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Vietnam War. Honors Foreign Policy. Timeline. Korea vs. Vietnam. Guerilla Warfare. Aim to capture “hearts and minds” of ordinary citizens and to undermine their confidence in the regime
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Vietnam War Honors Foreign Policy
Guerilla Warfare • Aim to capture “hearts and minds” of ordinary citizens and to undermine their confidence in the regime • Long term strategy – Guerillas do not have to inflict complete defeat upon enemy or compel them to surrender • Guerillas need support of people for food, shelter, and information
French Colonization • French colonized Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia at the end of the 1800s until 1954, with brief period of Japanese rule during WWII • Japanese ruled Vietnam during WWII and exploited its natural resources
Dien Bien Phu • March 13th – May 7th, 1954 • Battle between French Union troops and North Vietnamese troops in northwestern Vietnam • French forces surrounded and forced to surrender
Geneva Accords 1954 • Granted independence to Indochina • Divided Vietnam at 17th parallel • Called for internationally supervised free elections to be held in July 1956 • Established International Control Commission composed of India, Canada, and Poland
Geneva Accords 1954 • 450,000 Catholic Vietnamese moved to South Vietnam; 50,000 communist Vietnamese moved to North Vietnam • Both sides violated the agreement; North Vietnam supported the Vietcong in the South; South Vietnam and the U.S. sent forces to sabotage installations in the north
Strategic Hamlet • The Strategic Hamlet program was an attempt to isolate rural peasants from contact and infiltration by the Vietminh by creating fortified villages from 1962 - 1964 • Several thousand fortified villages were constructed and millions of peasants relocated by the program failed due to corruption and peasant resentment
Diem’s Buddhist Crisis • Buddhists not allowed to fly religious flags at religious festival • Buddhists staged protests in May in the city of Hue. Diem’s soldiers shot and killed 9 protestors leading to more protests and retributions • Buddhists called for freedom to fly religious flags, end to arbitrary arrests, and religious equality with Catholics
Gulf of Tonkin Incident • August 2nd, 1964 – The USS Maddox engaged by 3 North Vietnamese Torpedo boats • August 4th, 1964 – The USS Maddox allegedly engaged by North Vietnamese Torpedo boats • Gulf of Tonkin Resolution – Joint resolution passed by Congress on August 7th, 1964 • Wayne Morse D – Oregon • Ernest Gruening D - Alaska
U.S. Commits Troops • March 1965, L.B.J. sends marines to Vietnam to protect U.S. air bases. Marines were supposed to perform defensive duties. • By December 1965, nearly 200,000 U.S. troops were in Vietnam performing offensive operations. Their task was to seek and destroy the Vietcong.
Vietnamese Strategy • Continue to send supplies to Vietcong insurgents in South Vietnam via the Ho Chi Minh Trail • Expand Ho Chi Minh Trail and protect key points with antiaircraft weapons • Begin to send large North Vietnamese regular units to the south to help Vietcong • Continue hit and run tactics, avoid conventional battles
U.S. Strategy • Bomb military targets in North Vietnam such as harbor facilities, railroads, and key points on the Ho Chi Minh Trail • Use overwhelming U.S. firepower to seek and destroy enemy • Wear down the morale and war fighting capability of North Vietnam until they asked for peace
Operation Rolling Thunder • Needs of North Vietnamese forces minimal. All forces in South Vietnam needed only 15 tons of supplies a day to carry on the war • China and Soviet Union supplied N. Vietnam with 6000 tons of aid a day • N. Vietnam was only a staging point, it had few factories • By 1967, N. Vietnam had suffered 300 million in damage but the U.S. had lost 700 aircraft
Tet Offensive • Major North Vietnamese offensive on the Lunar New Year, January 1968 • North Vietnamese forces broke a truce and simultaneously attacked U.S. Forces across Vietnam • NVA forces attacked U.S. embassy in Saigon and briefly took over strategic points in Saigon
Battle of Hue • NVA forces took over the ancient capital of Vietnam, Hue, during the Tet Offensive • Hue was one of the few urban battles during the Vietnam War • Casualties – 150 U.S. Marines, over 5000 NVA
Nixon Doctrine • LBJ did not run for reelection, Richard Nixon was elected as President • Nixon promised he would end the war and bring peace with honor • Promoted the idea of Vietnamization, a slow withdrawal of U.S. forces in conjunction with training and improving the South Vietnam military
Nixon Doctrine • Nixon focused on improving relations with the Soviet Union and China • He hoped the Soviet Union and China would reduce aid to the North Vietnamese • Nixon was the first U.S. President to travel to communist China and meet with Chinese officials
Nixon Policy • Nixon gradually reduced U.S. troops in Vietnam • Approved the secret bombing of Vietnamese positions in Cambodia in 1969, Codenamed Operation menu • Approved Operation Linebacker, a continuous bombing campaign of North Vietnam from May to October of 1972
Cambodia • Cambodia was granted independence by France in November 1953 • Government was constitutional monarchy under Prince Norodom • Norodom adopted policy of neutrality during the Vietnam War • North Vietnamese established bases in Cambodia with knowledge of Norodom
Cambodia • U.S. Forces secretly bombed and conducted special forces operations in Cambodia against Vietcong • In 1970, Prince Norodom was ousted by Prime Minister Lon Nol • Khmer Rouge, Cambodian communists with support of North Vietnamese began civil war against Lon Nol’s government forces • U.S. bombed Khmer Rouge bases and briefly invaded country
Paris Peace Accords • 27 January 1973 – ceasefire • After ceasefire was in effect U.S. troops and other foreign troops would withdraw • U.S. prisoners of war would be released • Reunification of Vietnam to be carried out by step by step through peaceful means
