Vietnam and the history of the War
Vietnam has gone through many wars and conflicts in its history. Mainly in the period between the First World War and shortly after the Second World War, when communist groups, led by Ho Chi Min, fought against French rule in Vietnam.
The rebels were successful when the Independence League defeated the French at the Battle of Diem Bien Phu in 1954.
In the Geneva treaty the country was separated into North Vietnam and South Vietnam. There would be a plebiscite to decide whether the country would remain separate.
The fear for capitalist countries was that Vietnam would unite and form a great communist power. The US intervened and supported the dictator Ngo Dinh Diem, who took over an anti-communist government in South Vietnam.
Along with this maneuver, American troops entered the country to intercept any action considered communist. Ho Chi Min had created the National Liberation Front, a guerrilla movement to fight the dictator Ngo Dinh Diem and his American allies.
The US entry into the War
Dinh Diem ended up being murdered by the communists. This was the trigger for the US to directly attack the country.
The justification for entering the conflict was an alleged attack by Vietnam on American ships in the Gulf of Tonkin. The US fought against the Viet Cong, a nickname given to the communists.
The USA had a gigantic arsenal that included aircraft, chemical weapons, bombs, missiles and a well-trained army. The Viet Cong had a rural guerrilla strategy and complete knowledge of their own territory and its characteristics.
The “Tet Offensive” in 1968 was the first major victory for the Viet Cong. The US counterattack was very violent and even affected civilians.
US newspapers and media outlets began a campaign against the Vietnam War, as many young American soldiers were dying in combat, in a major war with an unknown purpose.
The US ended up defeated by the Viet Cong. The abandonment of combat formally occurred in 1973, with the Paris Agreement.
Vietnam would still go through civil war for the next three years. The victory went to the communists, who created the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
The Vietnam War killed three million Vietnamese.
