Vietnam WarHonors Foreign Policy

Timeline

Korea vs. Vietnam

Guerilla Warfare Aim to capture “hearts and minds” of

ordinary citizens and to undermine their confidence in the regime

Long term strategy – Guerillas do not have to inflict complete defeat upon enemy or compel them to surrender

Guerillas need support of people for food, shelter, and information

French Colonization French colonized Vietnam, Laos,

and Cambodia at the end of the 1800s until 1954, with brief period of Japanese rule during WWII

Japanese ruled Vietnam during WWII and exploited its natural resources

Dien Bien Phu March 13th – May 7th, 1954

Battle between French Union troops and North Vietnamese troops in northwestern Vietnam

French forces surrounded and forced to surrender

First Indochina War

Geneva Accords 1954 Granted independence to

Indochina

Divided Vietnam at 17th parallel

Called for internationally supervised free elections to be held in July 1956

Established International Control Commission composed of India, Canada, and Poland

Geneva Accords 1954 450,000 Catholic Vietnamese

moved to South Vietnam; 50,000 communist Vietnamese moved to North Vietnam

Both sides violated the agreement; North Vietnam supported the Vietcong in the South; South Vietnam and the U.S. sent forces to sabotage installations in the north

Vietnam Split

South Vietnam

North Vietnam

Strategic Hamlet The Strategic Hamlet program was an

attempt to isolate rural peasants from contact and infiltration by the Vietminh by creating fortified villages from 1962 - 1964

Several thousand fortified villages were constructed and millions of peasants relocated by the program failed due to corruption and peasant resentment

Strategic Hamlet

Diem’s Buddhist Crisis

Buddhists not allowed to fly religious flags at religious festival

Buddhists staged protests in May in the city of Hue. Diem’s soldiers shot and killed 9 protestors leading to more protests and retributions

Buddhists called for freedom to fly religious flags, end to arbitrary arrests, and religious equality with Catholics

Immolation of Thich Quang Duc

Coup

Gulf of Tonkin Incident

August 2nd, 1964 – The USS Maddox engaged by 3 North Vietnamese Torpedo boats

August 4th, 1964 – The USS Maddox allegedly engaged by North Vietnamese Torpedo boats

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution – Joint resolution passed by Congress on August 7th, 1964

• Wayne Morse D – Oregon

• Ernest Gruening D - Alaska

Problems

U.S. Commits Troops March 1965, L.B.J. sends marines to

Vietnam to protect U.S. air bases. Marines were supposed to perform defensive duties.

By December 1965, nearly 200,000 U.S. troops were in Vietnam performing offensive operations. Their task was to seek and destroy the Vietcong.

Vietnamese Strategy Continue to send supplies to Vietcong

insurgents in South Vietnam via the Ho Chi Minh Trail

Expand Ho Chi Minh Trail and protect key points with antiaircraft weapons

Begin to send large North Vietnamese regular units to the south to help Vietcong

Continue hit and run tactics, avoid conventional battles

U.S. Strategy Bomb military targets in North Vietnam

such as harbor facilities, railroads, and key points on the Ho Chi Minh Trail

Use overwhelming U.S. firepower to seek and destroy enemy

Wear down the morale and war fighting capability of North Vietnam until they asked for peace

Operation Rolling Thunder

Operation Rolling Thunder

Needs of North Vietnamese forces minimal. All forces in South Vietnam needed only 15 tons of supplies a day to carry on the war

China and Soviet Union supplied N. Vietnam with 6000 tons of aid a day

N. Vietnam was only a staging point, it had few factories

By 1967, N. Vietnam had suffered 300 million in damage but the U.S. had lost 700 aircraft

Ho Chi Minh Trail

Tet Offensive Major North Vietnamese offensive on

the Lunar New Year, January 1968

North Vietnamese forces broke a truce and simultaneously attacked U.S. Forces across Vietnam

NVA forces attacked U.S. embassy in Saigon and briefly took over strategic points in Saigon

Battle of Hue NVA forces took over the ancient

capital of Vietnam, Hue, during the Tet Offensive

Hue was one of the few urban battles during the Vietnam War

Casualties – 150 U.S. Marines, over 5000 NVA

North Vietnam Goals

Tet Outcomes

Nixon Doctrine LBJ did not run for reelection, Richard

Nixon was elected as President

Nixon promised he would end the war and bring peace with honor

Promoted the idea of Vietnamization, a slow withdrawal of U.S. forces in conjunction with training and improving the South Vietnam military

Nixon Doctrine Nixon focused on improving relations

with the Soviet Union and China

He hoped the Soviet Union and China would reduce aid to the North Vietnamese

Nixon was the first U.S. President to travel to communist China and meet with Chinese officials

Nixon Policy Nixon gradually reduced U.S. troops in

Vietnam

Approved the secret bombing of Vietnamese positions in Cambodia in 1969, Codenamed Operation menu

Approved Operation Linebacker, a continuous bombing campaign of North Vietnam from May to October of 1972

Cambodia Cambodia was granted independence by

France in November 1953

Government was constitutional monarchy under Prince Norodom

Norodom adopted policy of neutrality during the Vietnam War

North Vietnamese established bases in Cambodia with knowledge of Norodom

Cambodia U.S. Forces secretly bombed and conducted

special forces operations in Cambodia against Vietcong

In 1970, Prince Norodom was ousted by Prime Minister Lon Nol

Khmer Rouge, Cambodian communists with support of North Vietnamese began civil war against Lon Nol’s government forces

U.S. bombed Khmer Rouge bases and briefly invaded country

Paris Peace Accords 27 January 1973 – ceasefire

After ceasefire was in effect U.S. troops and other foreign troops would withdraw

U.S. prisoners of war would be released

Reunification of Vietnam to be carried out by step by step through peaceful means