The Vietnam War was a war designed to control the country side of South

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1 The Vietnam War was a war designed to control the country side of South Vietnam which was at the time very poor, illiterate, and lived mostly by farming. They had great family ties, and didn t know much about politics until the war began. The Geneva Accords of 1954 divided Vietnam into North Vietnam and South Vietnam. The northern sections were under the rule of a Communist government led by Ho Chi Minh. The southern side was led by a US supported government under Ngo Dinh Diem known as the Republic of South Vietnam. Along accordance with the Geneva Accords there was supposed to be an election for control to reunite the two sections. But, the south refused to hold the elections. The north didn t like this and decided they would reunite together even if they had to go to war to do it. Shortly after the war broke out and South Vietnam was trying to regain control of South Vietnam. 1 The Vietnamese culture is much different than that of the United States. The Vietnamese are primarily that of the Buddhism religion, and a minority of Roman Catholics. Vietnam is also very humongous ethnically they are all alike, not very diverse. Vietnam has always been a country that refuted resistance to foreign rule, the Chinese and the French to name two. The people in Vietnam also highly respect their ancestors you do not mess with their graves, or churches! These are a few things that the United States should have kept in mind before they went to war. 2 An inclination of a war with Vietnam began in 1945 when Ho Chi Minh created a provisional government after Japan surrender to allied forces. 3 The Vietnam War first began in 1946 and ended in 1976, only after millions have died. Ho Chi Minh led the democratic Republic of Vietnam from Ho Chi Minh whose name means he who enlightens changed his name from Nguyen Sinh Cung. Minh who lived in many

2 countries till returning to Vietnam in 1941 declared Vietnam s independence from France. Minh fought for Vietnam against the French, and America later on, until he died in In November 1946 Minh attempted to negotiate the end of colonial rule under the French. Minh was not successful. The French responded by dropping bombs on Haiphong harbor killing over 6,000 Vietnamese civilians leading to a declaration of War in December In 1947 Etienne Valluy French General attempted to quickly kill all of the Vietminh, but failed. 5 In the coming years things were quiet until In 1950 the United States recognized Bao Dai as a threat and began pledging money to the French for support. The United States gave $15 million to the French, mean while the Chinese communists began aiding the Viet Minh with weapons. In August 1950 President Truman sent a 35 man U.S. Military Assistance Advisory Group to Saigon. By late 1950 the United Sates was paying for half of the cost of the war for the French against the Vietnamese. 6 In 1954 an enormous battle took place at Dien Bien Phu. This began in December when French commander Navarre thought he would build a blockade at Dien Bien Phu, this would block the route of the Vietminh forces trying to return to their camps in neighboring Laos. The Vietminh General Giap realized what the French commander was trying to accomplish and instead of fighting head on against someone who was fortified, Giap built trenches surrounding Dien Bien Phu. He continued building these trenches all the way around Dien Bien Phu and also built them underground towards the center. Giap also called more men to aid him in the upcoming battle from all over Vietnam amassing 70,000 men more than five times what the French had. On March 13, 1954 Vo Nguyen

3 Giap attacked Dien Bien Phu for fifty-six days, till the French surrendered on May 7 th. Over 7,000 French people died and over 11,000 were taken prisoner. The following day the French declared it would withdraw from Vietnam. In 1954 the Geneva Agreements was also signed dividing Vietnam at the 17 th parallel, creating North Vietnam and South Vietnam. 7 The Geneva conference on Indochina set up a demilitarized zone on the 17th parallel with North Vietnam under Communist rule and the South under the leadership of Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem. Ngo Dinh Diem refused Ho Chi Minh s offer to join the communist movement. Diem led the South from 1954 to His autocratic rule came to an end when his generals in a coup killed him. 8 In 1955 Diem rejected the Geneva Accords and refused to participate in a nationwide election. Britain, France and the United States all urged Diem to comply with the Geneva Accords and to speak to the North. Diem ignored everyone and went on to win a rigged election to declare himself the president of the Republic of Vietnam. The French left Vietnam in 1956, meanwhile, the American s assumed the responsibility from the French and began to train South Vietnamese soldiers. The election deadline in compliance with the Geneva Accords passed in 1956 no elections were held. South and North Vietnam began fighting each other the start to a long battle because the North wanted to reunite but the South did not Communists assassinated more than 400 South Vietnamese officials. Terrorist also bombed Saigon wounding 13 American people appears to be a year of preparing. Examination of evidence shows no major happenings in 1958 in relation to the Vietnam War. However, in 1959 weapons began travailing down to Ho Chi Minh trail

4 to areas near Saigon. 10 The Ho Chi Minh trail was vital in the Vietnam War. The trail was a complex assortment of trails through the jungle. The trail began at North Vietnam and stopped around Saigon. The National Liberation Front has been estimated at receiving 60 tons of aid via this route. Along the trail there were many base camps to allow the travelers to rest and be checked out for disease. The major cause of death was not being attacked by man, rather than that of a disease. Malaria killed about 10% of people traveling the trail. In the early days of the war it took an estimated 6 months to travel the trail, however, by the end an experienced solider could travel the trail in about 6 weeks. The North Vietnamese also sent troops to the South via the Trail an estimated 20,000 new soldiers a month came through the trail. The trail was virtually invisible to the United States Air Force becoming an even greater asset to the North Vietnamese. In 1959 the Viet Cong attacked Bien Hoa billets and two servicemen from the US were killed. 11 In 1960 Hanoi founds the National Liberation Front (NLF) in South Vietnam also known as the Viet Cong. In 1961 as the United States is sending more military advisors to Vietnam President Kennedy declares that the troops will fight back if shot upon. Through the years from the number of advisors from the US rose from 900 to around 15,000. In the 1963 the terrible happened in the US President Kennedy was assassinated. 12 During 1964 war declared by the United States because in the Golf on Tonkin on August 2, 3 north Vietnamese boats fired torpedoes at the USS Maddox. August 7 th Lyndon B Johnson and the senate voted to declare war on North Vietnam. The first battle on foot takes place at la Drang Valley, the US wins but both sides suffered major

5 casualties occurring in In June of 1965; 23,000 American troops were in Vietnam for battle by the end of 1965 more than 184,000 were present. 13 B-52 bombers bombed Vietnam for the first time in They bombed the Mugia Pass one of the major trails to send supplies from North Vietnam to South Vietnam. Lyndon B Johnson meet with South Vietnamese Premier Nguyen Cao Ky, Johnson says he will continue to help the south but will also monitor them to be sure they are expanding their democracy. 14 Operation Cedar Falls in 1967 was a major ground battle of over 30,000 people around Saigon. The United States tumbled upon a massive underground tunnel system that may have been an underground headquarters for the Viet Cong. 15 The Tet Offensive was born in 1968 as the North Vietnamese swept down and captured several key cities pushing back the United States. 525,000 Americans were now in Vietnam. The unforgettable My Lai massacre occurred as a US troop marched into My Lai killing between 100 and 300 people for no given reason. This shocked the nation when news of it reached the United States in Lt. William Calley was charged for murder for his crimes of ordering his men to do what they did in My Lai is also the year that Ho Chi Minh died at age 79, the draft lottery was reinstated for the first time since 1942, and Nixon the new president began pulling men from South Vietnam. 16 In 1970 the United States began to invade Cambodia to get out North Vietnamese troops. This was not something that the United States people thought was right and began to protest. At one protest at Kent State University things got out of hand and 4 students were killed and 8 were injured as the guards opened fire on them. The repercussions of

6 the actions of invading Cambodia and the death of 4 students led to more riots at universities shutting more than 100 of them down on May 6 th In 1971 the United Stated and the South Vietnamese attacked Laos to try and shut down the Ho Chi Minh Trail. December 18, 1972 the US began to bomb Hanoi and North Vietnam. 10 days later on the 28 th the North Vietnamese said they would return to Paris if the US stopped bombing, the US agreed. In early 1973 on January 23 rd the United States, South Vietnam, and North Vietnam signed the Paris Peace Accords ending the United States role in the war. By March the last of the US troops left Vietnam. 18 The war was not only a war fought on the ground by it was a war fought in the minds of the Vietnamese people. Sandler claims the US was concerned with the other war and they were trying to psychologically control Vietnam. Sandler says, however, there were many problems in this. The PSYOP people only did their operations for a year in rotation, not much longer than it took them to fully understand what they were doing and what was beginning to work. There was also not much prestige as a PSYOP so men didn t want the job. Sorley discussed the ground war strategy. His claim was the US wanted a high body count as a determinate of success. These two strategies are contradictory of each other and ideas can be derived on why the US may have not won the hearts and minds of the Vietnamese people. 19 The results of the Vietnam War were tremendous. It is estimated that 4 million Vietnamese people died from in the war alone. The amount of bombs the US dropped on Vietnam served too many of these casualties. During the first 3 years of Nixon s presidency ( ) the US dropped 6 million tons of explosives, more than 2 ½ times that used in World War II. The US destroyed half the crops used for harvesting

7 one of there only ways of living, starving thousands of people. The war ruined life for almost the entire country. The amount of casualties, the amount of fields destroyed, and the amount of people killed devastated the country for many, many, years after the fighting stopped Hillstrom, Vietnam Primary Sources, p.1. 2 Jamieson, Vietnamese, 3 ( 4 ( 5 ( 6 ( 7 ( 8 ( 9 ( 10 ( 11 ( 12 ( 13 ( 14 ( 15 ( 16 ( 17 ( 18 ( 19 Sandler 20 Results