The Americans didn't leave Vietnam until 1973 - by which time 58,000 US soldiers had lost their lives. How was peace finally achieved and at what cost?
- In 1968, the US president, Lyndon B. Johnson, ordered an end to American bombing of North Vietnam.
- There were increasing problems in the American army in Vietnam.
- There was increasing opposition to the war in America.
- Richard Nixon, who became US president in 1969, began Vietnamisation - pulling US troops out but giving financial support to the South Vietnamese army (the ARVN).
- On occasions, the US escalated the war, launching attacks into Cambodia (1970) and Laos (1971) to pursue the Vietcong who were hiding there.
- In October 1972 Henry Kissinger worked out a peace agreement with the North Vietnamese.
- Nguyen Van Thieu, the president of South Vietnam, refused to sign (he thought the Americans were going to abandon him), so the North Vietnamese pulled out of the talks.
- Richard Nixon mounted huge bombing raids on North Vietnam until the North Vietnamese were forced to sign.
- Nixon told Thieu he had to make peace whether he agreed with it or not, so Thieu was forced to sign too.
- January 1973: the Paris Peace Agreement-was signed, and the Americans left Vietnam.
- The war started as a result of when the japanese given, there was no government in French Indo-China - it had been a French colony before the war however had been occupied by Japan. the japanese troops there, when the surrender, were asked to remain on as a constabulary till one thing may be sorted out by the victorious Allies. one in all the contenders for presidency was Ho Chi Minh, a Nationalist however additionally a Communist. He was, at this stage, rather North American nation. however the USA determined it needed the French to come back as colonial occupiers, as before the war. In my view, this was a mistake and therefore the reason for the final word loss of the war years later.
First of all, Ho found himself having to fight the French for his own country. He managed to defeat them, despite the assistance from the USA. As he was effectively au fait of the northern half the country, a peace conference in Geneva (1954) got him to comply with a separation into North and Asian nation, with the final word government of the South to be determined in AN election 2 years later. It became obvious Ho's supporters would win, that the USA reneged on its promise and instead beefed up the anti-communist pupet regime it had started within the South, intending it to crush Ho.
But he additionally began to urge the higher of this pupet regime, that the increasing numbers of military advisers sent by the USA bit by bit vainglorious into atiny low army - that was then suddenly became an oversized one, as Ho's forces steady grew in strength and effectiveness. They developed ways to avoid regardless of the USA threw at them, and received lots of aid from the USSR and China to assist them fight.
Eventually, because the war dragged on inconclusively, Ho staged AN offensive that quickly threw the USA back on its heels, however that halt his forces; but, it additionally created a wave of repugnance within the USA, and a withdrawal became a political necessity; the Asian nation Government was left accountable, however presently folded before the Victorious Viet Cong and Asian country Army.
Now that Vietnam may be a communist country ANd additionally an economic partner of the USA, one would possibly ask: what was the point? 1954 was simply when the Korean War, that was fought to forestall a Stalinist take-over of the South, and that i suppose USA policy manufacturers saw Vietnam as a parallel case, that it wasn't. I feel that misunderstanding is that the reason for the defeat.
1 - Politics
2 - On-Field Events
3 - Vietnamese Sense of Pride and Nationalism
1- Americans knew that if they would use the nuclear weapons they will most likely lose the public support factor that had made them win in the Cold War so far. Also the USSR will now have an open reason to invade the Europe and other countries.
2- Americans were actually over confident about there strength.They were a military that mostly specialized on Broad Scale wars. Most of them had no tactics to counter the Vietnamese soldiers. General Giap used this flaw to the greatest extent and made the Americans loose the war
3- The Vietnamese were inspired by the neighboring countries that were winning freedom. They were so much convinced to win victory that threw anything to achieve it.
Why did the war arouse so much opposition in America?
There are few reason of it listed below.
- 58,000 Americans - average age 19 - were killed.
- It was hard for Americans to believe that they were defending America by fighting in a war 8,000 miles away.
- Extensive media coverage brought all the failures and horrors of the war into US homes.
- Atrocities such as the massacre at My Lai undermined the moral authority of the US to continue the war.
- The cost of the war meant that the US president Lyndon B. Johnson had to cancel his Great Society programme of reform.
- The war was opposed particularly by Martin Luther King and by America's black community (because wealthier white men could avoid the draft by going to university or to Canada, and young black men were twice as likely to be killed).
The differences between the Americans and the Vietcong:
Americans | Vietcong |
---|---|
The American hi-tech tactics continually killed the wrong people anddemoralised their own troops. | The Vietcong's guerrilla tactics wereappropriate to the nature of the conflict. |
The US was trying to supply a war 8,000 miles from America. | The Vietcong were supplied with weapons by China and Russia. |
The South Vietnamese regime was weak, brutal and corrupt. | The South Vietnamese peasantssupported and sheltered the Vietcong. |
Their short (one-year) tour of service meant that American troops were always inexperienced. | The Vietcong had been continuously at war since they resisted the Japanese during the Second World War. |
The morale of Americans soldiers wasrock bottom - they took drugs, shot their officers ('fragging') and deserted. | The Vietcong were fanatically determined to drive out the Americans, whatever the cost. |
The war became very unpopular in the US, and lost public support. | The North Vietnamese weremotivated, fighting at home to unite their country. |