VLVL(6) Ch 11 Note - the war in Vietnam

[Peter Petto]

207.21  the war in Vietnam - military struggle fought in Vietnam from 1959
to 1975. The conflict began as an attempt by Communist guerrillas (the Viet
Cong) in the South, backed by Communist North Vietnam, to overthrow the
government of South Vietnam. The struggle became a war between South
Vietnam and North Vietnam and ultimately a limited international conflict.
The United States and some 40 other countries supported South Vietnam by
supplying troops and munitions, and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
(USSR) and the People's Republic of China furnished munitions to North
Vietnam and the Viet Cong. On both sides, however, the burden of the war
fell mainly on civilians.

(As with the Nixon note, although this is retreaded ground for most,-- I
feel it is important background and is worth a lengthy note.)

The war was a sequel to the struggle for independence (1946-1954) by the
Communist Vietminh, headed by Ho Chi Minh, against the French rulers of
Indochina. In August 1945, following the surrender of Japan at the end of
World War II, Vietminh guerrillas seized the capital city of Hanoi. They
declared Vietnam to be independent and created the Democratic Republic of
Vietnam, commonly called North Vietnam, with Ho Chi Minh as president.
France was unwilling to completely cede control of Vietnam, and in December
1946 an armed conflict ensued. With French backing, former emperor of
Vietnam Bao Dai set up the state of Vietnam, commonly called South Vietnam,
in July 1949, and established a new capital at Saigon.

The following year, the United States officially recognized the Saigon
government, and to assist it, dispatched a military advisory group to train
South Vietnam in the use of U.S. weapons. Meanwhile, the Vietminh won a
decisive battle against the French at Ðien Biên in the spring of 1954.

On May 8, in Geneva, Switzerland, North and South Vietnamese delegates met
with those of France, Britain, the Soviet Union, the United States,
Communist China, Laos, and Cambodia to discuss the future of all of
Indochina. France and North Vietnam agreed to a truce. It was further
agreed to partition the country temporarily along the 17th parallel, with
the north going to the Communists and the south placed under the control of
the Saigon government. The agreement stipulated that elections for
reunification of the country would be held in 1956.

Once the French had withdrawn from Vietnam, the United States moved to
bolster the Saigon government militarily, and later, economically. The
United States continued its support for the Saigon government even after
South Vietnam was made a republic in 1955, with Ngo Dinh Diem as president.
Diem promptly announced that his government would not hold reunification
elections.

The Geneva truce began to crumble, and by 1957 the Viet Cong began attacks
on U.S. military installations. They began guerrilla attacks on the Diem
government in 1959. On November 10 the Saigon government charged that
regular North Vietnamese troops were taking a direct part in Viet Cong
attacks in South Vietnam. To show that the guerrilla movement was
independent, the Viet Cong set up their own political arm, known as the
National Liberation Front (NLF).

In April 1961 the United States signed a treaty of amity and economic
relations with South Vietnam. In December 1961 the first U.S. troops,
consisting of 400 uniformed army personnel, arrived in Saigon; a year
later, U.S. military strength in Vietnam stood at 11,200.

The Diem government, meanwhile, proved unable to defeat the Communists or
to cope with growing unrest among South Vietnamese Buddhists and other
religious groups. On November 1, 1963, the Diem regime was overthrown in a
military coup, and Diem was executed. A series of other coups followed. A
military council under General Nguyen Van Thieu and General Nguyen Cao Ky
was finally created in 1965. Elections were held in 1967, and Thieu became
president of South Vietnam.

In the early 1960s some North Vietnamese troops infiltrated into South
Vietnam to help the Viet Cong. Supplies sent to Hanoi from the USSR and
China were sent south down the so-called Ho Chi Minh Trail. The war
escalated in the first week of August 1964, when North Vietnamese torpedo
boats were reported to have attacked two U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of
Tonkin. The U.S. Senate passed the so-called Gulf of Tonkin Resolution on
August 7 authorizing increased military involvement. In February 1965, U.S.
planes began regular bombing raids over North Vietnam. By the end of 1965
American combat strength was nearly 200,000.

The war went on despite attempts at negotiations. The United States
continued its military buildup and extended its bombings of North Vietnam.
The mounting death toll accompanied a growing sentiment within the United
States for an end to the war. Accelerating the peace movement was the issue
of atrocities committed by U.S. troops in Vietnam. One widely publicized
case was the massacre of unarmed civilians at the village of My Lai in 1968.

>From February 1965 to the end of all-out U.S. involvement in 1973, South
Vietnamese forces mainly fought against the Viet Cong guerrillas, while
U.S. and allied troops fought the North Vietnamese in a war of attrition.
During 1967 and 1968 the North Vietnamese launched the famous Tet
Offensive, a series of attacks on more than 100 urban targets. In spite of
its devastating psychological effect, the campaign failed.

Nevertheless, by the early spring of 1968 much of the American public had
concluded that the war was unwinnable. In May 1968 peace talks between the
United States and North Vietnam opened in Paris. Later in the year, the
talks were expanded to include South Vietnam and the Viet Cong NLF, but no
progress was made.

In 1969 President Richard M. Nixon announced that 85,000 U.S. troops would
be withdrawn from Vietnam by the end of the year. The North Vietnamese
delegates to the Paris talks continued to insist upon complete U.S.
withdrawal as a condition for peace.

In April 1970 U.S. combat troops entered Cambodia following a political
coup. Within three months, the U.S. campaign in Cambodia ended, but air
attacks on North Vietnam were renewed. By 1971 South Vietnamese forces were
playing a larger role in the war, fighting in both Cambodia and Laos as
well as in South Vietnam. Meanwhile, Nguyen Van Thieu was reelected in 1971
amid charges that the election had been rigged.

In January 1972 the United States entered into negotiations with the Viet
Cong and North Vietnam. Peace talks broke off on March 23. The tide of the
war turned one week later when on March 30 North Vietnam launched a massive
offensive south into Quang Tri Province. In April, the United States
retaliated with the first deep-penetration bombing raids over the north
since 1967.

As the war continued into the second half of 1972, secret peace meetings
were held at intervals in Paris, abruptly collapsing on December 16.
However, the meetings resumed in the new year, and on January 23, 1973,
President Nixon announced over nationwide television that agreement on all
terms for a formal cease-fire had finally been reached.

On January 27 in Paris, delegations representing the United States, South
Vietnam, North Vietnam, and the Provisional Revolutionary Communist
Government of South Vietnam signed an Agreement on Ending the War and
Restoring Peace in Vietnam. The cease-fire officially went into effect on
January 28.

By the end of March 1973, all U.S. fighting forces had been withdrawn.
Fighting between Vietnamese antagonists died down shortly after the
cease-fire, only to be renewed as each side attempted to hold or expand its
military positions. In December 1974 the North Vietnamese and their
southern allies launched a major offensive that quickly resulted in
unprecedented success. On April 30 the capital city of Saigon was captured,
and the Republic of Vietnam surrendered unconditionally to the Provisional
Revolutionary Government.

The Vietnam War marked a turning point in the history of modern
conventional warfare both in the extent of guerrilla and antiguerrilla
combat involved and in the increased reliance on helicopters. Moreover, the
Vietnam War was essentially a people's war; because noncombatants were not
easily distinguishable from combatants, the civilian population suffered
heavily. As a result of more than eight years of warfare, it is estimated
that more than 2 million Vietnamese were killed and 3 million wounded.
About 12 million Indochinese people became refugees.

In the Vietnam War, U.S. casualties rose to a total of 57,685 killed and
about 153,303 wounded. Less measurable but still significant costs were the
social conflicts within the United States that were engendered by the
war-the questioning of U.S. institutions by the American people and a sense
of self-doubt.