation continued to deteriorate, particularly after the Ngo family ordered South Vietnam's Special Forces
to attack Buddhist pagodas across the country
on August 21. The US condemned the raids, and began to cut aid to the Special Forces, which was effectively a private Ngo family army, in addition to other government programs that were closely identified with the ruling clan. Regarding such gestures as a green light, and safe in the knowledge that the US would not intervene in Diem's defence, the army staged a successful coup
in November, resulting in the assassination of the president. The removal of Diem resulted in a period of political instability, as a series of military juntas deposed one another. This led to a deterioration in the military situation as the communist Vietcong made substantial gains against the ARVN, prompting the US to deploy hundreds of thousands of combat troops in 1965, escalating the Vietnam War
.
Army of the Republic of Vietnam
The Army of the Republic of Viet Nam , sometimes parsimoniously referred to as the South Vietnamese Army , was the land-based military forces of the Republic of Vietnam , which existed from October 26, 1955 until the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975...
(ARVN) poured liquid chemicals from tear gas grenades onto the heads of praying Buddhist
Buddhism in Vietnam
Buddhism in Vietnam as practiced by the ethnic Vietnamese is mainly of the Mahāyāna tradition. Buddhism came to Vietnam as early as the 2nd century CE through the North from Central Asia and via Southern routes from India...
s in Huế
Hue
Hue is one of the main properties of a color, defined technically , as "the degree to which a stimulus can be describedas similar to or different from stimuli that are described as red, green, blue, and yellow,"...
, South Vietnam
South Vietnam
South Vietnam was a state which governed southern Vietnam until 1975. It received international recognition in 1950 as the "State of Vietnam" and later as the "Republic of Vietnam" . Its capital was Saigon...
. The Buddhists were protesting against religious discrimination by the regime of the Roman Catholic President Ngo Dinh Diem
Ngo Dinh Diem
Ngô Đình Diệm was the first president of South Vietnam . In the wake of the French withdrawal from Indochina as a result of the 1954 Geneva Accords, Diệm led the effort to create the Republic of Vietnam. Accruing considerable U.S. support due to his staunch anti-Communism, he achieved victory in a...
. The attacks caused 67 people to be hospitalised for blistering of the skin and respiratory ailments. The protests were part of the Buddhist crisis
Buddhist crisis
The Buddhist crisis was a period of political and religious tension in South Vietnam from May 1963 to November 1963 characterized by a series of repressive acts by the South Vietnamese government and a campaign of civil resistance, led mainly by Buddhist monks....
, during which the Buddhist majority in South Vietnam campaigned for religious equality after nine people were killed by government forces
Hue Vesak shootings
The Huế Phật Đản shootings refer to the deaths of nine unarmed Buddhist civilians on May 8, 1963, in the city of Huế in South Vietnam, at the hands of the army and security forces of the government of Ngô Đình Diệm...
while defying a ban that prevented them from flying the Buddhist flag
Buddhist flag
The Buddhist flag is a flag designed in the late 19th century to symbolise and universally represent Buddhism. It is used by Buddhists throughout the world.-History:...
on Vesak
Vesak
Vesākha is a holiday observed traditionally by Buddhists in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and the South East Asian countries of Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Burma, and Indonesia...
. The incident prompted the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
to privately threaten to withdraw support for Diem's government and when the Americans finally reduced aid a few months later, the army took it as a green light for a coup.
An inquiry determined that the chemical used in the attack was a liquid component from old French tear gas grenades that failed to vapourise as they should have done. The findings exonerated the ARVN soldiers from charges that they had used poison or mustard gas. However, the outcry over the attack had already forced Diem to appoint a panel of three cabinet ministers to meet with Buddhist leaders for negotiations regarding religious equality. The talks led to the signing of the Joint Communique
Joint Communique
The Joint Communiqué was an agreement signed on 16 June 1963 between the South Vietnamese government of Ngo Dinh Diem and the Buddhist leadership of the country in an attempt to end the Buddhist crisis.- Background :...
, but the policy changes it provided were not implemented and widespread protests continued, leading to the assassination of Diem in a military coup
1963 South Vietnamese coup
In November 1963, President Ngô Đình Diệm of South Vietnam was deposed by a group of Army of the Republic of Vietnam officers who disagreed with his handling of the Buddhist crisis and, in general, his increasing oppression of national groups in the name of fighting the communist Vietcong.The...
.
Background
In a country where demographic surveys estimated the Buddhist majority to be between 70 and 90 percent, President Ngo Dinh DiemNgo Dinh Diem
Ngô Đình Diệm was the first president of South Vietnam . In the wake of the French withdrawal from Indochina as a result of the 1954 Geneva Accords, Diệm led the effort to create the Republic of Vietnam. Accruing considerable U.S. support due to his staunch anti-Communism, he achieved victory in a...
's policies generated claims of religious bias. As a member of the Catholic Vietnamese
Roman Catholicism in Vietnam
The Roman Catholic Church in Vietnam is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope and curia in Rome. Vietnam has the fifth largest Catholic population in Asia, after the Philippines, India, China and Indonesia....
minority, he pursued pro-Catholic policies that antagonized many Buddhists. Specifically, historians regard the government as being biased towards Catholics in public service and military promotions, as well as in the allocation of land, business favors and tax concessions. Many officers in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam
Army of the Republic of Vietnam
The Army of the Republic of Viet Nam , sometimes parsimoniously referred to as the South Vietnamese Army , was the land-based military forces of the Republic of Vietnam , which existed from October 26, 1955 until the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975...
converted to Catholicism in the belief that their military prospects depended on it. Forgetting that he was talking to a Buddhist, Diem once told a high-ranking officer, "Put your Catholic officers in sensitive places. They can be trusted." In addition, the distribution of firearms to village self-defence militias intended to repel Vietcong guerrillas resulted in weapons only being given to Catholics. Some Catholic priests ran their own private armies, and in some areas, forced conversions, looting, shelling and demolition of Buddhist pagoda
Pagoda
A pagoda is the general term in the English language for a tiered tower with multiple eaves common in Nepal, India, China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam and other parts of Asia. Some pagodas are used as Taoist houses of worship. Most pagodas were built to have a religious function, most commonly Buddhist,...
s occurred. Some Buddhist villages converted en masse in order to receive aid or avoid being forcibly resettled by Diem's regime.
The Catholic Church was the largest landowner in the country, and the "private" status that was imposed on Buddhism by the French colonial authorities, which required official permission to conduct public Buddhist activities and restricted the construction of Buddhist temples, was not repealed by Diem. Furthermore, the land owned by the Catholic Church was exempt from redistribution under land reform
Land reform
[Image:Jakarta farmers protest23.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Farmers protesting for Land Reform in Indonesia]Land reform involves the changing of laws, regulations or customs regarding land ownership. Land reform may consist of a government-initiated or government-backed property redistribution,...
programs. Catholics were also de facto exempt from the corvée
Corvée
Corvée is unfree labour, often unpaid, that is required of people of lower social standing and imposed on them by the state or a superior . The corvée was the earliest and most widespread form of taxation, which can be traced back to the beginning of civilization...
labor that the government obliged all citizens to perform and the government disproportionately allocated funding to Catholic majority villages. Under Diem, the Catholic Church enjoyed special exemptions in property acquisition, and in 1959, he dedicated the country to the Virgin Mary. The Vatican flag was regularly flown at major public events in South Vietnam.
Buddhist flag
The Buddhist flag is a flag designed in the late 19th century to symbolise and universally represent Buddhism. It is used by Buddhists throughout the world.-History:...
on Vesak
Vesak
Vesākha is a holiday observed traditionally by Buddhists in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and the South East Asian countries of Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Burma, and Indonesia...
, the birthday of Gautama Buddha
Gautama Buddha
Siddhārtha Gautama was a spiritual teacher from the Indian subcontinent, on whose teachings Buddhism was founded. In most Buddhist traditions, he is regarded as the Supreme Buddha Siddhārtha Gautama (Sanskrit: सिद्धार्थ गौतम; Pali: Siddhattha Gotama) was a spiritual teacher from the Indian...
. The application of the law caused indignation among Buddhists in the lead-up to the most important religious festival of the year, as Catholics had been allowed to display Vatican flags a week earlier at a celebration for Diem's brother, Archbishop Ngo Dinh Thuc. On May 8, 1963, in Huế, a crowd of Buddhists protested against the ban on the Buddhist flag. The police and army broke up by opening fire and throwing grenades at the demonstrators, leaving nine dead.
Diem's denial of governmental responsibility for the incident, and instead blaming members of the Vietcong insurgency, led to growing discontent among the Buddhist majority. The incident spurred a protest movement by Buddhists against the religious discrimination
Religious discrimination
Religious discrimination is valuing or treating a person or group differently because of what they do or do not believe.A concept like that of 'religious discrimination' is necessary to take into account ambiguities of the term religious persecution. The infamous cases in which people have been...
of Diem's Roman Catholic-dominated regime. The dispute came to be known as the Buddhist crisis, and it provoked widespread and large-scale civil disobedience throughout South Vietnam, persisting throughout May. The objective of the protests was to have Decree Number 10 repealed, and to force the implementation of religious equality. At the time, the United States, the main backer of South Vietnam in the midst of the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
, had 16,000 military advisors in the country to assist the Army of the Republic of Vietnam
Army of the Republic of Vietnam
The Army of the Republic of Viet Nam , sometimes parsimoniously referred to as the South Vietnamese Army , was the land-based military forces of the Republic of Vietnam , which existed from October 26, 1955 until the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975...
in the war against the Vietcong insurgency
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, who sought to reunify Vietnam under communist rule. Washington wanted the dispute to be resolved quickly so that it would not dampen public morale and detract from the fight against the Vietcong.
Incident
On June 3, Buddhists held another series of protests across the country. In the morning, attention focused on the capital Saigon, where approximately 500 Buddhist laypeople, mostly youths, protested in front of the Government Delegate's office while 300 troops stood by. The crowd and a government official equipped with a loudspeaker exchanged taunts and accusations. When the official claimed that Vietcong were among the crowd and attempting to cause trouble, the troops aimed their firearms at the protestors. When the crowd responded by taunting the soldiers as "stupid killers", the troops fixed bayonets to their guns and put on gas masks before charging at the protestors and throwing tear gas grenades at them. Some of the demonstrators ran away, while others remained stationary and began praying. Deaths and injuries were averted when a Buddhist leader urged the protestors to either retreat to a pagoda and receive medical treatment for the tear gas or to go home. When the entrance to the pagoda was blocked with barbed wire, some protestors simply sat on the ground and continued praying. After a standoff lasting almost three hours, troops wearing gas masks forcibly dispersed the crowd.The situation was worse in Huế, where Diem had banned demonstrations and ordered his forces to arrest those who engaged in civil disobedience. At 1 pm, some 1,500 protestors attempted to march towards Tu Dam Pagoda
Tu Dam Pagoda
Tu Dam Temple is a Buddhist temple in the central city of Huế in Vietnam. Tu Dam Temple is located on a street of the same name, in Trường An ward of Huế.-History:...
in Huế for a rally, having gathered at Ben Ngu bridge near the Perfume River
Perfume River
The Perfume River is a river that crosses the city of Huế, in the central Vietnamese province of Thừa Thiên Huế.-Etymology:In the autumn, flowers from orchards upriver from Huế fall into the water, giving the river a perfume-like aroma....
. A confrontation ensued when the protestors attempted to cross the bridge. Six waves of ARVN tear gas and attack dogs failed to disperse the crowd. Government officials stood on trucks, using loudspeakers to call out above the noise, urging the Buddhists—primarily high school and university students who had arrived on bicycles—to disperse. The announcements were met by jeers when the government spokesperson blamed the unrest on the Vietcong. At 6:30 pm, the military personnel at the scene dispersed the crowd by emptying vials of brownish-red liquid on the heads of praying protestors, resulting in 67 Buddhists being hospitalised for chemical injuries. The symptoms consisted of severe blistering of the skin and respiratory ailments. The crowd responded angrily to what they suspected was the use of poison gas, and the incident became a public relations disaster for Diem.
Reaction and investigation
By midnight, tensions were high as a curfew and martial law were enacted. Rumours circulated that three people had died, and NewsweekNewsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
reported that police had lobbed blister gas into the crowd. Reports citing reliable sources claimed that Diem was planning a military showdown against the Buddhists. US consul John Helble suspected that the ARVN troops had used tear gas, and in a report to the US Embassy, Saigon, he noted that "possibly another type of gas which caused skin blisters" was used. Helble reported that the substance, although unidentified, had raised concerns by the US State Department that poison gas was used because the symptoms were not consistent with standard tear gas. If this were the case, Helble concluded that the United States should tell Diem that his regime must condemn the actions of the troops and punish the culprits. If Diem did not, the United States should threaten to publicly condemn and distance itself from Saigon. With the US also decrying the use of troops against civilian protests, the South Vietnamese government complained that unlike their Saigon counterparts, the Huế police were not trained in riot control. Diem's authorities requested that the Americans airlift 350 military personnel from Vung Tau
Vung Tàu
Vũng Tàu is a city in southern Vietnam. Its population in 2005 was 240,000. The city area is including 13 urban wards and one village. It is the capital of Ba Ria-Vung Tau province, and is the crude oil extraction center of Vietnam. It is also known as one of the most beautiful cities of tourism...
in the far south to quell the protests in Huế, but the Americans refused.
William Trueheart
William Trueheart
William Trueheart was a diplomat in the service of the United States. Serving as the U.S. ambassador to Nigeria from 1969–1971, he is better known for being the acting U.S...
, who was in charge of the US Embassy, Saigon while Ambassador Frederick Nolting
Frederick Nolting
Frederick Ernst Nolting , was a World War II naval officer and United States diplomat.-Early life and education:...
was on holiday, confronted Secretary of State Nguyen Dinh Thuan
Nguyen Dinh Thuan
Nguyễn Đình Thuận was the Secretary of State under President Ngo Dinh Diem of South Vietnam....
about the allegations of blister gas usage the next day. Thuan appeared to be astounded and asked Trueheart what blister gas was. Trueheart explained that the symptoms of the victims were consistent with those of mustard gas and passed on the US threat to denounce the regime for the chemical attacks. As a result, Thuan started an inquiry into the usage of chemical weapons on the protestors. The investigation went on to exonerate the Diem regime of the most serious allegations of using poison or mustard gas. Before the president was deposed in November, the inquiry's report declared that only tear gas was used, and that the liquified components of the grenades were poured onto the protestors after they had failed to vapourise as they were designed to. A further commission chaired by General Tran Van Don
Tran Van Don
Trần Văn Đôn was a general in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, and one of the principal figures in the coup d'état which deposed Ngô Đình Diệm from the presidency of South Vietnam.-Family:...
prior to February 1964 concluded that the tear gas was left behind by French colonial forces in the 1950s.
The tear gas used came in glass containers in the form of a liquid that was transformed into gaseous vapour upon activation by acid. The injuries were attributed to the acid failing to activate the liquid into gaseous form. US Army chemists in Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
confirmed that the tear gas had come from canisters dating back to French World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
stocks. During World War I, France had used tear gas containing a mixture of chloroacetone
Chloroacetone
Chloroacetone is a chemical compound with the formula 3CCH2. At STP it is a colourless liquid with a pungent odour. On exposure to light, it turns to a dark yellow-amber colour. It was used as a tear gas in World War I.-Applications:...
and ethyl bromoacetate
Ethyl bromoacetate
Ethyl 2-bromoacetate is the chemical compound with the formula CH2BrCO2C2H5. It is the ethyl ester of bromoacetic acid and is prepared in two steps from acetic acid.-Applications:...
against German troops at Ypres
Ypres
Ypres is a Belgian municipality located in the Flemish province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Ypres and the villages of Boezinge, Brielen, Dikkebus, Elverdinge, Hollebeke, Sint-Jan, Vlamertinge, Voormezele, Zillebeke, and Zuidschote...
on the Western Front
Western Front (World War I)
Following the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by first invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. The tide of the advance was dramatically turned with the Battle of the Marne...
, which was known to strongly irritate mucous membrane
Mucous membrane
The mucous membranes are linings of mostly endodermal origin, covered in epithelium, which are involved in absorption and secretion. They line cavities that are exposed to the external environment and internal organs...
s. Chloroacetone turns brown-orange when exposed to light, while ethyl bromoacetate is a yellow liquid at tropical outdoor temperatures. Both have similar colours to the liquid used on the demonstrators. Some varieties of French tear gas also contained phosgene oxime
Phosgene oxime
Phosgene oxime, or CX, is an organic compound with the formula Cl2CNOH. It is a potent chemical weapon, specifically a nettle agent. The compound itself is a colorless solid, but impure samples are often yellowish liquids...
or hydrogen cyanide. These two chemicals can be fatal, but none of the protestors in this incident died.
Repercussions
Diem responded to the controversy of the chemicals by agreeing to have formal talks with the Buddhist leaders. He appointed a three-member Interministerial Committee, which comprised Vice President Nguyen Ngoc ThoNguyen Ngoc Tho
Nguyễn Ngọc Thơ is a Vietnamese politician who was the first Prime Minister of South Vietnam, serving from November 1963 to late January 1964. Thơ was appointed to head a civilian cabinet by the military junta of General Dương Văn Minh, which came to power after overthrowing and assassinating Ngô...
as chairman, Thuan and Interior Minister Bui Van Luong. Despite continuing protests, including public self-immolation
Self-immolation
Self-immolation refers to setting oneself on fire, often as a form of protest or for the purposes of martyrdom or suicide. It has centuries-long traditions in some cultures, while in modern times it has become a type of radical political protest...
s by monks such as Thich Quang Duc, a Joint Communique
Joint Communique
The Joint Communiqué was an agreement signed on 16 June 1963 between the South Vietnamese government of Ngo Dinh Diem and the Buddhist leadership of the country in an attempt to end the Buddhist crisis.- Background :...
resulting from the discussions was signed in mid-June, which promised to end the Buddhist crisis. However, the Joint Communique was not implemented and the situation continued to deteriorate, particularly after the Ngo family ordered South Vietnam's Special Forces
Army of the Republic of Vietnam Special Forces
The Army of the Republic of Vietnam Special Forces were the elite military units of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam . Following the establishment of the Republic of Vietnam in October 1955, the Special Forces were formed at Nha Trang in February 1956...
to attack Buddhist pagodas across the country
Xa Loi Pagoda raids
The Xa Loi Pagoda raids were a series of synchronized attacks on various Buddhist pagodas in the major cities of South Vietnam shortly after midnight on August 21, 1963...
on August 21. The US condemned the raids, and began to cut aid to the Special Forces, which was effectively a private Ngo family army, in addition to other government programs that were closely identified with the ruling clan. Regarding such gestures as a green light, and safe in the knowledge that the US would not intervene in Diem's defence, the army staged a successful coup
1963 South Vietnamese coup
In November 1963, President Ngô Đình Diệm of South Vietnam was deposed by a group of Army of the Republic of Vietnam officers who disagreed with his handling of the Buddhist crisis and, in general, his increasing oppression of national groups in the name of fighting the communist Vietcong.The...
in November, resulting in the assassination of the president. The removal of Diem resulted in a period of political instability, as a series of military juntas deposed one another. This led to a deterioration in the military situation as the communist Vietcong made substantial gains against the ARVN, prompting the US to deploy hundreds of thousands of combat troops in 1965, escalating the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
.