Editing Malayan Emergency (section)

==Comparisons with Vietnam==
This war had similarities with the [[First Indochina War]] in [[South Vietnam|Vietnam]]; both the French and the British returned to establish their colonial rule after Japanese occupation, both granted a high degree of autonomy to their own indigenous states (Vietnam on [[Élysée Accords|8/3/1949]] and Malaya on 1/2/1948), both had to fight communist anti-colonial rebellions as part of ideological conflicts, the headquarters of the communists in both Vietnam and Malaysia were in the jungle, both pro-colonial native states were granted full independence within the [[French Union]] (4/6/1954) or the [[British Commonwealth]] (31/8/1957) at the end of the war, and both [[Vietnam War|Vietnam]] and [[Communist insurgency in Malaysia (1968–1989)|Malaysia]] had to continue to fight the communist side after independence.<ref name=bragg>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aqHeOthIyysC&q=%C3%89lys%C3%A9e+Accords&pg=PA82|title=Vietnam, Korea and US Foreign Policy|last=Bragg|first=Christine|date=2005|publisher=Heinemann|isbn=978-0-435-32708-8|language=en}}</ref><ref name=indian>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PXQ--1YJhy8C&q=%C3%89lys%C3%A9e+Accords&pg=PA24|title=Indian Foreign Policy in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam, 1947-1964|last=SarDesai|first=D. R.|date=1968|publisher=University of California Press|language=en}}</ref><ref name=duiker>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ECWRqcj3rGIC&q=%C3%89lys%C3%A9e+Accords&pg=PA69|title=U.S. Containment Policy and the Conflict in Indochina|last=Duiker|first=William|date=1994-07-01|publisher=Stanford University Press|isbn=978-0-8047-6581-7|language=en}}</ref><ref name="Deery, Phillip 2007"/><ref name="Siver, Christi L 2009. p.36"/>{{sfn|Newsinger|2013|p=217}}<ref>{{Cite book|title=Small Wars, Faraway Places: Global Insurrection and the Making of the Modern World 1945–1965 |last=Burleigh |first=Michael |publisher=Viking – Penguin Group |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-670-02545-9 |location=New York|page=164}}</ref>

===Differences===
[[Image:Jungle service dress.JPG|thumb|upright=0.8|Jungle service dress of the [[Somerset Light Infantry|1st Battalion Somerset Light Infantry]] used in the emergency]]

This conflict and the [[Vietnam War]] (following the First Indochina War) have often been compared.<ref name="the_malayan_emergency_2021_11_11_the_forum_bbc" /> However, the two conflicts differ in the following ways:
* The MNLA never numbered more than about 8,000 full-time insurgents, but the [[People's Army of Vietnam|People's Army of (North) Vietnam]] fielded a quarter of a million [[Regular army|regular troops]], in addition to roughly 100,000 [[Viet Cong|National Liberation Front (or Viet Cong)]] partisans.
* North Korea,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/1427367.stm |title=N Korea admits Vietnam war role |work=BBC News |author=Gluck, Caroline |access-date=7 July 2001 |archive-date=3 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210103183714/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/1427367.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> Cuba<ref>Bourne, Peter G. ''Fidel: A Biography of Fidel Castro'' (1986) p. 255; Coltman, Leycester ''The Real Fidel Castro'' (2003) p. 211</ref> and the People's Republic of China (PRC) provided military hardware, logistical support, personnel and training to North Vietnam, whereas the MNLA received no material support, weapons or training from any foreign government.
* North Vietnam's shared border with its ally China (PRC) allowed for continuous assistance and provided a safe haven for communist forces, but Malaya's only land border is with non-communist Thailand.
* Britain did not approach the Emergency as a conventional conflict and quickly implemented an effective intelligence strategy, led by the Malayan Police Special Branch, and a systematic [[Winning hearts and minds|hearts and minds]] operation, both of which proved effective against the largely ''political'' aims of the guerrilla movement.<ref>Comber (2006), ''Malaya's Secret Police 1945–60. The Role of the Special Branch in the Malayan Emergency''</ref><ref name="Clutterbuck">{{cite book|last=Clutterbuck|first=Richard|title=The long long war: The emergency in Malaya, 1948–1960|publisher=Cassell|year=1967}} Cited at length in Vietnam War essay on Insurgency and Counterinsurgency [https://web.archive.org/web/20071020064959/http://ehistory.osu.edu/vietnam/essays/insurgency/0006.cfm Lessons from Malaya], eHistory, Ohio State University.</ref>
* The British military recognised that in a low-intensity war, individual soldiers' skill and endurance were of far greater importance than overwhelming firepower (artillery, air support, etc.). Even though many British soldiers were conscripted [[Conscription in the United Kingdom#After 1945|National Servicemen]], the necessary skills and attitudes were taught at a Jungle Warfare School, which also developed the optimum tactics based on experience gained in the field.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/download/csipubs/historic/hist_c3_pt1.pdf |work=British Operations in Malaya and Borneo, 1948-1966 |publisher=US Army, Combat Studies Institute |title=Analysis of British tactics in Malaya |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080911061212/http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/download/csipubs/historic/hist_c3_pt1.pdf |archive-date=11 September 2008 |pages=1–120}}</ref>
* Vietnam was less ethnically fragmented than Malaya. During the Emergency, most MNLA members were ethnically [[Malaysian Chinese|Chinese]] and drew support from sections of the Chinese community.{{sfnp|Komer|1972|p=53}} However, most of the more numerous indigenous [[Malays (ethnic group)|Malays]], many of whom were animated by [[anti-Chinese sentiment]]s, largely remained loyal to the government and enlisted in high numbers into the security services.{{sfnp|Komer|1972|p=13}}

===Similarities===
The United States in Vietnam were highly influenced by Britain's military strategies during the Malayan Emergency and the two wars shared many similarities. Some examples are listed below.
* Both countries used Agent Orange. Britain pioneered the use of Agent Orange as a weapon of war during the Malayan Emergency. This fact was used by the United States as a justification to use Agent Orange in Vietnam.
* Both the [[Royal Air Force]] and the [[United States Air Force]] used widespread [[Saturation bombardment|saturation bombing]].
* Both countries frequently used [[concentration camp]]s. In Malaya, camps referred to with the euphemism [[New village|"new villages"]] were built by the British colonial occupation to imprison approximately one million rural peasants.<ref name=Keo19/><ref name=Sa64/> The United States attempted to replicate the camps with their [[Strategic Hamlet Program]]. However, the programme was unsuccessful in segregating communist guerrillas from their civilian supporters.
* Both countries made use of incendiary weapons, including flamethrowers and incendiary grenades.
* Both the Malayan and Vietnamese communists recruited women as fighters due to their beliefs in [[Marxist feminism|gender equality]]. Women served as generals in both communist armies, with notable examples being [[Lee Meng]] in Malaya and [[Nguyễn Thị Định]] in Vietnam.
* Both the Malayan and Vietnamese communists were led by veterans of WWII who had been trained by their future enemies. The British trained and funded the [[Malayan Peoples' Anti-Japanese Army]] whose veterans would go onto resist the British colonial occupation, and the United States trained Vietnamese communists to fight against Japan during WWII.