Vietnam War

By: Stephen Korolyk

Introduction

• All parts of the Vietnam War• Background• about the war• how it ended

Different names

• Vietnam war• Second Indochina War• Vietnam conflict

About the war

• It occurred at Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia• November 1, 1955 to April 30, 1975• It followed the first Indochina war

• Fought between

- North Vietnam and Allies ( Communist)

- South Vietnam and Allies ( Democracy)

US enters the war

• Military advisors arrived in 1950

• Involvement rose in 1960

• Army tripled in 1961 and again in 1962

Background of war until 1949

• Treaty of Hue in 1884 had France rule Vietnam until after WWII

• Japan took them under the rule of Bao Dai

• During WWII they became allies of the Axis powers

• This stayed like this until the French booted the Germans out of France.

• Vietnam didn’t trust the French any more

• Japan then took them and they became the Empire of Vietnam.

• After WWII the UN, US, the SU agreed that Vietnam belonged to France

• France didn’t have the soldiers, ammo, or weapons to immediately retake it

• Britain then gave France the ammo they needed.

• They also gave supplies to surrounding Japanese aid.

• They helped France retake Vietnam.

• Ho Chi attempted to negotiate with the French.

• French landed in Hanoi by March 1946.

• This started the First Indochina War

• Japan was loosing until Communists China largely won the Chinese Civil war.

• They helped provide supplies for Vietnam.

Exit of the French

• Communist nations were lead by the People’s Republic of China (PRC)

• Their advisors began to help Viet Minh

• They transformed them from a guerrilla force into a regular army

• September 1950- US created a Military Assistance and Advisory group (MAAG)

• Used to help the French with:

- aid

- advice on strategy

- train Vietnamese soldiers

• The French’s involvement with the war ended after the Battle of Dien Bien Phu

• France was defeated

• On May 7th 1954 France surrendered

• Independence was granted to:

- Cambodia

- Laos

- Vietnam

Insurgency in the South

• Hanoi lead communist in South Vietnam to begin a low level insurgency

• 400 government officials were assassinated in 1957

• 20% of Vietnam’s village chiefs had been assassinated by insurgents in 1958

During JFK in office 1961-1963• JFK had a three part crisis: - failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion

- construction of the Berlin Wall

- settlement of the government of Laos and the Pathet Lao communist movement

• On July 23 1962 14 nations: - Peoples Republic of China

- South Vietnam

- Soviet Union

- North Vietnam

- United States

• signed an agreement promising the neutrality of Laos

Coup and assassination

• November 2 1963, Diem was overthrown and executed along with his brother

• Hanoi took advantage of the situation and increased the support for the guerrillas

• One government fell and another quickly succeeded

Lyndon B. Johnson expands the war

• Johnson reversed Kennedy’s policy and withdrew 1,000 troops

• August 2nd, 1964 USS Maddox fired upon and damaged many torpedo boats

• Another attack two days later on:

- USS Turner Joy

- USS Maddox

• Vietnam army was aprox. 5,000 soldiers• Vietnam army grew:

- 1959- 100,000 soldiers

- 1961 to 1964- 850,000 to 1 million soldiers

• US troops deployed to Vietnam grew from 2,000 soldiers in 1961 to 16,500 soldiers in 1964

• March 2nd 1965

• operations:

- Flaming Dart

- Rolling Thunder

- Arc Light

• Operation Rolling Thunder

- Covered the North with millions of missiles rockets and bombs

- Between March 1965 to November 1968

• Operation Commando Hunt - targeted the NLF and the Vietnam People’s Army (VPA)

- objective: forcing North Vietnam’s support with the NLF

- operation failed

Escalation and ground war

• March 8th, 1965 3,500 US marines were sent to Vietnam

• This is the beginning of the American ground war• Increased to 200,000 in December• Communist made a hit-and-run guerrilla tactics• In Binh Gia they defeated a strong ARVN force in

conventional warfare • Communist won another Battle of the Battle of Dong

Xoai

United State’s Plan

• They had a three point plan:

- Commitment of US to halt the losing trend by the end of 1965

- the forces seize the guerilla forces this will end when the enemy was warn down and driven back.

- if phase two is not complete in 12 to 18 months they will need the final destruction of enemy forces

Tet Offensive

• This is when over 100 cities were attacked with assaults on General Westmoreland’s headquarters and the US Embassy, Saigon

• It was the American turning point in Vietnam

• May 10th, 1968 America and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam began peace talks

• Johnson stopped bombing Vietnam

• Hubert Humphrey (Dem.) vs. Richard Nixon (Rep.)

Vietnamization

• Richard Nixon becomes President.

• Nixon Doctrine- build up the ARVN so they could protect South Vietnam

• Also known as Vietnamization

• Oct. 10th, 1969 Nixon ordered a squadron of 18 B-52s loaded with nuclear weapons and attach the boarder to show the Soviet Union that he will do anything to end the war.

Operation Menu: the secret bombing of Cambodia and Laos

• Prince Norodom Sihanouk proclaimed Cambodia neutral since 1955

• His policy changed in 1969 when Vietnamese communists were no longer welcome

• 1971, Pentagon papers were leaked into the New York Times

• Supreme court said it was legal

• 1971 Australia and New Zealand withdrew their troops

• Peace protests spread out across the US

1972 election

• 1972 election

- Nixon vs. McGovern

VS

Paris Peace Accords

• They were signed on January 27, 1973

• Ended all U.S involvement in the Vietnam War

Opposing to the Vietnam War:1962-1975

• It started to unite groups:

- U.S

- anti-communism

- imperialism

- colonialism

• Opposition turned into street riots in effort to turn U.S political opinion

Exit of the Americans: 1973-1975

• U.S dramatically retreated their support for South Vietnam during the final years of Vietnamization

• The North was planning to attack the south during the 1975- 1976 dry season

• The north started to retake land from the south

• President Theiew announced that the Paris Peace treaty was no longer in effect

• Gerald Ford took over as U.S president on August 9th 1974 after Nixon’s Watergate scandal

Campaign 275

• On March 10th 1975, General Dung launched Campaign 275

• this limited offensive into Central Highlands

• Target: Ban Me Thuot in Daklak Provinence

• March 22nd VPA opened the siege of Hue

• People flooded the airports and docks to escape

• March 31st Hue fell

Final North Vietnamese offensive

• North with half of Vietnam, decided to head for Saigon

• Ho Chi Minh campaigned for the fall of Saigon by May 1st

• The ARVN tried to make a last stand before they reached Saigon

• They defended for two weeks

• On April 21st they surrendered

• President Thieu resigned the same day declaring that the U.S betrayed South Vietnam

• April 27th 100,000 North Vietnamese soldiers encircled Saigon

Fall of Saigon

• Martial Law: American helicopters began evacuating people in Saigon

• Operation Frequent Wind: evacuation of Saigon

-largest helicopter evacuation in history

• President Gerald Ford gave a televised speech declaring the end of the Vietnam War

• Countries involved in the war: - People’s Republic of China

- South Korea

- Australia

- New Zealand

- Philippines

- Thailand

- Soviet Union

- North Korea

- Canada and the ICC

- Republic of China (Taiwan)

- United States

- North and South Vietnam

Aftermath

• Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, fell to the Communist party of Kampuchea on Apria 17th 1975

• Vietnam invaded Democratic Kampuchea and became the Cambodian-Vietnam War

• China invaded Vietnam in 1979 in a boarder war

• Known as the Third Indochina War 1978-1979

• Path Lao overthrew the royalist government of Laos in December 1975

Effect on the United States

• Between 1965 and 1975 the United States spent $111 billion on the war

• 3 million soldiers entered the war:

- 58,193 soldiers were killed

- 150,000 were wounded

- 21,000 were permanently wounded

• Many fled to Canada to avoid Vietnam draft

Chemical defoliation

• Rainbow Herbicides:

- Agent Pink

- Agent Green

- Agent Purple

- Agent Blue

- Agent White- Agent White

• Mostly used Agent Orange

Agent Orange

• Made of Dixon

• Over 20 million US gallons were sprayed over Southeast Asia

• Caused birth defects

Casualties

• Vietnamese government in its military forces suffered 1.1 million and 600,000 wounded

• Civilian deaths from Operation Rolling Thunder ranged from 52,000 to 182,000

• U.S military has estimated between 200,000 and 250,000 South Vietnamese soldiers died in the war

The

End