Jessica LozanoVietnam war!

The Vietnam warthe American war was one of the coldest war

in the military conflict that occurred in Vietnam Laos and Cambodia from November 1,1955 threw April 30. 1975 when Saigon fell.

is the Vietnam war

map the is Los - Cambodia

- South VietnaThis m

- ho chi mini trail

Vietnam war The Viet cong a lightly – armed south Vietnamese – controlled common front and largely fought a guerrilla war against anti- communist forces in there region

At the time committing large units into battles in the U.S.A

The united states entered the war to prevent a communist take over

Of the south Vietnam as part of their wider strategy of the military advisors arrived beginning in 1950.

the Paris peace accords singed by all parties in January 1973 fighting continued

the war exacted a huge human cost in terms of fatalities . Including 3 to 4 million Vietnamese from both sides ,1.5 to 2 million Laotians and Cambodians and 58.159 U.S soldiers died over a hundred years

Background to 1949 the France began its conquest of

Indochina in the late 1850’s and they completed the pacification by 1893

the Viet Nam Quoc Dan Dang who staged the failed Yen Bai mutiny in 1930

Viet controlled by the communist party of Vietnam founded on 1941

During world war 2. the French were defeated by the Germany in 1940.

The German force to expelled from French . They started to hold the secrets talks with the French

During the 1944-1945 1 million of people died of starvation ( out of a population of 10 million in the affected area

on 2 September 1945,- the ho chi Minh . The leader of the Viet Minh, declared the independent Democratic Republic of the Vietnam before a crowd of 500.000 in Hani.

soviet union all agreed that the area belong to the French.

Exit of the French 1950In January 1950 the communist nation led

the people to republic of Vietnam

The Korean war in June 1950 convinced many Washington policymakers in that war

The PRC military advisory began to assisting at the Viet Minh in June 1950

In September 1950 the U.S created a Military Assistance and they made a group named ( MAAG)

BY 1954 THE U.S HAD SUPPLIED 300,000 small arms and spent 1$ billion .

they was shouldering 80 percent of the cost of the war

There were also talks between the French and the Americans in which the possible use of there weapons

The U.S bases in there religion were supported in how many fighters were there

The U.S carries sailed to the Golf of Tonkin

The PRC support border Campaign of 1950 allowed supplies to come from PRC into Vietnam

The battle of Dien Bien Phu marked the end of French involvement in Indochina .

The French a stunning military defeat on may 7 1954

Transition period The battle of Saigon ( 1955) Ba cut and state of Vietnam referendum

The Civilians were to be given the opportunity to freely move between the two provisional states for a 300 days

The last French soldiers were to leave Vietnam in April 1956.

In 1956 the Communist party leaders of Hani admitted to “excesses”

In April – June 1955 Diem against the U.S

In a referendum on the future of the state of Vietnam on 23 of October Diem rigged the poll

there were98.2 percent of votes including 133%in Saigon

On October 26,1955 Diem declared the new republic of Vietnam

Diem era,1955-1963The Domino Theory which argued that if one

Country fell to communist forces than all of the surrounding countries would follow

beginning in the summer of 1955 he launched the “Denounce the Communists’’

About 12,000 suspected opponents of Diem were killed in the years 1955-1957 and by the end of 1958 there were about 40,000 prisoners had been in jail.

In May Diem undertook a ten-day state visit to the United states

Insurgency on the south 1956The Sino Soviet split led to a reduction in the

influence of the PRC! Which had insisted in 1954

And the south Vietnam begin to have a low level insurgency in December 1956

Ho Chi Minh started “ DO NOT ENGAGE IN MILITARY OPERATIONS

Be selective in your violence. If an assassination used a knife or bomb and guns !

soon the Le Duan a communism leader who had been working in the south returned to Hanoi to accept the position of acting first secretary

And According to one estimate 20 percent of the south Vietnam village chiefs had been assassinated by the insurgents by 1958

In January 1959 the north Central Committee issued a secret resolution authorizing an “armed struggle

Increasing unpopularity of the Diem regime on December 2, 1960

According to a report on November 160 by the head of the US military advisory team

During John F. Kennedy’s administration 1961-1963When john F. Kennedy won the

presidential in 1960 one major issue Kennedy raised was whether the soviet space and missile programs had surpassed those of the US

Kennedy took over .

“ pay any price , bear any burden meet any hardship support any friend oppose any foe in order to assure the survival and success of liberty

In June 1961 John F. Kennedy bitterly disagrees with soviet premier nikita KHRUSHCHEW

And the legacy of the Korean war created the idea of a limited war

In 1961 the USA had 50,000 troops base in KOREA AND Kennedy faced a three-part crisis – the failure of the bay of pigs invasion

In May 1961 vice president Lyndon B. Johnson visited Saigon

The quality of the south Vietnamese military , however remained poor. And a bad leader ship

in April 1962 John Kenneth Galbraith warned Kennedy of the ‘’ DANGER we shall replace the French as a colonial force in the area and bleed as the French did

By 1963 there were 16,000 Americans military personnel in the south of Vietnam up from Eisenhower’s 900 advisors

On 23 July 1962 fourteen nations including the people’s Republic of China, South Vietnam , the Soviet Union north Vietnam and the US signed agreement promising the neutrality of Laos

Coup and assassinations The Battle of AP bacon in January of

1963 in which a small band of Viet Cong beat off a much larger and better equipped South Vietnamese to force many of whose officers seemed reluctant even to engage in combat

the US officials began discussing the possibility of a regime change during the summer in 1963.

The CIA was in contact with generals planning to remove Diem they were told that the US would not oppose such a move nor punish there generals by cutting off aid!

The US military advisers were embedded at every level of the south Vietnamese armed of forces

The General Paul Harkins the commanders of the US forces in the South of Vietnam confidently by the Christmas in 1963

Lyndon B. Johnson expands the war in 1936-1969

Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ) as he took over the presidency after the death of Kennedy they did not consider Vietnam a priority and it was more concerned with his “ Great Society”

On November 24 1963 Johnson said “ the battle against communism .. Must be joined.. With strength and determination

Johnson had reversed Kennedy disengagement policy from the Vietnam in withdrawing 1,000 troops by the end of 1963 (NSAM 263 on Oct 11

the military revolutionary council meeting in lieu of a strong South Vietnam leader was made up of 12 member by the General Duong Van Minh

His regime was overthrown in January 1964 by General Nguyen Khanh

on August 1964 the USS Maddox on an intelligence mission along North Vietnam’s coast

The second attack was reported two days later on the USS Turner joy and Maddox In the same area .

“those sailors out there may have been shooting at the flying fishes

The Americans boys were fighting in the war in the same month

An undated NSA publication declassified in 2005 however revealed that there was no attack on the 4 of August .

“ the Gulf of Tonkin incident”

The Americans people to gain support for his foreign policy

From the strength of approximately 5,000 at the start of 1959 Viet Cong’s ranks grew to about 100,000 at the end of 1964 between 1961 and 1964 the Army ‘s strength rose from 850,000 to nearly a million mean

the numbers for the US troops deployed to Vietnam during the same period were quite different 2,000 in 1961 rising rapidly to 16,500 in 1964

The national Security Council recommended a three –stage of there bombing the north Vietnam on March 2 1965 the following an attack on the US Marine barracks at Pleiku

Between March 1965 and November 1968 “Rolling Thunder “ deluged the north with a million tons of rocks and bombs

“we going to bomb them back into the stone age”

Escalation and ground war After several attacks upon them, it was

decided that the US air force bases needed more protection

On March 8 1965 3,500 the US Marines were dispatched to the south Vietnam

in a statement similar to that made to the French almost two decades earlier Ho Chi Minh warned that if the Americans want to make war for twenty years then we shall make war for twenty years.

1. Commitment of U.S ( and other free world ) force necessary to halt the losing trend by the end of 1965

2. U.S and allied force mount offensive actions to seize the initiative to destroy guerrilla and organized emery force

3. if the enemy persisted a period of twelve to eighteen months

Tet Offensive !In January 1968 the NVA and NLF broke the

truce that had transitionally accompanied ( Lunar New year ) holiday

He was featured on the cover of time magazine three times and was named 1965 man of the year

In November 1967 Westmoreland spearheaded a public relations drive for the Johnson administstration to bolster flagging public support.

President Lyndon B. Johnson who declined to rum for relection Johnson’s approval rating slumped from 48 to 36 percent

Vietnamization 1969-19 72Propaganda leaflets urging the defection of

NLF and north Vietnamese to the side of the republic of Vietnam

on October 10, 1969 Nixon ordered a squadron of 18 b-52 loaded with nuclear weapon to race to the border of Soviet airspace

But Nixon was disappointed that the PPC and the Soviet Union continued to supply the North Vietnamese with aid in September 1969 , Ho Chi Minh died at age seventy –nine

Speedy Express with a claimed body count of 10,889 Communist guerillas with only 40 U.S losses

Operation Menu. The secret bombing of Cambodia and LaosPrince Nordodom Sihanouk had proclaimed

Cambodia neutral since 1955

in 1971 the Pentagon Papers were leaked to the New York times the top – secret history of the U.S

In 1971 Australia and New Zealand withdrew their Soldiers the U.S troops count was further reduced to 196,700 , with a dead line to remove another 45,000 troops by February 1972

1972 Election and Paris peace Accords The war was the central issue of the 1972

presidential election Nixon opponent George McGovern campaigned on a platform of withdrawal from Vietnam

on January 15,1973 Nixon announced the suspension of offensive action against North Vietnam

High –profile opposition to the Vietnam was turned to street to street protests in an effort to turn U.S political opinion on October 15, 1969 the Vietnam Moratorim attracted millions of Americans

Exit of the Americans The U.S began drastically reducing their

troops support in the South Vietnam during the final years of Vietnamization

The oil price shock of October 1973 cause significant damage to the South Vietnam econony . The Vietcong resumed offensive operations when dry season began by January 1974

the Gerald Ford took over as U.S president on 9 of August In 1974 it had recaptured the territory it lose during the previous dry reason

Campaign 275On March 10, 1975 General Dung Campaign

275 a limited offensive into Central highlands supports by tanks and heavy artillery

As the ARVN tried to disengage from the enemy refugees mixed in with the line of retreat the poors

Final North Vietnamese OffensiveOn 7th April, three North Vietnamese

divisions attacked Xuan Loc. 40 miles east of Saigon.

The north Vietnamese met fierce resistance at Xuan Loc from ARVN 18th Division, who were outnumbered six to one.

An embittered and tearful President Thieu resigned on the same day, declaring that the U.S had betrayed South Vietnam.

He suggested U.S Secretary of State Henry Kissinger had tricked him into signing the Paris peace agreement two years ago.

Promising military aid which then failed to materialize.

At the time of peace agreement the U.S agreed to replace equipment on a one-by-one basis. But the U.S didnt keep its word.

Is an American word reliable these days? The U.S did not keep its promise to help us fight for freedom and it was in the same fight that the U.S lost 50,000 of its young men.

By the end of April, the army of the republic of south Vietnam had collapsed on all fronts.

Thousands of refugees streamed southward, ahead of the main communist onslaught.

On the 27th of April, 100,000 North Vietnamese troops encircled Saigon.

The city was defended by about 30,000 ARVN troops.

Fall of Sagion Chaos unrest and panic broke out as

hysterical South Vietnamese officials and civilians scrambled to leave Saigon Martial law

On April 30, 1975 VPA troops overcame all resistance quickly capturing key buildings and installations

People’s Republic of china In 1950 the people Republic of china

extended diplomatic recognition to the Viet Minh’s Democratic Republic of Vietnam

In the summer of 1962 Mao Zedong agreed to supply Hanoi with 90,000 rifles and guns free of change on 1965

the Khmer Rouge launched ferocious raids into Vietnam in 1975-1978

The two nations continued the border wars in the 1980’s with china capturing disputed island during the battle of the paracel islands and the Spratly island skirmish in 1988

PHILLIPPINES some 10,450 Filipino troops were dispatched

to the south Vietnam they was were primarily engaged in medical and other civilian

THAILLAND Thail army for formations including the

Queen Cobra battalions saw action in south Vietnam between 1965 and 1971

SOVIET UNION The Soviet Union supplied North Vietnam

with medical supplies ,arms , tanks , planes , helicopters, artillery anti –aircraft missiles and other military equipment

the Soviet Union in 1991 Russian officials acknowledged that the Soviet Union had stationed up to 3,000 troops in Vietnam during the war.

North Korea as a result of a decision of the Korean Party

in October 1966 in early 1967 North Korea sent a fighter

They stayed through 1968 and 200 Pliot were reported to have server

Aftermath: Events in Southeast AsiaPhom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, fell to

followers of the communist Party of Kampuchea, commonly known as the Khmer Rouge, on 17th of April 1975.

After repeated border clashes in 1978, Vietnam invaded Democratic Kampuchea. And ousted the Khmer Rouge in the Cambodian-Vietnamese war.

In response, china invaded Vietnam in 1979. the two countries fought a brief border war, known as the third Indochina war or the Sino-Vietnam war.

From 1975-1996, the U.S resettled some 250,000 Lao refugees from Thailand, including 130,00 Hmong.

Effect on the U.S

U.S Secretary of State Henry Kissinger wrote in a secret memo to President Gerald Ford that

”Im terms of military tactics, we cannot help draw the conclusion that our armed forces are not suited to this kind of war.

The Vietnam war called into question the U.S army doctrine. Marie corps General Victor H. Krulak heavily criticized Westmoreland's attrition strategy.

Calling it “Wasteful of American lives… with small likelihood of a successful outcome.

Chemical defoliationOne of the most controversial aspects of the U.S

military effort in Southeast Asia was the use of chemical defoliants between 1961 and 1971.

In 1961 and 1962, the Kennedy administration authorized the use of chemicals to destroy rice crops.

In 2006, the Vietnamese Gov. estimates 4,000,000 victims of dioxin posioning.

The number of military and civilian deaths from 1959- 1975 is debated.

In 1995, the Vietnamese Gov. reported that its military forces, including the NLF, suffered 1.1 million deads and 600,000 wounded during Hanoi’s conflict with the U.S