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The Beginning of Conflict
After the Japanese surrendered at the end of WWII, the South Vietnamese saw their (the Japanese) defeat as an opportunity to break free of French rule. Ho Chi Minh, a communist, led a revolt and occupied North Vietnam. He had asked America for support, but the Americans were suspicious because he was a communist. (Title photo) https://www.irishaid.ie/what-we-do/countries-where-we-work/our-partner-countries/vietnam/
https://sites.google.com/site/vietnamwar1959/ho-chi-minh -
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The Origins of the Conflict
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U.S. Involvement in the War
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Eisenhower Cites the Domino Theory
Prior to the conflicts in Vietnam, the world had seen Communism spreading throughout pthe world (i.e. North Korea, China). This caused many to fear Communism becoming a widespread problem in Asia. President Eisenhower explained his thoughts by way of the domino theory, which states that if one country falls to Communism, that the surrounding nations were thought to fall to it as well. This would justify America's involvement in another foreign affair. http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http% -
Indochina War
In Hanoi (in North Vietnam) Minh claimed that Vietnam was free, however, the French refused to accept this. This (as suspected) led to war. The Vietnamese and the French continued to fight for almost eight years until the Vietminh (Minh’s supporters) forced them to surrender after a 56-day battle. This meant that they no longer ruled Vietnam. (During this conflict, the Americans backed the French, seeing it as a way to stop the spread of communism). The turning point in this war was in 1954. -
Reign of Terror Throughout Villages
After the Indochina war, Vietnam was divided into two states (N. Vietnam and S. Vietnam). The southern portion was controlled by Ngo Dinh Diem. Elections were supposed to have been held within a few years to unify Vietnam once more, but Diem wouldn't allow this. In 1959, a group launched a revolt that would use guerrilla tactics to attack villages controlled by Diem's appointed officials. *This lasted over a period of time, therefore, there are no specific dates. -
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Tensions Build in Vietnam
*The dates on this timespan are fairly general and should not be taken literally (in the sense that the dates are exact). -
Vietcong Forms
Whilst the guerrillas were attacking Diem's forces, the North Vietnamese gave supplies to them via secret lines. These peope would become the Vietcong. They were formed for the purpose os "escalating the armed conflict in South Vietnam". So basically, they were formed to carry out guerilla missions and prolong the tensions in the South. -
U.S. Begins to Use Agent Orange (and Other Chemical Weapons)
During the Vietnam War, the United States started to use chemical weapons. This included substances such as napalm and Agent Orange. Agent Orange was specifically used to clear out vegetation and foliage in order to better reveal the enemy (they could no longer hide in the plants). Airplanes would spray this chemical over the jungles. A lot of people expressed mixed opinions over this use of this substance because it caused (delayed) health effects, including birth defects and cancer. -
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Gulf of Tonkin
The U.S. received reports that North Vietnamese boats had torpedoed American destroyers off (of course) the Gulf of Tonkin. However, details were so wobbly and sketchy that it is possible the event never happened at all. This event did prompt Johnson to escalate the U.S. involvement in the war. This was permitted by way of the Gullf of Tonkin Resolution. -
Operation Rolling Thunder- U.S. Aerial Bombing
This was considered the "air war against North Vietnam". President Johnson ordered this into action after the Vietcong attacked an American base (at Pleiku), and killed eight Americans. This would last three years as a “campaign of sustained U.S. bombing”. -
First U.S. Ground Troops Sent to Vietnam
After the start of Operation Rolling Thunder, Johnson realized that more involvement in the war would be needed. Therefore, he sent 3,500 marines to Vietnam. They were to protect American military bases. By the end of that year, American troop numbers would reach around 184,000. -
Tet Offensive
Whilst the Vietnamese were celebrating their New Year (Tet), Vietcong soldiers and North Vietnamese had made plans to attack major throughout South Vietnam. They broke into the U.S. embassy in Saigon and seized the former emperor’s home. U.S. troops along with South Vietnamese battled for weeks, and the Communists eventually lost to them. The Tet Offensive was the turning point, as Americans back home saw that the enemy was capable of major attacks, thus making the odds worse. -
Policy of “Vietnamization” Made Up and Announced
President Nixon wanted to begin to decrease the amount of U.S. involvement in Vietnam. Therefore, he announced in June a new policy called “Vietnamization”. Under this, troops would withdraw, and the South Vietnamese would take responsibility for the war. In July, the first group of troops left Vietnam. By April of 1970, almost 150,000 soldiers had returned to Vietnam. -
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Meanwhile...
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Kent State University Incident
After America started to bomb bases in Cambodia, new protests began across the nation. Many of these were given by students. On May 4, 1970, students at Kent State in Ohio were protesting in a crowd. National Guardsmen became panicked and ended up firing into the crowd. This ended in the death of four students. -
Watergate Scandal
While Nixon was running for reelection, police had arrested some men who were caught robbing the offices of the opposing party (the Democrats). These men had been paid to spy on the Democrats, and were also paid to remain quiet about the incident. It was soon discovered (after Nixon was reelected) that Nixon was aware of the scandal, and indeed has secret tapes of conversations regarding the situation. Congress had enough votes to impeach Nixon, and when he realized this, he resigned from Presid -
U.S. Troops Withdrawn from Vietnam
Bombing had gone on between the North Vietnamese and America for 12 days when they (the NV) agreed to go back to the “bargaining table”. The Paris Peace Accords were signed with agreements that almost matched previous negotiations that had been proposed previously. By March, the last U.S. troops were out of Vietnam. -
Pictures Works CIted
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Works Cited- Websites
