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Opened to deal with the wars in Korea and Indochina. It did not settle the Vietnam problem but instead produced a military truce that allowed France to get out of Vietnam with minimal loss of prestige. Vietnam was divided into North and South at the 17th parallel. The Viet Ming, under Ho Chi Ming were to control the North and were supported by China and the Soviet Union. South Vietnam became a US anti-communist state,
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There were to be nation wide elections to re-unify the North and South and by this time it was obviouse that in the event of an election the communists would overwelmingly win. The leader of South Vietnam Ngo Dinh Diem, with US support postponed the elections indefinitely.
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The US start re-organising the South Vietnamese Army. The US thought that the communists would try to take control by invading from the North as it happened in Korea. Thus they trained Vietnamese officers in the art of conventional rather than guerrilla warfare.
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Riots and protests were common, communists in the South took advantage of the disillusionment with Diem's government. From 1857 they began a campaign of terrosrism and selective assassination in an attempt to undermine the government of the South.
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Ho Chi Ming formed the National Liberation Front. The NLF was a political organisation dedicated to the unification of Vietnam. It was directed from Hanoi and it's military wing, in the South, was the Viet Cong guerrilla army.
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By this time Vietnam was considered the corner stone of the free world in South East Asia.
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Within two years of Kennedy's presidency the US had gone from over 600 military advisers in South Vietnam to around 15, 000 advisers.
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Within two years of Kennedy's presidency the US had gone from over 600 military advisers in South Vietnam to around 15, 000 advisers.
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Diem and his brother were rounded up and murdered by the South Vietnamese Army with approval from the US.
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Three weeks after Diem's assassination John F. Kennedy was murdered.
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The American government used attacks on American intelligent ships in the North to pass the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. This gave the president the legal basis to increase US involvement in Vietnam without having to declare war.
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Conviced that the South Vitnamese Army could not win the war against the communists, several advisers encouraged the new US presdient, Lyndon Johnson, to 'Americanise' the war by sending in combat troops to fight the Viet Cong
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Johnston launched 'Operation Barrel Roll', the bombing of the Ho Chi Ming trail.
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The sustained aerial bombardment of North Vietnam. This was continued for over three years.
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Despite the fact there were already 23 thousand advisders in Vietnam, the first offical combat troops arivied in March 1965. Their mission; 'To portect the US base at Da Nang'. The US was now firmly commited to saving Vietnam from the communists, any withdrawl or weakness would reslut in the loss of American prestige.
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The Tet Offensive was the turning point of the war where 70, 000 Viet Cong attcked seven major cities. The next day one hundred seperate attacks were made accross South Vietnam. The Tet offensive was a military failer for the Communists, 45, 000 communist soldiers were killed compared with 4000 US and Vietnamese troops. The Communists were drivern out of almost all of their targets within three days. They had hoped for a popular uprising that would overthow the South Vietnamese government.
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Although the Tet Offensive was seen as a militarvictory for the US it was an unmitigated propaganda disaster. Americans had been told for years that progress was being made and that the war was being won. Howvever if America was winning the war how was it possibile for the enemy to launch such a large scale attack. The brutality of the war was beamed into American living rooms and public opinion polarised through the nation.
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Peace talks began-May 1968. South Vietnam wanted a guarantee of its survival while the US wanted an agreement to cover the withdrawl of its forces without giving the appearance of surrendering. Negotiations stalled until 1972 when US and North Vietnam reached a compromise however South Vietnamese president, Nguyen Van Thieu would not accept the agreement and negotiations colapsed.
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By 1968 the US had 500, 000 soldiers in Vietnam but 80% were in non-combat positions.
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Richard Nixon was elected in 1968 on the promise of "Peace with Honor". Basically this meant getting out of the war while at the same time avoiding a humiliating defeat. Ending the was had become the objective of war itself.
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Within the first two days of taking office, Nixon ordered an incursion into Laos by battalion of marines (even Johnson had refreained from a ground attack there). The new President was, it appeared, not so much a peacemaker as a pacemaker.
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Nixon's policy of Vietnamisation involved handing over fighting on the groud to the Vietnamese army thus significantly reducing US casualties . The US would provide weapons and air support. This change in policy meant a decline in troop numbers and 60, 000 were withdrawn in 1969. This allowed the communists to rebuild after the devastations of the Tet Offensive.
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15, 000 American troops and 5000 South Vietnamese invaded Cambodia in an attempt to destroy the communists headquaters. The Cambodian Prime Minister was not consulted.
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In America the anti-war movement had grown rapidly after the Tet-Offensive. In October 1969 50, 000 people had marched in Washington opposing the war. Two months laters 250, 000 people demonstrated in the nations capital. The US invasion of Cambodia sparked moredemonstrations. In May 1970 four people were shot dead when members of the National Guard opened fire at Kent State University.
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In March 1972 the North Vietnamese Army launched a major conventional military attack accross the demilitarised zone. Armed with 500 soviet taks and artilery they captured Quang Tri and managed to hold it until September. In the South Vietnamese Army one of the two divisions panicked and fled. The North Vietnamese threatened Hue but massive US air and naval power slowed them down allowing the South's Army time to re-group. It was now clear that the South was incapable of holding back the North.
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Nixon ordered the saturation bombing of Haiphong and Hanoi, not to influence the North but to persuade Thieu that the US would continue support evem after all the troops were withdrawn.
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Nixsons method of winning the peace was to continue direct American involvement in the war until January 1973.
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The Peace Agreement was finally signed in January 1973. It gave the US time to get out before the South colapsed. The last US soldiers left in March that year. They left a corrupt, incompitant government that was financially and militarily dependent on USA.
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Gerald Ford became president in 1974 after Nixon was force to resine after the Watergate scandal. Ford had no personal commitment to South Vietnem and military and finacial support dreied up. South Vietnam was on its own.
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The US issued a diplomatic protest but that was all.
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Confident that the US would not intereve, on the first of March, the NVA launched a major offensive. Thousands fles as the NVA moved South. Within two months communist forces had cut off Saigon's airport and moved into the suburbs.
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On the 29th the US began evacuating their embassy and attemted to fly 6000 people, by helicopter, to ships off the coast.
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Totally overwelmed, South Vietnam surrended to the North and the flag of the Viet Cong flew over the presidental palace in Saigon.
