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Geneva Accords
The Geneva Accords, held in Switzerland, was a conference that took place around the time that France decided to pull out of its war with Vietnam (which the US was funding). Out of this conference came the decision that Vietnam would undergo a two-year period of being split between the North and South at the 17th parallel. In 1956, elections were to be held to choose a government for a united Vietnam. However, the two sides failed to do so. This foreshadowed the Vietnam War. -
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Vietnam War
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Formation of the NLF
The National Liberation Front was established in response to the unpopularity of Ngo Dinh Diem, the leader of South Vietnam, who led a government in which peasants were suppressed and 15% of people owned 75% of the land. The NLF united, representing mutual leftist political factions and the unpopularity of Diem. The NLF would use geurrilla tactics and military resistance in the war against the South. -
Gulf of Tonkin Incident
A US naval destroyer was located in the Gulf of Tonkin (off the coast of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and was taking place in intelligence and sabotage operations. DPV torpedo boats attacked. Two nights later, the US would claim that they attacked again in a similar incident which was proven to not have happened. From this came the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution in with President Johnson was given legal authority to intervene in Southeast Asian countries that were under "communist agression" -
Tet Offensive
This was a series of attacks launched by the NLF and PAVN units all across South Vietnam. It was initially successful until the US and the south were able to fight back. Nevertheless, it was a psychological defeat for the South and US because there was widespread public protest in response in the US. President Johnson now decided that he was going to be dedicated to a plan to get out of Vietnam. -
Veitnamization
When Richard Nixon became president in 1969, he came up with a policy of Vietnamization in which the US troops were supposed to slowly but surely get out of Vietnam. Although the US wanted to make it seem like they didn't really "lose" the war, they essentially did. On April 30 1975, Saigon fell to the North.
