The Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was fought mainly in North and South Viet­nam from 1957 to 1975. Troops also battled in Laos and Cambo­dia, and U.S. pilots flew missions from bases in Thailand

The Vietnam War was fought in the air and on the ground. American B-52 bombers made thousands of raids on enemy bases in North and South Vietnam, and armed helicopters carried troops into battle. Millions of civilians became refugees.

South Vietnam, where most of the fighting took place, suffered the most damage. The war made refugees of some 10 million South Vietnamese, about half the population.

Important dates in the Vietnam War

1957 The Viet Cong began to rebel against the South Vietnam­ese government headed by President Ngo Dinh Diem.

1963 (Nov. 1) South Vietnamese generals overthrew the Diem government, and Diem was killed the next day.

1964 (Aug. 7) In the United States, the Tonkin Gulf Resolution gave the president power to take "all necessary meas­ures" and "to prevent further aggression."

1965 (March 6) U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson sent U.S. Ma­rines to Da Nang, South Vietnam. The Marines were the first U.S. ground troops in the war.

1968 (Jan. 30) North Vietnam and the Viet Cong launched a major campaign against South Vietnamese cities.

1969 (June 8) U.S. President Richard Nixon announced that U.S. troops would begin to withdraw from Vietnam.

1973 (Jan. 27) The United States, North and South Vietnam, and the Viet Cong signed a cease-fire agreement.

1973 (March 29) The last U.S. ground troops left Vietnam.

1975 (April 30) South Vietnam surrendered.

  

Vietnam War was a major conflict in Southeast Asia. The war began as a civil war to decide the government of Vietnam. It developed into a major international con­flict, involving the United States in the longest war in which Americans have taken part. It began in 1957 and ended in 1975. Vietnam, a small country in Southeast Asia, was divided into Communist-ruled North Vietnam and non-Communist South Vietnam. North Vietnam and Communist-trained South Vietnamese rebels fought to take over South Vietnam. The United States and the South Vietnamese army tried to stop them but failed.

The Vietnam War was actually the second phase ot fighting in Vietnam. During the first phase, which began in 1946, the Vietnamese fought France for control of Vietnam. At that time, Vietnam was part of the colony of French Indochina. The Vietnamese defeated the French in 1954. Then Vietnam was divided into North and South Vietnam.

The Communists called the Vietnam War a war of na­tional liberation. They saw it as an extension of the strug­gle with France and as another attempt by a foreign power to rule Vietnam. North Vietnam wanted to end U.S. support of South Vietnam and to unite the north and south. China and the Soviet Union, at that time the two largest Communist nations, gave the Vietnamese Communists war materials but not troops.

U.S. aid to non-Communist South Vietnam was based on a fear that if one Southeast Asian nation fell to the Communists, the others would also fall, one after the other, "like a row of dominoes."

The Vietnam War had several periods. From 1957 to 1965, it was mainly a struggle between the South Viet­namese army and Communist-trained South Vietnamese rebels known as the Viet Cong. From 1965 to 1969,

North Vietnam and the United States did much of the fighting. Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, South Korea, and Thailand also helped South Vietnam The United States began to withdraw its forces in 1969. In January 1973, a cease-fire was arranged. The last Ameri­can ground troops left Vietnam two months later. The fighting began again soon afterward. The war ended when South Vietnam surrendered on April 30, 1975.

Background to the war. Vietnam, Laos, and Cambo­dia made up the French colony of Indochina from the late 1800's to the 1940's (see Indochina). Japan occupied Indochina during most of World War II (1939-1945). France tried to reestablish control after Japan's defeat in 1945. But Ho Chi Minh, a Vietnamese patriot and Com­munist, organized a revolt in northern Vietnam, and de­clared Vietnam independent. See Ho Chi Minh.

France fought against Ho's Vietminh, or Revolutionary League for the Independence of Vietnam, but was de­feated in 1954. Peace agreements were signed at Ge­neva, Switzerland, in 1954. These Geneva Accords pro­vided for the temporary division of Vietnam, but called tor nationwide elections in 1956 to reunify the country.

Ho Chi Minh set up a Communist government in North Vietnam. The south became the Republic of Viet­nam, commonly called South Vietnam. Ngo Dinh Diem, an anti-Communist, became president of South Vietnam. His government refused to take part in nationwide elec­tions proposed by the Geneva peace agreements.

Early stages of the war. Diem was an unpopular ruler. Members of the Vietminh in the south rebelled. They were known as the Viet Cong, meaning Vietnam­ese Communists. North Vietnam supported the rebels. It developed a supply route to South Vietnam through Laos and Cambodia. This system of roads and trails be­came known as the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

By 1961, the Viet Cong were strong enough to threaten Diem's government. U.S. President John F. Ken­nedy increased American economic and military aid to South Vietnam. By 1963, there were over 16,000 U.S. mil­itary advisers in South Vietnam.

In 1963, after widespread Buddhist protests against the government, President Diem was murdered. See Ngo Dinh Diem. By 1964, North Vietnamese army units were operating in the south, and the Viet Cong con­trolled up to 75 per cent of South Vietnam's population.

In August 1964, U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson an­nounced that two U.S. destroyers had been attacked in the Gulf of Tonkin, off the coast of North Vietnam. Some Americans doubted that the attack had occurred, and the attack has never been confirmed. But Johnson or­dered U.S. air strikes against North Vietnam. In March 1965, the first U.S. Marines were sent to South Vietnam.

The fighting intensifies. U.S. forces in Vietnam rose from about 60,000 in mid-1965 to a peak of over 543,000 in 1969. They joined about 800,000 South Vietnamese troops, and a total of 69,000 men from Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, South Korea, and Thailand. Australian troops were first sent to Vietnam in 1965, with conscripts serving from 1966. The force was withdrawn in 1971. New Zealand soldiers served between 1964 and 1972.

The U.S. and its allies did not try to invade North Viet­nam. They relied on bombing North Vietnam and on "search and destroy" ground missions in South Vietnam. Helicopters played a key role in the fighting.

The Viet Cong and North Vietnamese adopted a de­fensive strategy. The lightly armed Communist forces re­lied on surprise and mobility. Avoiding major battles, they preferred guerrilla warfare (see Guerrilla warfare). They knew the terrain well, and received war materials from the Soviet Union and China.

The war dragged on, with neither side able to win it.

In the United States, people were divided over U.S. in­volvement. Some urged more decisive measures to de­feat North Vietnam. Others believed the United States was supporting corrupt and unpopular governments in South Vietnam, and called for U.S. withdrawal.

In January 1968, the Communists attacked major cities in South Vietnam. This campaign began at the start of Tet, the Vietnamese New Year celebration. The United States and South Vietnam fought back, and inflicted heavy losses on the enemy. But it was clear that the Communists were far from defeated. Peace talks began in Paris in May 1968.

U.S. troop withdrawal begins. The peace talks failed, but the new U.S. president, Richard Nixon, an­nounced a new policy known as Vietnamization. Begin­ning in July 1969, U.S. troops would gradually withdraw, leaving the fighting to the South Vietnamese.

In April 1970, U.S. and South Vietnamese troops in­vaded Cambodia to attack Communist military bases. This widening of the war aroused much protest in the United States. The Cambodian campaign ended in late June 1970. Opposition to the war in the United States grew rapidly, as television coverage brought scenes of war horror into millions of American homes. The anti­war movement in the United States was further out­raged in 1971 when a U.S. Army officer was convicted of massacring civilians in the hamlet of My Lai in South Vietnam in 1968. Charges that U.S. forces had used chemical weedkillers to defoliate large areas of Viet­namese jungle caused widespread international protest.

In March 1972, North Vietnam invaded the South. President Nixon ordered the renewal of U.S. bombing of the North, and also the laying of explosives in the har­bour of Haiphong, North Vietnam's chief port. The inva­sion was checked, and peace talks were restarted.

Victory for North Vietnam. The Paris peace talks were conducted by Henry Kissinger for the United States and Le Due Tho for North Vietnam. On Jan. 27, 1973, a cease-fire agreement was signed. By April, the last U.S. troops had left Vietnam, but the peace talks broke down and fighting resumed. South Vietnam's forces were forced into retreat, and on April 30,1975, South Vietnam surrendered. Saigon, the South's capital, was renamed Ho Chi Minh City.

Results of the war. About 1 million South Vietnam­ese and 58,000 Americans died in the war. Also, 501 Australian and 37 New Zealand soldiers died in the war. North Vietnamese losses ranged between 500,000 and 1 million. Countless numbers of civilians were killed.

The U.S. bombing was four times greater than the Al­lied bombing of Germany in World War II. Though North Vietnam suffered severe damage to its industries and transportation system, South Vietnam suffered even more damage. About half the South's population be­came refugees. Cropland, forest, and wildlife were de­stroyed in some areas.

The war made North Vietnam a power in Southeast Asia. North Vietnam helped set up Communist govern­ments in Laos and Cambodia in 1975. In 1976, it united North and South Vietnam into the single nation of Viet­nam. Vietnam has slowly rebuilt its economy, and re­opened some links with the West.

The Vietnam War had far-reaching effects on the United States. It was the first foreign war in which the U.S. failed to achieve its goals. Today, Americans still disagree on the main issues of the war, and whether or not their country should have become involved.

See also Cambodia (History); Johnson, Lyndon B.; Kissinger, Henry A.; Laos (History); Nguyen Van Thieu; Nixon, Richard; Vietnam.