On January 27, 1973, after four years of negotiations in Paris, an agreement was signed "On ending the war and restoring peace in Vietnam." According to the document, American troops, who have lost 58 thousand people since 1965, recognized the victory of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and left the country.
This military conflict was the first defeat in American history. About why, with a huge military potential, the United States lost the war to a small state.
France allied with the United States
Until the outbreak of World War II, Vietnam was part of the French colonial empire. During the war years, a national liberation movement was formed on its territory, led by the leader of the Communist Party, Ho Chi Minh.
Fearing the loss of the colony, France sent an expeditionary force to Vietnam, which at the end of the war managed to partially regain control over the southern part of the country.
However, France was unable to suppress the stubborn resistance movement of the partisans, and in 1950 turned to the United States for material support. By that time, the independent Democratic Republic of Vietnam, ruled by Ho Chi Minh, had formed in the north of the country.
Nevertheless, even the financial assistance from the United States did not help the Fifth Republic: in 1954, after the defeat of France at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, the First Indochina War was over. As a result, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam was proclaimed in the south of the country with its capital in Saigon, while the north remained with Ho Chi Minh. Fearing the strengthening of the socialists and realizing the precariousness of the South Vietnam regime, the United States began to actively help its leadership.
In addition to financial support, the President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, decided to send the first regular units of the US Armed Forces to the country (before that, only military advisers were serving there). In 1964, when it became clear that these efforts were not enough, America, under the leadership of President Lyndon Johnson, began full-scale military operations in Vietnam. 
On the anti-communist wave
One of the main reasons for the US involvement in the Vietnam War is the desire to stop the spread of communism in Asia. After the establishment of the communist regime in China, the American government wanted to end the Red Menace by any means possible.
On this anti-communist wave, Kennedy won the 1960 presidential race between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon. It was he who presented the most decisive plan of action to eliminate this threat, sending the first American military to South Vietnam and by the end of 1963 having spent a record $ 3 billion on the war.
“Through this war, there was a global clash between the USA and the USSR. All the military power that was opposed to the United States is Soviet modern weapons. During the war, the leading powers of the capitalist and socialist worlds collided. The Saigon army and the regime were on the side of the United States. There was a confrontation between the communist north and south, represented by the Saigon regime, "explained Vladimir Mazyrin, Doctor of Economics, head of the Center for the Study of Vietnam and ASEAN, to RT.
Americanization of the war
With the help of the bombing of the North and the actions of American troops in the south of the country, Washington hoped to drain the economy of North Vietnam. Indeed, this war has witnessed the worst aerial bombardment in the history of mankind. From 1964 to 1973, the United States Air Force dropped about 7.7 million tons of bombs and other ammunition into Indochina.
Such decisive actions should, according to the calculations of the Americans, force the North Vietnamese leaders to agree to a peace treaty beneficial to the United States and lead to Washington's victory. “In 1968, the Americans, on the one hand, agreed to negotiate in Paris, but, on the other hand, adopted the doctrine of Americanization of the war, which resulted in an increase in the number of American troops in Vietnam,” Mazyrin said. - Thus, 1969 was the peak of the American army in Vietnam, which reached half a million people. But even that number of military personnel did not help the United States to win this war. "
Economic aid from China and the USSR, which provided Vietnam with the most advanced weapons, played a huge role in Vietnam's victory. For the fight against American troops, the Soviet Union allocated about 95 Dvina anti-aircraft missile systems and more than 7.5 thousand missiles for them.
Also, the USSR provided MiG aircraft, superior in maneuverability to the American Phantoms. In general, the USSR allocated 1.5 million rubles daily for the conduct of hostilities in Vietnam.
The leadership of Hanoi, led by the North Vietnamese Communist Party, also contributed to the victory of the national liberation movement in the south. He managed to quite skillfully organize a system of defense and resistance, competently build an economic system. In addition, the local population supported the partisans in everything.
“After the Geneva agreements, the country was divided into two parts. But the Vietnamese people really wanted to unite. Therefore, the Saigon regime, which was created to oppose this unity and create a unified pro-American regime in the south, opposed the aspirations of the entire population. Attempts to achieve their goal exclusively with the help of American weapons and the army created at its expense contradicted the real aspirations of the population, ”Mazyrin said. 
American fiasco in Vietnam
At the same time, a massive anti-war movement was growing in America itself, culminating in the so-called March to the Pentagon in October 1967. During this protest, up to 100,000 young people gathered in Washington to advocate an end to the war.
In the army, soldiers and officers deserted more and more often. Many veterans suffered from mental disorders - the so-called Vietnamese syndrome. Unable to overcome the mental stress, the former officers committed suicide. Very soon everyone understood the senselessness of this war.
In 1968, President Lyndon Johnson announced an end to the bombing of North Vietnam and his intention to begin peace talks.
Richard Nixon, who succeeded Johnson as President of the United States, began his election campaign under the popular slogan of "ending the war with an honorable peace." In the summer of 1969, he announced the gradual withdrawal of some American troops from South Vietnam. At the same time, the new president actively participated in the Paris negotiations to end the war.
In December 1972, the North Vietnamese delegation unexpectedly left Paris, abandoning further discussion. To force the northerners to return to the negotiating table and hasten the outcome of the war, Nixon ordered an operation codenamed Linebacker II.
On December 18, 1972, over a hundred American B-52 bombers with tens of tons of explosives on board appeared in the skies over North Vietnam. Within a few days, 20 thousand tons of explosives were dropped on the main centers of the state. American carpet bombing has claimed the lives of over 1,500 Vietnamese.
Operation Linebacker II ended on December 29, and negotiations resumed in Paris ten days later. As a result, on January 27, 1973, a peace agreement was signed. Thus began the massive withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam.
According to the expert, it was no coincidence that the Saigon regime was called a puppet regime, since a very narrow military-bureaucratic elite was in power. “The crisis of the internal regime gradually intensified, and by 1973 it was greatly weakened from within. Therefore, when in January 1973 the United States withdrew its last parts, everything fell apart like a house of cards, ”Mazyrin said.
Two years later, in February 1975, the North Vietnamese army, together with the national liberation movement, launched an active offensive and in just three months liberated the entire southern part of the country.
The unification of Vietnam in 1975 was a major victory for the Soviet Union. At the same time, the military defeat of the United States in this country for a while helped the American leadership to realize the need to reckon with the interests of other states.
The US-initiated violation of the Geneva agreements left Vietnam with no hope of peaceful reunification.
US entry into the war
The protege of the States, President of the Republic of Vietnam Ngo Diema, established a brutal dictatorial regime in his part of the country. The country was engulfed in corruption, nepotism and absolute arbitrariness on the part of the authorities. The presidential secret police committed atrocities day and night, imprisoning anyone who showed any distrust of the Ziema regime. The agrarian reform carried out by the president destroyed the centuries-old traditions of the village, which turned a significant part of the Vietnamese peasantry against his rule. Despite active funding from the United States, the Ziema regime was extremely precarious. Under these conditions, North Vietnam has relied on terrorist operations against South Vietnamese officials.
Bypassing the demilitarized zone, through the so-called. "Ho Chi Minh path" in Laos, from North Vietnam there was a transfer of sabotage groups. Scattered opposition groups, with the ideological and financial support of the North Vietnamese government, were united into the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam. Despite the fact that the association included representatives of different political views, in the West they were dubbed "Viet Cong" (ie "Vietnamese communist"). The Viet Cong received significant support in the rural areas of the country. The peasants in every possible way helped the local partisans with supplies and shelter, despite the punitive measures of Saigon. By 1964, only 8 of South Vietnam's 45 provinces were under the full control of the Ngo Diem government.
Due to the inability of Ngo Diem to provide decent resistance to the PNLF guerrillas and the growth of dissatisfaction with his regime (this became especially obvious after a series of Buddhist uprisings), the United States initiates a coup and the coming to power of a military junta. However, the military government was unable to provide a reliable vertical of power, which led to political "leapfrog". In such conditions, the guerrillas were able to take control of a significant part of the country, and North Vietnam stepped up the transfer of armed groups to the southern part. The United States also steadily increased its military presence in Vietnam, and by 1964 the number of the American military had increased to 23,300. To start direct intervention, they needed only a pretext, and in creating "reasons for war," the United States was masters at all times.
In August 1964, the so-called. "The Tonkin Incidents". According to official data, on August 2, 1964, the destroyer "Meddoc", conducting radar reconnaissance in the waters of the Gulf of Tonkin, was attacked by Vietnamese military boats. Two days later, when the second destroyer joined Meddox, the attack by Vietnamese torpedo bombers was repeated. These incidents gave the casus belli President Johnson to initiate the introduction of troops into Vietnam. It is noteworthy that the data on the "Tonkin incidents" are extremely different and full of inaccuracies and inconsistencies. Many journalists and contemporaries of those events consider them nothing more than a falsification, arranged by the US special services. Be that as it may, already on August 5, the US Air Force launched strikes on the coastal oil storage and several naval bases in North Vietnam (Operation Piercing Arrow). From this point on, you can begin the countdown of US participation in the Vietnam War.
US war crimes in Vietnam
On March 2, the United States and the South Vietnamese Air Force launched the largest air operation since World War II, codenamed Thunderclap. The planes launched missile and bomb strikes on residential suburbs of North Vietnamese cities, not sparing even civilian objects (hospitals, schools, etc.). In total, 7.7 million tons of bombs were dropped on Vietnamese cities and villages during the war. On March 8, 3,500 US Marines landed in Da Nang to form the first ground contingent. By 1968, the US force in Vietnam had grown to 584,000.
However, it was not an easy walk for the American soldiers. The Vietnam War turned into a "hellish disco in the jungle" for them. The Americans clearly underestimated the motivation of the Vietnamese. For them, this war was sacred, as well as for the USSR in 1941-1945. The Vietnamese were well aware that the Americans were going to destroy them without any compromise. The army environment deliberately cultivated ideas about the superiority of the white race, about the insignificance of the "gooks" (as the soldiers in Vietnam disparagingly called Asians), about complete impunity for their actions. This gave rise to many American war crimes between 1965-1973.
So, in 1968, the soldiers of the 20th Infantry Regiment carried out a bloodthirsty sweep of the village of Songmi, killing 504 civilians, including 173 children and 182 women (17 pregnant). The soldiers simply shot people, sparing neither women, nor children, nor the elderly. Like the Nazis during the Second World War, the "brave" US infantrymen threw grenades into residential buildings, and the villagers who tried to hide were found and shot at point-blank range. However, the local crimes of the American military cannot be compared with the methods that were initiated by the top leadership.
Between 1962 and 1971, Operation Ranch was the longest-running chemical weapons use in history. In order to destroy the vegetation of South Vietnam, in order to simplify the fight against the North Vietnamese army and the guerrillas who felt at home in the jungle, the US Air Force sprayed about 77 million liters of defoliants over the forests, among which the so-called. "Agent Orange".
Agent Orange contained a powerful chemical, dioxin. Once in the body, it caused severe diseases of internal organs and led to genetic changes in the body. Already after the war, tens of thousands of people died from the effects of Agent Orange, and to this day, children with genetic mutations continue to be born in many areas of South Vietnam. In total, about 4.8 million Vietnamese have suffered from US chemical weapons.
The chemical caused damage not only to people, but also to the local flora and fauna. About 1 million hectares of jungle were affected. In the affected areas of the country, 132 species of birds, many species of reptiles, amphibians and river fish disappeared. The structure of the soil was severely damaged, and some types of vegetation used for feeding livestock disappeared.
Together with chemicals, the Americans used heavy machinery, destroying agricultural areas and making the soil unsuitable for agriculture. The Americans also actively used other deadly weapons - napalm, phosphorus bombs, asphyxiant and poisonous gases, climatic weapons (for example, during Operation Popeye, silver iodites were thrown into the atmosphere, which caused powerful artificial precipitation)
Ultimately, Vietnam embraced the terrifying scorched earth tactics that the Americans used with enviable enthusiasm. The ecological war against Vietnam is one of the most impressive war crimes in the history of the United States.
Reasons for the defeat of the United States in Vietnam
However, chemicals and napalm did not break the spirit of the people. The words of the former Vietcong soldier Bei Kao are known: "We knew that your (Americans - author's note) stocks of bombs and missiles would be exhausted before the morale of our soldiers." Despite the superiority of the United States in military power and technology, the Vietnamese were able to excellently use the characteristics of their native land and adapt them to combat a fierce enemy.
The Americans were not prepared for a harsh guerrilla war. Hundreds of Americans fell into clever home-made traps, were blown up by numerous mines and guy wires, and disappeared forever in many kilometers of tunnels. But most importantly, a truly people's war has begun against the Americans. Entire villages supported the PNLF guerrillas and provided them with shelter and supplies. And even the intimidating punitive US operations with the use of flamethrowers and torture could not break popular support for a just war against the invaders.
Constant tension and a sense of danger, climatic conditions unbearable for Westerners, absolutely inhospitable surroundings - all this unsettled the soldiers. By the 70s, the American army was engulfed in mass desertion, apathy and drug addiction. The soldiers returned home, but being unable to forget the horrors of the war, they committed suicide. By the end of the 60s, the apogee reached the limit of the indignation of the American public, which did not understand the essence and significance of the war. Youth activists and "hippies" staged thousands of protests against the Vietnam War in major US cities. The grandiose 150,000 March to the Pentagon and the ensuing clashes with the police were the culmination of anti-war protests.
By the 1970s, the Americans had exhausted their military capabilities. The Vietnamese took possession of advanced weapons, which were generously supplied by the USSR. The initially successful "air war" ceased to bear fruit after the North Vietnamese soldiers learned to use Soviet air defense systems and modern fighters. As a result, by the end of the war, the losses of the US Air Force were about 4,000 aircraft. Meanwhile, the guerrilla movement expanded and intensified, while support for the war among US citizens, on the contrary, tended to zero. In such conditions, already in 1969, the American government was forced to begin the withdrawal of a contingent of troops from Vietnam.
The last US military detachment left Vietnam in 1971, and in 1973 the Americans concluded the Paris Agreement, which confirmed the final US withdrawal from the Vietnam War. The results of the Vietnamese campaign were disastrous: 60,000 soldiers were killed, 2,500 people were missing, about 300,000 soldiers were injured or left disabled. It is believed that about 150 thousand people committed suicide under the influence of the "Vietnamese syndrome" (ie more than died in the course of hostilities). The financial losses were colossal - over the 6 years of the war, the American budget lost 352 billion dollars.
So the US war in Vietnam ended ingloriously. This war demonstrated not only the toughness of America's war machine, but also the ability of public opinion to influence the government's criminal decisions. Also, the Vietnam War has become a symbol of how a strong national spirit, national unity and patriotism can overcome any hardships and defeat even the most powerful enemy.
Vietnam war
After World War II, relations between the USSR and Western countries, yesterday's allies, deteriorated. This was mainly due to the fact that, having destroyed a common enemy, such superpowers as the Soviet Union and the United States began their confrontation. The doctrine of the United States provided for limiting the spread of communism in the world and, as a result, limiting the sphere of influence of the USSR. The Vietnam War is a prime example of this doctrine.
Vietnam before 1940
In the Middle Ages, several states were located on the modern territory of Vietnam, which fought among themselves in order to conquer the region, and also opposed China in its desire to seize Indochina. However, already in 1854, French troops landed here, and after 27 years the territory of eastern Indochina (modern Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia) was under the control of the French colonial administration, and the territory was named French Indochina.
After that, in fact, a lull was established in Vietnam, which, nevertheless, was quite fragile. The wars of France against China and Siam (modern Thailand) with the aim of expanding their empire somewhat destabilized the situation in the region.
However, after the First World War, the growth of national identity and movement in Indochina began to grow significantly. In 1927, the National Party of Vietnam (or "Vietnamese Kuomintang") was created, the main function of which was the struggle for the country's freedom. And it must be said that here the party had the most fertile ground for its activities. So, the population of Vietnam was very dissatisfied with the French plantations in the country, where the local population was essentially exploited as slaves. The growing irritation resulted in the Yen Bai Uprising in northern Vietnam. However, the overwhelming superiority of the French colonial troops in numbers, technology and training led to the rapid defeat of the rebels. At the same time, the French showed atrocities and torture. It is worth noting the fate of the village of Koam, which supported the rebels and was completely destroyed as a result of the bombing of the French aviation.
After the suppression of the Yen Bai Uprising, the influence of the Vietnamese National Party began to decline noticeably, and it soon became a force completely unworthy of mention. Against this background, the creation in 1930 and the gradual growth in popularity of the Communist Party of Vietnam became especially noticeable. Its creator and first leader was Nguyen Ai Quoc, better known as Ho Chi Minh. At the same time, the Communist Party led the national liberation movement in the country and even managed to expand its political influence by participating in elections to local government bodies.
The Second World War
In 1939, World War II began. France was considered a great power with a huge colonial empire, which by this time, however, could no longer be called solid. However, the lightning-fast defeat of the state in the summer of 1940 truly shocked the whole world: no one expected that such a large power would not withstand even two months of intense battles with the Third Reich.
The fall of the Third French Republic created a truly unique situation in all of its colonies: in fact, remaining French possessions, these colonies, nevertheless, had practically no colonial administration. The new French government, assembled in Vichy, was not slow to take advantage of this, and soon control over almost the entire colonial empire of France (with the exception of territories in Equatorial Africa) was restored.
However, Indochina has become a truly weak point of French colonialism. In addition, the influence of Japan increased here, which had quite definite interests in relation to Indochina as a springboard for pressure on Thailand, as well as a base for supplying wax and invading China from the south. All these arguments forced the Japanese leadership to stubbornly seek agreements with France. The French leadership, realizing that it would not be possible to keep Indochina and that Japan, if necessary, would not stop before the invasion, agreed to the Japanese terms. Outwardly, it looked like the occupation of the region by Japanese troops, but in reality it was a deal between France and Japan: in fact, the colonial administration was retained, but the Japanese received exclusive rights in the territory of French Indochina.
Nevertheless, a guerrilla war immediately began against the Japanese invaders. This struggle was led by the Communist Party, and it was also engaged in the arrangement of the strongholds of the partisans and their equipment. However, the first actions of the Vietnamese patriots were not successful and were ruthlessly suppressed. It is noteworthy that the anti-Japanese uprisings in Indochina were suppressed mainly by the French colonial administration, completely subordinate to the Japanese leadership.
In May 1941, the Viet Minh organization was created from partisan detachments united by the Communist Party of Vietnam. Its leaders, realizing that the French and Japanese administrations had essentially become allies, began to fight against both of them. At the same time, in fact, the Viet Minh was allied for the troops of the Western Allies, diverting significant forces of the Japanese troops to themselves.
For a more effective fight against the guerrillas in March 1945, the Japanese created the puppet state of the Vietnamese Empire, which had as its goal to "Vietnamese" the anti-guerrilla struggle. In addition to this, the Japanese leadership, after the disarmament of the French colonial troops, hoped to find new allies. Nevertheless, after the surrender of the main ally - Germany - it became clear that Japan's defeat was predetermined. With the surrender of Japan in August, the Vietnamese Empire also ceased to exist.
Realizing that the defeat of Japan was inevitable, the leaders of the Viet Minh decided to start a major uprising with the aim of completely destroying the occupying forces and liberating the territory of Vietnam. On August 13, 1945, the uprising began. During the first week, the rebels managed to capture a large city in the north of the country - Hanoi - and occupy a large territory. Over the next weeks, the Viet Minh captured most of the territory of Vietnam, and on September 2, 1945, the creation of an independent state, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, was announced.
The situation after World War II (1945-1954)
As in 1940, Indochina again found itself practically in a power vacuum. The territories previously occupied by Japanese forces were either liberated by the Viet Minh forces or remained essentially no-man's land. In addition, the Western countries refused to reckon with the Viet Minh, who had gained power by this time and had become a real force, believing that this was just one of the partisan organizations. After the war, Indochina had to be returned to France, in connection with which the Western allies had no desire to organize a national state here at all.
On September 13, 1945, the landing of British troops began on the territory of Indochina. In a very short time, they captured Saigon and a number of territories in the south of Vietnam, which were soon transferred to the control of the French.
However, none of the parties was interested in starting an open war, and therefore in the next, 1946, as a result of negotiations, French-Vietnamese agreements were signed, according to which Vietnam became an independent state, but as part of the Indochina Union, that is, in fact, under protectorate of France. Both sides were not satisfied with the negotiations, and at the end of 1946 a war broke out, later called the First Indochina.
French troops, numbering approximately 110 thousand people, invaded Vietnam and occupied Haiphong. In response, the Viet Minh called on their supporters to war against the French occupation. Initially, the preponderance was entirely on the side of the colonial troops.This was due not only to the technical superiority of the French, but also to the fact that the Viet Minh leadership refused to collect a large army until it received enough combat experience.
At the first stage of the war (until 1947), the French carried out offensive operations against the partisans, which often ended with large losses for the first. The most indicative in this regard is the operation of the French troops in Viet Bac, which aimed to eliminate the leadership of the Viet Minh. The operation failed and the French forces were completely defeated.
As a result, already in 1948, the French command in Indochina decided to cease offensive actions and switch to static defensive points in tactics. In addition, a stake was made on the "vetnamization" of the war, thanks to which it was announced the creation of an independent Vietnam, headed by the former pro-Japanese emperor Bao Dai. However, Bao Dai was very unpopular among the people as he "stained" himself in cooperation with the occupiers.
By 1949, there was a relative balance of power. The French administration, with about 150,000 soldiers, also had about 125,000 Vietnamese soldiers from the puppet state. The strength of the Viet Minh forces at this stage cannot be reliably indicated, however, thanks to the conduct of active operations, we can say that it was approximately equal to the strength of the enemy forces.
As a result of the victory of the Communists in the Chinese Civil War, the strategic situation in the region has changed dramatically. Now the Viet Minh forces were working to cleanse the regions in the north of the country in order to receive supplies from China. During the 1950 campaign, Vietnamese guerrillas managed to clear large territories in the north of the country from the French colonial forces, which allowed them to establish a line of contact with China.
At the same time, the Viet Minh troops began to conduct full-fledged offensive operations against the French and their satellites, making it clear that France alone would not be able to cope with the Vietnamese partisans. It was at this moment that the United States intervened in the war, sending both its advisers and weapons to Vietnam, along with financial assistance. However, the course of the war had already suffered a turning point in favor of Weitmin. This was proved once again in the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, when the Vietnamese, combining active operations and blockade, managed to seize a large stronghold of the French and almost completely defeat their large grouping.
In connection with the seriously shaken prestige of France as a result of the defeat at Dien Bien Phu, negotiations began in Geneva between the French leadership and the leadership of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. Their result was the achievement of an agreement to end the war. From now on, Vietnam consisted of two states, divided along the 17th parallel: the communist North and the pro-American South. In July 1956, it was planned to hold elections, on the basis of which the two states were to unite into a single Vietnam.
Between the two wars (1954-1957)
Period 1954-1957 characterized in North Vietnam by the strengthening of the influence of the Workers' Party of Vietnam (this name the Communist Party received in 1951). However, along with the growing power of the PTV, the level of purges of party cadres reached a huge scale, thanks to which by 1958 from 50 to 100 thousand people were imprisoned, and about 50 thousand were executed.
The Soviet-Chinese conflict also caused a split in the Workers' Party of Vietnam. So, initially, the party took pro-Chinese positions due to its position and narrow ties with its northern neighbor, as a result of which a “purge” of pro-Soviet elements began in the party.
In 1955, the former Emperor of the Republic of Vietnam (the official name of South Vietnam) Bao Dai was ousted by Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem. The latter was a pro-American politician, which significantly influenced the entire subsequent foreign policy of the state. Already in July 1955, Diem announced that the Republic of Vietnam would not abide by the Geneva agreements, and there would be no elections that would unite the country. This was due to his "unwillingness to participate in the expansion of communism to the South."
In domestic politics, Ngo Dinh Diem made a number of mistakes (for example, the abolition of the centuries-old tradition of village self-government), as a result of which the popularity of his government began to decline noticeably, which paved the way for the actions of North Vietnamese partisans in the South.
The beginning of the war (1957-1963)
Already in 1959, from the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, the transfer of military advisers who supported the anti-Diem underground began to the South. Most of these advisers were from the South, but as a result of the division of the country, they ended up in the DRV. Now they were organizing insurgents in the Republic of Vietnam, thanks to which in the same 1959 it became very noticeable.
Initially, the tactics of the South Vietnamese rebels consisted of "systemic" terror: only those loyal to the regime of Ngo Dinh Diem and civil servants were destroyed. The administration of the latter paid attention to these incidents, but nothing decisive was done during that period. This was another reason for the expansion of the partisan struggle in the Republic of Vietnam.
Initially, the transfer of North Vietnamese troops to the South was carried out directly through the DMZ, a demilitarized zone located along the 17th parallel. However, soon the transfer began to be suppressed by the South Vietnamese authorities, thanks to which the North Vietnamese leadership was forced to look for new ways to replenish the partisan detachments. The successes of the communists in Laos made it possible to transport them across the country, which the communists took advantage of.
The growth of the anti-Diem underground and the number of partisans on the territory of the Republic of Vietnam led to the fact that already at the end of 1960, all anti-government forces here were united into the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam (abbreviated as NLF). On the other side of the conflict, primarily in the United States, the NLF was named the Viet Cong.
Meanwhile, the partisans themselves acted more and more daringly and quite successfully, which forced the United States, not in word, but in deed, to start supporting its puppet government in South Vietnam. The main reason for this was US foreign policy aimed at limiting the spread of communism throughout the world. Vietnam was a very convenient base from which it was possible to exert pressure not only on the countries of South-West Asia, but also on China. Domestic politics was another important reason for supporting Ngo Dinh Diem. US President John F. Kennedy intended to weaken the positions of his competitors by success in foreign policy, as well as to get "revenge" over the communist countries during and after the Cuban missile crisis.
At the same time, the corps of American military advisers in Vietnam was also built up, thanks to which, already in 1962, their number exceeded 10 thousand people. Military advisers were engaged not only in the education and training of the South Vietnamese army, but also planned military operations and even participated directly in hostilities.
In 1962, the entire territory of the Republic of Vietnam, for the convenience of conducting anti-guerrilla warfare, was divided into zones of responsibility of the South Vietnamese army corps. There were four such zones in total:
Zone I Corps included the country's northern provinces bordering the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the demilitarized zone;
Zone II of the corps occupied the territory of the central plateau;
Zone III of the corps included the territories adjacent to the capital of the Republic of Vietnam - Saigon - and the capital itself;
Zone IV Corps included the southern provinces of the country and the Mekong Delta.
At the same time, the situation in the Republic of Vietnam, associated with the buildup of both opposing groups, began to heat up. The extremely unreasonable policy of Ngo Dinh Diem, who managed to plunge the country into a deep crisis, also added fuel to the fire. The most notable and significant at that time was the Buddhist crisis, during which a number of followers of this faith (Ziem himself was a Catholic Christian) were killed or arrested, and several people carried out self-immolation in protest against the actions of the authorities. Thus, by the middle of 1963, the war in Vietnam had completely taken shape and, in fact, was already underway. However, it was in 1963 that it became clear that US intervention in the war was inevitable.
USA goes to war (1963-1966)
It will not be superfluous to mention that the United States, with all its desire to stop the "red threat", was clearly not eager to get involved in a protracted guerrilla war in Vietnam. There is evidence that back in 1961, the United States and the USSR were conducting secret negotiations with the mediation of India, and later Poland. These negotiations were focused on a peaceful settlement of the Vietnam issue.
Not all US leaders considered it expedient to go to war with an adversary with vast experience in guerrilla warfare. The example of the French, recently defeated by the Viet Minh, held back from unnecessary decisions. But, unfortunately, the US military elite, pursuing their own goals, made efforts to drag the country into hostilities in Vietnam, which they succeeded in.
In fact, the beginning of the Vietnam War for the United States was the battle in the village of Apbak, during which the South Vietnamese troops suffered serious losses in manpower and equipment. This battle revealed the low combat effectiveness of the army of the Republic of Vietnam. It became clear that without proper support, South Vietnam would not be able to hold out for long.
Another event that finally destabilized the situation in the country was the displacement and assassination of Ngo Dinh Diem and the coming to power of the military junta. As a result, the army of the Republic of Vietnam completely disintegrated, thanks to which, until the very end of the state's existence, it was never able to become any significant force. From now on, the South Vietnamese army was more involved in civil strife than in actual hostilities.
On August 2, 1964, the American destroyer Maddox was intercepted by three North Vietnamese boats during a patrol in the Gulf of Tonkin (according to one version). During the battle, the destroyer, supported by F-8 aircraft, managed to inflict significant damage on two of the three boats, as a result of which they were withdrawn from the battle. According to some reports, a similar incident was repeated 2 days later, on August 4.
As a result, the United States received a formal pretext for striking the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, which was already carried out on August 5, 1964. As a result, a massive air strike was inflicted on military targets in North Vietnam as part of Operation Piercing Arrow. At the same time, the US Congress, outraged by the actions of North Vietnam, adopted the "Tonkin Resolution", which gave the right to President Lyndon Johnson the right to use military force in Southeast Asia.
Nevertheless, the internal political situation in the United States forced Johnson to postpone the exercise of this right. As a presidential candidate in the 1964 elections, he positioned himself as a "candidate for peace", which only strengthened his position. At the same time, the situation in South Vietnam continued to deteriorate rapidly. The partisans of the NLFYU, encountering virtually no resistance, successfully captured rural areas in the center of the country.
Feeling that the positions of the South Vietnamese state were getting worse and worse, the North Vietnamese leadership already from the end of 1964 began to transfer not military advisers to the South, but entire regular military units. At the same time, the nature of the actions of the units of the NLF and their insolence increased. For example, in February 1965, American military installations located in the city of Pleiku were attacked, as a result of which dozens of people were killed and injured. As a result of this attack, US President Johnson decided to use military force against North Vietnam. Thus, Operation Flaming Lance was carried out, during which air strikes were carried out on military targets in the southern part of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
However, the matter was by no means limited to Operation Flaming Lance: as early as March 2, 1965, American aircraft began systematic bombing of North Vietnamese targets, designed to undermine the military potential of the DRV and thereby cut off the support of the Viet Cong. However, from the very beginning, this plan was doomed to failure. The Vietnamese are by no means Europeans, and they could fight and continue the offensive even in a completely hopeless situation. In addition, the intense bombing of North Vietnam led to tangible losses among the American flight personnel, as well as to growing hatred of the Americans on the part of the Vietnamese people. Thus, the situation, already by no means rosy, was only getting worse.
On March 8, 1965, two battalions of marines were sent here to guard the strategically important South Vietnamese airfield in Da Nang. It was from this moment that the United States was finally drawn into the Vietnam War, and its military contingent in the country only increased. So, by the end of the same year, the United States had about 185 thousand soldiers in Vietnam and continued to systematically increase their number. This led to the fact that in 1968 the American contingent here was approximately 540 thousand people. There was also an increase in the number of military equipment and aviation in the country.
In May 1965, the American Armed Forces began conducting local offensive operations in Vietnam. Initially, these operations consisted of sporadic battles with scattered units of the NLF, clean-ups of areas and raids in the jungle. However, already in August, thanks to the North Vietnamese defector, the American command became aware of the guerrilla's plans to attack the Chulai base, where a number of American units were stationed. In this regard, it was decided to carry out a preemptive strike against the enemy and thereby frustrate his plans.
On August 18, the Americans undertook naval and helicopter landings with the aim of encircling the 1st NLF regiment and destroying it. However, immediately American troops encountered fierce and dense enemy fire, but still managed to gain a foothold on the lines. The situation was further aggravated by an ambush by an American supply convoy. However, as a result of overwhelming superiority in firepower, as well as thanks to air support, American forces managed to dislodge the guerrillas from all positions they held and inflict significant damage on the enemy. After this battle, better known as Operation Starlight, the 1st NLF Regiment was seriously bled and lost its combat effectiveness for a long time. The very same operation "Starlight" is considered the first major victory of the American Armed Forces in Vietnam. Nevertheless, this victory did not change either the general situation in the country or the course of the war.
At the same time, the American leadership understood that until now, American troops in Vietnam had only dealt with partisan formations, while the regular units of the North Vietnamese army had not yet had clashes with the Americans. Of particular concern to the command of the Americans was the lack of any data on the combat capability of these formations and their power. If anything, the regular military units were expected to do better than the guerrillas.
In October 1965, large North Vietnamese forces laid siege to the American special forces camp Play Me in Pleiku province. However, as a result of the opposition of South Vietnamese troops, supported by artillery and aviation, units of the NLF were soon forced to withdraw. Thus, the siege of the base was ineffectual. Nevertheless, the American leadership decided to pursue the enemy in order to destroy him. At the same time, regular North Vietnamese units were looking for opportunities for clashes with the Americans.
As a result of this search, one of the largest battles in the entire history of the Vietnam War took place - the Battle of the Ya Drang Valley. This battle was notable for the great bloodshed and stubbornness of the battles, a huge number of losses on both sides, as well as large forces participating on both sides. In total, the number of troops taking part in the battle was approximately equal to the division.
Both sides announced their victory in the Ya-Drang Valley. However, if you objectively look at the number of losses (data on both sides differ significantly) and the final result, then we can assume that the American troops won the battle after all. It is unlikely that the losses of the Vietnamese were lower than the American ones, since the US Armed Forces significantly outnumbered the NLF troops in training, technical equipment and means of support. In addition, it is necessary to take into account the fact that the plan of the North Vietnamese leadership, which included the capture of Pleiku province and a number of other regions, was never implemented.
The war continues (1966-1970)
In 1965, the USSR began sending a large amount of aid to Vietnam, which included both military equipment and weapons and anti-aircraft crews. According to some reports, Soviet pilots took part in the battles with the Americans in the skies of Vietnam. Nevertheless, even without Soviet pilots, Soviet MiGs clashed in the sky of Vietnam with American Phantoms, inflicting very significant losses on the latter. Thus, the war entered a hot stage not only on land but also in the air.
From 1965 to 1969, the American leadership, having analyzed the experience of previous battles, decided to change tactics. From now on, American units independently searched for large units of partisans and, in case of detection, fought to destroy them. This tactic is called "Free Hunt", or "Seek and destroy" ("Find and destroy").
It is worth noting that in the period from 1965 to 1969, this tactic bore quite significant results. So, the Americans managed to clear a number of areas in the center of the country from partisans. But, against the background of the continued transfer of North Vietnamese troops to the territory of South Vietnam through Laos and the demilitarized zone, these successes could not radically change the course of the war.
In general, hostilities in this period of time in Vietnam significantly depended on the zone in which they took place. In the tactical zone of the I South Vietnamese Corps, the fighting was mainly conducted by the forces of the United States Marine Corps. These units had high mobility thanks to helicopters and, as a result, high firepower. These features of the units were very useful here: after all, it was necessary to stop the infiltration of partisans who were marching through the DMZ from North Vietnam to South Vietnam. Initially, units of the American army in the I Corps zone established themselves in three isolated areas (Fubai, Danang and Chulai) and then began actions to gradually clear the zone of partisan forces in order to unite their areas and create a single area cleared of partisans, blocking the border between both parts of Vietnam.
The tactical zone of the II South Vietnamese Corps, as already mentioned above, was a plateau, so here the fighting was mainly carried out by armored cavalry units of the US Armed Forces and infantry brigades and divisions. Here the nature of the battles was determined by the terrain. The main task of the American units, as in the zone of the I Corps, was to prevent the penetration of North Vietnamese troops into South Vietnam, passing here in transit through Laos and Cambodia and entering the country in the Annam mountains. That is why the hostilities were conducted here both in the mountains and in the jungle (where the pursuit of the still "infiltrated" North Vietnamese units was carried out).
In the tactical zone of the III South Vietnamese Corps, the American forces were tasked with ensuring the security of Saigon and their bases. However, here, too, there was a guerrilla war in the period from 1965 to 1969. has seriously increased. In the course of hostilities, American troops had to patrol the area, wage battles with scattered units of the NLF and clean up areas.
In the tactical zone of the IV Corps, the main combat missions were carried out by the government troops of the Republic of Vietnam. The very nature of the terrain made this region of the country very convenient for partisan actions, which was used by the units of the NLF. At the same time, in the southern part of the country, the partisan war reached a very serious scale, in some periods it exceeded the intensity of hostilities in other zones.
Thus, throughout South Vietnam, American troops carried out operations to intercept and destroy the North Vietnamese troops and forces of the NLF. However, these results did not have the desired effect and were not capable of undermining the capacity of the NLFYO.
In connection with the ongoing war, the American leadership decided to re-bomb the military and industrial facilities of North Vietnam. So, already in March 1965, a period of systematic bombing of the DRV began, which lasted a total of more than three years and was stopped only in October 1968. This operation was called "Rolling Thunder" ("Rolling thunder"). The main plan of the American command was not to undermine that part of the military potential of North Vietnam, which was directly focused on providing assistance to the NLF and supplying the guerrillas. The idea was deeper: weakening the enemy's potential was, of course, a very important matter, but by no means the main thing; the main goal was political pressure on the leadership of the DRV and forcing it to stop supplying weapons and reinforcements to the partisans.
It is worth noting that, at the same time, the areas of aerial bombardment of North Vietnam were strictly limited. So, objects outside these zones were not bombed and in fact were not affected in any way. Soon the Vietnamese noticed this and began to take this feature into account when installing their anti-aircraft guns, which thus ended up outside the affected area. However, the Americans nevertheless attacked anti-aircraft batteries outside the bombing zones, but only in cases where these anti-aircraft batteries opened fire on US aircraft.
The tactics of the US Air Force during Operation Rolling Thunder are also worth mentioning. When planning goals, not only the functions of the object were taken into account, but also its value. As it is correct, initially the American aircraft destroyed the least significant objects for the North Vietnamese industry. In the event that the Vietnamese did not begin work to restore the destroyed object, more significant objects were bombed, and so on. However, it was not possible to force North Vietnam to end the war, and American aircraft suffered rather heavy losses, as a result of which Operation Rolling Thunder can be safely called unsuccessful.
At the end of 1967, the North Vietnamese leadership undertook a series of local military operations aimed at diverting American troops to remote regions of Vietnam. Along the Vietnamese-Lao and Vietnamese-Cambodian border, as well as along the demilitarized zone, very intense battles unfolded, in which the NLF forces suffered very large losses, but still managed to divert the Americans from the areas of the upcoming major offensive, which was planned in early 1968. This offensive was supposed to be a turning point in the entire war, inflicting heavy losses on American and South Vietnamese troops and opening up new opportunities for the guerrillas. At the same time, it was also planned to create a big noise in the media around the large losses and failures of American troops.
On January 31, 1968, the NLF forces launched a large-scale offensive in South Vietnam, which caught the American and South Vietnamese leaders by surprise. This was due to the fact that January 31 in Vietnam is the height of the Tet holiday - the Vietnamese New Year. In previous years, both sides in Tet concluded unilateral truces, so that in late January - early February there was practically no fighting. 1968 was a special year in this respect. Already in the first days of the North Vietnamese offensive, it became clear that the situation was becoming critical. The NLF forces fought throughout South Vietnam and even managed to break into Saigon. However, the American and South Vietnamese troops had an overwhelming technical and fire superiority, due to which the Tet offensive of the partisans did not achieve its goals. The only major success of the NLF troops was the capture of the ancient capital of the country, Hue, which they held until March 1968.
During the counteroffensive in March-April of the same year, American troops managed to clear almost all the territories they occupied during the offensive from partisans. The NLF troops suffered huge losses, which significantly undermined their potential. However, at the same time, the Tet offensive finally discouraged the Western public and the American leadership in an imminent victory in Vietnam. It became clear that, despite all the efforts of the American troops, the partisans managed to carry out a large-scale operation, and, therefore, their power only increased. It became clear that it was necessary to leave Vietnam. In addition, this decision was facilitated by the fact that, due to the limited draft, the United States essentially depleted the available manpower reserves, and it was not possible to carry out partial mobilization, primarily due to the growing anti-war sentiment in the country.
A special moment in the history of the Vietnam War is the election of Richard Nixon as President of the United States in the fall of 1968, who came to power under the slogan of ending the war. By this time, the American public reacted very sensitively to the loss of troops in Vietnam, so the search for a US exit from the war on "honorable terms" was urgently needed.
At the same time, the North Vietnamese leadership, having analyzed the events in the domestic political arena in the United States, began to focus exclusively on inflicting losses on American troops in order to withdraw them from the war as soon as possible. Part of this plan was the offensive of the NFOYU troops in February 1969, called the Second Tet Offensive. This time, the attacks of the partisans were also repulsed, but the American troops suffered very significant losses. The result of the February battles was the beginning of the preparation process for the withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam.
In July 1969, the withdrawal of the US Armed Forces itself began directly. The American leadership relied on the "Vietnamization" of the war, thanks to which the size of the South Vietnamese army was seriously increasing. By 1973, when the last American soldier left Vietnam, the Republic of Vietnam's army numbered about one million.
In 1970, a pro-American minister, Lon Nol, came to power in Cambodia as a result of a coup. Immediately, he took a number of measures to expel from the country the North Vietnamese troops, who used the territory of Cambodia as a transit route to South Vietnam. Realizing that the closure of Cambodia's territory could lead to a decrease in the effectiveness of partisans in the central and southern parts of Vietnam, the North Vietnamese leadership sent troops into Cambodian territory. Soon, the government forces of Lon Nol were practically defeated.
In response to the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia, in April 1970, troops and the United States were sent there. However, this foreign policy step further fueled anti-war sentiment in the country, and at the end of June, American troops left Cambodia. In the fall, South Vietnamese troops also left the country.
American withdrawal and end of the war (1970-1975)
In 1971, the most significant development was Operation Lam Shon 719, which was carried out primarily by South Vietnamese forces with the support of American aircraft and aimed at blocking the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos. The operation did not achieve its main goal, but for some time then the soldiers from North Vietnam to South Vietnam decreased. On the very territory of South Vietnam, no major military operations were carried out by American troops.
Sensing that the end of American involvement in the war was approaching, the North Vietnamese leadership launched a major offensive in South Vietnam. This offensive went down in history as the Easter Offensive, since it was launched on March 30, 1972. This operation did not achieve its goals, but still part of the territory remained in the hands of the partisans.
Against the backdrop of the unsuccessful Easter offensive in Paris, negotiations began between the North Vietnamese and American delegations. Their result was the signing of a peace agreement on January 27, 1973, according to which American troops were leaving Vietnam. On March 29 of the same year, the last American serviceman left the country.
After the withdrawal of American troops, the outcome of the Vietnam War was virtually a foregone conclusion. However, the South Vietnamese troops, which received large military supplies from the United States and were trained by American instructors, numbered about a million people, while the NLF troops in South Vietnam - only about 200 thousand. However, the absence of American bombing raids, as well as raids by American mobile groups, affected the nature of the war at its final stage.
Already in 1973, the economy of the Republic of Vietnam suffered a deep crisis. In this regard, the army, inflated to an incredible size, could not be fully equipped with everything necessary. As a result, the morale of the South Vietnamese army dropped sharply, which only played into the hands of the communists.
The leadership of North Vietnam used the tactics of the gradual mastery of more and more regions of the country. The successes of the NLF led to the fact that already in late 1974 - early 1975, North Vietnamese troops undertook an operation to capture the province of Phuoklong. This operation was also significant because it was designed to test the US reaction to the North Vietnamese offensive. However, the US leadership, mindful of the recent antiwar protests, chose to remain silent.
In March 1975, a large-scale offensive by the North Vietnamese army began, the apotheosis of which was the capture of Saigon on April 30 of the same year. Thus, the Vietnam War, which actually began in 1940, was over. It is April 30 that has since been celebrated in Vietnam as the date of complete victory in the war.
Participation of third countries in the war and tactics of the parties
The Vietnam War was by no means a conflict between the two countries - in fact, 14 countries took part in it. On the side of the United States and the Republic of Vietnam, material or military assistance was provided by South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, the Republic of China (Taiwan), the Philippines and Belgium. As for the North Vietnamese side, assistance was provided by the USSR, the PRC and the DPRK.
Thus, the Vietnam War can be called a full-fledged "international" conflict. However, if on the side of North Vietnam, North Korean and Soviet (according to a number of data) military personnel participated directly in the battles, then on the side of South Vietnam, the military personnel of a much larger number of countries took part in the battles.
The main reason for the victory of the DRV in the war was the general fatigue of the Vietnamese people from the oppression of colonialism and from a rather long war. At the same time, it became increasingly clear that the war would end only with the victory of the troops of North Vietnam, since it was in North Vietnam that the situation was more stable compared to the South. War crimes on the part of the United States and its allies and incessant aerial bombardments, including napalm, have finally “turned away” the Vietnamese population from the American puppet.
The Vietnam War was essentially the first war in which helicopters were massively used. Due to their versatility, helicopters could serve both as a vehicle for the rapid transfer of troops, and as a means of fire support for troops. The killed and wounded during ambushes were also evacuated by helicopters.
American tactics consisted mainly of scouring the jungle and highlands of Vietnam in search of Viet Cong groups. At the same time, American detachments were often ambushed and under fire from partisans, suffering losses. However, the combat and firepower of American troops was usually sufficient to repel attacks. In cases where it was necessary to keep the defense, the US Armed Forces skillfully used their superiority in aviation and artillery, inflicting heavy losses on the enemy.
The tactics of the NLF and the North Vietnamese troops, in contrast to the American, were more inventive due to the absence of any superiority over the enemy, with the exception of numerical (in some cases). Small detachments of partisans attacked enemy units and, after short-term fire contacts, they dissolved into the jungle, in which they were perfectly oriented. Using homemade boats, sometimes armed with antique rifles, the Vietnamese moved quite quickly along the rivers and struck where they were least expected. Various traps were set up on the trails of American soldiers in large numbers, falling into which sometimes threatened not only injuries, but also deprivation of a limb and even death.
It is also worth mentioning the grandiose systems of underground passages that were used by the partisans as full-fledged underground military bases. There could be rooms for recreation, training of soldiers, kitchens and even hospitals. At the same time, for the Americans, these bases were so well hidden that it was almost impossible to determine their location for the latter. But even when determining the location of such a base, it was very, very difficult for an ordinary American soldier to get there. The underground passages leading to the underground bases were narrow and cramped that only a Vietnamese could squeeze through them. At the same time, there were many different traps (stretchers with grenades, spikes and even compartments with poisonous snakes), designed to eliminate too "curious" fighters.
Thus, the Vietnamese side used the classic tactics of guerrilla warfare, only slightly improved and adapted to the nature of the terrain and the realities of the time.
Results and consequences of the Vietnam War
The complete history of the Vietnam War spans from 1940 to 1975 and lasted over thirty years. As a result, peace was finally established in Vietnam in the DRV. However, the internal political situation in the country was tense. Repression fell on the Vietnamese who supported and collaborated with the South Vietnamese government. They were sent to "re-education camps", settled in special zones.
Thus, a truly large-scale tragedy broke out in the country. Many South Vietnamese officers committed suicide as the North Vietnamese troops approached Saigon. Part of the civilian population chose to flee the country, stopping at nothing. So, people left Vietnam in boats, helicopters abandoned by American troops, fled to neighboring countries.
A striking example of this tragedy is Operation Gusty Wind, conducted by the Americans to evacuate refugees from Vietnam. Hundreds and thousands of people left their homes forever, hiding from persecution.
Also, the Vietnam War is known for a number of war crimes committed by both sides. It should be borne in mind that if the North Vietnamese troops mainly carried out repression, torture and executions of people who collaborated with the Americans, then the Americans did not stop at the bombing of entire villages with napalm, or at the massacre of people, or even at the use of chemical weapons. The sad result of the latter was the birth in the following years a large number children with congenital pathologies and defects.
It is impossible to objectively assess the losses of the parties in the war in Vietnam, largely due to the lack of any accurate data on the losses of the forces of the NLF and North Vietnam. Thus, it would be most correct to indicate the losses of both sides indicated by both the North Vietnamese and the American side. According to American data, the losses of the DRV and its allies amounted to approximately 1,100 thousand people killed and 600 thousand wounded, while the losses of the Americans were 58 thousand and 303 thousand, respectively. According to North Vietnamese data, the losses of the North Vietnamese troops and guerrillas amounted to about a million people, while the losses of the Americans - from 100 to 300 thousand people. Against this background, the losses of South Vietnamese troops range from 250 to 440 thousand people killed, about one million wounded and about two million who surrendered.
The Vietnam War has shaken U.S. international prestige, albeit for a short time. Inside the country, anti-war sentiments now prevailed; war veterans were practically not considered and even sometimes showed disrespect to them, calling them murderers. This whole situation led to the abolition of compulsory conscription into the American army and the adoption of the concept of voluntary service.
Globally, the Vietnam War led to the establishment of a socialist system in the country and its accession to the socialist bloc. Already from the beginning of the 1970s, the Vietnamese leadership focused on the USSR, which led to the country's entry into the pro-Soviet bloc of countries and at the same time seriously spoiled relations with China. This tension with the northern neighbor turned into a war in February-March 1979, when Chinese troops managed to capture a number of cities in northern Vietnam.
Until the outbreak of World War II, Vietnam was part of the French colonial empire. During the war years, a national liberation movement was formed on its territory, led by the leader of the Communist Party, Ho Chi Minh.
Fearing the loss of the colony, France sent an expeditionary force to Vietnam, which at the end of the war managed to partially regain control over the southern part of the country.
However, France was unable to suppress the stubborn resistance movement of the partisans, and in 1950 turned to the United States for material support. By that time, the independent Democratic Republic of Vietnam, ruled by Ho Chi Minh, had formed in the north of the country.
Nevertheless, even the financial assistance from the United States did not help the Fourth Republic: in 1954, after the defeat of France at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, the First Indochina War was over. As a result, the Republic of Vietnam was proclaimed in the south of the country with the capital in Saigon, while the north remained with Ho Chi Minh. Fearing the strengthening of the socialists and realizing the precariousness of the South Vietnam regime, the United States began to actively help its leadership.
In addition to financial support, the President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, decided to send the first regular units of the US Armed Forces to the country (before that, only military advisers were serving there). In 1964, when it became clear that these efforts were not enough, America, under the leadership of President Lyndon Johnson, began full-scale military operations in Vietnam.
On the anti-communist wave
One of the main reasons for the US involvement in the Vietnam War is the desire to stop the spread of communism in Asia. After the establishment of the communist regime in China, the American government wanted to end the Red Menace by any means possible.
On this anti-communist wave, Kennedy won the 1960 presidential race between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon. It was he who presented the most decisive plan of action to eliminate this threat, sending the first American military to South Vietnam and by the end of 1963 having spent a record $ 3 billion on the war.
“Through this war, there was a global clash between the USA and the USSR. All the military power that was opposed to the United States is Soviet modern weapons. During the war, the leading powers of the capitalist and socialist worlds collided. The Saigon army and the regime were on the side of the United States. There was a confrontation between the communist north and south, represented by the Saigon regime, ”explained Vladimir Mazyrin, Doctor of Economics, head of the Center for the Study of Vietnam and ASEAN, to RT.
Americanization of the war
With the help of the bombing of the North and the actions of American troops in the south of the country, Washington hoped to drain the economy of North Vietnam. Indeed, this war has witnessed the worst aerial bombardment in the history of mankind. From 1964 to 1973, the United States Air Force dropped about 7.7 million tons of bombs and other ammunition into Indochina.
Such decisive actions should, according to the calculations of the Americans, force the North Vietnamese leaders to agree to a peace treaty beneficial to the United States and lead to Washington's victory.
- Downed American helicopter in Vietnam
- pinterest.es
“In 1968, the Americans, on the one hand, agreed to negotiate in Paris, but, on the other hand, adopted the doctrine of Americanization of the war, which resulted in an increase in the number of American troops in Vietnam,” Mazyrin said. - Thus, 1969 was the peak of the American army in Vietnam, which reached half a million people. But even that number of military personnel did not help the United States to win this war. "
Economic aid from China and the USSR, which provided Vietnam with the most advanced weapons, played a huge role in Vietnam's victory. For the fight against American troops, the Soviet Union allocated about 95 Dvina anti-aircraft missile systems and more than 7.5 thousand missiles for them.
Also, the USSR provided MiG aircraft, superior in maneuverability to the American Phantoms. In general, the USSR allocated 1.5 million rubles daily for the conduct of hostilities in Vietnam.
The leadership of Hanoi, led by the North Vietnamese Communist Party, also contributed to the victory of the national liberation movement in the south. He managed to quite skillfully organize a system of defense and resistance, competently build an economic system. In addition, the local population supported the partisans in everything.
“After the Geneva agreements, the country was divided into two parts. But the Vietnamese people really wanted to unite. Therefore, the Saigon regime, which was created to oppose this unity and create a unified pro-American regime in the south, opposed the aspirations of the entire population. Attempts to achieve their goal exclusively with the help of American weapons and the army created at its expense contradicted the real aspirations of the population, ”Mazyrin said.
American fiasco in Vietnam
At the same time, a massive anti-war movement was growing in America itself, culminating in the so-called March to the Pentagon in October 1967. During this protest, up to 100,000 young people gathered in Washington to advocate an end to the war.
In the army, soldiers and officers deserted more and more often. Many veterans suffered from mental disorders - the so-called Vietnamese syndrome. Unable to overcome the mental stress, the former officers committed suicide. Very soon everyone understood the senselessness of this war.
In 1968, President Lyndon Johnson announced an end to the bombing of North Vietnam and his intention to begin peace talks.
Richard Nixon, who succeeded Johnson as President of the United States, began his election campaign under the popular slogan of "ending the war with an honorable peace." In the summer of 1969, he announced the gradual withdrawal of some American troops from South Vietnam. At the same time, the new president actively participated in the Paris negotiations to end the war.
In December 1972, the North Vietnamese delegation unexpectedly left Paris, abandoning further discussion. To force the northerners to return to the negotiating table and hasten the outcome of the war, Nixon ordered an operation codenamed Linebacker II.
- American B-52 strikes at Hanoi, December 26, 1972
On December 18, 1972, over a hundred American B-52 bombers with tens of tons of explosives on board appeared in the skies over North Vietnam. Within a few days, 20 thousand tons of explosives were dropped on the main centers of the state. American carpet bombing has claimed the lives of over 1,500 Vietnamese.
Operation Linebacker II ended on December 29, and negotiations resumed in Paris ten days later. As a result, on January 27, 1973, a peace agreement was signed. Thus began the massive withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam.
According to the expert, it was no coincidence that the Saigon regime was called a puppet regime, since a very narrow military-bureaucratic elite was in power. “The crisis of the internal regime gradually intensified, and by 1973 it was greatly weakened from within. Therefore, when in January 1973 the United States withdrew its last parts, everything fell apart like a house of cards, ”Mazyrin said.
Two years later, in February 1975, the North Vietnamese army, together with the national liberation movement, launched an active offensive and in just three months liberated the entire southern part of the country.
- Communist resistance during the war
- globallookpress.com
- ZUMAPRESS.com
“Nobody imagined that the collapse would happen so quickly. This suggests that everything there really rested on bayonets and money. There was no internal support. The United States, together with its supporters and protégés, lost, ”concluded Vladimir Mazyrin.
The unification of Vietnam in 1975 was a major victory for the Soviet Union. At the same time, the military defeat of the United States in this country for a while helped the American leadership to realize the need to reckon with the interests of other states.
The middle of the 20th century is characterized by a series of incessant military conflicts. One of the most dramatic pages in world history was the Vietnam War - a long, costly and controversial one. The communist government of North Vietnam opposed South Vietnam and its main ally, the United States. between the USA and the USSR intensified the confrontation. More than 3 million people (including over 58,000 Americans) were killed during the Vietnam War, and more than half of those killed were Vietnamese civilians. Protests against the United States war have divided Americans, even despite President Richard Nixon's decision to withdraw US troops in 1973. In 1975, North Vietnam ended the war by capturing South Vietnam, and a year later it was already one country - the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
Causes of the Vietnam War
Vietnam is located in southeast Asia, on the Indochina Peninsula. Since the 19th century, it has been a French colony. During the Japanese invasion of Vietnam. To fight off both the occupation of Japan and dependence on France, the Vietnam Independence League, or Viet Minh, was formed under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh, inspired by the communist line of China and the USSR.
In 1945, Japan, after losing the war, withdrew its troops from Vietnam, leaving it under the control of Bao Dai, an emperor educated in France. Seeing an opportunity to seize power, Ho Chi Minh's Viet Minh forces rose immediately, capturing the northern city of Hanoi and renaming Vietnam the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV), with Ho being appointed president. France, withSeeking to regain control of the region, she supported Emperor Bao and recaptured the southern part of the country, establishing the state of Vietnam in July 1949 with the capital in Saigon.
Both sides wanted the same thing: a united Vietnam. But while Ho and his supporters wanted the state to be modeled after other communist countries, Bao and many others wanted Vietnam to have close economic and cultural ties with the West.
According to a survey by the Veterans Affairs Administration, about 500,000 of the 3 million military personnel who served in Vietnam suffered from PTSD, and the rate of divorce, suicide, alcoholism and drug addiction was significantly higher among veterans.
When did the Vietnam War start?
The Vietnam conflict and the active participation of the United States in it began in 1954, dragging on for several decades.
The Huo communist forces seized power in the north, and armed conflict between the northerners and southerners continued until the decisive battle of Dien Bien Phu in May 1954 ended with the victory of the northern Viet Minh forces. Thus ended almost a century of French colonial rule in Indochina.
In July 1954, at the Geneva Conference, an agreement was signed on the division of Vietnam in half along the 17th parallel (17 degrees north latitude). Ho Chi Minh received power in the northern half, and Bao in the southern. The treaty also called for a nationwide election for reunification in 1956.
However, in 1955, the radical anti-communist Ngo Dinh Ziem became president of the Republic of Vietnam, often called South Vietnam at the time, displacing Bao.
Vietcong
With the escalation of the Cold War around the world, the United States tightened its policy towards any allies of the Soviets, and by 1955, President Eisenhower had firmly pledged support for Ziem and South Vietnam.
Trained and equipped by the US military and the CIA, Ziema's security forces cracked down on sympathetic communist northerners on their territory, derisively calling them Viet Cong (or Vietnamese communists). About 100 thousand people were arrested, many of whom were brutally tortured and executed.
By 1957, the Viet Cong and other opponents of Ziema's repressive regime were attacking government officials, and by 1959, they were engaging the South Vietnamese army in gun battles.
In December 1960, the South Vietnam National Liberation Front (NLF) was formed in South Vietnam to organize resistance to the regime. It included opponents of Ziem. Although the NPO claimed to be autonomous and most of its members were not communists, many in Washington believed that the National Front was a puppet of Hanoi.
Domino theory
A team sent by President Kennedy in 1961 to clarify the situation in South Vietnam advised increasing American assistance - military, technical and economic - to help Ziem counter the Viet Cong threat.
Guided by the "domino theory" (if one of the countries in Southeast Asia establishes a communist regime, all others will follow), Kennedy increased aid from the United States, but did not undertake large-scale military intervention.
By 1962, there were approximately 9,000 US troops in South Vietnam (less than 800 in the 1950s).
Gulf of tonkin
In November 1963, Ngo Dinh Ziem's own generals conspired and killed him and his brother Ngo Dinh Nu - three weeks later, Kennedy would be assassinated in Dallas.
The ensuing political instability in South Vietnam was so significant that Kennedy's successor Lyndon Johnson and Defense Secretary Robert McNamara were forced to increase support for the United States.
In August 1964, two US destroyers were attacked by DRV torpedo boats in Tonkin Bay. Johnson ordered a retaliatory bombing of military targets in North Vietnam. Congress soon passed the Tonkin Bay Resolution, which gave Johnson a wide range of combat capabilities. The following year, Operation Rolling Thunder was carried out: US planes bombed rice fields, villages, and many civilian targets.
In March 1965, Johnson made a decision - with the consent of the American public - to send US soldiers to Vietnam. By June, there were 82,000 combat units, and by the end of 1965, the army leadership demanded another 175,000 to support the struggle of the South Vietnamese army.
Some of the president's advisers were worried about both escalation and military action, especially in the face of a growing anti-war movement, but Johnson nevertheless authorized the immediate dispatch of 100,000 soldiers at the end of July 1965 and another 100,000 in 1966. South Korea, Thailand, Australia and New Zealand have pledged to fight in South Vietnam alongside the United States, albeit on a much smaller scale.
To counterbalance the air attacks, General Westmoreland launched ground military action by the US-South Vietnamese combined forces, coordinating them with the government of General Nguyen Van Thieu in Saigon.
Westmoreland chose a strategy of war of attrition, seeking to destroy as many enemy soldiers as possible, rather than trying to save the occupied territories. By 1966, large areas of South Vietnam were declared "zones of free fire", which meant that all civilians had to be evacuated from the territory, and any object located there was considered an enemy. Heavy bombing by B-52 aircraft made these areas uninhabitable, as refugees were taken to camps in special safe areas near Saigon and other cities.
Although the size of the army of the South Vietnamese side was constantly increasing (although from time to time the authorities of the southern side exaggerated its number), the troops of the DRV and Viet Cong refused to cease hostilities. This was due to the fact that they had established the supply of people and supplies along the "Ho Chi Minh trail." Help came from Cambodia and Laos. In addition, North Vietnam strengthened its air defense, accepting assistance from the PRC and the USSR.
Antiwar protests
By November 1967, the number of US troops in Vietnam was approaching 500 thousand, the losses of the American side - 15 058 killed and 109 527 wounded. As the war dragged on, distrust of the government grew among the soldiers. They were outraged by the reasons why the war should continue, as well as repeated statements from Washington that the war had already been won.
The physical and psychological condition of American soldiers, both volunteers and conscripts, worsened - the number of drug users suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) increased, riots and attacks by soldiers on officers and junior officers began.
Between July 1966 and December 1973, more than 503,000 US troops fled the country, and a powerful antiwar movement among the US military has spawned violent protests, killings, and mass arrests of personnel stationed in both Vietnam and the United States.
In the United States itself, the Americans, crushed by monstrous reports of the war on television, also protested against the war: in October 1967, about 35 thousand demonstrators organized a mass protest in front of the Pentagon. Opponents of the war argued that civilians, not soldiers, were the main victims, and that the United States supported the corrupt dictatorship in Saigon.
Tet Offensive
By the end of 1967, Hanoi's communist leadership was becoming increasingly impatient and eager to deliver a decisive blow of such force that the wealthier United States gave up hope of success.
On January 31, 1968, about 70,000 DRV soldiers led by General Vo Nguyen Giap launched the Tet Offensive (named after the holiday of Tet, the Asian New Year), a coordinated series of brutal attacks on more than 100 cities in South Vietnam.
Caught by surprise, the southerners, nevertheless, managed to quickly strike back, and after a couple of days the northerners were blocked.
Reports of the Tet attack have increased tensions among US citizens, especially after news reports that Westmoreland has requested another 200,000 soldiers, despite repeated assurances that victory in the Vietnam War is imminent. Johnson's approval rating has fallen in an election year. The President had to end the bombing raids in most of North Vietnam (although they were still continuing in its southern part). He promised to devote the rest of his term to finding peace, not re-election.
Johnson's new approach, outlined in a speech in March 1968, met with a positive response from Hanoi, and peace talks between the United States and North Vietnam opened in Paris in May. Although representatives from South Vietnam and the South Vietnamese National Liberation Front (NLF) were later included in the talks, the dialogue soon stalled, and Republican Richard Nixon took the presidency following a brutal 1968 election marred by violence. 
Vietnamization
Nixon sought to suppress the antiwar movement by appealing to the "silent majority" of Americans, who, in his opinion, were inaudible but supported the war. In an effort to limit the volume of American casualties, he announced the Vietnamization program, the main goal of which was to withdraw US troops from Vietnam, and in return, increase the supply of military equipment for airspace control and improve the training of South Vietnamese soldiers, re-equipping their army with modern weapons for effective ground control. war.
In addition to this Vietnam policy, Nixon continued public peace talks with them in Paris. And in the spring of 1968, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger began more significant secret negotiations.
The North Vietnamese continued to insist on the complete and unconditional withdrawal of the United States and the departure of the new President of South Vietnam, General Nguyen Van Thieu, the US protégé, as a condition of peace, and as a result, peace negotiations stalled.
Massacres in Mi Lai Village
Over the next few years, news of even greater bloody crimes began to surface, including horrific news that US soldiers mercilessly tortured and massacred more than 400 unarmed civilians in Mi Lai Village in March 1968.
After the Mi Lai Massacre, anti-war protests continued to erupt and multiply. In 1968 and 1969, hundreds of demonstrations and gatherings swept across the country.
On November 15, 1969, the largest peaceful antiwar demonstration in American history took place in Washington, DC, with over 250,000 Americans demanding the withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam.
The anti-war movement, which was particularly strong on college campuses, divided Americans. For some young people, war symbolized a form of uncontrolled power, and they came to express their outrage at it. Other Americans saw opposition to the government as an act of unpatriotic behavior and perceived it as treason.
As the withdrawal of US troops began, those American soldiers who remained became more and more angry, and the problem of morale and discipline of the army became more and more aggravated. Tens of thousands of soldiers deserted, about 500,000 American men became "draft evaders" from 1965 to 1973, many of them fled to Canada to avoid conscription. Nixon ended the draft in 1972 and replaced it with voluntary enlistment the following year.
In 1970, a combined grouping of South Vietnamese and US forces invaded Cambodia with the aim of destroying the DRV's supply bases there. The southern Vietnamese then invaded Laos, but were driven back by North Vietnam.
Invasions that violated international law have sparked a new wave of student protests on college campuses across America. During one, on May 4, 1970, at Kent State University in Ohio, the National Guards killed four students. Another 10 days later, two students were killed by police at Jackson University in Mississippi.
However, after a failed attack on South Vietnam by the end of June 1972, Hanoi was finally ready to compromise. Kissinger and North Vietnamese officials worked out a peace deal by early fall, but leaders in Saigon rejected it, and in December Nixon authorized a series of bombing raids on Hanoi and Haiphong. This attack was internationally condemned and nicknamed the "Christmas bombing".
End of the Vietnam War
In January 1973, the United States and North Vietnam entered into a final peace agreement, ending open hostilities between the two countries. However, the war between North and South Vietnam continued until April 30, 1975, when the DRV forces captured Saigon, renaming it Ho Chi Minh (Ho himself died in 1969).
More than two decades of violent conflict have had devastating consequences for the population of Vietnam: after years of war, 2 million Vietnamese were killed, 3 million were injured, and another 12 million became refugees. The war completely destroyed the country's infrastructure and economy, and the recovery was slow.
In 1976, Vietnam was reunited and became the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, although violence continued sporadically over the next 15 years, including conflicts with neighboring China and Cambodia. As part of the free market policy introduced in 1986, the economy began to improve, fueled by oil export revenues and foreign capital inflows. Trade and diplomatic relations between Vietnam and the United States resumed in the 1990s.
In the United States, the Vietnam War echoes long after the last troops returned home in 1973. During the war from 1965 to 1973, the country spent more than $ 120 billion; these huge spending led to inflation, exacerbated by the 1973 global oil crisis, and soaring fuel prices.
The psychological consequences were even worse. The war dispelled the myth of the US invincibility and divided the nation. Many veterans faced backlash from both opponents of the war, who viewed them as murderers of innocent civilians, and its supporters, who blamed them for losing the war. All this against the background of physical damage: the consequences of exposure to the toxic herbicidal agent Orange, millions of gallons of which were dropped by American planes on the dense forests of Vietnam, turned out to be very severe.
In 1982, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was opened in Washington, DC. It bore the names of 57,939 American men and women killed or missing during the war; later, more names were added, and the total number of victims of the war was 58,200.
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