Indo-China in South East Asia, the countries of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos as we know them today, has been a melting pot of political turmoil and military intervention for many centuries with many masters of the local populations. French missionaries had been in the area since the late 1700’s. A joint Franco-Spanish Naval armada invaded Tourane, known today as Da Nang, in 1858. The Vietnam War of the late 20th century, although predominantly characterised by the American led involvement between the early 1960’s until 1972, actually began in 1945 and ended in 1975.
This period can be equally broken down into three separate smaller timelines. 1945 to 1954 Is better known as the first Indo-China war fought between the Viet Minh and the French, the historical colonial rulers of the area, who had been temporarily ousted from control by the Japanese during World War 2 even though there was an aligned Vichy French regime in control during that time.
Then there was the second Indo-China war or the American War as the Communists preferred to call it. During this period of the war, 1959-1972, fighting occurred in the countries of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. The armies on both sides can be grouped into two opposing forces, the communist forces and anti-communist or free world forces. The communist forces were North Vietnam, Viet Cong (South Vietnamese communist forces), Khmer Rouge (Cambodian communist forces), Pathet Lao (Laos’s communist forces), China, the Soviet Union and North Korea. The free world forces were, The United States, South Vietnam, South Korea, Australia, Philippines, New Zealand, Khmer Republic (Cambodia), Thailand, Kingdom of Laos and Taiwan.
Once the US led coalition left Indo-China in 1972 there was the third war, the civil war, that finally pitted the North against the South from a manpower perspective even though both were still backed by military hardware supplied from the USSR and the USA.
The reasons for the Vietnam War can generally be traced back to the calamitous upheavals during and just after World War II. A pro-axis Vichy French government took control of French Indochina (Vietnam, Cambodia and parts of Laos), in 1940 although the real masters of the time were the Japanese. In 1944 the local peoples of French Indochina began collaborating in earnest, with the Free French, United States and Chinese Nationalists to undermine Vichy and Japanese influence in the region.
A great famine struck the northern regions of French Indochina, between 1944 and 1945. Over 1 million people or 10% of the region died of starvation. As a result of the widespread famine and barbarous treatment at the hands of their Vichy and Japanese overlords in 1945, the local Vietnamese groups, the largest and most famous, the Viet Minh, began vigorously opposing the axis authorities. Their popularity spiralled in March 1945, when the Viet Minh organised raids on rice warehouses to feed the starving Vietnamese people. In August 1945 the Japanese surrendered and the leader of the Viet Minh – Ho Chi Minh, declared Vietnam an independent democratic republic, before an excited crowd of over half a million people in Hanoi city.
However, the French considered the region theirs and were backed in this belief by the United Kingdom and the USA. Despite the Viet Minh winning elections across most of Vietnam in January 1946, the French, unimpressed by this democratic process invaded Hanoi in March 1946 and by November 1946, had re-established full authority over Indochina. In December of that year the Viet Minh began guerrilla operations against the French forces, thus beginning the First Indochina War. The war lasted until May 1954 and ended in the division of Vietnam into Northern and Southern Vietnam as part of an accord agreed upon by many different parties in Geneva.
By 1954, the world was divided and the Cold War was in full swing. War had spread to Cambodia and Laos and communist guerrilla forces under the Khmer and the Pathet Lao began harassing the governments of Laos and Cambodia as the Viet Minh were doing to the French in Vietnam. Even though the USA was footing over 80% of the war bills and had supplied the French with over 300,000 small arms and millions in military aid, the French were defeated at the famous Battle of Dien Bien Phu by the Viet Minh.
Fears of communism spread throughout the free world and the United States began advocating the “Domino Theory”. This theory was based on the observations in Vietnam and asserted that if one country fell to communism it would spread to all the surrounding countries.
Thus the world was polarised into two camps, the communist and free world. In 1956 the Viet Cong (South Vietnamese communist’s forces) began small-scale insurgency operations in South Vietnam hoping to destabilise the Republic of South Vietnam under the leadership of Ngo Dinh Diem. Diem had done nothing to solve the problems facing South Vietnam and his heavy-handed approach to many of the people in South Vietnam (though no worse than the murder and bloodshed by the Viet Cong) was alienating many of the regional South Vietnamese.
America felt it was time to intervene in Vietnam. In 1963, with CIA backing, Diems’ administration fell and Diem was murdered in the coup. Between 1963 and 1968 large-scale mobilisation of free world forces from America, South Korea, and Australia occurred. In 1968 there were over 1 million US, South Vietnamese (ARVN) and allied troops in Vietnam. From 1965-1968 over 1 million tons of bombs were dropped over North Vietnam in an effort to stop NVA interference in South Vietnam. However the strategic objective was not achieved and the North continued sending troops and supplies down many trails to their Viet Cong allies, the most famous being the Ho Chi Minh trail, ensuring that the long road to victory would never be lost, no matter what the costs to the communist forces.
The war reached a crisis point for the free world forces in 1968 in the form of the Tet Offensive. The American public questioned whether the war could be won. An untethered media gorged itself in a media feeding frenzy as American casualty lists rose along with taxes to fund the war. In 1967, negative public opinion of the current administrations handling of the war, increased 20%. As the protest movement gained momentum, many people began asking whether the free world forces should even be in Vietnam.
Ironically, in terms of military goals, the US and allied forces were on the up and up. At the beginning of 1968, over 83% of South Vietnam had been pacified. Many of the Viet Cong forces had been pushed away from regional centres and were struggling to even raise food in the local villages. Although the bombing of North Vietnam was not achieving the desired effect, actions on the ground were achieving local success and despite the casualties, were proving to be indicators of a slowing down or even end of the war.
Public optimism in January 1968 was at its highest in over a year with the “Success Offensive”. The “Success Offensive” was a public promotions campaign to halt the widespread public dissent in America. General Westmoreland spearheaded the campaign as he was viewed by the American public as the fighting man’s general. The media were sent report after report of the growing successes and pacification of South Vietnam. All indicators pointed to the slow defeat of the communist threat in South Vietnam.
To a large extent what the reports stated was fundamentally true. The Viet Cong were losing ground and the war was going well, if a little slow. The commanders in North Vietnam had also seen the slow repulses of their southern allies and new that if they could just reach the hearts and minds of the local people in South Vietnam they could very possibly ignite a popular uprising in the South. Certainly, something drastic had to be done or the war in the south would be lost. Planning began mid 1967; supplies, equipment and soldiers marched down the Ho Chi Minh trail in ever growing numbers as the months prior to the Tet Offensive ticked by. Vigorous campaigns along the North Vietnamese border as evidenced in the attacks on Khe Sanh were initiated by the NVA, in order to draw free world forces away from the major cities, which were to be the primary objectives in the coming offensive.
With the goal of a popular uprising in mind, on January 31st, 1968, the communist forces launched the greatest offensive either side had so far witnessed. Over 200,000 communist infantry attacked over 100 cities including Saigon and Hue City and culminating in some of the bloodiest battles of the war. The great offensive finally ended May of 1968 with the final campaign often referred to as “mini-Tet”.
The Tet Offensive was a military disaster for the communist forces. The battle plan was awkward and overly complex. The distribution of so many communist battalions over such a wide theatre of operation ensured that the free world forces would always have superior firepower over the communists, who could not support all attacks at once. Coordinating so many attacks over such a wide area also led to piecemeal attacks which were defeated in detail by the more flexible free world forces. Over 45,000 communist soldiers were killed in the great offensive and during the whole of 1968 over 180,000 communist soldiers were killed in action.
However, an unforeseen political effect of the great offensive in 1968 was the backlash by the media and public opinion in America. After having been told that the communists were incapable of any type of offensive manoeuvres and that the majority of the countryside was pacified, the American public were angry, shocked and confused by the media reports regarding the Tet Offensive and the staggering rise in casualty reports during the many battles over the course of the offensive. The Tet Offensive signalled an end to the war but not as Westmoreland had predicated. The American public no longer believed the war was winnable. The Johnson administration was replaced by the Nixon administration and in 1969 the process of “Vietnamization” was implemented. Vietnamization meant that the US and other free world forces would be slowly withdrawn and the South Vietnamese army (ARVN) would take over the responsibility for defending themselves.
As more and more free world forces were withdrawn from Vietnam the communist forces became more and more emboldened. Communist forces began deploying conventional formations and fighting conventional battles with outstanding results. They completely routed the ARVN in 1971 during operation Lam Son 719 and in 1972 the communists launched a massive attack on South Vietnam in what was known as the Easter Offensive. Tanks, Mechanized infantry and other conventional forces rumbled over the North Vietnamese border, overrunning almost a third of South Vietnam. By the end of 1972 the last 190,000 US ground troops were withdrawn.
In 1973 the Paris Peace Accord was signed which officially ended hostilities between the North and South Vietnam. This agreement also officially ended the US involvement in Vietnam. The peace treaty was a sham and within months of the accord North Vietnam set about upgrading their logistical highways into South Vietnam. Significant work was done rebuilding the Ho Chi Minh trail into a road with fuel dumps, now US bombers were no longer available to blast the trails away. In December 1974, North Vietnam officially attacked South Vietnam again destroying all ARVN opposition and occupying Phuoc Long province. Despite South Vietnam’s overwhelming air and armour superiority, the ARVN were no match for the NVA and the ARVN forces became increasingly demoralised as the North won battle after battle. In March 1975 the final offensive against South Vietnam took place. It started with Operation 275 and the capture of Hue city and ended in the a little over a month later with the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975.
The Vietnam War had lasted 16 long years and the road to victory by the communist forces had not been without horrendous casualties. Over 4 million Vietnamese had become casualties and out of that, over 1 million had lost their lives during the course of the war. The communist forces had been defeated in almost every major engagement with the United States forces and yet somehow managed to achieve their ultimate goal of a united Vietnam under Hanoi.
Some of the more famous battles of the war are:
1950 - Cao Bang
1950 - Lan Song
1950 - Route Coloniale 4
1951 - Vinh Yen
1951 - Hòa Binh
1952 - Phu Yen, Phu Tho, Phu Doan
1953 - Muong Khoua
1954 - Dien Bien Phu
1954 - Mang Yang Pass
1965 - Binh Gia
1965 - Dong Xoai
1965 - Ia Drang
1966 - Xa Cam My
1966 - Duc Co
1966 - Long Tan
1967 - Hill 881
1967 - Dak To
1967 - Mekong Delta
1968 - Khe Sanh
1968 - Saigon
1968 - Hue City
1969 - Hamburger Hill
1969 - Binh Ba
1970 - Firebase Ripcord
1970 - Binh Tay
1971 - Snoul
1971 - Long Khanh
1972 - Quang Tri
1972 - An Loc
1974 - Phuoc Long
1975 - Buon Me Thuot
The war had changed the hearts and minds of the world. The sixties and seventies witnessed some the greatest changes in Western culture due to the “Protest” movement. As a result of media coverage in the Vietnam War, media intervention in war is now a standard medium of news and reporting on current affairs. The ideology of Ho Chi Minh and Mao Zedong has influenced modern free world society in the form of words like political correctness, cultural affirmation, new moral order, new world order and hate speech. Less controversial and certainly more delicious is the spread of Vietnamese cuisine. Over 1.5 million Vietnamese refugees were resettled in America and the rest of the free world during the Vietnam War, thus leading to a change in food culture and a widespread acceptance of some superb Vietnamese cuisine and restaurants.
All in all the Vietnam War had such a profound effect on the West that it would take another 17 years before the free world were prepared to mobilise such a multi-national large scale military action on foreign soil again.
