Forum:
Crisis Committee
Issue:
The situation in Vietnam in 1963
Student Officer:
Bryan Oh, Samuela Ma’u, Teresa Chen
Position:
President and Vice Presidents
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Introduction
The Vietnam War was an armed conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia
from the 1st of November 1955 and ended on the 30th of April 1975. Also known as the second
of the Indochina Wars, it was officially fought between North Vietnam and South Vietnam.
North Vietnam was largely supported by communist allies such as the Soviet Union and China,
while South Vietnam was largely supported by anti-communist allies such as the United States.
The war is commonly regarded to be a Cold War-era proxy war.
The Vietnam War eventually ended when the 1975 Spring Offensive led by North
Vietnamese forces captured Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam. This marked the end of the
war, and North and South Vietnam were reunified the following year into the Socialist Republic
of Vietnam. The conflict resulted in over a million casualties, the majority Vietnamese civilians
and military.
This report will discuss a range of topics regarding the conflict including key terminology,
major parties involved, background information, key issues, a timeline of events, previous
attempts as well as potential solutions to address the issue.
Definition of Key Terms
Communism
A political, social, economic, and philosophical ideology and movement, advocating
class war and leading to a society in which all property is publicly owned and each person works
and is paid according to their abilities and needs respectively.
Nationalism
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Identification with and support for one’s nation. As a movement, nationalism typically
promotes the interests of its nation, especially gaining and maintaining national sovereignty over
its homeland to create an independent state.
Strategic bombing
A military strategy that involves a systematically organized and executed attack on
targets vital to the enemy’s war-making capability. Usually done with the intention of destroying
enemies’ morale, economic ability, or both.
Guerilla warfare
A form of warfare where a smaller group of combatants use tactics such as ambushes,
sabotages, hit-and-run attacks, etc., in an effort to avoid direct confrontation and still attack their
enemy.
Insurgency
An armed rebellion against authority waged by small, lightly armed forces who utilize
guerrilla warfare from mainly rural bases.
Vietnamization
The US policy of withdrawing its ground troops in Vietnam and transferring the
responsibility and direction of the war effort to the government of South Vietnam.
Domino Theory
A geopolitical theory assumes that if one country comes under the influence of
communism, then its surrounding countries would follow in a domino effect, or a chain reaction.
This theory was used extensively by the United States administration during the Cold War to
justify the need for American intervention globally.
17th Parallel
The border line established in 1954 that separates the territories of North and South
Vietnam. It ran along the Bến Hải River in Quảng Trị Province to the village of Bo Ho Su and
from there due west of the Laos–Vietnam border. This border eventually ceased to exist with the
reunification of Vietnam in 1976.
Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN)
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The ground army of South Vietnam’s military. It is estimated to have suffered over 1.3
million casualties during the Vietnam War. The ARVN was extensively trained by and closely
affiliated with the United States. Heavily dependent on the US, the ARVN suffered greatly when
the US reduced its aid to South Vietnam following Vietnamization. Limited amounts of fuel,
ammunition, and other military equipment were being sent to supply the ARVN, resulting in
vehicles being immobilized, medics lacking basic supplies, soldiers being sent to battle without
batteries in their radios, and ammunition rationing. It served a dual military-civilian administrative
purpose and additionally suffered from issues of political loyalty appointments, corruption in
leadership, factional infighting, and open internal conflict. The ARVN was dissolved after the Fall
of Saigon to the North Vietnamese Army in 1975.
North Vietnamese People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN)
The military army of North Vietnam. Commands the Viet Cong. In addition to carrying
weaponry captured from French and Japanese forces in the earlier Indochina war, more aid was
supplied by communist allies the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China. Their fierce
loyalty to their leadership and vast knowledge in Guerilla tactics and jungle warfare gave them a
superior edge over US and South Vietnam forces. After the full U.S withdrawal from the Vietnam
War in 1973, the PAVN quickly secured victory over the ARVN in 1975 and reunifying Vietnam
under communist rule.
Viet Cong
An armed communist revolutionary force established by North Vietnam and based in
South Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. It fought under the direction of North Vietnam, against
South Vietnam and its anti-communist allies. Largely a guerilla and insurgent force.
Tet Offensive
One of the largest military campaigns of the Vietnam War. The Tet Offensive was a
series of attacks spearheaded by the PAVN and Viet Cong in January 1968 against the South
Vietnamese ARVN. More than 80,000 troops from the North Vietnamese force attacked more
than 100 towns and cities, including 36 of the 44 provincial capitals and 5 of the 6 autonomous
cities. Though a military defeat for North Vietnam, the offensive greatly affected the American
public’s view on the war, who were shocked by the number of casualties North Vietnam had
inflicted. They had originally been led to believe by its government that the North Vietnamese
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were being defeated and incapable of launching such an ambitious military operation.
Subsequently, the American public support for the war declined.
My Lai Massacre
The mass murder of South Vietnamese civilian villagers by United States forces in South
Vietnam, March 1968. An estimated 347 to 504 unarmed people were killed and raped by
soldiers of the U.S Army. Victims included men, women, children, and infants. The incident
prompted global outrage when it reached the public in November of that year and heavily
contributed to domestic opposition to the US involvement in the Vietnam War.
History
The Vietnam War was nothing short of a proxy war between the US and the USSR. To
understand the fallout of this civil-turned-proxy war, delegates should understand Vietnam’s
colonial history. Vietnam was one of the many French colonies in Southeast Asia, formally
known as Indochina. The French had ruled the Viet people with an iron fist, and with the end of
World War II, many colonies around the world fought for freedom from their European rulers.
Vietnam, now a youthful nation birthed from the ashes of a freedom rebellion, was ground zero
for the US and USSR to instill influence on all levels. Ho Chi Minh, a prominent member of the
freedom rebellion, believed that the best way for Vietnam to continue was to follow guidance
from the USSR and become a communist state. The US, however, feared that losing another
Asian nation to the Soviets would be detrimental to the development of global democracy.
Just like the Korean War that preceded it, the Vietnam War was started on the basis of
“containment theory”. This was the justification President John F. Kennedy used to convince
Congress to authorize the use of military support in American-backed militias in South Vietnam.
The USSR followed suit and deployed its own military support to Ho Chi Minh and his troops in
the North. In the process of military deployment and artillery usage, both the US and USSR
were responsible for the deployment of over three million land mines. These mines were
deployed randomly and in crowds, covering large swaths of land in Vietnam, Cambodia, and
Laos. Both sides utilized child labor and employed underage soldiers.
The Vietnam War was, by far, one of the worst moments in US foreign policy up to that
point. The US was responsible for many atrocities, including the devasting My Lai Massacre
which witnessed young soldiers killing women and children in the My Lai village. Agent Orange,
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also utilized by the US, killed millions of Viet and Laotian people in the form of the gas bombs
dropped on villages. Additionally, the gas harmed military personnel, a discovery uncovered in a
declassified Veterans Affairs report in 1990.
The Vietnam War was but another bloody proxy war in the midst of a larger Cold War
between the US and USSR. However, the events and developments of this war displayed the
lengths both sides go to in implementing their view of justice and prosperity in the world.
Key Issues
Backdrop of the Cold War
The Vietnam War is widely recognized as one of the bloodiest proxy battlegrounds of the
Cold War, an epoch of international struggle between the geopolitical West, which was largely
capitalist and democratic, and the geopolitical East, which was largely communist and
dictatorial. Most notably, the US policy of democratic intervention had been taken a step further
in years immediately before the War. Whereas the earlier doctrine of containment encouraged
the US to send any form of aid to new democracies under the threat of nearby communist
states, the Eisenhower Administration would introduce the infamous ‘Domino Theory’,
explaining that a communist victory in any Asian country would inevitably lead to communist
victories in neighboring countries as well, and that communism must be stifled at any cost. On
the other side of the Parallel, the USSR’s interest in the War would be renewed after tensions
stabilized in Europe and Moscow’s attention could finally be shifted towards Asia.
American Brutality
The Vietnam War observed the routine and systematic use of unprecedented violence on the
part of American troops. Following important turning points in the War such as Tet Offensive,
US military leaders understood they had drastically underestimated the caliber of Viet Cong
guerilla warfare and waged total war. Two prominent examples of this include the use of Agent
Orange and the My Lai Massacre. First, in response to guerilla tactics employed by the Viet
Cong in dense forest regions, US troops administered an herbicide to clear down trees and
shrubbery—this herbicide was called Agent Orange. Agent Orange would not only expose
combatants and civilians to lifelong, often fatal health conditions, but it would also have lasting
impacts on Vietnamese environment that threaten public health to this day. Even though the US
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has successfully insisted that Agent Orange was only an herbicide and never intended as a
biological weapon, historians still describe Agent Orange as a sinister chemical responsible for
large-scale destruction. Secondly, in its pursuit of total warfare, US military leadership identified
numerous trouble areas across the country, regions thought to be infested by Viet Cong troops.
Soldiers were then sent to these areas and commanded to view all civilians, anyone who ran or
hid from the American soldiers, as the enemy. One of these areas was the village of My Lai, in
which a population of civilians was tortured, mutilated, raped, and slaughtered at the hands of
US troops. The My Lai Massacre was but one instance in the US’s legacy of brutality and
overkill in Vietnam, a legacy which trod on international law and traumatized an entire country,
yet went mostly excused by American courts.
The “Buddhist Crisis” and Oppression of Religious Minorities
The Buddhist Crisis in South Vietnam under President Diem’s government was representative
of a larger crisis of confidence in Diem’s leadership. After his succession of Emperor Bao Dai,
Diem’s overtly preferential treatment of and attitudes toward Catholics, who existed in minority
in the South, called upon Buddhists in the country to question his ability to govern fairly. This
inspired a series of civil protests. However, after May of 1963, when a group of protestors was
killed by government officials, popular distrust took a turn for the worse. The Diem government
had inspired a Buddhist Crisis, during which Buddhist monks would commit public suicide as a
demonstration of sacrifice. This Crisis would be a chief motivation of the US-backed military
coup in late 1963 that ultimately overthrew and killed President Diem.
Impacts on and Sovereignty of Neighboring States
The War’s spillover effects on immediate neighbors of Vietnam were largely twofold.
Firstly, displacement of citizens as a lasting impact of the First Indochina War that would only
worsen during Vietnam’s division and the Vietnam War created a diaspora of Vietnamese
civilians to neighboring countries. This posed a resource strain on neighboring refugee camps in
Thailand, Malaysia, and the Philippines. After American withdrawal and a de facto end to the
violence in 1975, the issue of displacement only worsened as citizens of a defeated South
Vietnam scrambled to escape the brutal ‘reeducation’ programs enforced by the Northern
government, leading to over 3 million civilians total displaced after the fact. This mass exodus of
citizens was mirrored in neighboring countries like Laos and Cambodia, which were affected by
airstrikes. The overflow of refugees, often called the Vietnamese boat people, in the South East
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Asian region, especially on the doorstep of maritime SEA countries, resulted in the neglect and
abuse of thousands, if not millions.
Secondly, given Vietnam’s generous borders with Cambodia and Laos, the two latter
countries were often victims of airborne offensives and uncontained violence. More notably,
both countries later became direct targets of the American military campaign as well. Laos
allowed the transport of North Vietnamese troops through its land and had the North
Vietnamese back domestic communist insurgencies, alarming the Americans and motivating
them to conduct airstrikes on Laos as well. These strikes were as frequent as once every eight
minutes, and following the War, Laos had become the most bombed country internationally at
the hands of the US. Similarly, Cambodia had also allowed Northern troops to pass through,
later falling victim to air offensives as well. Unexploded bombs left by the US continue to kill
Laotian and Cambodian citizens to this day. Although both countries—who would later both
become members of ASEAN, an association known for its stance against military intervention—
expressly hoped to remain neutral, the line between intervention and self-defense was
becoming increasingly blurred for civilians and observers. Additionally, historians suggest
American violence during the War to be a major explanation for both Laos’s and Cambodia’s
pivot to communism in years shortly after.
Major Parties Involved
Although the Vietnam War is popularly labeled a proxy conflict in the treacherous Cold
War, the agency and roles of domestic actors in the incitement of the conflict cannot be
understated. The reasons for domestic parties’ popular support can be in part traced back to a
history of colonialism and encroachment suffered by the Vietnamese. On the other hand, the
incentives of international actors are consistent with a global ideological rift at the time created
by the Cold War—these interventionist countries’ motivations can often clash with and tread on
those of North and South Vietnam, shaping cooperation and party dynamics during the War.
Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam)
The North Vietnamese delegation in the War can be best characterized by its history of
struggle against an oppressive elite. Having waged and won their battle against the colonist
French, who later took refuge in the South Vietnamese government, as well as having survived
Japanese occupation decades earlier, the Workers’ Party of Vietnam (also known as the
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Vietnamese Communist Party) led the Democratic Republic in a model of Chinese- and Sovietinfluenced communism. Post French rule, the Geneva Accords of 1954 divided Vietnam into
North and South across the 17th Parallel, separating the two via a demilitarized zone (DMZ)—
this was an attempt to calm residual militaristic tensions between Ho Chi Minh’s new republic
and the French in the South, and a nationwide election was planned in 1956 to unify Vietnam
once more. However, a communist regime in the North was perceived as a threat by the
democratic West, and despite the border being demilitarized, America’s military presence in the
South as well as covert support for South Vietnam from a slew of other Western countries
meant that the Vietnamese political climate remained both contentious and precarious. Because
of this, the North continued the training and use of Viet Cong troops and allowed the Viet Minh,
a revolutionary coalition formed by Ho Chi Minh, to maintain undercover political agendas and
propaganda in the South, which exploited the distrust that civilians of the South had for their
new democracy. It is also worth noting that anti-colonialism and anti-West sentiment
underpinned a lot of Northern criticism of the South, who was deemed far too friendly with the
French and a near-accomplice in the country’s colonial history.
Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam)
During the First Indochina War and after the division of Vietnam by the Geneva Accords,
South Vietnam was known to be far more French-sympathetic than its Northern counterpart,
possibly a reason for its government to assume a more Western-aligned, democratic model of
rule. Fresh in the wake of the division, South Vietnam’s nominal leader was Emperor Bao Dai,
known generally as a hedonist who handed off governance to his fellow appointees. A year later
in 1955, Ngo Dinh Diem, prominent and Western-allied Premier of South Vietnam at the time,
held a national referendum that would result in his victory over Bao Dai as the new president of
the Republic. He accomplished this through ample cooperation with American military advisors
stationed in South Vietnam and correspondence with DC. Despite being met with fervent
skepticism from civilians and opposition from both militaristic religious sects and rogue members
of his own army, Diem was largely able to silence any who opposed him with the resources and
aid of the US, who had also helped to reconstruct the Republic’s economy and resettle Northern
refugees. Even then, insurgencies led by Southern Buddhists, discord among civilians in
response to Diem’s highly authoritarian and nepotistic governance, as well as the imminent
threat of military overthrow from factions of the South Vietnam army would return with a
vengeance later into Diem’s presidency, shaking American confidence in him.
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The United States of America (USA) and its Allies
The US’s involvement in Southeast Asia as part of its democratic mission began far
before Vietnam, but US participation in the War was arguably one of the most scarring and
pivotal interventions in all of American history. US-Vietnam cooperation began with President
Eisenhower, who constructed and started American assistance programs in the form of diverse
aid and expatriating military expertise to Vietnam. A notable example of this was also the
Saigon Military Mission, an operation that both waged psychological warfare on North Vietnam
and dispatched paramilitary units into South Vietnam. American aid also sought to fortify and
restructure the South Vietnamese military, at the time rife with dissidence, as well as safeguard
President Diem’s authority. Although much of this support remained covert, into President
Kennedy’s administration in the early 1960s, the North’s escalation of armed struggles and
insurgencies against the Southern government would prompt the US to increase its aid. It was
not until the Gulf of Tonkin Incident in 1964, however, that the US began to engage more
directly, calling for retaliation in the form of air strikes after two US-backed, South Vietnamese
patrol boats were allegedly attacked. Past this point, the US adopted a strategy of total warfare,
and each time US troops were outsmarted by the Viet Cong’s guerilla tactics, they adapted
creatively and brutally, resulting in the violent legacy of war crimes and civilian casualty the US
built for itself in Vietnam. Not only did this invite mounting distrust from South Vietnamese
citizens, but news of American abuse inspired protest and civil discord in the US as well.
People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Soviet Union (USSR)
Chinese and Soviet support for the North Vietnamese constituted the two most
substantial pipelines of aid by far. While the two intervening states were never fully transparent
about the extent of material and aid they provided, they were largely recognized as Ho Chi
Minh’s two most important military allies; the torpedoes that had purportedly attacked US patrol
ships during the Gulf of Tonkin Incident were even of Soviet build. The Chinese communists
began cooperation with the Viet Minh and the Vietnamese Communist Party long before the
War, as they supported each other through national liberation struggles, of which China’s had
finally ended victoriously in 1949. Chinese participation in the War remained tepid until the Gulf
Incident, after which the Chinese greatly increased construction and military equipment sent to
North Vietnam, beginning finally to send troops in large numbers towards the late 1960s.
Chinese communists also exerted much stronger ideological influence on Ho Chi Minh’s
government as well, which would go on to reference ‘Mao Zedong thought’ as a founding
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doctrine of their leadership. On the other hand, the USSR was largely distanced until the mid1960s, due partially to Stalin’s own distrust for Asian communist groups up until the 1950s.
Despite this, towards late 1968, the USSR supplied exponentially more troops following a
renewed interest in a communist Southeast Asia. As Soviet-Chinese relations had soured in the
years prior and turned competitive against the backdrop of a war-torn Vietnam, North Vietnam
was quickly given an ultimatum between military partnership with the USSR and the Chinese, a
decision that would cause the Soviets to ramp up aid and the Chinese to largely withdraw.
Timeline of Relevant Resolutions, Treaties, and Events
Date
Description of Event
October 1887
French colonists establish French Indochina, known later as the
Indochinese Union or the Indochinese Federation, an expansive
territory in mainland Southeast Asia as part of the French colonial
empire. This territory would also include modern-day Cambodia
and Laos.
1923 - 1925
Vietnamese nationalist Ho Chi Minh, later president of North
Vietnam, completes training with the USSR to become an agent of
Communist International (Comintern), a Soviet-backed
organization supporting world communism.
February 1930
Ho Chi Minh founds the Indochinese Communist Party, the
predecessor of the Workers’ Party of Vietnam (also known as the
Communist Party of Vietnam).
September 1940
During the height of WWII, Japanese troops successfully invade
and occupy regions of French Indochina.
May 1941
In response to the Japanese forces’ presence in addition to
French colonial rule, Ho Chi Minh and his colleagues created the
League for the Independence of Vietnam as a body of resistance.
It would also be called the Viet Minh Front.
August 1945
The Allies defeat the Japanese in WWII. The French begin to
renew their colonial hold over Vietnam after a successful coup led
by Ho Chi Minh years earlier. The French suggest a power-
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sharing agreement under which the Vietnamese would have
limited sovereignty.
1946
Ho Chi Minh rejects the agreement and wages guerilla warfare
against the ruling French. Here begins the First Indochina War.
January 1950
The USSR and newly communist China formally recognize the
communist Democratic Republic of Vietnam under the leadership
of Ho Chi Minh and begin aiding efforts to oust the French.
March – May 1954
The Viet Minh humiliate French forces in the Battle of Dien Bien
Phu, successfully ending French rule in Vietnam.
April 1954
Having already identified the Viet Minh and the Democratic
Republic as communist threats, US President Eisenhower
suggests Domino Theory.
July 1954
The Geneva Accords divide North and South Vietnam across the
17th Parallel. The Democratic Republic of Vietnam would control
the North, and the State of Vietnam, then led by French-appointed
Emperor Bao Dai, would control the South.
1955
Ngo Dinh Diem would emerge as the new leader in the South after
a rigged referendum ousting Bao Dai.
May 1959
The North Vietnamese begin constructing the Ho Chi Minh Trail, a
route through Laos and Cambodia that would enable guerilla
attacks on the Southern government.
December 1960
With North Vietnamese support, the National Liberation Front is
formed in the South with a goal of anti-government insurgency.
The military wing of the Front is named the Viet Cong by the US.
January 1962
US troops begin administering Agent Orange in response to Viet
Cong guerilla tactics. This would endanger public health and
poison the natural environment for decades to come.
January 1963
During the Battle of Ap Bac, the Viet Cong’s unexpected victory
signifies to the American forces the North’s edge in combat,
despite the South’s advantage in both manpower and traditional
military expertise. This constitutes a major tipping point for US
military strategy in the War.
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May 1963
The Southern government opens fire at a group of Buddhist
protestors. This massacre marks the beginning of the ‘Buddhist
Crisis’.
November 1963
The US backs an armed uprising against Diem, killing Diem and
his brother.
August 1964
US ships in the Gulf of Tonkin are allegedly attacked by North
Vietnamese torpedoes. This event is later dubbed the Gulf of
Tonkin Incident, inspiring the US Congress to pass the Gulf of
Tonkin Resolution, which permitted more intensive intervention.
April 1967
Anti-War protests in America, especially at key government
buildings across major cities and the Pentagon, are increasing in
frequency.
January 1968
The infamously bloody Tet Offensive led by the North Vietnamese
in the South begins. American losses were especially devastating,
and in light of rampant protests back home, the US begins
gradually withdrawing units.
March 1968
The My Lai Massacre and the hundreds of civilian casualties
resulting from it demonstrate the brutality of later American
operations and search-and-destroy tactics.
1969 - 1972
US President Nixon begins Vietnamization, during which
American troops and aid would be gradually withdrawn from the
ground and the responsibility of the War would be shifted onto the
state of South Vietnam.
January 1973
Nixon signs the Paris Peace Accords, formally ending American
participation in the War after the period of occasional offensives.
April – June 1975
Saigon, the Southern capital, falls. Vietnam enters communist
rule.
Previous Attempts to Solve the Issue
Vietnam has been in a state of division ever since the North ended French colonial rule in
French Indochina. The Indochina Wars of the 1940s and ‘50s saw the signing of the July 1954
Geneva Accords which established a communist North, led by Ho Chi Minh’s nationalist Viet
Minh, and the South, led by former Vietnamese emperor, Bao Dai. After this first attempt by the
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Geneva Accords to restore peace, the situation would ultimately evolve as the US and USSR
would take the place of the previous imperial powers.
As both sides sought to secure control over their states, both the South and North made efforts
to destabilize the other. The North initiated a policy of terrorism and assassination of
government officials, while the South ran a program of corruption and propaganda. By the
spring of 1959, armed groups of Viet Cong would occasionally attack South Vietnamese army
units in regular firefights. With this perceived weakness, the Central Committee of the
Vietnamese Communist Party passed a resolution to use force to overthrow the Republic of
Vietnam. Southerners trained in the North soon infiltrated the South and began a new war as
insurgents.
By 1960, it was apparent that the South Vietnamese could not deal with the insurgency. The
United States had already been aiding the South Vietnamese with arms and advisors, but the
US decided then to send in troops, mainly out of fear of the Domino Theory. The conflict thus
deepened and it was not until 1968 that another attempt at de-escalation began.
By 1968, the war had been going on for nearly a decade and was fervently unpopular with the
American public. The first attempt in years to resolve the war came when President Lyndon B.
Johnson was persuaded to limit sending any more American troops to Vietnam and to gesture
for peace. On March 31st, Johnson announced that he would halt the bombing of North Vietnam
and that he was willing to send representatives to negotiate a peace. The talks dragged out,
however, and after a while of negotiations stalling, the newly elected President Nixon secretly
allowed the bombings to continue. As the War persisted, American approval continued to
deteriorate. With increasing pressures from the public and recent successes by the South
Vietnamese in the Tet Offensive, the US started a general withdrawal of its troops from
Vietnam.
By March 30, 1972, the Viet Cong had launched a series of offensives against the US and
Cambodia in the region. With this new display of hostility, the US took military actions against
the Viet Cong and stopped their advance dead. With the offensive stalled, Hanoi leaders agreed
on a secret peace by the end of 1972. By January 27, 1973, representatives of both the North
and South Vietnamese governments met in Paris and signed the Agreement on Ending the War
and Restoring Peace in Vietnam.
Compared with most conflicts in the Cold War, the Vietnam War had drawn a lot of attention
from the international community. The sheer brutality and scope of the War called for much
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more effort to restore peace in comparison to other wars of the time. The War in Vietnam
required several attempts at peaceful resolution, and there was no shortage of failed militaristic
attempts as well. Both sides would initiate many incursions against the other after deadlocks in
negotiations, only to have the situation come to a military stalemate. The War only fully
concluded when the Viet Cong had conquered Vietnam by force, although the following period
of peace was nothing short of strained and precarious.
Possible Solutions
In situations like these, it seems impossible to facilitate any long-term solution to such a
contentious issue. However, some small steps can effect big changes in the War.
1) In one aspect, the US and USSR could come to terms to ban military involvement in the
War. By doing so, they would agree to retreat all military forces and take back artillery
brought over by each respective party. Instead of military involvement, they could be
allowed to use economic incentives. This could be similarly modeled after the Marshall
Economic Plan used at the end of World War II in Europe.
2) Similar to the Korean War, South and North Vietnam could function as two separate
nations with a DMZ issued at an agreeable latitude. Although tensions would still be high
in the region, the bloodshed would most likely end and the Viet people would be able to
live peacefully (or just at war).
3) Though risky and reserved for the most daring of delegates, assassinating the Viet
military cabinet on either side would eventually destabilize their respective standing. This
would allow the opposing side to move in and instill their government for all of Vietnam.
Though this solution is not recommended, it would be the ideal solution for both the US
and USSR. Use this solution with caution, as your actions could lead to some
unforeseeable consequences. However, this is the ultimate solution for both Americans
and Soviets.
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