Causes
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In World War II, Japan occupied Vietnam while it was still under French rule. Ho Chi Minh was inspired by Communist China and Soviet Russia. So he formed the Viet Minh, or League for the Independence of Vietnam, to fight Japanese and French administration. Japan withdrew from Vietnam leaving Emperor Bao Dai- an educated Frenchman- in control. Immediately, Viet Minh forces seized the city of Hanoi and declared a Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV). Treaty negotiations began after the French defeat at the battle of Dien Bien Phu. The treaty at Geneva split Vietnam with Ho Chi Minh in control in the North and Bao Dai in control of the South at the 17th parallel. In 1955, Ngo Dinh Diem, a strong anti- communist pushed Dai out to become president of the Government of the Republic of Vietnam (GVN). Diem’s forces arrested, tortured, and executed Viet Minh sympathizers in the south. In response to this the Viet Cong fought back, engaging in the beginning of the Vietnam War.
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Events
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Opponents of Diem in South Vietnam formed formed the National Liberation Front (NLF) to organize resistance. President John F. Kennedy figured it was a puppet state of Hanoi. He sent American military, economic, and technical aid to fight against the Viet Cong threat. Ngo Dinh Diem and JFK was assassinated in 1963 showing political instability in the South, so new president Lyndon B. Johnson increased U.S. military in Vietnam. Soon the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was passed in which Johnson ordered the bombing of military targets in North Vietnam, codenamed Operation Rolling Thunder. South Korea, Thailand, Australia and New Zealand also committed troops to help fight in South Vietnam. Meanwhile, China and the Soviet Union aided North Vietnam. On January 31, 1968 forces under General Vo Nguyen Giap launched the Tet Offensive, which was a series of attacks on cities and towns in South Vietnam. The goal of the Tet Offensive was to strike the U.S. into giving up hope for success. South Vietnamese forces held back the offensive very well and disabled them from reaching their targets. Even with the fights against the South, Johnson called of the bombing of the North in March. Talks of peace started in May between the U.S. and North Vietnam in Paris. When Richard Nixon becomes president he issues the program of Vietnamization, which slowly withdraws American troops. North Vietnam would not agree to peace unless U.S. completely withdrew their involvement in Vietnam. In the midst of Vietnamization American troops executed many Vietnamese citizens at the My Lai massacre. In spite of international law South Vietnam invaded Laos and U.S. and South Vietnam invaded Cambodia together. North Vietnamese were finally ready to compromise so representatives drew up peace agreements, which the leaders in Saigon rejected. Nixon authorized the Christmas Bombing raids which targeted Hanoi and Haiphong. The U.S. finally reached a final peace agreement in 1973, but North and South Vietnam were still fighting. Communist forces seized Saigon ending the war in 1975 and renamed it Ho Chi Minh City.
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Outcomes
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Opposition in America grew about being involved in the Vietnam war so much that it led to divisions in the US. Vietnam was unified as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Violence still continued in the next 15 year including conflicts with China and Cambodia. With a broad free market policy placed in 1986 Vietnam’s economy began to improve. Many innocent Vietnamese civilians were killed during the war from the Christmas Bombing, the My Lai Massacre, and the Tet Offensive. The chemical herbicide Agent Orange also caused physical damage to Vietnamese civilians and the U.S. army members. America stayed split about the war. Some were very much against it and staged protests. The Vietnam War also showed that America was not invincible.
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