The Vietnam War
English Kopetzki
Selina Leili
Contents
1. The country
1.1. Geography and religion
1.2. Political situation today
I. Historical background
II.I Ancient Vietnam
II.II French Colonialism
II.III Modern Vietnam
II. The role of the USA
III.I The U.S. role under Kennedy
III.II The Gulf of Tonkin
III. The war
IV. The end of the war
V. Conclusion
1
The Vietnam War
English Kopetzki
Selina Leili
I. The Country
I.I Geography and religion
The Socialist Republic of Vietnam is stretched along
the eastern coast of the Indochinese Peninsula.
Vietnam has a border with China in the North and
Laos and Cambodia in the West. The country lies next
to the South China Sea and the Gulf of Tonkin.
http://www.operationworld.org/files/ow/maps/lgmap/viet-MMAP-md.png retrieved: 25.12.2015
Vietnam has a population of 92.5 million people (July 2014)1 and it ranks number 14 in the
list of countries by population2. The main language is Vietnamese. The second language is
English and some people speak French. The capital city of Vietnam is Hanoi and the largest
city is the former capital of the country, Ho Chi Minh City3.
Vietnam’s communist regime has declared the country to be atheist. However, most
Vietnamese are Buddhist. Other religions in Vietnam are Catholicism, Protestantism, Islam,
Hao Hao and Cao Dai4.
Anmerkung: Theravada ist eine Richtung im Buddhismus.
I.II Political situation today
The human rights situation in Vietnam has been worsening since 2013. A severe and
intensifying crackdown on critics, in which long prison terms for peaceful activists who cried
for change marked the past year5.
1
http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/vietnam-population/ 25.12.2015
http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/vietnam-population/ 25.12.2015
3
http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/vietnam.htm 25.12.2015
4
https://www.insideasiatours.com/insidevietnam/vietnamese-culture/religion/ 25.12.2015
5
https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2014/country-chapters/vietnam 25.12.2015
2
2
The Vietnam War
English Kopetzki
Selina Leili
Anmerkung: A change from what?
Since July 2011, Truong Tan Sang has been president of the country. The real power,
however, is held by the Communist Party under its leader Nguyen Phu Trong. He was elected
as Vietnam faced economic problems including a growing trade deficit and a weakening
currency.
The prime minister is Nguyen Tan Dung, who was first elected in 2006 and was re-elected in
July 20116.
I. Historical background
II.I Ancient Vietnam
About 2000 years ago, people began to grow rice in the Red River Valley in northern
Vietnam. They built levees and dug canals and so they were forced to work together. These
people built up an organized kingdom called Van Lang.
Anmerkung: Der Deich heißt “levee”. “dyke” ist ein Schimpfwort für eine lesbische Frau.
In the 2nd century BC, the Chinese conquered this area. They ruled northern Vietnam for more
than 1000 years and so the Chinese had a great impact on the Vietnamese culture.
From the 1st century to the 6th century AD, southern Vietnam was influenced by India,
because a big part of southern Vietnam was part of an Indian state called Funan. In the 2 nd
century AD, middle Vietnam was part of an Indian state called Champa.
In 40 AD, North Vietnam cried for an independent state. The Trung sisters started a rebellion
and formed an independent state, but for a long period of time, the Chinese were stronger.
Then, finally, in the first battle of Bach Dang River in 938 AD, a leader named Ngo Quyen
defeated the Chinese and North Vietnam became independent.
6
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-16567315 25.12.2015
3
The Vietnam War
English Kopetzki
Selina Leili
The Mongols invaded the capital in 1257 and in 1284 but each time they withdrew soon. In
1288, Vietnamese leader Tran Hung Dao defeated the Mongols at the second battle of Bach
Dang River.
In 1407, China invaded North Vietnam again. In 1418 the Lam Son Uprising, led by Le Loi,
began. In 1428, North Vietnam became independent and Le Loi became the new Emperor,
adopting the name Le Thai To. Under this new Emperor, the Vietnamese state Champa
became a vassal state of North Vietnam.
In the 17th and 18th century two rival families took over the power, the Nguyen family ruling
the south and the Trinh family the north.
In 1770, a rebellion led by the three Nguyen brothers began in a town named Tay Son. They
gradually took over big parts of the country and by 1786 they were in control of the whole of
Vietnam. One brother named Nguyen Hue named himself Quang Trung and became an
Emperor. In 1788, the Chinese tried to take over the country again but the Vietnamese beat
them at the city Dong Da.
A Nguyen Lord named Nguyen Anh raised an army and pushed back the rebels in 1789 and
made himself Emperor Gia Long. Because of him, Vietnam became a strong united kingdom.
Portuguese missionaries reached Vietnam in 1516, bringing the Roman Catholic Church to
the country7.
II.II French colonialism
The decision to conquer Vietnam was made by Napoleon III in July 1857. His intentions were
not so much Christian, but rather finding new trade routes. In September 1858, the French
invaded the harbor and city of Tourane and turned the place into a French military base.
Meanwhile the naval commander in East Asia, Rigault de Genouilly invaded the city of
Saigon.
The Vietnamese resistance prevented the French from invading the provinces in the south of
Saigon until 1861, when French troops invaded the three adjacent areas. The peace treaty in
7
http://www.localhistories.org/viethist.html 30.12.2015
4
The Vietnam War
English Kopetzki
Selina Leili
1862 gave the power in the invaded territories to the French. But after five years, more
territories were conquered by the French and the whole colony was called Cochinchina.
Anmerkung: Das Gebiet hieß “Cochinchina”, nicht “Cochinchina”.
After eight years, the French became masters of Cochinchina and after 16 years they had
power over the rest of the country. In August 1883, the Vietnamese court signed a treaty
which turned northern Vietnam and central Vietnam into French protectorates. Ten years later
they added Laos to the Indochinese Union. It consisted of Chochinchina, Laos, Annam,
Tonkin and Cambodia.
The French wanted to impose a Western-style administration and open economic exploration
on the Vietnamese. French rule was imposed directly at all levels of administration under
Governor General Paul Doumer, who arrived in 1879. This left the Vietnamese bureaucracy
without any real power and so even the Vietnamese emperors were replaced by emperors who
followed the French administration. All important positions were staffed with people who
followed the French idea of administration, even in the 1960s, after several periods of reforms
and concessions for more power for the Vietnamese, only low positions in the bureaucracy
were staffed by the Vietnamese8.
Doumer wanted a rapid and systematic exploitation of Indochina’s potential wealth for the
benefit of France. The aim wasn’t a systematic economic development of the country, but
rather maximum profit for the investors. Only a small part of the profit was reinvested in the
colony9. With that the wish for independence for Vietnam increased and consequently the
Vietnamese Communist party was founded.
When the Germans defeated France in 1940, the Japanese forced the French government to
allow Japanese troops to occupy Indo-China but they left the French administration in place.
The Vietnamese Communists were against Japan and in 1945 they controlled parts of North
Vietnam. The Japanese controlled the administration in 1945 but as they capitulated, they left
Vietnam without any administration. The communist Ho Chi Minh, who belonged to the Viet
Minh, a national independence coalition, called for an uprising called the August Revolution
and with this revolution he was able to declare the independence of Vietnam on September 2,
1945.
8
9
http://www.britannica.com/place/Vietnam/Effects-of-French-colonial-rule
http://www.localhistories.org/viethist.html 01.01.2016
5
The Vietnam War
English Kopetzki
Selina Leili
But the great powers ignored that declaration of independence and with the Potsdam
Conference the Japanese troops south of the 16th parallel surrendered to the British and those
in the north surrendered to the Nationalist Chinese. But the French army soon wanted to take
control of the British. So Ho Chi Minh signed a treaty which demanded that French troops
replace the Chinese troops for five years under the condition that they accept Vietnam as a
free state. But soon it was clear that they had no intention of leaving any power to the
Vietnamese so a fight broke out between the French and the Viet Minh.
Anmerkung: Hier fängt der Text an, interessant zu werden, weil das jetzt zum Thema gehört.
The Viet Minh fought an eight-year war against the French and when it became clear that the
French could not win this war, the warring parties met at a conference in Geneva to end the
war. They agreed that Vietnam would be temporarily divided by the 17th parallel and that
elections would be held on 20th July 1956. But these elections were never took place and so
the division became permanent.
II.III Modern Vietnam
In the north of Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh introduced a Communist regime, while Ngo Dinh
Diem became ruler in the South. But in the 1960s, demonstrations were held and in 1963
Diem was displaced in a coup.
Meanwhile in 1959, the North Vietnamese started a war to reunite Vietnam under Communist
rule. The northern Guerrillas were called the Vietcong. This long-lasting war is well known
today by the name “Vietnam War”10.
II. The role of the USA
III.I The U.S. role under Kennedy
The leaders in the U.S. capital, Washington D.C., were very impressed by the success of Ngo
Dinh Diem. They started to support South Vietnam in a financial way and also in a military
way. The American military and police helped train Diem’s army. But despite its American
10
http://www.localhistories.org/viethist.html 01.01.2016
6
The Vietnam War
English Kopetzki
Selina Leili
training and its American weapons, the Army of the Republic of Vietnam still had
disadvantages. For example they relied on roads because of their heavy weapons and so the
Viet Cong had its advantages in the swamps and jungles11.
By the middle of 1960 it was clear that the South Vietnamese army and security forces were
unable to handle the attacks of the Viet Cong. After four regimental headquarters of the Army
of the Republic of Vietnam were attacked in January 1960, the U.S. started planning for
increased aid for Diem. They also wanted to convince Diem to reorganize his government but
to no avail.
The new U.S. administration under President John F. Kennedy saw the Viet Cong’s struggles
against Diem as an example of the Chinese and Soviet way of encouraging wars of national
liberation in newly independent nations in Asia and Africa. They also saw it as a chance to
test the United States’ ability to react to a “counterinsurgency” against communist subversion
and guerilla warfare. A successful effort in Vietnam would prove U.S. determination to meet
the challenge of communist expansion in Third World countries. In his words a successful
effort is the “cornerstone of a free world in Southeast Asia”12.
Anmerkung: Hier fehlt das Stichwort “Containment”, also die amerikanische Politik, die
Ausbreitung des Kommunismus zu verhindern..
Kennedy seemed to need success as military setbacks to the Army of the Republic of Vietnam
continued and as the rate of infiltration from the North increased. By 1962, 12.900 communist
cadres infiltrated from the North, half of them were natives from South Vietnam who were
regrouped in the North and the other half were Communist Party members that were
experienced leaders who gave a frame around which the People’s Liberation Armed Forces
could be organized. But most of the weapons of the People’s Liberation Armed Forces
actually came from the USA. Either they were captured from Saigon’s armed forces or sold
by Diem’s corrupt officers.
As the situation continued to worsen, Kennedy sent two key advisers, former army chief of
staff Maxwell Taylor and economist Walt W. Rostow to Vietnam to assess the situation. They
concluded that the South Vietnamese were losing the war against the Viet Cong because of
11
12
http://www.britannica.com/event/Vietnam-War/The-Diem-regime-and-the-Viet-Cong 04.01.2016
http://www.britannica.com/event/Vietnam-War/The-US-role-grows 03.01.2016
7
The Vietnam War
English Kopetzki
Selina Leili
their expanded program of military assistance. They also had the idea to send numbered U.S.
combat forces.
Kennedy saw no exit from Vietnam but he was reluctant of sending U.S combat troops to a
Southeast-Asian war. Instead he decided to carry out a program of aid and guidance. The
number of troops in Vietnam rose from less than 800 in the 1950s to more than 9000 in
196213.
Encouraged by the new American weapons and the aggressive American advisers, the South
Vietnamese launched an offensive against the Viet Cong. Meanwhile the Diem government
attempted a new security program called the Strategic Hamlet Program, whose aim was to
bring the rural population into more defensible areas so they could be better protected from
the Viet Cong. But the problem was that it was hard to separate which people had to be
protected and which had to be excluded and so they soon had many Viet Cong advisers in
their own ranks.
Anmerkung: Ich find es immer noch viel zu ausführlich und verwirrend. Die Armee von
Südvietnam solltest du abkürzen als Army of the Republic of Viet Nam (ARVN).
At the same time, the Viet Cong learned to manage the new array of American weapons of the
Army of the Republic of Vietnam. They now had helicopters but the Viet Cong were better
trained and so the Viet Cong army was a stronger army than it had been in 1950. At this time
some aggressive American newsmen started to report about deficits of the U.S. advisors and
the support programs in Vietnam. But the administration in Saigon maintained that the U.S.
program was turning out successful. The U.S. Military Assistance Command Vietnam
commander Paul Harkins and the U.S. ambassador Frederick Nolting ensured Washington
that everything was going well.
In the summer of 1963 the ability of the Diem government to continue the war was uncertain.
Because of the behavior of the Diem family, they were involved in dispute with the Buddhist
leadership. Strikes and demonstrations of Buddhists in Hue and Saigon were met with
violence by the army of Diem’s brother Nhu.
13
http://www.britannica.com/event/Vietnam-War/The-US-role-grows 04.01.2016
8
The Vietnam War
English Kopetzki
Selina Leili
Anmerkung: Der Krieg hat noch immer nicht angefangen, wir sind aber schon auf Seite 9
von 14. Der Krieg fängt erst 1965 an (Gulf of Tonkin resolution). Der Titel Deiner GFS ist
“Vietnam War”, also sollte es auch um den Krieg gehen und nicht um die Vorgeschichte.
Zumindest ich verstehe unter Vietnamkrieg den Krieg der USA von 1965 bis 1973 und nicht
den Innervietnamkonflikt von davor.
On November 1, 1963 Army of the Republic of Vietnam units gained control of Saigon,
occupying the presidential palace and disarming Nhu’s security forces. The U.S. embassy
kept contact with the dissident generals even though the American attitude was officially
neutral and when members of NGO’s were captured and murdered, the Americans didn’t help
them.
After Diem died, Kennedy died less than three weeks later. His successor was former Vice
President Lyndon B. Johnson, who was less keen on Cold War challenges. But he was also
aware of the high political costs of losing another country to the Communists and so he raised
the number of U.S. military personnel from 16,000 in November 1963 to 23,000 by the end of
196414.
III.II The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
It was an incident in the Gulf of Tonkin in August 1964 which finally made full US
involvement inevitable.
During the spring of 1964, American military planners had developed a plan for major attacks
in the North but President Johnson was afraid that the public would not support such
involvement. By the summer of 1964, rebel forces had gained control over half of South
Vietnam and so Senator Barry Goldwater criticized Johnson for not persecuting the cause in
Vietnam aggressively enough.
After a secret attack on the North Vietnamese coast by South Vietnamese gunboats, the U.S.
destroyer Maddox, conducting electronic espionage, was fired on by North Vietnamese
torpedo boats on August 2, 1964. On August 4, the USS Maddox and another destroyer were
reported to have been fired at again, but these reports turned out to be false. In any case,
Johnson acknowledged the need for retaliatory air strikes against the North Vietnamese. He
assembled congressional leaders the next day and without telling them the circumstances that
14
http://www.britannica.com/event/Vietnam-War/The-US-role-grows 05.01.2016
9
The Vietnam War
English Kopetzki
Selina Leili
had provoked the torpedo attack, instead he accused the North Vietnamese of open
aggression. He then requested congressional support to authorize him to take whatever action
he deemed appropriate to deal with future threats to U.S. forces in Southeast Asia. The
solution was quickly authorized by Congress, only the Senators Wayne Morse of Oregon and
Ernest Gruening of Alaska voted against it15.
Anmerkung: Die Namen der Senatoren, die dagegen gestimmt haben, sind unwichtig. Viel
wichtiger ist es klar zu machen, was genau warum passiert ist.
III.III USA enters the war
After September 1964, the situation in Vietnam had changed for the worse. The Kanh
government was succeeded by a confusing array of cliques and coalitions. In the countryside,
ARVN units seemed unable to defeat the Viet Cong army. In November, the communists
began targeting U.S. military personnel and bases with a mortar attack on the U.S. air base at
Bier Hoar near Saigon. Many of Johnson’s advisors cried for some sort of retaliation against
North Vietnam. All the president’s civilian aides and principal military advisors, except for
Under Secretary of State George Ball, believed in the effectiveness of a bombing maneuver.
Ball and Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey warned the president that this maneuver would
only lead to further American commitment and political problems in the USA. However, in
February 1965, without any public announcement, the U.S. started a campaign of air strikes
called Rolling Thunder.
This bombing campaign was closely directed from the White House in order to avoid any
provocation against the Soviets or Chinese. But these attacks had little impact on the situation
in South Vietnam, where the communists remained unimpressed. By mid-March General
Westmoreland and the Joint Chief of Staff were advising the White House that the only
chance of getting a handle on the communists was by sending U.S. troops to Vietnam. But
Johnson and his aides weren’t very happy about that.
By June 1965, Westmoreland predicted the collapse of the South Vietnamese army and he
recommended the use of U.S. troops. In July, Johnson finally committed the USA to a full-
15
http://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/gulf-of-tonkin-resolution 05.01.2016
10
The Vietnam War
Selina Leili
English Kopetzki
scale war in Vietnam. He authorized sending 100,000 troops immediately and another
100,000 in 196616.
The Americans soon constructed an enormous logistical infrastructure, including 26 hospitals,
75 tactical air bases and over 900,000 square meters of warehousing17. By the fall of 1965,
U.S. Marines and soldiers had collided with North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong forces in
bloody battles on the Batangan Peninsula and in the la Drang valley.
As the war continued into 1966 and 1967, some large-scale operations, in the provinces north
of Saigon, including thousands of U.S. troops supported by helicopters and fire bombers,
were mounted to destroy communist base areas and supplies. The U.S. Air Force sprayed
millions of gallons of Agent Orange, an herbicide that was effective in killing vegetables but
was causing economical damage and sometimes fatal health problems, along the Vietnamese
borders with Laos and Cambodia, in areas northwest of Saigon and along major waterways.
Like the ground war in the South, the air campaign in the North remained undecided. By the
end of 1966, the United States had dropped more bombs than in Japan in World War II and
more than in the entire Korean War. They had also lost almost 500 aircraft and hundreds of
air crewmen had been killed or were being held as prisoners of war18.
Anmerkung: Jetzt kommen die ganzen interessanten Fakten.
Hier böten sich weitere
Unterkapitel an, hier zum Beispiel: “Growing Opposition to the War in the USA”
By 1967, more and more people in the USA were becoming displeased with the war,
especially students, intellectuals, academics and clergymen, who criticized the war because
the main victims were civilians in both North and South Vietnam. And so campus protests
became common and in October 1967, at least 35,000 demonstrators 19 promoted a mass
demonstration outside the Pentagon.
Anmerkung: Hier könnte man das Kent State Massacre einbauen.
16
http://www.britannica.com/event/Vietnam-War/The-United-States-enters-the-war 07.01.2016
http://www.britannica.com/event/Vietnam-War/The-United-States-enters-the-war 07.01.2016
18
http://www.britannica.com/event/Vietnam-War/The-United-States-enters-the-war 08.01.2016
19
http://www.britannica.com/event/Vietnam-War/Tet-brings-the-war-home 08.01.2016
17
11
The Vietnam War
English Kopetzki
Selina Leili
The communists were also becoming impatient with the progress of the war and so they
planned a big blow that would cripple the Saigon government and that would destroy the
American expectation of success. The plan, called the “general uprising/ general offensive”,
was to start simultaneous attacks on cities, towns and military installations, together with
popular uprisings through the country. This plan was intended to take place during lunar New
Year festival, or Tet, in 1968.
Anmerkung: Die Tet-Offensive ist ein eigenes Kapitel wert.
On January 31, while roughly 50,000 U.S. and South Vietnamese troops were busy defending
or supporting Khe Sanh and other DMZ (Vietnam’s Demilitarized Zone) bases, the
communists started an offensive through South Vietnam. They attacked 36 provincial
capitals, 64 district capitals, five Saigon headquarters and more than two dozen airfields and
bases20.
The Tet offensive was a military failure for the North Vietnamese, because the U.S. and the
South Vietnamese forces struck back quickly, the communists were unable to hold any town
or base for more than one or two days and the population did nowhere rise the up to support
the Viet Cong.
Frage: Warum überhaupt unterstützen einfache Menschen in Südvietnam den Vietkong?
III.IV An attempt for peace
Because the Tet offensive, the people back home in the United States realized that an end of
the war was not near. Mass demonstrations started and as a result, President Johnson
presented an upper limit for the numbers of troops in Vietnam and he announced that he
would work for peace.
On May 13, 1968, Hanoi and the Americans met in Paris to discuss the end of the war. But
these discussions led nowhere. Hanoi insisted that before any negotiations could begin, the
USA would have to halt its bombings. But instead, fighting continued at high intensity. As a
result, in the eight weeks after Johnson’s speech of peace, 3,700 Americans were killed and
20
http://www.britannica.com/event/Vietnam-War/Tet-brings-the-war-home 08.01.2016
12
The Vietnam War
English Kopetzki
Selina Leili
about 18,000 were wounded in fights21. The losses of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam
were not recorded, but they were probably twice as high as those of the Americans.
Meanwhile, Richard M. Nixon had become president. Under Nixon, the Americans
accelerated a program to provide South Vietnam with the high-quality weapons and training
that would enable them to fight the ground war without the U.S. troops. This program was
called Vietnamization. In June 1969, Nixon announced the withdrawal of 25,000 US troops
and by March 1970 he announced the withdrawal of another 150,000 troops 22 . These
withdrawals were very popular in the United States, but protests started because the still
inexperienced and incomplete Army of the Republic of Vietnam could hardly deal with the
North Vietnamese Army.
But these withdrawals lowered the morale of the troops, because it underlined the
senselessness of the war. By 1970, drug deals, serious racial incidents and even some officers
were murdered by their own troops.
Anmerkung: drug deals? Genauer bitte.
By 1973, about 30,000 U.S. soldiers had been dishonorably discharged for desertion. When
the United States withdrew from the war in 1973, most of the deserters were still free and they
were offered clemency programs by President Gerald R. Ford in 1974 and President Jimmy
Carter in 1977.
Anmerkung: Den ersten Satz verstand ich im Original nicht. Hab ich ihn so richtig
verstanden? Unehrenhaft entlassen? Dieser Punkt passt in das noch zu erstellende
Unterkapitel “The Demoralization of US troops” oder so ähnlich.
Nixon refrained from attacking North Vietnam, but as the pro-western government under Lon
Nol had overcome Sihanouk’s neutral regime in March 1970, Nixon sent a U.S. and South
Vietnamese of 20,000 men to destroy
21
22
http://www.britannica.com/event/Vietnam-War/Tet-brings-the-war-home 10.01.2016
http://www.britannica.com/event/Vietnam-War/Tet-brings-the-war-home 12.01.2016
13
The Vietnam War
English Kopetzki
Selina Leili
14