Conflict in Vietnam, c.1963-75

AS and A Level History

Conflict in Vietnam, c.1963-75

Why did the USA become involved in Vietnam?

After the Second World War Vietnam was returned to the French, the former colonial power. The French became involved in a struggle with the communist Vietminh.

In 1950 the French government appealed to the US for support. By 1953 the USA was paying 70% of the costs of the war and spent $300,000,000 altogether.

The USA wanted to prevent areas of the world falling under Communist influence. The Cold War was at its height in the late 1940s and early 1950s, when the French appealed to the USA for aid. The US government saw Vietnam as another Korea.

Once the US became involved, it sent more and more aid in an effort to prevent all its investment being lost.

After the French left in 1954, the USA continued to support the south, even after Diem seized power. US politicians came to believe in the 'Domino Theory'. This was the belief that if on country fell to communism, its neighbours would follow.

In 1956 John Kennedy wrote in a book that he was convinced the South Vietnam was essential to the freedom of the entire region of South East Asia. This was despite the fact the under Diem, South Vietnam was anything but free.

Eisenhower sent US military advisers to help the South Vietnamese army, but these did not actually take part in the fighting.

When he became president in 1961, Kennedy increased the number of military advisors from 700 to 15,000.

Kennedy had been embarrassed by the failure of the Bay of Pigs and wanted to retaliate for the building of the Berlin Wall.

By 1963 Diem’s rule in South Vietnam was so corrupt that he was facing continuous opposition. Several Buddhist monks burned themselves to death in protest.

Diem faced opposition from trade unions and a general strike was called.

Kennedy threatened to withdraw military aid and then backed a plot by South Vietnamese generals to arrest Diem. He was murdered just three weeks before Kennedy’s own assassination.

How did US policy change under President Johnson?

Kennedy’s successor, Johnson, visited South Vietnam and went much further. He increased US support to 23,000 men. Johnson became determined to send combat troops to Vietnam.

In August 1964 the USA claimed that US warships had been attacked in the Gulf of Tonkin. In January 1965 the CIA staged a landing of North Vietnamese troops.

Johnson was able to use this as an excuse to start ‘Operation Rolling Thunder’. This was the beginning of heavy aerial bombing of North Vietnam. He hoped that saturation bombing would force the North Vietnamese to give up.

Three weeks later, in March 1965, Johnson sent the first US combat troops to Vietnam. Over the next few years the numbers of Americans in South Vietnam increased to ...

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In August 1964 the USA claimed that US warships had been attacked in the Gulf of Tonkin. In January 1965 the CIA staged a landing of North Vietnamese troops.

Johnson was able to use this as an excuse to start ‘Operation Rolling Thunder’. This was the beginning of heavy aerial bombing of North Vietnam. He hoped that saturation bombing would force the North Vietnamese to give up.

Three weeks later, in March 1965, Johnson sent the first US combat troops to Vietnam. Over the next few years the numbers of Americans in South Vietnam increased to more than 50,000.

It is now believed that the Gulf of Tonkin incident was probably invented by the US government to justify US intervention in Vietnam.

The nature of the conflict: guerrilla warfare; Operation Rolling Thunder; the Tet Offensive

The North Vietnamese tactics

The North Vietnamese army, NLF or Viet Cong, very rarely fought pitched battles. They used guerrilla tactics. Therefore, it was impossible to identify Viet Cong soldiers, because as they did not wear uniform. After a fight they would scatter and it would be impossible to find them.

The Viet Cong also built thousands of miles of tunnels, with whole camps underground, so that they could hide. When the US forces found the tunnels they were often heavily booby-trapped.

The Viet Cong became experts at building booby traps, using pits, sharpened sticks and mines. This meant that US soldiers could never relax. Even in the centre of Saigon it was possible for the US forces to be attacked.

The Viet Cong were supplied from the north by the Ho Chi Minh trail, which ran through Laos and Cambodia. The Soviet Union and China sent up to 6,000 tonnes of supplies a day.

US tactics

Kennedy ordered the building of ‘strategic hamlets’. These were heavily defended villages that South Vietnamese people were moved to. The idea was to get them away from the Viet Cong and protect by the ARVN. The Vietnamese opposed the policy, they did not want to leave their villages and many turned to the Viet Cong.

Operation Rolling Thunder led to heavy bombing of North Vietnam that was far worse than anything that had been seen during the Second World War. The aim was to destroy military bases and equipment in North Vietnam and to destroy the Ho Chi Minh Trail

The US forces also attempted to win the ‘hearts and minds’ of the South Vietnamese by special projects. But these were usually resented as foreign interference

Many South Vietnamese peasants supported the Viet Cong, because the South Vietnamese government was very unpopular. Viet Cong could hide in villages, towns or even the capital Saigon, and attack without warning. This meant that there was nowhere safe. At any moment US forces could be attacked without warning, sometimes by children.

Search and Destroy’ missions were sent into the jungle. Their success depended on the body count. The number of dead Vietnamese brought back. It was usually impossible to tell which side they had been on.

Jungle fighting proved very difficult, especially as US forces increasingly were made up of inexperienced draftees, whose average age was nineteen. They were inexperienced and increasingly unwilling to fight. They spent a year in Vietnam and then returned home.

Much of Vietnam was forest; this made finding the Viet Cong very difficult they could move about virtually undetected. The US Air Force began to use defoliants like ‘Agent Orange’ and Napalm. These stripped leaves from trees. Napalm was also used to burn villages to force Viet Cong out into the open. Both of these could be dropped from planes. ‘Agent Blue’ was used to destroy crops and bombs also contained petrol and chemicals.

The Tet Offensive

This was a massive attack by the Viet Cong upon South Vietnam, which began on 30 January 1968. All the major cities of South Vietnam, more than 100 altogether, were attacked, including Saigon. In Saigon the US embassy was seized by a suicide squad, which was only driven out by paratroops.

The Viet Cong sent 4,500 troops into Saigon to try to hold out for forty-eight hours until reinforcements arrived. They hoped that the people of South Vietnam would support them. In fact they got little support and they were cut off and killed by the US forces and the ARVN

It took 11,000 troops a week to drive the Viet Cong out of Saigon. Eventually the US forces managed to beat of the Viet Cong and killed 100,000 of them.

The impact of the war upon the peoples of the USA and Vietnam

The USA

The most important event in the war in changing US opinion is now believed to have been the Tet Offensive.

Why was the Tet Offensive important?

The Tet offensive came at a time when the US forces appeared to be winning the war. This made the shock even greater.

Although Viet Cong losses were frightful, it was really a defeat for the US army. It showed that the Viet Cong could strike anywhere and at any time and that there was nothing that the Americans could do about it. It made it clear that the war in Vietnam could not be won.

It persuaded Richard Nixon, the Republican candidate in the 1968 presidential election that US forces must be withdrawn from Vietnam.

Other effects of the war

The numbers of US casualties rose. By 1967, 160 soldiers were being killed each week. These returned to the USA in body bags.

Amongst the troops in Vietnam, drug taking became increasingly common. ‘Fragging’, killing or wounding officers with fragmentation grenades began in 1969. More than half a million US soldiers deserted out of 10,000,000 drafted.

There was increasing opposition in the USA by Civil Rights’ leaders, because the war led to money being withdrawn from the ‘Great Society’.

From 1968 there was a wave of protests across the USA, particularly at universities. Some students were shot when the National Guard was called in to end the unrest.

Draft-dodging became common as students tried to avoid being sent to Vietnam.

News filtered back to the USA of the fighting in Vietnam, each soldier served for one year and more than 3,000,000 Americans altogether served in Vietnam.

This was the first war to be shown live on television and in colour. In 1965 viewers saw a GI set fire to a peasant’s hut with his cigarette lighter. In 1968 they watched as a Viet Cong prisoner was shot dead. Television also showed GIs being torn apart and shot to pieces. Altogether 58,000 US troops were killed

In 1969 the truth about the My Lai massacre was revealed along with the army film which showed South Vietnamese women and children being stripped and murdered by GIs.

Richard Nixon’s policies

In 1969 he began peace talks, and started the withdrawal of US forces, but at the same time stepped up attacks on North Vietnam.

Nixon also announced the policy of Vietnamisation. Making sure that the ARVN could defend the country on its own.

Why did Nixon’s decision to withdraw US forces lead to increased military action?

Nixon began to withdraw US forces in 1969, but he did not want to reveal that to the North. To cover the withdrawal he stepped up Operation Rolling Thunder, one air-raid on Hanoi lasted for seven days and killed 2,000 people.

US forces also invaded Laos and Cambodia and bombed both countries and increased the use of defoliants to uncover Viet Cong supply lines. These were all attempts to try to stop the Viet Cong infiltrating the South.

In April 1972 Operation Linebacker led to 227 air-raids on the North, but they had little overall effect.

What happened after the US forces withdrew?

Negotiations between the USA and the North Vietnamese dragged on for 5 years. Agreement was finally reached in 1973 when the US withdrew.

The defence of South Vietnam was then taken over by the ARVN, the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. It held out until May 1975.

When South Vietnam fell it was united with the North. Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh City.

Laos and Cambodia both fell to communist as well.

What effects did the fighting have on Vietnam?

2,000,000 men, women and children were killed.

Over 7,000,000 tonnes of bombs were dropped on North Vietnam, more than three times the amount dropped during the 2nd World War.

Large areas of the country were destroyed. Vietnam was reduced from a major exporter of rice to a country that could not feed itself.

2,000,000 people fled from Vietnam to escape famine and the communist government. These included 1,000,000 'boat people', who tried to sail to other countries as far away as Hong Kong.

Many mines and other booby traps were left after the war. They are still there in many cases.

People continued to suffer from the effects of chemicals and defoliants.

The consequences of the war for the USA

The war cost $120,000,000,000 and was a tremendous blow to American prestige.

700,000 veterans have suffered from psychological disorders since returning to the USA. More veterans have committed suicide than were killed in the fighting.