ÿþ<html> <head> <title> WHKMLA : History of the Vietnam War </title> <!-- copyright Alexander Ganse, 2001 --> </head> <body bgcolor = "lightgreen"> <div align = "center"> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD align = "center" valign = "center"> <A HREF = "../../index.html"> <img src = "../../banner.jpg" border = "0"> </A></TD></TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width = "150" height = "36" align = "center" valign = "center"> <font size = "2" face = "arial"><B> Cuban Missile Crisis 1962 </B></font></TD> <TD width = "36" height = "36" align = "center" valign = "center"> <A HREF = "../../period/earlycoldwar/missilecrisis.html"> <img src = "../../region/arrowleft.gif" width = "36" height = "36" border = "0"> </A></TD> <TD align = "center" valign = "center"> <A HREF = "../../period/earlycoldwar/xecw.html"> <img src = "../../period/banners/banecw.jpg" border = "0"> </A></TD> <TD width = "36" height = "36" align = "center" valign = "center"> <A HREF = "decol.html"> <img src = "../../region/arrowright.gif" width = "36" height = "36" border = "0"></A> </TD> <TD width = "150" height = "36" align = "center" valign = "center"> <font size = "2" face = "arial"><B> Decolonization </B></font></TD></TR></TABLE> <BR><BR><BR> <script language="JavaScript"> <!-- function SymError() { return true; } window.onerror = SymError; //--> </script> <script type="text/javascript"><!-- google_ad_client = "pub-0213752126925919"; google_alternate_color = "FFFFE1"; google_ad_width = 728; google_ad_height = 90; google_ad_format = "728x90_as"; google_ad_channel ="4814426207"; google_ad_type = "text"; google_page_url = document.location; google_color_border = "FF3300"; google_color_bg = "FFFFE1"; google_color_link = "0000CC"; google_color_url = "008000"; google_color_text = "6F6F6F"; //--></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> <BR><BR><BR> </div> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width = "900" align = "center" valign = "center"> <font size = "6" face = "arial"><B> The Vietnam War </B></font> </TD></TR></TABLE><BR> <BR><BR> <font size = "4" face = "Times Roman"> In 1940 the administration of FRENCH INDOCHINA, loyal to the government in Vichy, permitted Japanese troops to be stationed on their territory. From that moment, French administration was merely tolerated by the Japanese; when France was liberated in 1944 and the Vichy administration, the Japanese 'encouraged' Indochinese princes such as the King of Cambodia, the King of Luang Prabang (Laos) and BAO DAI, the Emperor of Annam (Vietnam) to proclaim independence. The new monarchies were, of course, Japanese vassals. <BR> At the POTSDAM CONFERENCE it was decided that the Japanese forces in Vietnam to the north of the 17th parallel should be disarmed by the Nationalist Chinese forces (Chiang Kai Shek's men), to the south of it by the British; the territory then was to be handed over back to the French. The British were happy to oblige, the Chinese withdrew their forces when they were needed in the Chinese Civil War. <BR> In Vietnam, a leftist organization fighting for independence had emerged, the VIET CONG under leadership of HO CHI MINH. They disposed over weapons left behind by the Japanese and took over guerilla tactics employed by the Chinese communist fighters in World War II. In 1954 the Viet Cong dealt a decisive blow to the French in the BATTLE OF DIEN BIEN PHU. <BR><BR> At the GENEVA CONFERENCE, France acknowledged Indochina to become independent - as 4 separate states : the Kingdoms of Cambodia, Laos, the Republic of (South) Vietnam and communist North Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh felt betrayed, as he had expected to gain independence for a unified Vietnam. Formally, peace was signed, yet North Vietnam prepared the organization of an insurrection in South Vietnam, the organization responsible being the VIET MINH. <BR> The U.S. government feared Vietnam to be another proof for the DOMINO THEORY, a gradual communist takeover of the world always focussing on the weakest link. In order to stop this chain reaction, the U.S. got involved, at first by providing financial aid, then by training the South Vietnamese military, slowly increasing U.S. military presence in South Vietnam, then getting actively involved in the fighting. <BR> The North Vietnamese actively supplied the Viet Minh via the HO CHI MINH TRAIL, a supply route in the jungle on the Laotian and Cambodian side of the border, and through a network of TUNNELs. The war, limited to South Vietnamese territory, seemed to go nowhere. U.S. strategy was to inflict a heavy casualty toll on the enemy, intending to deplete his forces. At a time when this strategy seemed to succeed, the communists in 1968 launched the TET OFFENSIVE, sursprising the US and South Vietnamese forces; some Viet Minh fighters even were able to reach the roof of the U.S. embassy in Saigon. <BR> The U.S. responded by widening the conflict, bombarding North Vietnam, by using defoliants such as AGENT ORANGE in large amounts to deprive the guerillas of their cover, and, in 1970, by escalating the war into Cambodia and Laos (to cut the Ho Chi Minh Trail). <BR><BR> The U.S. general public grew increasingly tired of U.S. casualties; no visible progress was being made. The GIs had serious problems distinguishing friend and enemy, and atrocities such as the MASSACRE OF MY LAI did not help to boost morale. Many GIs stationed in Vietnam developed an opium addiction. Back home in the states, the protest generation criticized the war (it was the young men who were likely to be sent there). <BR> The South Vietnamese society was plagued by authoritarian presidents, career politicians placing their own interests over those of the country, lack of a democratic tradition and various religious groups competing with each other, and an attitude among the military of 'letting the US boys do the job'. <BR><BR> In 1971 the PING PONG DIPLOMACY began; the Nixon-Kissinger administration saw an opportunity to break up the socialist block by supporting China; the Domino Theory did not apply any more, and the Vietnam War was an obstacle in rapidly warming US-Chinese relations. Negotiations in Geneva lead in 1973 to a complete US withdrawal from Vietnam; in 1975 the South Vietnamese defense, as well as its government, suddenly collapsed, Vietnam being unified under communist rule. Simultaneously, the communist PATHET LAO took over in Laos, the KHMER ROUGE in Cambodia, where POL POT introduced his Agro-Communism which came to be known as the KILLING FIELDS. <BR><BR><BR> <TABLE border = "3" cellspace="5" cellpadding="5" align="center"> <TR> <TD width = "150" valign = "top" align = "center" bgcolor="#FFFACD"> <font size = "3" face = "Times Roman" color = "#000000"> EXTERNAL <BR> FILES </font></TD> <TD width = "700" valign = "top" align = "left" bgcolor = "#FFFACD"> <font size = "2" face = "Times Roman" color = "#000000"> </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "3" cellspace="5" cellpadding="5" align="center"> <TR> <TD width = "150" valign = "top" align = "center" bgcolor="#FFFACD"> <font size = "3" face = "Times Roman" color = "#000000"> DOCUMENTS </font></TD> <TD width = "700" valign = "top" align = "left" bgcolor = "#FFFACD"> <font size = "2" face = "Times Roman" color = "#000000"> </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "3" cellspace="5" cellpadding="5" align="center"> <TR> <TD width = "150" valign = "top" align = "center" bgcolor="#FFFACD"> <font size = "2" face = "Times Roman" color = "#000000"> REFERENCE </font></TD> <TD width = "700" valign = "top" align = "left" bgcolor = "#FFFACD"> <font size = "2" face = "Times Roman" color = "#000000"> </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <BR><BR><BR> <TABLE border="5" cellspace="10" cellpadding="10" align="center" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><TR> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="center"> <font size = "3" face = "Times Roman" color = "#000000"><i>This page is part of <B>World History at KMLA</b></i></font><BR> <font size = "2" face = "Times Roman" color = "#000000"><i>First posted on July 10th 2001, last revised on November 17th 2004</i></font> <BR><BR> <font size = "2" face = "Times Roman"> Click here to go <A HREF = "../../index.html">Home</A> <BR> Click here to go to <A HREF = "../../about.html">Information about KMLA, WHKMLA, the author and webmaster</A> <BR> Click here to go to <A HREF = "../../links.html">Statistics</A><BR> </font></TD></TR></TABLE><BR><BR><BR> </DIV> <DIV align="center"> <A href="mailto:aganse@hotmail.com"> <IMG src="../../email.gif"></a><BR><BR> <BR><BR><BR> <!-- Start of CH Counter --> <script type="text/javascript"> //<!-- // chCounter v2.0.0 // settings: cstatus = "active"; visible = "0"; path_to_counterfile = "http://www.zum.de/whkmla/counter/counter.php"; urlhp = "http://www.zum.de"; //////////////// url = unescape(location.href); file = url.substring(url.lastIndexOf(urlhp) + urlhp.length, url.length); file = (file.charAt(0) != "/") ? 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