A SUMMARY VIEW OF THE VIETNAM WAR
1. Vietnam is part of what had been called Indochina. Much of the area (except Burma) had been under French control since the l800s. This accounts for its other name, French Indochina.
2. In the closing stages of World War II, the Japanese encouraged the people of Indochina to declare themselves independent. Ho Chi Minh, the Vietnamese Communist leader, declared his country’s independence in 1946. The French government agreed, but the French military and the French colonists in Indochina actively opposed Vietnam’s independence. Guerrilla warfare broke out in 1949. The Communists gained control of large sections of the country despite the French concentration of troops and aid in Indochina.
3. The United States became concerned about the expansion of Communism, especially after the Communist takeover of China in 1949. Concerned that France would lose both political and economic strength if they lost their colonies in Indochina, the United States began economic and military aid to France in Indochina.
4. French Communists worked to disrupt the French economy through strikes and demonstrations. The Soviet Union and China both granted recognition to the Ho Chi Minh “government.” The French pointed out that it was more than a war for independence; it was actually a war against Comrnunism. Later, U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower would call this attempt to stop Communism the “Domino Theory.”
5. The French set up a supposedly independent government in 1950. The United States stepped up its aid, eventually assuming 80% of the cost of the war by 1954.
6. In April, 1954, a peace conference opened in Geneva, Switzerland to settle the issue (these were known as the Geneva Accords). Two weeks later, the French were defeated in the battle of Dienbienphu. Vietnam was temporarily divided into a Communist North and a non-Communist South, with an election to be held in 1956 to determine the fate of a united Vietnam. The South Vietnamese President, Ngo Dinh Diem, refused to hold the elections on the grounds that he felt that free elections were impossible in the North. Refugees were given the option of going north or south.
7. Communist guerrilla activity in South Vietnam increased from 1954 to 1962. In 1955, the United States began training South Vietnamese troops. US military aid and advisors continued to increase. In November, 1963, President Diem was overthrown by a group of military officers.
8. An alleged attack on two US destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin led Congress to mass the “Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (1964).” This document defined peace in Southeast Asia (Indochina) and gave President Johnson the power to “take all necessary steps” to protect American interests in Southeast Asia.
9. US bombing of North Vietnam began in 1965. Both the number of troops and the number of bombers increased. Resistance to these increased war efforts developed in the US and led to anti-war protests and demonstrations.
10. The war escalated so that by 1968 nearly 500,000 US troops were involved. The Communists responded with the “Tet Offensive.” Launched on a Buddhist holiday, it caught the South Vietnamese off-guard.
11. Peace talks began in May, 1968. By 1969, President Nixon outlined his program of “Vietnamization.” As part of this plan, he announced a reduction of 25,000 US troops. However, US bombing raids increased. The theater of war now included Laos and Cambodia (Kamphuchea).
12. By 1972, Nixon announced that secret peace talks with the North were underway in Paris. Vietnamization continued.
13. A cease-fire agreement was signed in Paris in early 1973. The last bombing raids ended in August of that year, while the last US combat troops were withdrawn.
14. The Communists took over South Vietnam in April of 1975. Refugees stormed the US Embassy in Saigon in hopes of being able to leave. Others fled, including the so-called “boat people,” and appealed to the humanitarianism of the Western powers, particularly the US. Within months, both Laos and Cambodia also fell to Communist control.