• Total U.S. bomb tonnage dropped during:
         World War II =   2 057 244 tons
         Vietnam War =  7 078 032 tons (3.44 times as much as WWII)
  • Bomb tonnage dropped during the Vietnam War amounted to
    1 000 lbs. for every man, woman and child in Vietnam.
  • An estimated 70 000 draft evaders and "dodgers" were living
    in Canada by 1972.
  • A Cornell University study placed the over-all total U.S. cost
    of the Vietnam war at $200 Billion
  • 30 April 1969 – Peak US troop strength 543 000
  • Approximately 12,000 helicopters saw action in Vietnam
  • 9,087,000 military personnel served on active duty during the Vietnam era (August 5, 1964 - May 7, 1975).
  • 8,744,000 GIs were on active duty during the war (August 5, 1964 - March 28, 1973).
  • Married men killed: 17,539.
  • 61% of the men killed were 21 or younger.
  • Hostile (VC, NVA) deaths: 47,359.
  • Non-hostile (US, ARVN) deaths: 10,797.
  • POWs: 766 (114 died in captivity).
  • Total draftees (1965-73): 1,728,344.
  • Draftees accounted for 30.4% (17,725) of combat deaths in Vietnam.
  • Twenty-five (25) percent of the total United States forces serving in Vietnam were draftees
  • 76% of the men sent to Vietnam were from lower middle/ working class backgrounds
  • 82% of veterans who saw heavy combat strongly believe the war was lost because of lack of political will
  • (1993) Nearly 75% of the public agrees it was a failure of political will, not of arms.
  • The average age of the soldiers serving during the Vietnam War was nineteen (19). The average age of the soldiers serving during World War II was twenty-six (26).

1. Indochina after the French

Consequences of the Vietnamese victory against the French:

  • News of DBP (November 1953– May 1954) arrived just as the Geneva Conference was proceeding on Indochina (8th May), the victory at DBP filled Pham Van Dong and the Viet Minh at the conference with an impetus of belief that they now held the upper hand in the discussions. DBP was a catalyst for the outcomes delivered by the Conference and had direct and indirect ramifications. This was significant because it was also the first time that a western nation was defeated by a South-Eastern Communist country. It would not be the last.
  • The commencing Geneva Peace Conference 8th of May 1954, both parties sought for political settlements. France even with the backing of the US, now wanted to withdrawal from Vietnam whilst the Viet Minh wanted complete self determination. The Vietminh now had a substantial military victory to buttress their negotiating position to press this key issue of the party. This advantage can be said to have resulted in the Conference promising the withdrawal of the French forces from Indochina, creation of a sovereign North Vietnam and also the prospect of general elections in 2 years time to unify the country, which was a distinctly favourable outcome as the Viet Minh were the dominant political party.

Consequences of the Geneva Peace Agreement for the Vietnamese people to 1964:

  • Vietnam was partitioned into northern and southern zones pending unification on the basis of internationally supervised free elections to be held in July 1956. Troops were to be withdrawn from BOTH sides within 300 days.
  • Due to the partition, a massive migration took place. Most of the migration consisted of one million moving from North Vietnam to South Vietnam, mostly Catholics, while a smaller number went from South to North.
  • The conference (April 1954) stipulated national elections take place in two years, but Diem suppressed the advocates of the agreed-to election, and it never took place. The suppression continued, which led South Vietnamese opponents of President Ngo Dinh Diem to form the Communist National Liberation Front, better known as the Viet Cong, which eventually launched guerrilla attacks against the RVN government and desired the reunification of Vietnam under Communist rule. The Viet Cong were supported by the Vietnam People's Army (VPA) of the North.
  • Backed by the United States, Diem's government refused to open consultation with the North Vietnamese concerning general elections. The South contended it did not have to honor the agreement as it was not a signatory, and the U.S. feared that the communists would win the election.
  • Guerrilla activity in the South escalated, while U.S. military advisors continued to support the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. The result was the Second Indochina War, more commonly known as the Vietnam War.
  • However, the Diem government refused to enter into negotiations to hold the stipulated election, encouraged by the United States' determination to prevent a communist victory in an all-Vietnam election. Questions were also raised about the legitimacy of any poll held in the communist-run North. Diem's South Vietnamese government had not signed the Geneva Accords, so he felt no obligation to comply with them. On the communist side, even before the Geneva Accords were signed, Hồ Chí Minh had prepared to attack South Vietnam in case unification failed to take place through elections. His preparations included communication with thousands of covert communist agents in the south and the hiding of numerous weapons caches.

Political, social, economic and military developments within North and South Vietnam:

South Vietnam:

Politics

  • Post Geneva conference Bao Dai instructed by US to appoint Diem as Premier.
  • Diem’s reign begins... August 1963 martial law, ARVN involvement etc.
  • Following the coups= June 1965 convention= ‘Directory of Officers’= Thieu head of state and Ky as premier= 1967 electoral confirmation.
  • Militaristic methods maintained= persecuting political prisoners etc.
  • Close relationship with Lansdale (CIA agent), two aims: discredit government of HCM, and create a popular support base for Diem in SV.
  • Operation Exodus July 1956= Propaganda program launched by Lansdale, through these aims “the Virgin Mary has fled south, seek refuge with Ngo Dinh Diem” aimed at Catholics in NV.
  • But Diem was catholic, no loyalty with no police force and no loyalty from national army, bankrupt republic.
  • People’s Army of North Vietnam (NVA/PVA) would only return to NV if free elections were held- both conditions of  the Geneva conventions they had signed and US/SV had not.
  • Fractionalism, corruption of government, emergence of resistance fighters.

Social Policies

  • Catholic minority favoured over Buddhist majority.
  • 1963= Open conflict between Buddhists and Government most clearly begins.
  • Catholic refugees from the North allowed to buy large tracts of land= alienation of local hill tribes= limited effectiveness of any agricultural reforms, private dependence.
  • Increasing centralisation, administrators replacing democratically elected village councils, purging of suspected communist/ Viet Cong activity.
  • Strategic Hamlet program= American support= Varyingly effective= greater discontent= 1960 suspension, but then new strategic hamlet program of relocation protected by ARVN= 3000 fortified villages by end of year.

Economic Policies

  • International Aid (US)
  • Western- Style Bureaucracies- ‘Ministries of Agriculture and Commerce’.
  • Military Policies
  • Diem attempts to minimise ARVN forces so as to not threaten his government= large paramilitary force that owes him personal loyalty instead= used against VM (esp. in 1957).
  • 1950s= SV receives US non- combat support through US Military Advisory Group and later MACV.
  • Conflict of ideology, nepotism etc.

North Vietnam:

Political

  • In 1955, Ho Chi Minh secured an additional $200 million and $100 million in economic aid, from peking and Moscow respectively.
  • Deal between the Soviet Union, Burma and North Vietnam
  • Aid in the form of economic aid, a long-term loan in 1960 from the Soviet Union of 43 new industrial plants, medical services and trained professionals.
  • Socialism-based class reform.
  • Agrarian reforms of 1954-56.
  • 10-15,000 persons  killed, another 50-100,000 deported or imprisoned.
  • Ho: ‘One can not waken the dead.
  • The Rectification of Errors Campaign was applied in 1956.

Economic

  • 810000 hectares of farmland  redistributed to 2.1 million peasant households; also providing 1.5 million landless and poor peasants families slightly more than an acre each.
  • 1955-59, the total value of agricultural output rose by an average 11.2 percent per year, whilst average per capita food production rose from 278 kilograms to 367.2 kilograms.
  • 1959-60, 85.4 percent of all peasant households and 68 percent of total farmland were placed into low-grade cooperatives.
  • 1961-65; reflected a period of construction and industrialization.
  • Building of chemical plants, an iron and steel centre, mines, refineries, a textile industry and numerous irrigation works.
  • Some of North Vietnam’s modern factories compare favourably with modern production sites anywhere in the world.”- Joseph Buttinger.
  • 1954-68 annual GDP growth only at 6% during the period, whilst GDP per capita at –3%.

2. USA and Indochina

Political and social issues in Indochina by 1960:

Diem’s attempt to consolidate the South:

  • The Diem government refused to enter into negotiations to hold the stipulated election, encouraged by the United States' determination to prevent a communist victory in an all-Vietnam election. Questions were also raised about the legitimacy of any poll held in the communist-run North. Diem's South Vietnamese government had not signed the Geneva Accords, so he felt no obligation to comply with them. On the communist side, even before the Geneva Accords were signed, Hồ Chí Minh had prepared to attack South Vietnam in case unification failed to take place through elections. His preparations included communication with thousands of covert communist agents in the south and the hiding of numerous weapons caches.
  • Beginning in the summer of 1955, Diem launched a 'Denounce the Communists' campaign, during which communists and other anti-government elements were arrested, imprisoned or executed. Also at this time, people moved across the partition line in both directions. It is estimated that around 100,000 Vietnamese moved from South Vietnam to North Vietnam, while perhaps 1,000,000 Vietnamese moved from north to south. One of the leading Communists in the South, Lê Duẩn, returned to Hanoi to urge that the Vietnam Workers' Party (VWP) take a firmer stand on national reunification. In January 1959, under pressure from southern cadres who were increasingly being successfully targeted by Diem's secret police, the Central Committee of the VWP issued a secret resolution authorizing the use of armed struggle in the South.
  • In 1959, Diem launched the Agroville Program, its aim to ‘protect’ rural communities from infiltration by Ho’s soldiers who had not returned to the North after the Geneva conference. In reality, it was a Can Lao program to control the countryside. Lands were confiscated by the government and landlords became regional supervisors in charge of a new concept called ‘rural development’. Taxes were also reintroduced, village boundaries were redefined and thousands of farmers were reorganized into ‘secure areas’ often kilometres away from their ancestral homes, which bred resentment.
  • The National Assembly Law was created in May 1959, authorizing the government to “arrest immediately and for an indefinite period anyone whose conduct or activities are deemed dangerous to the security of South Vietnam”. This law targeted communists, but predictably, thousands of others with no subversive intentions were swept up by the police and army security networks. By 1961, more than 60,000 South Vietnamese now lived in gaol.
  • On May 1958, Diem also ratified the Law for the Protection of Morality, which outlawed gambling, contraception, divorce, polygamy, prostitution, dancing, beauty contests, public affection, fortune telling and music cafes.
Join now!

Nature and development of US policy towards Indochina generally and Vietnam in particular:

Advisory 1946-1960:

  • The US poured in economic aid and modern weapons.
  • By January 1961, the number of advisors had grown to 685. They trained the ARVN in the use of conventional weapons.

Partnership 1961-1963:

  • 1961- JFK sought "limited partnership" with Diem, flexible response, counterinsurgency, nation-building, reform without revolution
  • 1962- MAAG (Truman's Military Advisory and Assistance Group) replaced by MACV (Military Assistnce Command, Vietnam) Feb. 12, 1962, under Gen. Paul Harkins and Project Beef-Up - 11300 advisors sent during 1962, with 300 aircraft, ...

This is a preview of the whole essay