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VIETNAM: 1946-1975 THE 10,000 DAY WAR

VIETNAM: 1946-1975 THE 10,000 DAY WAR. NORTH VS SOUTH. BACKGROUND TO THE WAR. France controlled “Indochina” since the late 19 th century Japan took control during World War II With U.S. aid, France attempted re-colonization in the postwar period

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VIETNAM: 1946-1975 THE 10,000 DAY WAR

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  1. VIETNAM: 1946-1975 THE 10,000 DAY WAR

  2. NORTH VS SOUTH

  3. BACKGROUND TO THE WAR • France controlled “Indochina” since the late 19th century • Japan took control during World War II • With U.S. aid, France attempted re-colonization in the postwar period • The French lost control to Ho Chi Minh’s Viet Minh forces in 1954 at Dien Bien Phu

  4. The U.S. had come to see South Vietnam as a “domino” that they couldn’t afford to lose.

  5. Began by “Ike” and JFK but was intensified under Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ), who assumed the presidency after JFK’s assassination • The U.S. never formally issued a declaration of war, but after the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, where 2 American destroyers were apparently fired upon by the North Vietnamese, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolutions (August 1964) • - here Congress gave LBJ their support in sending American personnel and materiel

  6. AMERICAN TROOPS IN ‘NAM

  7. ADVANTAGES TO NORTH VIETNAMESE: • Fighting on home turf. They knew the land. • Had protection in Laos and Cambodia (Americans could not fight there). • S. Vietnamese were indifferent to the Americans’ efforts. Not helpful. • Guerrilla warfare frustrating to ground troops. Sabotage worked well. Land Mines. • Who was a friend, and who was an enemy?

  8. HOW DID AME. RESPOND? • THE ONLY WAY WE KNEW HOW! • Saturation Bombing – dropping lots of explosives over large areas. • Defoliants (Agent Orange) – kill all vegetation in jungle; also kill people breathing it in.

  9. President Johnson authorized Operation Rolling Thunder – 3-year, nonstop bombing campaign on North Vietnam. Didn’t work.

  10. AGENT ORANGE:

  11. WHY DIDN’T ROLLING THUNDER WORK?

  12. Ho Chi Minh Trail: • Route Communists took to stage attacks in the South. • The trail is in Laos and Cambodia (the U.S. couldn’t bomb there)! • The Communists also built an extensive tunnel system from the North to the South. • Fighting in the tunnels became dirty work for the Americans

  13. THE TET OFFENSIVE: JANUARY 1968 • N. Vietnamese Army + Viet Cong attack South simultaneously (67,000 attack 100 cities, bases, and the US embassy in Saigon) • Take every major southern city • U.S. + ARVN beat back the offensive • Viet Cong destroyed • N. Vietnamese army debilitated • BUT…it’s seen as an American defeat by the media

  14. COMMUNIST BRUTALITY: • Those persons captured by the VC and who were found to have helped the Americans were tortured and executed. • 3,000-5,000 were killed during the Tet Offensive.

  15. IMPACT OF THE TET OFFENSIVE: • Domestic U.S. Reaction: Disbelief, Anger, Distrust of Johnson Administration • WAR PROTEST MOVEMENT BEGINS

  16. TROOP MORALE BEGINS TO DIP. • Disproportionate representation of poor people and minorities. • Severe racial problems. • Major drug problems. • Officers in combat6 mo.; in rear 6 mo. Enlisted men in combat for 12 mo.

  17. MY LAI: AMERICAN BRUTALITY

  18. News came that My Lai village was housing 250 VC. Marines sent to find and kill them.

  19. THE PROBLEM???

  20. Rounded everybody up. Killed 400 members of the village. • Some soldiers received prison sentences for their role in the massacre.

  21. BEGINNING OF THE END: • Peace talks began in Paris in 1968 but no agreement was being reached. • Nixon comes up with Vietnamization, trading out American soldiers for newly trained S. Vietnamese soldiers. Sound familiar??? • Nixon spreads the war to Cambodia. This caused a civil war in Cambodia and a lot more protests at home. • Nixon, however, could no longer ignore the protests of students and other activists in the United States (called the vocal minority

  22. WITHDRAWL: • After last minute rounds of bombing by both sides, peace was reached in January of 1973: • U.S. full withdrawal from Vietnam. • POW’s released. • No more fighting in Laos and Cambodia. • 17th parallel to divide N. and S. Vietnam.

  23. CEASE FIRE 1973: • Conditions: • U.S. to remove all troops • North Vietnam could leave troops already in S.V. • North Vietnam would resume war • No provision for POWs or MIAs

  24. Last American troops left South • fighting continued for two more years. • N. Vietnamese launched offensives to take over Saigon Vietnam on March 29, 1973 • 1975: North Vietnam defeats South Vietnam • Saigon renamed Ho Chi Minh City

  25. VIETNAM WAR’S LEGACY

  26. $150 billion spent. • More bombs dropped on Vietnam than in all of WWII.

  27. 58,000 U.S. KILLED. 300,000 WOUNDED .

  28. 2,500 POWs & MIAs.

  29. FEW RETURN HOME

  30. 3,000,000 VIETNAMESE KILLED

  31. U.S MORALE , SELF CONFIDENCE, TRUST OF GOVERNMENT DECIMATED

  32. AMERICA DEFEATED AT WAR FOR THE 1ST TIME

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