help the army of South Vietnam, however these advisors didn't
physically take part in the combat. When Kennedy became president (in
1961), the number of advisors was increased form 700-15000. Firstly
because Kennedy had been discredited for the failure at the Bay of
Pigs, secondly he needed some way in which he could retaliate for the
construction of the Berlin Wall.
By 1963 Diem's control of South Vietnam was so corrupt; that he was
constantly being challenged or facing opposition, several Buddhist
monks even burned themselves (for more information as to why see
below) A general strike was called, as Diem faced opposition from them
(so they used their influence to their advantage for a change).
Threats were made by Kennedy to withdraw military aid; Kennedy then
backed a plot the South Vietnamese generals to arrest Diem. He was
actually murdered just 3 weeks before Kennedy.
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The Self-Immolation
On June 11, 1963, Thich Quang Duc, a Buddhist monk from the Linh-Mu
Pagoda in Hue, Vietnam, burned himself to death at a busy intersection
in downtown Saigon, Vietnam. Eye witness accounts state that Thich
Quang Duc and at least two fellow monks arrived at the intersection by
car, Thich Quang Duc got out of the car, assumed the traditional lotus
position and the accompanying monks helped him pour gasoline over
himself. He ignited the gasoline by lighting a match and burned to
death in a matter of minutes. David Halberstam, a reporter for the New
York Times covering the war in Vietnam, gave the following account:
"I wish never to see that sight again, but once was enough. Flames
were coming from a human being; his body was slowly withering and
shrivelling up, his head blackening and charring. In the air was the
smell of burning human flesh; human beings burn surprisingly quickly.
Behind me I could hear the sobbing of the Vietnamese who were now
gathering. I was too shocked to cry, too confused to take notes or ask
questions, too bewildered to even think…. As he burned he never moved
a muscle, never uttered a sound, his outward composure in sharp
contrast to the wailing people around him."
Thich Quang Duc had prepared himself for his self-immolation through
several weeks of meditation and had explained his motivation in
letters to members of his Buddhist community as well as to the
government of South Vietnam in the weeks Leading up to his
self-immolation (suicide). In these letters he described his desire to
bring attention to the policies of the 'Catholic Diem regime' that
controlled the South Vietnamese government at the time. Before his
self-immolation, the South Vietnamese Buddhists had made the following
requests to the Diem regime, asking it to:
1. Lift its ban on flying the traditional Buddhist flag;
2. Grant Buddhism the same rights as Catholicism;
3. Stop detaining Buddhists;
4. Give Buddhist monks and nuns the right to practice and spread their
religion; and
5. Pay fair compensations to the victim's families and punish those
responsible for their deaths.
Why couldn't America fight the war 'on their terms'?
The North Vietnamese army (the NLF or Viet Cong) very rarely fought
battles like you would in a normal war. They used something called
'guerrilla warfare'. Therefore it was impossible to identify the Viet
Cong soldiers because they blended in with civilians, because they
didn't actually wear a uniform. After a fight they could run, and
effectively disappear into the jungle and not be found. The Viet Cong
also constructed hundreds if not thousands of miles of tunnels, which
could contain whole camps underground, where they could hide safely.
When the tunnels were found by US troops, they were often heavily
'booby-trapped'. The Viet Cong were soon found to be masters of
setting 'booby-traps', using pits with sharpened stakes in them and
mines to construct hundreds of various traps and security devices. Due
to this fact, US soldiers were never able to relax, Even when the
troops of the US were in city of Saigon it was possible to be
attacked. To make matters even worse the Viet Cong were getting
supplies from the North by the Ho Chi Minh trail, which ran all the
way through Laos and Cambodia. The Soviet Union and China, communist
countries sent up to 6000 tonnes of supply a day.
President Kennedy ordered the building of (strategic towns) 'strategic
hamlets', which were heavily defended villages that the South
Vietnamese people were moved to. The main idea of these hamlets was to
get them away from the Viet Cong; many didn't want to leave their
villages so they naturally went to the Viet Cong. Operation Rolling
Thunder led to the bombing of North Vietnam, which was in fact worse
than anything that had been seen or experienced in WWII. The aim was
to destroy military bases and equipment in the North of Vietnam,
however in the North the aim was to destroy the Ho Chi Minh Trail\
supply line.
The forces of the US also tried to win the 'hearts and minds' of the
South Vietnamese, in a propaganda build through special projects i.e.
doctors drugs (aid bribes) etc. But theses were usually shrugged off,
and thought of as foreign interference. Many South Vietnamese people
simply supported the Viet Cong because their government was unpopular,
which meant the Viet Cong could hide almost anywhere and attack
whenever they wanted to. This meant that nowhere was really safe for
the US, at any moment they could have been attacked without warning
even by children. So called search and destroy missions were sent into
the jungles, the success of their missions was rated on how many
people they killed. It was normally impossible to tell which side the
people, who the US soldiers killed were on.
Jungle fighting proved to be arduous, especially since the US forces
were made up of draftees, whose average age was 19 years of age. They
were inexperienced and unwilling to fight; they would spend about a
year in Vietnam and then return home. Vietnam was seemingly all jungle
\ forest, which made finding the Viet Cong a seemingly endless job as
they moved about undetected. The US Air Force started to use
defoliants such as 'Agent Orange' and even Napalm, which stripped th4e
leaves form the trees or burnt them. Napalm was used to force Viet
Cong into the open, by setting fire to villages. Both Napalm and
'Agent Orange' could be dropped from planes. Another chemical 'Agent
Blue' was used to destroy crops; bombs with petrol and other chemicals
were also dropped amongst all of this.
The Tet Offensive
This was a massive attack by the Viet Cong on South Vietnam; it
started on the 30th January 1968. All of the main cities of South
Vietnam (totalling over 100 cities) were attacked; even the city of
Saigon was attacked. A 'suicide squad' seized the US embassy in
Saigon; they were only pushed back by the force of paratroopers. The
Viet Cong sent 4,500 troops into Saigon to try and hold the city for
two days, until reinforcements arrived. They hoped that the South
Vietnamese people would support them, but they were shocked to find
that hardly anyone supported them. Consequently they were cut off and
killed by the US forces. It took 11,000 troops a week to drive the
Viet Cong resistance out of Saigon, eventually the Americans managed
to beat the Viet Cong killing 100,000 of them.
Impact the war had on the people of the US and Vietnam
The most important event in the war, which changed some of the US
opinion, was the Tet Offensive. The reason being that the Tet
offensive happened at a time when it looked as if the US were winning
the war, which then made the shock even greater. Even though the Viet
Cong suffered heavy losses, it really was a defeat for the military
machine that was America's army. The reason being that the Viet Cong
could strike anywhere and there was nothing the Americans could really
do ontop of this it became apparent that the war in Vietnam couldn't
be won.
Other effects of the war
The number of US causalities rose, by 1967 approximately 160 soldiers
a day were being brought home in coffins and body bags. Drug taking
amongst the troops in Vietnam became extremely common, 'fragging'
(injuring officers with frag grenades began in 1969). To make matters
even worse, out of the 10,000000 drafted soldiers more than 500,000
deserted. There was more opposition in the USA by Civil Right's
leaders, because money was being taken away from the 'Great Society'.
In other words money was being taken away from domestic concerns,
which meant the war was now interfering with American life. From 1968
there was a mass issue of protest across the US, especially at
universities, students were even shot when the National Guard were
called in to end the disturbances. Students dodging drafting became
common, as word spread of the 'hard life' in Vietnam getting killed by
unseen enemies.
News slowly got back to the US of the fighting (conflict) in Vietnam,
each soldier served in the Vietnam War for one year. Over 3,000,000 US
soldiers served in Vietnam. The Vietnam was also the first war to be
shown in colour on television, people at home saw a GI start a fire in
a peasant hut with his cigarette lighter. Secondly in 1968 viewers
also watched as a Viet Cong prisoner was shot, a GI was also shown
being ripped apart by bullets. In the end around 58,000 US troops died
in Vietnam.
In 1969 Richard Nixon began peace talks, which lead to the removal of
US forces but at the same time increased the attack on North Vietnam.
Although he began the withdrawal of US forces, he didn't want this
fact revealed to the North. So to hide the withdrawal, he pushed
forward with 'Operation Rolling thunder'. One air raid on Hanoi lasted
7 days, killing around 2000 people. The US also invaded and bombed
both Laos and Cambodia; they also stepped up the use of defoliants,
which uncovered enemy supply lines. All of these things were attempts
to try and stop the Viet Cong from entering South Vietnam.
After the US forces withdrew, negotiations between the USA and North
Vietnam lasted for about 5 years. In 1973 a compromise was made, When
the US fully withdrew their forces. Southern Vietnam defence was taken
over by the ARVN (the Army of the Republic of Vietnam), which held out
until May 1975. North was reunited with the South; when South Vietnam
fell, Saigon was even renamed Ho Chi Minh City. Cambodia also
succumbed to communism along with Laos.
Consequences of the fighting in Vietnam were great…
· Over 2000,000 innocents were killed.
· 7000,000 tonnes of bombs were dropped on Vietnam (three times the
amount that were dropped in W.W.II.
· Large areas of countryside were ruined.
· Vietnam went from a major exporter of rice, to a country that
couldn't feed itself.
· 2000,000 fled to escape hunger and the communist government.
· Many traps were left, and still are there in many cases.
· The suffering from the chemicals used is still being felt today.
The war cost the USA a staggering $120,000,000,000; and damaged
America's image very badly, leaving it with little of it's past
prestige. Veterans (around 700,000) have suffered from psychological
illness since returning to the US, the reason being they had to live
in treacherous conditions always having to stay alert. The number of
people who have killed themselves, out numbers the amount of people
actually died in the fighting.