Explain why the United States withdrew their forces from Vietnam in 1973
In order to answer the question; Explain why the United States withdrew their forces from Vietnam in 1973, I will need to cover the following points; how America became involved, the development of the war under Lyndon B Johnson, tactics of both sides, effect of war on people and the country, how America pulled out and how the war ended.
Up until August 1945, the end of World War Two, Japan controlled Vietnam. Between 1945-54 Communist Guerrilla fighters led by the leader of Korea, Ho Chi Minh wanted and fought independence from France. France were defeated by them and left. In 1954 Vietnam was divided into two parts, the North which was Communist and the South who were led by President Diem. The country should have had an election but it was called off. Cambodia and Laos were independent and the Vietcong begin fighting the South. Between 1954-59 the Vietcong guerrilla’s had moved into South Vietnam and by 1959 they controlled a third of the country.
The USA was very much against Communism and were worried that Communism would take over the whole of the South East Asia region. Between 1950-53 USA had lost 142,000 soldiers by trying to stop a Communist take over of Korea. The biggest concern that USA had was the ‘Domino Theory’. This meant that if one country turned Communist that others round it would also, acting like a row of dominos. This is the reason why the U.S joined. In June 1954 the USA sent a group of ‘military advisers’ over to Saigon to prevent the Communist North Vietnamese Government taking over the South. They spread unfavourable propaganda about Ho Chi Minh’s government, trained the South Vietnamese army and published misleading information, which said that the government of Diem in the South was a brilliant economic success. The U.S were concerned about Diem as he insisted on ignoring U.S advice. Diem rigged an election and claimed that 98.2% of people had voted for him and he put most of his opponents in prison camps. People that were found writing anti-Diem messages anywhere were also put in prison camps. Even children. When President Kennedy was elected in November 1969 he promised that the USA would continue to support the Diem government in South Vietnam. Americans were inspired by his words and thought that supporting them was a good cause. In 1961 Kennedy sent 100 more military advisers to Vietnam. This secret decision broke the Geneva Plan. In 1962 the Strategic Hamlet programme was introduced. This was to try and stop the South Vietnamese peasants supporting the Vietcong by building a fence around each village and providing security. The whole scheme was a failure, as peasants didn’t want to move to the new villages. They were forced which made them more resentful. They didn’t want to dig moats and build defences against an enemy that did not threaten them. In 1963 the U.S decided that Diem would have to be replaced. He was overthrown by an American backed military group and then killed. Soon after an election was planned but many people believed it could not be very democratic as the only candidates were a selection of army generals who had American support.
