The Vietnam war

1
The Vietnam was a long conflict that started on 1954 and ended on 1975. The
war mostly occurred in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia (Indo-China) between the
communist regime of North Vietnam against South Vietnam and its ally, the United
States. The war was initially fought between Vietnam and France in 1946, formally
called the French war. Vietnam since the 1860s was part of the French colony,
however, in 1944 till 1945 during the second world war Indo-China was under direct
control of Japan.
In 1941, Ho Chi Minh formed a pro-independence organization called the Viet Minh.
The Viet Minh received military equipment from USA and their troops were helped by
OSS, US special forces. Ho Chi Minh wanted an independent Vietnam with a
communist system. He declared in September 1945 that Vietnam was now an
independent country. However, despite Ho Chi Minhs announcement a war broke
out between Viet Minh and France as the allies wanted France to be a major power.
The war lasted till 1954 when a peace negotiation in Geneva ended the French war.
France was defeated at Dien Bien Phu despite their military aid from USA (USA
withdrew from helping Viet Minh after WW2 as France was their ally). French troops
were surrounded by Viet Minh soldiers at Dien Bien Phu and 55 days later the
French troops surrendered. It was agreed under The Geneva Accords of 1954 that
France would leave Indo-China and Vietnam to be divided in two. North Vietnam
which became a communist ruled by Ho Chi Minh and South Vietnam which became
a non-communist. Plans were also made to hold elections in North and South
Vietnam to unite the country. However, despite the peace agreement a war began
again, within a few years, between North Vietnam and South Vietnam with its ally,
the united state.
To what extend was US involvement in Vietnam justified?
2
After the events of the French war and the Geneva accords of 1954, the USA
has planned to stop or prevent the spread of communism in South-East Asia. They
believed in the domino theory whereby if one country came in the influence of
communism, then the surrounding country would follow in a domino effect. Therefore
it was very important for USA to defend itself against communism by stopping the
communist country, North Vietnam, to spread around the surrounding countries. [5]
According to the Geneva Accords it was agreed that elections would be held in
Vietnam in 1956 to decide how a united Vietnam would be governed. However,

because of the fear that communism would win, US president Eisenhower forced
South Vietnam not to held election as he feared Viet Minh would win. USA set up a
new government in South Vietnam and appointed the leader Ngo Dinh Diem who
was unpopular.
US involvement in Vietnam increased against
the North Vietnam by financially and militarily
assisting South Vietnam. By 1964, the Gulf of
Tonkin incident was the perfect opportunity for
Johnson to get support from US congress to
increase the involvement in South Vietnam. US
government claimed that the 2 US destroyers
face an unprovoked attacked by North
Vietnamese in international waters. It was the
turning point as it began the American war
which lasted until 1975.

Source 1 [4]
Extract from President Johnson's
Message to Congress in August 5, 1964
North Vietnamese regime had
conducted further deliberate attacks
against U.S. naval vessels operating in
international waters, and I had therefore
directed air action against gunboats and
supporting facilities used in these hostile
operations. This air action has now been
carried out with substantial damage to
the boats and facilities. Two U.S. aircraft

The US involvement in Vietnam is to some

extent justifiable. Source 1,which is to the righthand side, is a message from President
Johnson from the US to the Congress in August 5, 1964, during the time of the Gulf
of Tonkin incident. This is his personal respond to the incident whereby he blames
the North Vietnam for deliberate attacks against U.S. and the lost of two U.S. aircraft.
The source is reliable as the President had blamed the North Vietnam for the
incident and used this opportunity to gain support from the Congress to increase
involvement in South Vietnam. If his perspective is right then it justify US involvement
in Vietnam as said in the extract the North Vietnamese regime had conducted
deliberate attacks against U.S naval vessels therefore US was rightfully defending
itself against the North Vietnamese.
However, it can be argued that the message that President Johnson intended to
show that North Vietnamese was to be blamed may be biased as he wanted an
excuse to increase involvement in South Vietnam. At the time of the incident, a fight
between South and North Vietnamese was taking place and when the two US
aircraft were sent, it was naturally seen by the North Vietnamese as an aid to South
Vietnam. Moreover, in 1971 Dr Daniel Ellsberg, employee of the US Defense
Department, gave secret US documents in which it showed that the Gulf of Tonkin
incident did not involved attack by the North Vietnamese.

To conclude, US involvement is justified to some extent because they wanted to

prevent the spread of communism to other Southeast Asian countries due to the
domino effect. However it is also unjustifiable as President Johnson may have lied
about the incident and American involvements may be considered to be highly
political motivated against the Soviet Union.
Why was North Vietnamese forces more effective against far wealthier,
technological superior power such as the United States?
3
During the course of the Vietnam War, the Vietnamese communist forces
were the most effective against the United States. Even though the US were far more
superior technologically and financially speaking Vietnam was better tactically than
the United States. Immediately after the Gulf of Tonkin incident operations began
from the US to stop the communist in Vietnam.
In 1954, Johnson ordered US planes to attack targets in North Vietnam as he
thought by attacking the North, the communist might stop fighting. However, 100
Viet Cong attacked a US air base near Saigon.
February 6, 1965, Viet Cong forces attacked the US base at Pleiku. Johnson
decided to increase bombing in North Vietnam and by March 1965 it developed
into a major bombing offensive, called operation rolling thunder. US troops
increased from 3,500 to 18,000.
1968, A ceasefire was organized for the Tet. However, the Viet Cong (VC) launch a
nationwide attack on ARVN and American bases. They hoped that the attacks
would start a national anti-US uprising which was called the Tet Offensive. At first
the Tet Offensive had some success until the US and ARVN troops defeated the
VC. The impact of the Tet Offensive increased the anti-war movement in USA and
attempts were made to cut down the number of US troops used in the war.
The biggest effect of anti-war protest was to end the presidential career of
Johnson, who announced that he will not try for re-election. Before leaving he
wanted to make peace with Vietnam and that he was willing to stop bombing.
However in by the time he left in January 1969, no peace agreements had been
made.
1969, Nixon became the new president and he wanted peace with honor in
Vietnam. It meant that USA was willing to remove troops for Vietnam without
looking like it lost the war. He also announced his Vietnamization policy whereby

he wanted ARVN to play a greater role in the war and allowed US trop numbers to
drop.
1970, Nixon secretly invaded Cambodia to convince North Vietnam that he was
mad and was ready to use nuclear weapons to win a peace agreement. This was
another policy of Nixon. Eventually, people found out about the invasion and
opposition reached its peak.
1972, Kissinger, Nixons National Security Adviser and Le Duc Tho, representative
of North Vietnam negotiated for peace. By October an agreement was created but
not signed yet.
1973, To force the North to agree Nixon began bombarding the North. Thieu,
president of South Vietnam, refused to sign the agreement that allowed
communist troops. However on 27, 1974, the Vietnam war finally came to an end
when Nixon promised to help South Vietnam in case of an attack by the North.
1975, Nixon resigned and in March 1975
the North invaded the South and was
united under one communist government.
USA lost and the domino theory began to
work.

Source 1 [1]
British Historian Derrick Murphy, writing
about Vietnam in 2001.
Despite their superior technology and
money, it seemed the USA could not win
the war. The Americans were still backing
an unpopular, corrupt government that
lacked the support of the majority of the

Source 1 is a British Historian Derrick

Murphy commenting on the Vietnam war in
2001. The author says that the USA lost the
war due to the unpopularity and corrupted
government that lacked support from the
Vietnamese people. The author is right that U.S. has lost the war due to the South
government political inefficiency. Because of the weak and corrupted South
Vietnamese government, ARVN relied heavily upon the U.S. army and this is one of
the reason why the Viet Cong was much more advantageous to win. ARVN lacked of
experienced officers whereas the Viet Cong had good soldiers who were motivated
to win the war. Moreover, U.S. was backing a corrupted government that did not have
support from the South Vietnamese people. The natives preferred to help the
communist by sheltering them rather than counting on the South Vietnamese
government as Viet Cong offered to improve their lives.

The limitation to the source is that other factors

also played an important role in the defeat of the
Americans against the Communist Vietnamese,
such as the different tactics applied.

Source 2 [2]
Captain E.J. Banks, an American marine
who fought in Vietnam

Source 2 is a comment made by an American

You never knew who was enemy and
marine, Captain E.J. Banks, who fought in
who was friend. They all looked alike.
Vietnam. His perspective as to why it was hard
They were all Vietnamese. Some of them
for US to win against North Vietnam was
were VietCong. A woman says her
because of their tactics. It was hard for them to
husband isn't Vietcong. She watches your
recognize who were the communist between the
men walk down a trail and get killed by a
innocent, You never knew who was enemy.
booby-trap. Maybe she planted it herself.
The Viet Cong effectively carried out a guerrilla
tactic, they were well hidden and they set up booby-trap. The Americans and ARVN
were unprepared to fight in these situation even though they were superior to the
Vietcong.
The information given in source 2 is useful as it
is true than Vietcong used this tactics during the
war that lead to their victory. However the
source is limited as it doesn't say what kind of
booby-trap was set up and the other factors that
helped Vietcong to win.

Source 3 [2]
Stanley Karnow, Vietnam, 1983
The US Army in Vietnam was a
shambles as the war drew to a close in
the early 1970s. With president Nixon
removing the American troops, nobody
wanted to be the last to die for a cause
that had clearly lost its meaning

Source 3 is comment made by a citizen of

Vietnam called Stanley Karnow, in 1983.
According to him, the US Army lacked of
motivation to fight against the Vietcong as the
war drew to a close in the early 1970s. He says that The US Army in Vietnam was a
shambles meaning that the US army was in a state of complete disorder with no
morale among the troops. The information given is right as during the 1970s anti-war
opposition increased and US troops didn't want to fight. Moreover he says that after
the removal of US troop nobody wanted to be the last to die for a cause that had
clearly lost its meaning. Again, what he says is true as nobody was ready to fight the
Vietcong when they attacked in 1975, which led to the defeat of the US and South
Vietnam.

What was the impact and results of the Vietnam war in Vietnam and the USA?

4
During the Vietnam war, villages
suffered a lot due to the bombs and the
chemical defoliant named Agent Orange. This
chemical poisoned the waters of Vietnam
causing thousands of Vietnamese to develop
cancer, birth deformities or give birth to dead
children. A total of 2.5 million Vietnamese were
killed, North Vietnamese Army lost 650,000
and Viet Cong 1 million. The civilians suffered
from brutal treatment and villages/communities
were destroyed by the fighting. Furthermore,
the economy of Vietnam was destroyed by the
widespread damage to fields, animals, crops
and forests.

[3]
Source 1
Vietnamese children suffering from
deformity due to Agent Orange.

Source 1 shows a picture of Vietnamese

children and it could be seen that the children
have abnormal head that is bigger than the
average. The cause to this deformity is due to
the Agent Orange dropped by the US to strip
trees from their leaves.
The limitation of this pictures is whether it is
reliable of the Vietnamese children who are handicap due to the Agent Orange.

The effects of the Vietnam war on the USA caused a protest movement as the
Americans thought that the war was unjust. It made President Johnson very
unpopular and he withdrew in 1968 from the Presidential election. It also caused the
death of 58,000 US troops. After the war, relations between Vietnam and USA
remained hostile. Americans had lost confidence in their ability to contain the
spread of communism. 700,000 veterans suffered psychological effects from fighting
the war and communist took over Cambodia and Laos.
How did the Vietnam War influence the Cold War?
5
The Vietnam War was not as significant in terms of influencing the cold war.
When the Vietnam war ended USSR did not declare himself the winner. It can be
considered that it was mostly a proxy war between USSR and America. Because

America wanted to end the spread of communism USSR decided to support the
North communist Vietnamese.

References
Booklet given in class by miss, Vietnam war. Pg 38 to 51.
Steve Waugh. (2001). Vietnam War. In: Nelson Thornes Essential modern world
history. United Kingdom: Nelson Thornes Ltd. pg283-298.
[3]
Claudia. (2013). Vietnam war-History. Available:
http://www.designclaud.com/vietnam-war/. Last accessed 25/03/16.
[4]
WGBH. (2005). Vietnam Online. Available:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/vietnam/psources/ps_tonkingulf.html. Last accessed
25/03/16.
[5]
Wikipedia. (2016). Domino Theory . Available:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domino_theory. Last accessed 25/03/16.
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