Vietnam War

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On 30th July 1964, the U.S. fabricated an incident in the Gulf of Tonkin. The U.S. launched massive reprisal raids on North Vietnam. This event marked the beginning of the Vietnam War.

After 1965 there was systematic bombing by the United States against North Vietnam where the South American ground troops were operating. Until 1968, the war escalated, although the United States were far superior militarily.

On the side of the liberation movement fought some 230,000 partisans and 50,000 members of the official North Vietnamese forces. There were about 550,000 Americans, about the same number of ARVN soldiers, 50,000 South Koreans and smaller contingents allies (including from Australia and New Zealand).

On 31st January 1968 the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam succeeded in a daring operation, a politically important victory in the Tet Offensive. The Communist guerrillas in South Vietnam took temporarily parts of Saigon and other cities, including the well-secured U.S. Embassy in Saigon.

In the U.S the government could now no longer claim that the conflict was under control. It was obvious that the war could not be won and public opinion swung around in the U.S, not least because of press reports and pictures of war atrocities, massacres and napalm victims. The United States therefore decided in 1969 to withdraw its troops in several steps. The bombing and air raids, particularly the use of defoliants, however, lasted until 1973.

Ho Chi Minh died in September 1969 as the president of North Vietnam. On 27th January 1973 Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho agreed who succeeded Ho Chi Minh and called a truce. Thus the direct war involving the U.S and the supply of arms to South Vietnam ended. The North Vietnamese continued their struggle against South Vietnam.

The People’s Liberation Army achieved continuous success in South Vietnam. On 21st April 1975 there was the fall of Saigon and the Head of State Nguyen Van Thieu resigned. The last remaining representative of the United States were evacuated.

On 30th April they captured Saigon and South Vietnam surrendered unconditionally, thus bringing the Vietnam War to an end.

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