Vietnam War: The Defeat of the United States and Its Abandonment of South Viet Nam

 

ARVN rangers in action

         

The Viet Nam War is a military struggle fought from 1959 to 1975. The World War II brought about the occupation of Viet Nam by the Japanese forces. After the war, the French wanted to regain its former colonial territories in Indo China that included Viet Nam. The communist forces however, under Ho Chi Minh wanted the country to become independent. The opposing interest of the French and the communist nationalist led by Ho Chi Minh resulted to an armed conflict. The North Vietnamese forces under the leadership of Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap routed the French and captured its remaining soldiers after a 55-day siege at Dien Bien Phu. As a result, France agreed to withdraw all its forces in Viet Nam at the Geneva Conference of 1954.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   In the aftermath of the conflict under the conference Viet Nam was partitioned at the 17^th parallel on May 8, 1954, and a reunification election of the country was to be held in 1956. The north under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh allied itself with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR) and China. The South under the leadership of Ngo Dinh Diem allied itself with the United States and the west. Ho Chi Minh and the League for the Independence of Viet Nam wanted a unified country along the USSR-China ideological line. Diem on the other hand opposed reunification believing that the people of the north had no freedom to choose if election was held. In South Viet Nam there was an underground armed group called the National Liberation Front (NLF) also known as the Viet Cong.  The NLF which shared and supported the north’s aspiration engaged South Viet Nam’s army, the ARVN, in its bid to topple the southern government from within using guerilla tactics. The political instability in the south and the in-fighting of its leaders made the south highly vulnerable of being defeated by the north.

US Intervention and Escalation of the War

US marines in Vietnam

ARVN soldiers in action

A police chief executes a Vietcong in the street

To prevent the south from falling into the hands of the communists, the United States sent military advisers to assist the ARVN deal with the threats posed by North Viet Nam and the Viet Cong. In 1961 two helicopter companies composed of 400 soldiers arrived.  In 1962 the US soldiers’ strength stood at 11,200. Before the end of 1965 US combat strength was almost 200,000 and reached its highest peak in 1968 at 525,000. During the early stage of US involvement troops from Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Thailand and the Philippines augmented the US and ARVN forces. The allied forces were commanded by Gen William Westmoreland.   

A young US marine

                                                                  

In the south the war became a people’s war with guerilla fighters not easily distinguishable from non-combatants and most civilians were mobilized into some sort of active participation. There were no recognizable front lines, and the Viet Cong employed highly effective hit and run tactics against the US forces and their allies. The war resulted in heavy casualties on both sides but majority of them were civilians.  Heavy aerial bombings were conducted by US planes to the north as well as in the Ho Chi Min Trail that was inside Laos and Cambodia where the communist transported their military supplies from the north into South Viet Nam.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               The most notable battle in the conflict was the Tet Offensive of the communists which they coincided with the celebration of the Vietnamese Lunar New Year, hence its name. The communist forces launched a coordinated and massive simultaneous attack against 100 urban targets inside South Viet Nam.  The US forces and the ARVN however were able to thwart the attack and defeated the communist assault and sent the enemies back to their former positions. In that attack the communists lost about 85,000 of their best troops.

A wounded US soldier assisted by his comrades

Media Coverage and Anti-War Demonstrations in the Streets Fanned Out Anti-War Sentiment

Victims of MY Lai massacre

The Viet Nam war was a war that was highly covered by the media. The long drawn armed conflict, the reports of atrocities, the huge casualties suffered by the US troops and the huge cost of prosecuting the war which stood at 25 billion dollars per year had created negative sentiment of the war on the American public overtime. Media reports highlighted atrocities committed by US forces while those of the communists were either ignored or not reported at all. The way in which the war was portrayed by the media played into the hands of the communists. The report of the My Lai Massacre in 1968 on which a platoon led by Lt. William Calley killed unarmed villagers composed of elderly men, women and children further put the conduct of the war in negative light.

The Kissinger Peace Deal: Setting the Stage for Communist Victory

Operation in Hue 1967

North Vietnamese troops during Tet Offensive

President Richard M. Nixon ordered continuous aerial bombings in the north to destroy its economic and military infrastructures and to bring the enemy to the negotiating table. But the communists remained adamant. Determined to reach a peace settlement with North Vietnam and put an end to the war, President Richard Nixon sent Henry Kissinger as his emissary to broker a peace deal with the communists in Paris. Kissinger’s communist counterpart was Le Dhuc Tho. Meanwhile, the US continued its bombing runs to make the communists agree with the peace deal. When a peace talk collapsed in December 16, 1972, Nixon ordered massive bombings of Hanoi and Haiphong by B-52s and other planes. On January 27, 1973, in Paris delegation from US, South Vietnam, North Viet Nam and the provisional revolutionary government signed agreement of ending the war and restoring peace. Among the conditions of the Peace accord were: complete cessation of hostilities, withdrawal of all US and allied forces from South Viet Nam within 60 days after the signing, return of POWs on both sides at 15-day intervals within 60 days, recognition of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) as provisional not a political or territorial boundary, creation of international control commission  composed of Canada, Hungary, Indonesia and Poland to oversee implementation of the peace accord, and a provision for an international conference to be held within 30 days. The accord allowed some 145,000 North Vietnamese troops to remain in South Vietnam, but with limitation on their future replacement and supplies. South Viet Nam under President Nguyen Van Thieu viewed the peace deal with apprehension. He considered it as a sellout to the communists. However, since his country was totally dependent to the United States for support, he nevertheless signed it. By the end of March 1973 all US troops were withdrawn from South Viet Nam.                                                                              

Henry Kissinger along with Le Dhuc Tho was nominated for the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize for bringing about peace in Viet Nam. But only Kissinger was awarded because Le Dhuc Tho refused to receive the prize stating that lasting peace was yet to be attained. Tho might have correctly thought that larger battles loomed ahead beyond that peace deal.                                                                                                                   

Vietnamization and the Abandonment of an Ally

The process of turning over the burden of military operations and security of South Viet Nam to the indigenous Vietnamese allies was called Vietnamization. In that process the United States would continue giving financial and material support to South Viet Nam after the US forces had left. Nixon hinted that America would come to the aid of South Viet Nam if the communists violated the terms of the treaty.                                                                                                                                                                               

The Vietnamization of the war did not bode well to the fledgling South Vietnamese government. The complete withdrawal of the US troops affected the economy because the country derived most of its income from the spending of American troops. The Yom Kippur War of 1973, which sent the price of oil to an unprecedented highest level also adversely affected its economy as well as its military capability. The high cost of oil made it more expensive for the country to use the planes, tanks and other equipment that were left behind by the US military.

The changing political landscape in the United States sealed the fate of South Viet Nam in its war against its Northern brother and neighbor. The anti-war sentiment in America was heightened by the continuous demonstrations in the streets against the war. Nixon resigned amidst the Watergate Scandal. Replacing him was Gerald Ford another republican. The mid-term election of 1974 saw majority of democrats winning the upper and lower houses of congress. The Democratic controlled congress made a resolution to phase out war funding. It was to be decreased in 1975 and to be cut off in 1976. And there was the Case-Church Amendment in June 1974 which prohibited US intervention in case of re-escalation of the war. The politicians virtually drove the final nail in the coffin as far as fate of the war in Viet Nam was concerned.

Violation of the Peace Treaty and the Victory of the Communists

When the American troops were gone the communist forces started to violate the peace deal that was made with Henry Kissinger. The North Vietnamese forces and the Viet Cong started to attack South Vietnamese positions. It seemed that all conditions set forth in the peace treaty were violated except the complete withdrawal of the US forces. In December 1974 North Vietnamese forces attacked route 14 in Phuc Long province. It fell on January 6, 1975. The South Vietnamese made a last-ditch effort to ask help from the United States. President Ford tried to answer the South Vietnamese call for help before they would be completely overrun, but his hands were tied by congress, and no help to an ally was forthcoming. On April 30, 1975, Saigon, the capital, was captured and the republic of Viet Nam surrendered unconditionally to the communist controlled provisional government.  At the end of 1975 the war had become a rout.

The defeat of the United States and the fall of Viet Nam came with a heavy price. It cost 57,685 Americans killed and 153,303 wounded with a financial cost of about 140 billion US dollars which is equivalent to 686 billion of today’s US dollars. On the side of the South Vietnamese there were estimated 2 million killed and 3 million wounded with hundreds of thousands orphaned. There were also 12 million Indo-Chinese people who became refugees because of the war. On the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong there were estimated 1,176,000 killed and over 600,000 wounded.