The Vietnam War
My Lai Massacre
A company of American soldiers brutally killed most of the people—women, children and old men—in the village of My Lai on March 16, 1968. More than 500 people were slaughtered
Why did the US get involved? 2. Domino theory
Americans believed that, if South Vietnam fell, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand - and then Burma and India - would follow. President Johnson said: ""If you let a bully come into your garden, the next day he'll be in your porch, and the day after that he'll rape your wife.""
Why did the US get involved? 1. Containment
China had fallen to communism in 1949, and America had fought in Korea in 1950-53 to contain the spread of communism. The US president, Lyndon B. Johnson, said: ""I am not going to be the president who saw South-East Asia go the way China went.""
How the US got involved
During the Second World War Southeast Asia had been under Japanese control, but in 1945 the French re-occupied Indo-China. A nationalist group, the Vietminh, eventually surrounded and wiped out the French occupying army and America was dragged into fighting a costly and disastrous war in Vietnam.
Why did the US get involved? 3. ARVN's weakness
It was obvious the South Vietnamese could not resist communist infiltration by the Vietcong without help. In 1963, the American commander reported that the ARVN - the South Vietnamese army - were ""ill-equipped local militia who more often than not were killed asleep in their defensive positions."" US advisers believed that good government and an efficient, large-scale war would defeat the Vietcong.
Why did the US get involved? 4. The US was attacked
The North Vietnamese had attacked the USS Maddox in August 1964, and then killed US soldiers in February 1965. Johnson became convinced that action in South Vietnam alone would never win the war: ""We are swatting flies when we should be going after the manure pile.""
The Vietcong's tactics
They fought a guerrilla war, ambushing US patrols, setting booby traps and landmines, and planting bombs in towns. They mingled in with the peasants, wearing ordinary clothes. The Americans couldn't identify who the enemy was. They were supplied with rockets and weapons by China and Russia. They used the Ho Chi Minh Trail - a jungle route through Laos and Cambodia - to supply their armies. The Americans couldn't attack their supply routes without escalating the war. "hanging onto the belts" of the Americans - staying so close to the Americans so they could not use air or artillery backup without killing their own men.
The Americans' tactics
They fought a hi-tech war, using B52 bombers, artillery, helicopters, napalm and defoliants (Agent Orange). This killed many innocent civilians, and failed to stop the Vietcong guerrillas. They forced the peasants to leave Vietcong-controlled areas and made them live in defended strategic hamlets in loyal areas. This created immense opposition, and allowed Vietcong infiltrators into loyal areas. American troops were sent on patrols, then supported by air and artillery when attacked. This demoralised the soldiers, who realised they were being used just as bait. Search and destroy patrols went out looking for "Charlie", as they called the Vietcong. But the patrols were very visible, and easy to ambush. This led to atrocities such as "zippo raids" to burn villages, and the unprovoked massacre of peaceful villagers at My Lai in 1968.
Tet offensive
a coordinated series of North Vietnamese attacks on more than 100 cities and outposts in South Vietnam.
Peace movement in the USA
began in the 1960s in the United States in opposition to U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. Some advocates within this movement advocated a unilateral withdrawal of U.S. forces from South Vietnam.
Ending of the Vietnam War
ended with the fall of the South Vietnam Capital of Saigon to the North Vietnamese army April 30, 1975 . The Vietnam war ended in 1975, a sustained North Vietnamese offensive forced South Vietnamese troops to begin withdrawing from northern provinces; the withdrawal quickly became a disorganized retreat.
Why did the US send troops to Vietnam
first US military personnel arrived in Saigon in 1950 to assist the French in their war against the communist-led Viet Minh nationalists in the north. After independence and partition in 1954, the first US combat troops arrived in 1965 to support the military regime in South Vietnam against a communist-led insurgency supported by North Vietnam.
Vietcong
the Communist guerrilla movement in Vietnam which fought the South Vietnamese government forces 1954-75 with the support of the North Vietnamese army and opposed the South Vietnam and US forces in the Vietnam War
