American Vietnam War. Vietnam War - the paradox of history


Vietnam War 1957-1975

The war began as a civil war in South Vietnam. Later, North Vietnam was drawn into the war - later supported by the PRC and the USSR - as well as the United States and its allies, who acted on the side of the friendly South Vietnamese regime. As events unfolded, the war became intertwined with the parallel civil wars in Laos and Cambodia. All fighting V South-East Asia, which took place from the late 1950s until 1975, is known as the Second Indochina War.

Prerequisites
From the second half of XIX century Vietnam was part of the colonial empire of France. After the end of the First World War, the country began to grow national consciousness, underground circles began to appear that advocated the independence of Vietnam, and several armed uprisings took place. In 1941, the League for the Independence of Vietnam was created in China - a military-political organization that initially united all opponents of the French colonial administration. In the future, the main role in it was played by supporters of communist views, led by Ho Chi Minh.

During World War II, the French administration agreed with Japan that the Japanese would have access to Vietnam's strategic resources while maintaining France's colonial administrative apparatus. This agreement was valid until 1944, when Japan established full control over the French possessions by force of arms. In September 1945, Japan capitulated. On September 2, 1945, Ho Chi Minh proclaimed the creation of an independent Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) throughout Vietnamese territory.

However, France refused to recognize the loss of its colony, and despite the agreements reached on the mechanism for granting independence to the DRV, in December 1946, France began a colonial war in Vietnam. However, the French army could not cope with the partisan movement. Since 1950, the United States began to provide military assistance to French troops in Vietnam. Over the next 4 years (1950-1954), US military aid amounted to $3 billion. However, in the same 1950 and the Viet Minh began to receive military aid from the Chinese People's Republic. By 1954, the situation for the French forces was almost hopeless. The war against Vietnam was extremely unpopular in France. By this time, the US was already paying 80% of the cost of this war. The final blow to French colonial ambitions in Indochina was a heavy defeat at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu. In July 1954, the Geneva Accords were concluded, ending the eight-year war.

The main points of the agreement on Vietnam provided:
1) temporary division of the country into two parts approximately along the 17th parallel and the establishment of a demilitarized zone between them;
2) holding on July 20, 1956, general elections to the parliament of a united Vietnam.

After the French left, the Ho Chi Minh government quickly consolidated its hold on North Vietnam. In South Vietnam, the French were replaced by the United States, which viewed South Vietnam as the main link in the security system in the region. The American doctrine of "dominoes" assumed that if South Vietnam became communist, then all the neighboring states of Southeast Asia would fall under the control of the communists. Ngo Dinh Diem became Prime Minister of South Vietnam, a well-known nationalist figure who had a high reputation in
USA. In 1956, Ngo Dinh Diem, with the tacit support of the United States, refused to hold a national referendum on the question of the reunification of the country. Convinced that the peaceful unification of the country had no prospects, the Vietnamese nationalist and communist forces launched an insurgency in rural areas of South Vietnam.

The war can be divided into several periods:

  1. guerrilla war in South Vietnam (1957-1964).
  2. Full-scale US military intervention (1965-1973).
  3. The final stage of the war (1973-1975).

In December 1960, when it became apparent that Ngo Dinh Diem's ​​regime was gradually losing control over rural areas. The US decides to intervene in the war. On August 2, 1964, the US Navy destroyer Maddox, patrolling the Gulf of Tonkin, approached the coast of North Vietnam and, as claimed, was attacked by North Vietnamese torpedo boats. Two days later, under unclear circumstances, another attack was carried out. As a response, President L. Johnson ordered the American air force to strike at the naval facilities of North Vietnam. Johnson used these attacks as a pretext to get Congress to pass a resolution in support of his actions, which later served as a mandate for undeclared war.

The course of the war in 1964-1968.

Initially, the bombing was intended to stop the penetration of North Vietnamese forces into South Vietnam, to force North Vietnam to refuse assistance to the rebels, and also to boost the morale of the South Vietnamese. Over time, two more reasons appeared - to force Hanoi (North Vietnam) to sit down at the negotiating table and use the bombing as a trump card in concluding an agreement. By March 1965, American bombing of North Vietnam had become a regular occurrence.

Air operations in South Vietnam also intensified. To increase the mobility of South Vietnamese and US troops helicopters were widely used in rough terrain. New types of weapons and combat methods were developed. For example, defoliants were sprayed, "liquid" mines were used, penetrating under the surface of the earth and retaining the ability to explode for several days, as well as infrared detectors that made it possible to detect the enemy under the dense canopy of the forest.

Air operations against the guerrillas changed the nature of the war; now the peasants were forced to leave their houses and fields, destroyed by intense bombing and napalm. By the end of 1965, 700,000 inhabitants had left rural areas of South Vietnam and became refugees. Another new element was the involvement of other countries in the war. In addition to the United States, the South Vietnamese government came to the aid of South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Later Philippines and Thailand. In 1965, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR A.N. Kosygin promised to send Soviet anti-aircraft guns, MIG jet fighters and surface-to-air missiles to North Vietnam.

The United States began bombing supply bases and gas depots in North Vietnam, as well as targets in the demilitarized zone. The first bombardment of Hanoi, the capital of North Vietnam, and the port city of Haiphong was carried out on June 29, 1966. Despite this, the number of North Korean troops infiltrating South Vietnam steadily increased. Soviet supplies to North Vietnam were carried out through the port of Haiphong, from the bombing and mining of which the United States refrained, fearing the consequences of the destruction of Soviet ships.

In North Vietnam, American bombing also resulted in numerous civilian casualties and the destruction of many civilian objects. Civilian casualties were relatively low due to the construction of thousands of one-person concrete shelters and the evacuation of much of the urban population, especially children, to rural areas. Industrial enterprises were also taken out of the cities and placed in countryside. One of the tasks assigned was the destruction of villages controlled by the Viet Cong. Residents of suspicious villages were evicted from their houses, which were then burned or bulldozed, and the peasants were relocated to other areas.

Beginning Since 1965, the USSR has been supplying equipment and ammunition for air defense, while China has sent auxiliary troops numbering from 30,000 to 50,000 troops to North Vietnam. to assist in the restoration of transport communications and strengthening air defense. Throughout the 1960s, China insisted that North Vietnam continue the armed struggle until complete and final victory. The USSR, fearful of border conflicts, was apparently inclined to open peace negotiations, but because of the rivalry with China for the leadership of the communist bloc, did not put serious pressure on the North Vietnamese.

Peace negotiations. End of the war
From 1965 to 1968, repeated attempts were made to start peace negotiations, but they turned out to be fruitless, as were the efforts of international mediators. : “Hanoi understands the principle of reciprocity as follows: there is a civil war in South Vietnam, Hanoi supports one side, the US the other. If the US stops its aid, then Hanoi is ready to do the same.” The United States, on the other hand, claimed that it was protecting South Vietnam from external aggression.
Three major obstacles stood in the way of the peace talks:
1) Hanoi's demand that the US finally and unconditionally stop the bombing of North Vietnam;
2) the refusal of the United States to go for it without concessions from North Vietnam;
3) the unwillingness of the South Vietnamese government to enter into negotiations with the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam.

In the late 1960s, the United States was swept by an unprecedented wave of public discontent over the undeclared war in Vietnam. Apparently, this was not only due to the huge costs of the war and heavy losses (during 1961-1967 almost 16,000 American troops were killed and 100,000 wounded; total losses from 1961 to 1972 amounted to 46,000 killed and more than 300,000 wounded) , but also by televised demonstrations of the devastation caused by US troops in Vietnam. The Vietnam War had a very significant impact on the worldview of the people of the United States. A new movement, the hippies, emerged from the youth protesting against this war. The movement culminated in the so-called "Pentagon Campaign", when up to 100,000 young people gathered in Washington in October 1967 to protest against the war, as well as protests during the US Democratic Party Convention in Chicago in August 1968.
Desertion during the Vietnam campaign was a fairly widespread phenomenon. Many deserters from the Vietnam era left units tormented by the fears and horrors of war. This is especially true of those who were drafted into the army against the will of the recruits themselves. However, many of the future deserters went to war of their own free will. The American authorities tried to solve the problem of their legalization immediately after the end of the war. President Gerald Ford in 1974 offered a pardon to all draft evaders and deserters. More than 27,000 people came to confession. Later, in 1977, the next head of the White House, Jimmy Carter, pardoned those who fled the United States so as not to be drafted.

"Vietnam Syndrome"
One of the consequences of US participation in the Vietnam War is the emergence of the "Vietnam Syndrome". The essence of the "Vietnam Syndrome" is the refusal of the Americans to support the participation of the United States in military campaigns that are long in nature, do not have clear military and political goals, and are accompanied by significant losses among American military personnel. Separate manifestations of the "Vietnamese syndrome" are observed at the level of the mass consciousness of Americans. Anti-interventionist sentiments became a concrete expression of the “Vietnam Syndrome”, when the increased desire of the American people for the non-participation of their country in hostilities abroad was often accompanied by a demand to exclude war from the arsenal of means of the government’s national policy as a method of resolving foreign policy crises. The attitude to avoid situations fraught with a "second Vietnam" took shape in the form of a slogan "No more Vietnams!".

On March 31, 1968, US President Johnson gave in to demands to limit the scale of American participation in the war and announced a reduction in the bombing of the North and called for an end to the war on the terms of the Geneva Accords. Immediately before the 1968 presidential election, Johnson ordered an end to American bombing of North Vietnam on November 1. The National Liberation Front of South Vietnam and the Saigon government were invited to take part in the talks in Paris. R. Nixon, who replaced Johnson as president in January 1969, announced a transition to the "Vietnamization" of the war, which provided for the phased withdrawal of American ground forces from Vietnam, the use of the remaining military personnel mainly as advisers, instructors, as well as to provide technical assistance and air support for the South Vietnamese armed forces, which meant shifting the main burden of hostilities onto the shoulders of the South Vietnamese army. The direct participation of American troops in hostilities ceased from August 1972. At the same time, the United States significantly increased the bombing of Vietnam, first in the south, and then in the north, and soon hostilities and bombing engulfed almost the entire Indochina. The expansion of the scale of the air war led to an increase in the number of downed American aircraft (8500 by 1972).

Late October 1972, after secret talks in Paris between President Nixon's adviser on national security G. Kissinger and the representative of North Vietnam Le Duc Tho, a nine-point tentative agreement was reached. However, the United States hesitated to sign it, and after the Saigon government raised objections on a number of points, they tried to change the content of the agreements already reached. In mid-December, negotiations broke down, and the United States launched the most intense bombing of North Vietnam of the entire war. American B-52 strategic bombers carried out "carpet" bombing of the areas of Hanoi and Haiphong, covering an area 0.8 km wide and 2.4 km long in one bombing.

In April 1973, the last American military units left Vietnam, and in August the US Congress passed a law prohibiting any use of American military forces in Indochina.

The political clauses of the ceasefire agreement were not implemented and the fighting never stopped. In 1973 and early 1974, the Saigon government managed to achieve significant successes, but at the end of 1974 the Provisional Revolutionary Government of South Vietnam struck back and in 1975, together with the North Vietnamese troops, launched a general offensive. In March, they occupied the city of Methuot, and the Saigon troops were forced to leave the entire territory of the Central Plateau. Their retreat soon turned into a rout, and by mid-April the Communists had captured two-thirds of the country. Saigon was surrounded, and on April 30, 1975, the South Vietnamese troops laid down their arms.

The Vietnam War is over. From 1961 to 1975, 56,555 American servicemen died and 303,654 were injured. The Vietnamese lost at least 200,000 Saigon soldiers, an estimated one million soldiers of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam and the North Vietnamese army, and half a million civilians. Several million more people were injured, about ten million were left homeless.



Consequences of the use of chemical weapons in Vietnam

Questions and tasks:

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The Vietnam War was one of the largest military conflicts in military history. Today there are a lot of polar opinions about it. In our review, there are several facts about the Vietnam War that will allow you to learn about the unknown sides of that terrible war.

1 The CIA Hired Hmong During The Secret War


In 1965, the CIA, with the help of Air America (which it secretly owned), began the operation that would become known as the "Secret War". By 1961, 9,000 Hmong guerrillas in Laos had been recruited. During the Vietnam War, Laos was neutral, but the NVA (North Vietnamese Army) had a strong influence in that country. In 1965, the number of Hmong partisans increased to 20,000 and then it was discovered true reason"Secret War".

The Hmong were to destroy NVA supply depots, ambush cargo convoys, disrupt supply lines, and generally cause any possible damage to the NVA. When America began withdrawing troops from Vietnam, Air America was forced to leave Laos. On June 3, 1974, the airline's last plane left Laos, leaving the Hmong to fend for themselves.

Shortly after the Lao government began arresting the Hmong for their collaboration with the CIA, many guerrillas fled to the jungle, where they have lived since the end of the Vietnam War. Many of these Hmong guerrillas still hope today that the US will one day come to rescue them from the jungle.

2. Most of the soldiers were volunteers


According to official figures, three-quarters of all American soldiers volunteered for the army. More specifically, during the entire war, 9,087,000 people served in the army, and only 1,728,344 of them were called up. This is a very low number of conscripts compared to other wars. For example, during World War II, 8,895,135 Americans were drafted into the army, which was two-thirds of the total number of all Americans involved in the war.

3. Unfair call


Another controversial issue regarding the war is social inequality in conscription. It was rumored in America that racial and social status of people. But 88.4 percent of the men who served in the Vietnam War are Caucasians. So, the myth that racial minorities were "cannon fodder" is simply not true. 79 percent of military personnel received higher education, and the wealth of three-quarters of all soldiers was above the poverty line, which refutes the theory of social inequality.

4. Payments to spies


The South Vietnamese spies were very important to the United States, but their work was dangerous. The problem with recruiting these spies was that many of them lived in communities where money simply didn't exist and where barter was accepted. This led to the use of rice and other goods as payment. This scheme worked for some time, after which it turned out that the "agents" did not need more rice, and they did not need other goods.

The decision was made to provide the spies with Sears catalogs from which they could choose the goods they would be paid with. The first order was for six red velvet blazers with copper buttons, each paid for 20 days' work. The spies also ordered other items of clothing, such as oversized bras, which they used to... harvest fruit.

5. Age of soldiers


The Vietnam War caused numerous protests in American society also because young people were dying. And it was true: the average age of a soldier is 22 years old, and that of an officer is 28 years old. And the oldest person to die in Vietnam was 63-year-old Kenna Clyde Taylor.

6. Super glue


War is always death and terrible wounds. And today it seems incredible that wounded American soldiers used superglue to get a chance at salvation. The wound, filled with glue, provided invaluable time for the soldiers to get to the medical unit and wait for the operation.

7. Life after the war


At one time, it was much said that in the United States, society treated Vietnam veterans very negatively after they returned home. Allegedly, crowds of protesters met the soldiers at the airport. But in most cases, none of this happened.

8. Seeding Clouds


The United States Army did not hesitate to use sabotage and sabotage to their advantage. One of the most interesting ways that the Americans used against the North Vietnamese army was Operation Popeye. As part of this operation, the Americans conducted 50 sorties of aircraft, during which silver iodide was dispersed in rain clouds, which led to heavy precipitation in 82 percent of cases. These rains were supposed to stop the military advance of the Vietnamese in certain areas. It was also supposed, by changing the weather, to flood specific areas, causing damage to crops, which should have left the Vietnamese army without provisions.

9. US Allies in the Vietnam War


Usually, when it comes to the Vietnam War, they mostly talk about the Americans. Although the United States had the largest number of soldiers in Vietnam, it also had troops from South Korea, the Philippines, Thailand, Australia, and New Zealand fighting on its side. South Korea alone sent 312,853 troops to Vietnam between September 1963 and April 1975.

South Korean soldiers killed 41,000 North Vietnamese soldiers and 5,000 civilians. At the same time, only 4,687 South Koreans were killed during the war. 60,000 troops came from Australia and 3,000 from New Zealand.

10. Death card


It is likely that, thanks to Hollywood films, many have begun to associate Vietnam with the ace of spades. At the same time, many do not have the slightest idea about the true history of this famous symbol. The ace of spades was left on the bodies of dead soldiers as a warning. The Vietnamese were very superstitious people, and when the American troops found themselves intimidated by maps, the practice became widespread.

Fortunately, many years have passed since that terrible time, and Vietnam has become a flourishing and actively developing country. One of the attractions that attract the attention of tourists is. He is really wonderful.

On January 15, 1973, the US Army and its allies stopped conducting military operations in Vietnam. The peaceful nature of the American military was explained by the fact that after four years of negotiations in Paris, the participants in the armed conflict reached a certain agreement. A few days later, on January 27, a peace treaty was signed. According to the agreements reached, American troops, having lost 58 thousand people since 1965, left South Vietnam. Until now, historians, military and politicians cannot unequivocally answer the question: "How did the Americans lose the war if they did not lose a single battle?" "RG" has collected several expert opinions on this matter.

1. Hell disco in the jungle. So American soldiers and officers called the Vietnam War. Despite the overwhelming superiority in weapons and forces (the number of the US military contingent in Vietnam in 1968 was 540 thousand people), they failed to defeat the partisans. Even carpet bombing, during which American aircraft dropped 6.7 million tons of bombs on Vietnam, could not "drive the Vietnamese into the Stone Age." At the same time, the losses of the US army and their allies were constantly growing. During the years of the war, the Americans lost 58,000 people in the jungle killed, 2,300 missing and over 150,000 wounded. At the same time, the list of official losses did not include Puerto Ricans who were recruited into the US army in order to obtain United States citizenship. Despite occasional successful military operations, President Richard Nixon realized that final victory could not be achieved.

2. Demoralization of the US Army. Desertion during the Vietnam campaign was a fairly widespread phenomenon. Suffice it to recall that the famous American heavyweight boxer Cassius Clay converted to Islam at the peak of his career and took the name Muhammad Ali so as not to serve in the American army. For this act, he was stripped of all titles and suspended from competition for more than three years. After the war, President Gerald Ford in 1974 offered pardons to all draft evaders and deserters. More than 27,000 people came to confession. Later, in 1977, the next head of the White House, Jimmy Carter, pardoned those who fled the United States so as not to be drafted.

4. People's War. Most of the Vietnamese were on the side of the partisans. They provided them with food, intelligence information, recruits and labor. In his writings, David Hackworth quotes Mao Zedong's saying that "the people are to the guerrillas what water is to fish: remove the water and the fish will die." "The factor that soldered and cemented the communists from the very beginning was their strategy of a revolutionary liberation war. Without this strategy, the victory of the communists would have been impossible. The Vietnam War must be viewed through the prism of the people's war strategy, that this is not a matter of manpower and things are irrelevant to the problem," wrote another American historian, Philip Davidson.

5. Professionals versus amateurs. The soldiers and officers of the Vietnamese army were much better prepared than the Americans for the war in the jungle, as they had fought for the liberation of Indochina since the Second World War. First their opponent was Japan, then France, then the USA. “While in Mai Hiep, I also met with Colonels Lee La-m and Dang Wiet Mei. They served as battalion commanders for almost 15 years,” recalls David Hackworth. “The average American battalion or brigade commander served in Vietnam for one six-month term. Lama and May could be compared to the coaches of professional football teams who play every season in the finals for the super prize, while the American commanders were like rosy-cheeked math teachers, put in place of our professional coaches, sacrificed to careerism.To become generals, our "players" risked their lives commanding battalions in Vietnam for six months and America lost."

6. Anti-war protests and the mood of the American society. America was rocked by thousands of protesters against the Vietnam War. A new movement, the hippies, emerged from the youth protesting against this war. The movement culminated in the so-called "Pentagon March", when up to 100,000 young people gathered in Washington in October 1967 to protest against the war, as well as protests during the US Democratic Party Convention in Chicago in August 1968. Suffice it to recall that John Lennon, who opposed the war, wrote the song "Give Peace a Chance". Drug addiction, suicide, desertion spread among the military. Veterans pursued" vietnamese syndrome", because of which thousands of former soldiers and officers took their own lives. In such conditions, it was pointless to continue the war.

7. Help from China and the USSR. Moreover, if comrades from the Celestial Empire provided mainly economic assistance and manpower, then Soviet Union provided Vietnam with its most advanced weapons. So, according to rough estimates, assistance to the USSR is estimated at 8-15 billion dollars, and the financial costs of the United States, based on modern estimates, exceeded a trillion US dollars. In addition to weapons, the Soviet Union sent military specialists to Vietnam. From July 1965 to the end of 1974, about 6.5 thousand officers and generals, as well as more than 4.5 thousand soldiers and sergeants of the Soviet Armed Forces, took part in the hostilities. In addition, the training of Vietnamese military personnel was started in military schools and academies of the USSR - this is more than 10 thousand people.

The Vietnam War lasted 20 long years. It became the most brutal and bloody military conflict of all time. cold war where several countries of the world were involved. During the entire period of armed confrontation, the small country lost almost four million civilians and about one and a half million soldiers on both sides.

Background of the conflict

Speaking briefly about the Vietnam War, this conflict is called the Second Indochina War. At some point, the internal confrontation between the North and the South developed into a confrontation between the Western SEATO bloc, which supported the southerners, and the USSR and the PRC, who were on the side of North Vietnam. The Vietnamese situation also affected neighboring countries - Cambodia and Laos did not escape the civil war.

First, a civil war broke out in southern Vietnam. The prerequisites and causes of the Vietnam War can be called the unwillingness of the country's population to live under the influence of the French. In the second half of the 19th century, Vietnam belonged to the colonial empire of France.

When the First World War ended, the country experienced an increase in the national consciousness of the population, which was manifested in the organization of a large number of underground circles that fought for the independence of Vietnam. At that time, there were several armed uprisings in the country.

In China, the League for the Independence of Vietnam - Viet Minh - was created, uniting all those who sympathize with the idea of ​​liberation. Further, the Viet Minh was headed by Ho Chi Minh, and the League acquired a clear communist orientation.

Speaking briefly about the causes of the Vietnam War, they were as follows. After the end of World War II in 1954, the entire Vietnamese territory was divided along the length of the 17th parallel. At the same time, North Vietnam was controlled by the Viet Minh, and the South was controlled by the French.

The victory of the communists in China (PRC) made the United States nervous and begin its intervention in internal politics Vietnam on the side of the French-controlled South. The US government, regarding the PRC as a threat, believed that Red China would soon wish to increase its influence in Vietnam, but the US could not allow this.

It was assumed that in 1956 Vietnam would unite into a single state, but the French South did not want to become under the control of the communist North, which was the main reason for the Vietnam War.

Beginning of the war and early period

So, it was not possible to painlessly unite the country. The Vietnam War was inevitable. The communist North decided to seize the southern part of the country by force.

The beginning of the Vietnam War was a series of terrorist attacks against officials of the South. And 1960 was the year of the creation of the world-famous Viet Cong organization, or the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam (NLF), which united all the numerous groups fighting against the South.

In a brief summary of the causes and outcomes of the Vietnam War, some of the most significant events of this brutal confrontation cannot be omitted. In 1961, the American army does not take part in the clashes, but the successful and daring actions of the Viet Cong have strained the United States, which is transferring the first regular army units to South Vietnam. Here they train South Vietnamese soldiers and assist them in planning attacks.

The first serious military clash occurred only in 1963, when the Viet Cong guerrillas in the battle of Apbak smashed the South Vietnamese army to smithereens. After this defeat, a political coup took place, in which the ruler of the South, Diem, was killed.

The Viet Cong strengthened their positions by transferring a significant part of their guerrillas to the southern territories. The number of American soldiers also grew. If in 1959 there were 800 fighters, then in 1964 the Vietnam War continued with the size of the American army in the South, which reached 25,000 soldiers.

United States intervention

The Vietnam War continued. The fierce resistance of the partisans of North Vietnam was helped by the geographical and climatic features of the country. Dense jungles, mountainous terrain, alternating seasons of rainstorms and incredible heat significantly complicated the actions of American soldiers and made it easier for the Viet Cong guerrillas, for whom these natural disasters were familiar.

Vietnam War 1965-1974 was carried out already with the full-scale intervention of the US Army. At the beginning of 1965, in February, American military installations were attacked by the Viet Cong. After this brazen trick, US President Lyndon Johnson announced the readiness of a retaliatory strike, which was carried out during Operation Blazing Spear, a brutal carpet bombing of Vietnamese territory by American aircraft.

Later, already in March 1965, the US Army carried out another, the largest bombing operation since the Second World War, called "Thunder Rolls". At this time, the size of the American army grew to 180,000 troops. But this is not the limit. Over the next three years, there were already about 540,000.

But the first battle in which US Army soldiers entered took place in August 1965. Operation Starlight ended with a complete victory for the Americans, who destroyed approximately 600 Viet Cong.

After that, the American army decided to use the "search and destroy" strategy, when the US soldiers considered their main task to be the detection of partisans and their complete destruction.

Frequent forced military clashes with the Viet Cong in the mountainous territories of South Vietnam exhausted American soldiers. In 1967 at the Battle of Dakto Marines The United States and the 173rd Airborne Brigade suffered terrible losses, although they managed to hold back the guerrillas and prevent the capture of the city.

Between 1953 and 1975, the United States spent a fabulous $168 million on the Vietnam War. This led to an impressive federal budget deficit in America.

Tet battle

During the Vietnam War, the replenishment of American troops came entirely from volunteers and a limited draft. President L. Johnson refused to partially mobilize and call up reservists, so by 1967 the human reserves of the American army were exhausted.

Meanwhile, the Vietnam War continued. In mid-1967, the military leadership of North Vietnam began planning a large-scale offensive in the south in order to turn the tide of hostilities. The Viet Cong wanted to create the prerequisites for the Americans to begin to withdraw their troops from Vietnam and overthrow the government of Nguyen Van Thieu.

The United States was aware of these preparations, but the Viet Cong offensive came as a complete surprise to them. The northern army and the guerrillas went on the offensive on the day of Tet (Vietnamese New Year) when it is forbidden to carry out any hostilities.

On January 31, 1968, the North Vietnamese army launched massive strikes throughout the South, including big cities. Many attacks were repulsed, but the South lost the city of Hue. Only in March this offensive was stopped.

During the 45 days of the North offensive, the Americans lost 150,000 soldiers, more than 2,000 units of helicopters and aircraft, more than 5,000 units military equipment and about 200 ships.

At the same time, America was waging an air war against the DRV (Democratic Republic of Vietnam). About a thousand aircraft took part in the carpet bombing, which during the period from 1964 to 1973. flew more than 2 million sorties and dropped about 8 million bombs in Vietnam.

But the American army team miscalculated here too. North Vietnam evacuated its population from all major cities, hiding people in the mountains and the jungle. The Soviet Union supplied the northerners with supersonic fighters, air defense systems, radio equipment and helped to master all this. Thanks to this, the Vietnamese managed to destroy about 4,000 US aircraft throughout the years of the conflict.

The battle of Hue, when the South Vietnamese army wanted to retake the city, was the bloodiest in the history of this war.

The Tet offensive caused a wave of protests among the US population against the Vietnam War. Then many began to consider it senseless and cruel. No one expected that the Vietnamese communist army would be able to organize an operation of this magnitude.

Withdrawal of US troops

In November 1968, after the newly elected US President R. Nixon took office, who during the election race promised an end to the war with Vietnam by America, there was hope that the Americans would still remove their troops from Indochina.

The US war in Vietnam was a disgrace to America's reputation. In 1969, at the Congress of People's Representatives of South Vietnam, the proclamation of a republic (RSV) was announced. The partisans became the People's Armed Forces (NVSO SE). This outcome forced the US government to sit down at the negotiating table and stop the bombing.

America, under the Nixon presidency, gradually reduced its presence in the Vietnam War, and when 1971 began, more than 200,000 troops were withdrawn from South Vietnam. The Saigon army, by contrast, was increased to 1,100,000 soldiers. Almost all more or less heavy weapons of the Americans were left in South Vietnam.

At the beginning of 1973, namely on January 27, the Paris Agreement was concluded to end the war in Vietnam. The United States was obliged to completely remove its military bases from the designated territories, to withdraw both troops and military personnel. In addition, a full exchange of prisoners of war was to take place.

Final stage of the war

For the United States, the result of the Vietnam War after the Paris Agreement was the left to the southerners in the amount of 10,000 advisers and 4 billion US dollars in financial support provided throughout 1974 and 1975.

Between 1973 and 1974 The Popular Liberation Front resumed hostilities with renewed vigor. The southerners, who suffered serious losses in the spring of 1975, could only defend Saigon. It was all over in April 1975 after Operation Ho Chi Minh. Deprived of American support, the army of the South was defeated. In 1976, both parts of Vietnam were merged into the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

Participation in the conflict between the USSR and China

Military, political and economic assistance from the USSR to North Vietnam played a significant role in the outcome of the war. Through the port of Haiphong, supplies came from the Soviet Union, which transported equipment and ammunition, tanks and heavy weapons to the Viet Cong. Experienced Soviet military specialists who trained the Viet Cong were actively involved as consultants.

China was also interested and helped the northerners by supplying food, weapons, trucks. In addition, Chinese troops numbering up to 50,000 people were sent to North Vietnam to restore roads, both road and rail.

Aftermath of the Vietnam War

years bloody war in Vietnam claimed millions of lives, most of which were civilians in North and South Vietnam. The environment has also suffered greatly. The south of the country was heavily flooded with American defoliants, and many trees died as a result. The north, after many years of US bombing, was in ruins, and napalms burned out a significant part of the Vietnamese jungle.

During the war, chemical weapons were used, which could not but affect environmental situation. After the withdrawal of US troops, American veterans of this terrible war suffered from mental disorders and many different diseases, which were caused by the use of dioxin, which is part of Agent orange. There was a huge number of suicides among American veterans, although official figures on this have never been published.

Speaking about the causes and results of the Vietnam War, one more sad fact should be noted. Many representatives of the American political elite participated in this conflict, but given fact causes only negative emotions in the population of the United States.

Studies conducted at that time by political scientists showed that a participant in the Vietnamese conflict had no chance of becoming the President of the United States, since the Vietnam War caused a strong rejection of the average voter of those times.

War crimes

Results of the Vietnam War 1965-1974. disappointing. The brutality of this worldwide carnage is undeniable. Among the war crimes of the Vietnamese conflict are the following:


Among others were the causes of the Vietnam War of 1965-1974. The initiator of the unleashing of the war was the States with their desire to subdue the world. During the conflict in Vietnam, about 14 million tons of various explosives were blown up - more than in the two previous world wars.

The first of the main reasons was to prevent the spread of communist ideology in the world. The second, of course, is money. Several large corporations in the United States made a good fortune selling weapons, but for ordinary citizens, the official reason for America's involvement in the war in Indochina was called, which sounded like the need to spread world democracy.

Strategic Acquisitions

The following is a brief summary of the results of the Vietnam War in terms of strategic acquisitions. During long war the Americans had to create a powerful structure for the maintenance and repair of military equipment. Repair facilities were located in South Korea, in Taiwan, Okinawa and Honshu. The Sagam Tank Repair Plant alone saved the US Treasury about $18 million.

All this could allow the American army to enter into any military conflict in the Asia-Pacific region without worrying about the safety of military equipment, which in short time could be restored and used again in battles.

Vietnam War with China

Some historians believe that this war was started by the Chinese in order to remove parts of the Vietnamese army from Chinese-controlled Kampuchea, while punishing the Vietnamese for interfering in Chinese policy in Southeast Asia. In addition, China, which was in confrontation with the Union, needed a reason to abandon the 1950 agreement on cooperation with the USSR, signed in 1950. And they succeeded. In April 1979, the contract was terminated.

The war between China and Vietnam began in 1979 and lasted only a month. On March 2, the Soviet leadership announced its readiness to intervene in the conflict on the side of Vietnam, having previously demonstrated military power in exercises near the Chinese border. At this time, the Chinese embassy is expelled from Moscow and sent home by train. During this trip, Chinese diplomats witnessed the transfer of Soviet troops to the side Far East and Mongolia.

The USSR openly supported Vietnam, and China, led by Deng Xiaoping, abruptly curtailed the war, not daring to start a full-scale conflict with Vietnam, behind which stood the Soviet Union.

Speaking briefly about the causes and results of the Vietnam War, one can conclude that no goals can justify the senseless bloodshed of the innocent, especially if the war is conceived for a handful of rich people who want to line their pockets even harder.

Major events and phases of the Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was the largest conflict of the second half of the twentieth century. Under the Vietnam War is usually meant an armed clash with the United States. But this is only part of the conflict. There are three main stages in this war: the civil war in South Vietnam, the entry of the United States into the war, and the final stage. All these events took place between 1957 and 1975. They are called the Second Indochina War. The conflict began as a civil strife in South Vietnam, which then became involved in North Vietnam. At a certain point, the Vietnam War escalated into a confrontation between the Western bloc SEATO (who were on the side of the southerners) and the Soviet Union with China (who helped the northerners). Vietnam conflict affected neighboring Cambodia and Laos, where they also went civil wars. If you are interested in what time the Vietnam War was and who participated in it, we advise you to read this material.

Without considering the events leading up to the Vietnam War, it is impossible to give a complete picture of what happened. So first let's remember what preceded this armed conflict. To do this, let's go back to the end of World War II.

France colonized Vietnam in the second half of the 19th century. There was a constant struggle with the colonialists in the country, and there was an underground. The confrontation escalated at the beginning of the 20th century after the First World War. As a result, by 1941, the League for the Independence of Vietnam arose. It was a military-political organization that united under its banner all those who fought against the French colonialists. She was also called the Viet Minh. Key positions in this organization were occupied by communists and supporters of Ho Chi Minh.

During the Second World War, the United States provided comprehensive assistance to Vietnam in the war with Japan. After Japan surrendered, the Independence League occupied Hanoi and other major cities in Vietnam. As a result, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam was proclaimed. The French authorities did not agree with this and sent an expeditionary force into Vietnam in December 1946. Thus began the colonial war. It went down in history as the First Indochina War.

The French could not cope with the partisans alone, and then the United States began to help them. For them, this region was important in terms of protecting the Philippines and the Japanese islands from the southwest. Therefore, they decided to help their allies, the French, get control of Vietnam.


The war lasted from 1950 to 1954 and ended with the defeat of the French troops at Dien Bien Phu. At this point, the United States provided more than 80 percent of the costs of this war. Richard Nixon (then Vice President of the United States) advocated the use of tactical nuclear weapons. However, in July 1954 a peace agreement was reached in Geneva. In accordance with it, Vietnam was divided into North and South along the seventeenth parallel. passed under the rule of France, which granted him independence. True, only on paper. In reality, American puppets were in power there. After some time, a sluggish civil war began in the country.

In 1960, presidential elections were held in the United States. The "red threat" was actively used in the election campaign. In China, a course was adopted to develop the communist model. Therefore, the US watched the expansion of the communist regime in Indochina very nervously. They could not establish communist rule here. And for this reason they take the place of France.

The first president of the Republic of Vietnam was Ngo Dinh Diem, who, with the help of the Americans, came to this position. The rule of this man can be described as the worst form of tyranny and corrupt power. Key positions were occupied by relatives of Ngo Dinh Diem, who organized a terrible outrage. Opponents of the regime languished in prisons, there was no freedom of the press and speech. The US leadership turned a blind eye to this so as not to lose an ally.



Under such rule and the discontent of the population in South Vietnam, resistance units began to appear, which initially were not even supported by the northerners. But in the USA they convinced themselves that the communists were to blame for everything and began to tighten the screws. This pressure only led to the fact that by the end of 1960, underground groups in South Vietnam united into a single organization called the National Liberation Front. In the west, this organization was called the Viet Cong.

From that time on, the North Vietnamese authorities also established constant assistance to the guerrillas. In response, the Americans increased technical assistance and advisory support. At the end of 1961, the first units of the US Army appeared in South Vietnam. These were several helicopter companies to make the troops of the southerners more mobile. US advisers began to train the troops of the southerners more seriously. In addition, they planned military operations.

All the actions of the White House administration were aimed at demonstrating their determination to fight the "communist infection" in Indochina. Gradually, this confrontation grew into a "hot" spot for the United States, and Vietnam became the scene of a clash of superpowers. After all, behind the back of North Vietnam stood the USSR and China. The United States lost control over South Vietnam and lost Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia. This put even Australia at risk.

The Americans realized that their protege Diem could not cope with the partisans, they staged a coup with the help of generals from his entourage. Ngo Dinh Diem was killed on November 2, 1963, along with his brother. After that, a period of struggle for power began and a series of coups followed. As a result partisan movement strengthened its position. At the same time, Kennedy was assassinated in the United States and Lyndon Johnson replaced him in this post. He first sent additional troops to Vietnam. In 1959, the Americans had 760 troops in South Vietnam, and by 1964 their number had increased to 23,300 there. That is, they were gradually drawn into the conflict. And a direct confrontation between American troops and North Vietnam was only a matter of time.

How did the US get into the Vietnam War?

On August 2, 1964, the first "Tonkin Incident" took place. In the bay of the same name, the American destroyers Turner Joy and Maddox engaged North Vietnamese torpedo boats. After 2 days, the destroyer Maddox received a message about repeated shelling from the enemy. But the alarm was false and this was confirmed from the ship after a while. But intelligence officials reported that they had intercepted messages from the North Vietnamese confirming this attack.



The vote in the US Congress was unanimous for the right to respond by all available means. Thus, the Tonkin Resolution was adopted and the full-scale war in Vietnam began. President Johnson ordered air strikes against Northern naval bases. The operation was named Pierce Arrow. It is interesting here that the decision military operation was enthusiastically received only by the civilian leadership of the United States. The Pentagon generals were not at all happy with this decision.

Already in our time there have been studies of historians about that episode. In particular, Matthew Aid, who deals with the history of the NSA (national security agency), did his research. This special service is engaged in electronic intelligence and counterintelligence in the United States. He came to the conclusion that intelligence reports about the incident in the Gulf of Tonkin were forged. He came to this conclusion based on a report by Robert Heynock (NSA historian). It was declassified in 2001. According to this document, officers of the National Security Agency made a mistake in translating radio intercepts. Higher officials revealed this error, but covered it up. As a result, everything was presented in such a way that an attack was actually made on an American destroyer. The country's leadership used this data to launch a military operation.

At the same time, historians are not inclined to think that President Johnson wanted the war. It's just that the data has been falsified in such a way that North Vietnam is deliberately escalating the situation. But there are many who think the opposite. They believe that it was the US leadership that was looking for a pretext for war, and they would have come up with it anyway without the events in the Gulf of Tonkin.

At the height of the Vietnam War, the US presidential election was held (1969). Future President Richard Nixon won because he advocated ending the Vietnam War and claimed he had a clear plan to do so. But this was a lie, and after coming to the White House, Nixon began carpet bombing Vietnam. In 1970, US ships and bombers fired more shells and dropped more bombs than in all the years of the war. At the same time, strategic bombers were actively used.

In reality, the Vietnam War had only one beneficiary - the American military corporations that produce weapons and ammunition. During the Vietnam War, about 14 million tons of explosives were used. This number exceeds what was used in the Second world war on all fronts. Powerful aerial bombs, as well as those prohibited by various conventions, were compared to the ground at home. Napalm and phosphorus were actively used to burn the jungle.

Another bloody crime of the US Army is the use of dioxin. This is the strongest poison. In total, during the Vietnam War, he was dropped to 400 kg. For comparison, 100 grams of this substance in the water supply system of a large metropolis will kill the entire city. This poison still causes the birth of children with disabilities in Vietnam. Military corporations well "warmed their hands" in this war. This is the only force that was not interested in victory or defeat. They needed the war to last as long as possible.

Vietnam War 1965─1974 Chronology

In this section, we will review the main stages and key events of the Vietnam War.

On August 5, 1964, the ships of the Seventh Fleet and the US Air Force began shelling and bombing the territory of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. In the next few days, Congress passed the "Tonkin Resolution", authorizing military action. Lyndon Johnson received the right to use the armed forces in Vietnam.

The American generals planned to isolate the liberation movement in South Vietnam from the northern part of the country, as well as along the border with Cambodia and Laos. After that, it was planned to inflict a final defeat on them. An air war plan was developed against North Vietnam. In accordance with the developed plan, on February 7, 1965, the US Air Force launched Operation Flaming Dart, which involved the destruction of industry and military installations of the DRV.

On March 2, 1965, the bombing of North Vietnamese targets became systematic. They were part of Operation Rolling Thunder. Around the same time, several thousand marines landed in the city of Da Nang. Three years later, the US military group had more than half a million people and a lot of military equipment. According to various estimates, a third of the entire ground equipment and helicopters of the US Army, about 40 percent of tactical aviation, 10-15 percent of aircraft carrier formations and more than 60 percent of the Marine Corps.

In February 1966, a conference of members of the SEATO bloc was held, at which it was decided to send a contingent to Vietnam from the following countries:

  • South Korea;
  • Thailand;
  • Australia;
  • Philippines;
  • New Zealand.

The number of troops sent by these countries ranged from several hundred to several tens of thousands.

The PRC and the Soviet Union provided economic and technical support to the government of North Vietnam. Assistance was also provided by military specialists and instructors. In particular, during the first few years of the conflict, the DRV received assistance from the USSR in the amount of more than three hundred million rubles. Weapons were supplied to North Vietnam, technical means, ammunition. Specialists from the USSR taught local fighters how to handle military equipment.

The first major ground offensive by the armies of the United States and South Vietnam was undertaken in 1965-1666. to capture the cities of Kontum and Pleiku. The goal was to dissect the Viet Cong detachments, squeezing them to the borders of Cambodia and Laos, followed by destruction. The total grouping of troops used for this operation had a strength of 650 thousand people. The Americans used the entire arsenal of their means, including biological and chemical weapons, as well as napalm. But the forces of the Liberation Front of South Vietnam managed to disrupt this operation thanks to an offensive near Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City).



During the dry season 1966-1967. The US Army organized the second major operation. By this point in the Vietnam War, a situation had developed when the guerrillas constantly left the blows, maneuvered and delivered unexpected blows to the enemy. At the same time, tunnels, fighting at night, and hidden shelters were used. The supply of partisans in South Vietnam was carried out with the help of. As a result, with a total strength of 1.2-1.3 million people, the coalition of the American and South Vietnamese army was on the defensive.

In early 1968, Viet Cong forces launched a major offensive. It went down in history as Operation Tet. This is the New Year celebrated in Asian countries. The number of attackers was ten infantry divisions, many separate regiments, battalions, companies of the regular army, as well as partisan detachments. The total number of these units reached three hundred thousand people. Taking into account the local population, which also took part, the attacking forces were approaching a million fighters.

And the partisans attacked more than forty major cities in the south of the country. Among them was the capital, Saigon. 30 major airfields and air bases were attacked. The offensive went on for 45 days. The result for the American coalition was the loss of:

  • 150 thousand fighters;
  • More than 2 thousand helicopters and planes;
  • More than 5 thousand units of military equipment;
  • About two hundred ships.

In parallel with these events, the US Army waged an "air war" against the DRV. About a thousand aircraft were involved in carpet bombing. Between 1964 and 1973 they flew over 2 million sorties and dropped about 8 million bombs. However, here the Americans miscalculated. The leadership of North Vietnam evacuated the population from large cities to mountain shelters and jungles. The USSR supplied and helped develop supersonic fighters, air defense systems and radio equipment. As a result, the Vietnamese managed to destroy about 4,000 US Air Force aircraft during the entire conflict.

In mid-1969, the Republic of South Vietnam was proclaimed at the Congress of People's Representatives of South Vietnam, and partisan detachments converted to Folk armed forces(NVSO SE). This outcome of the hostilities forced the United States to negotiate peace and stop the bombing. The American leadership began to gradually reduce their participation in the Vietnam War. By the beginning of 1971, more than 200,000 troops were withdrawn from South Vietnam. The Saigon army was increased to 1,100,000 men. In addition, they were given almost all the heavy weapons of the withdrawn army units.

In early 1973, the Paris Agreement was signed to end the Vietnam War. According to this document, the United States had to completely withdraw its troops and military personnel, remove their bases. A full exchange of prisoners of war was also envisaged. This ends the second phase of the Vietnam War, when the United States took an active part in the hostilities. After that, the Vietnam War entered its final stage.



After the Paris Agreement was concluded in 1973, the Americans left more than 10,000 advisers in Saigon. In addition, they provided them with financial support, which for 1974-1975. was about $4 billion.

In 1973-1974, the Liberation Front intensified the fighting. The troops of the army of South Vietnam were seriously damaged. By the spring of 1975, the southerners had forces only for the defense of Saigon. It all ended in April 1975, when Operation Ho Chi Minh was carried out. Without the support of the Americans, the South Vietnamese army finally lost its combat effectiveness and was defeated. It was the end of the Vietnam War. In 1976, North and South Vietnam were merged into a single state, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

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