VIETNAM WAR SUMMARY (1945 1975)

Indochina was a French colony. By the end of WWII, it was invaded by Japan. Viet Minh resisted Japanese oppression and, when Japan surrendered (1945), Ho Chi Minhs forces took the capital oh Hanoi and declared Vietnam to be an independent country: the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
Viet Minh: a militant nationalist organization led by communist Ho Chi Minh. It resisted the Japanese in the last stages of WWII, and the French since Vietnams independence.

The French refused to recognize Ho Chi Minhs declaration of independence, they came back and drove Hos communist forces into the north with US aid. Fighting between Hos forces and the French continued in this First Indochina War until 1954. 1954 the French were defeated. Geneva Accord: declared cease-fire and divided Vietnam officially into NV (under Ho and his communist forces) and SV (under French-backed emperor) 1955 Domino theory: American idea that if a country becomes communist, the others around would become communist too. Communist chain reaction. Therefore, within a year of the Geneva Accord, the US offered support to anti-communist politician Ngo Dinh Diem by sending the first American advisor to SV. Diem consolidated power in the south Republic of Vietnam corrupt, oppressive, unpopular regime. The US continued support it, fearful of the increasing Communist resistance. 1956 Free elections agreed in the Geneva Accord (1954) were postponed 1957 Viet Cong, organized by Ho Chi Minh, started a program of resistance/reconstruction against Diems gvmt.
Viet Cong: communist guerrilla force or paramilitary organization led by Ho Chi Minh-backed National Liberation Front which aimed at the reunification of Vietnam under a communist gvmt.

1959 Regular free firefighting between Viet Cong and South Vietnamese Army. Communist resolution to overthrow Diems gvmt.

1960 Formation of the National Liberation Front (= political wing of Viet Cong). Evident that the South could not cope with the threatening situation. 1961 Kennedy became president. First large scale of military advisors sent. 1962 US military personnel rose. Kennedy sent American military advisors to Vietnam to help train the South Vietnamese army, the ARVN, but realized that the Diem regime was unsalvageable. 1963 Therefore, the US backed a coup that overthrew Diem (because they wanted a change in gvmt, not the assassination of Diem) and installed a new leader who proved just as corrupt and ineffective. President Diem of SV was assassinated in the military coup. Kennedys assassination. 1964 Lyndon Johnson won elections in the US. North Vietnamese torpedo boats attack US destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin Johnson ordered retaliatory airstrikes against NV naval bases Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. 1965 The communists were on the verge of winning Rolling Thunder: US campaign of sustained air bombing in NV. US aided Saigon with 5000 US marines. Fullest scale war/massive US intervention. 1965 67 Period of heavy fighting 1968 Viet Cong launched the TET offensive which consisted of massive attacks involving American troops in desperate battles for control of their bases at Da Nang and Khe Sanh, Hue and the ground of US embassy in Saigon (Brogan 680) My Lai Massacre, in which frustrated U.S. soldiers killed hundreds of unarmed Vietnamese civilians in a small village, led to an increase of anti-war movements in the US: student protesters, countercultural hippies, and even many mainstream Americans.

1969 Nixon was elected in the US. He proposed a policy of Vietnamization promising to withdraw U.S. troops gradually and hand over management of the war effort to the South Vietnamese. Ho Chi Minhs death. 1970 Nixon illegally expanded the geographic scope of the war by authorizing the bombing of Viet Cong sites in Cambodia without the knowledge or consent of the US Congress. 1971 SV invades Laos with US support. 1972 Christmas bombings to pressure the North Vietnamese into a settlement. 1973 Enormous scandal in the United States forced Nixon to push for a peace settlement. 1974 Watergate Scandal led to Nixons resignation. 1975 North Vietnamese forces finally launched an all-out offensive in the south. On April, the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon fell to the North Vietnamese (Saigon became HO Chi Minh city) who reunited the country under Communist rule as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, ending the Vietnam War. Outcome: unification of North and South Vietnam under a communist gvmt.