The Vietnam War
1954 - 1968
Origins of the Conflict
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In 1945, Vietnam declared their
independence from France
Ho Chi Minh led a Communist revolt
to fight France, his supporters were
called the “Vietminh”
The French refused to accept
Vietnamese independence and the
two were soon at war
America threw it’s support and
money behind France hoping to help
contain Communism
Fighting between the French and
Vietminh continued for almost 8
years
In 1954, the Vietminh defeated the
French at Dienbienphu after 56 days
of battle, this battle ended French
support for the war and a settlement
was reached, French control over
Vietnam was over
The War Spreads
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By the 1950’s, America largely
believed in the “Domino Theory” – If
1 country fell to Communism, all it’s
neighbors would too
After the French defeat, Vietnam was
divided into 2 nations – North led by
Ho Chi Minh, South led by Ngo Dinh
Diem, America pledges it’s support to
South Vietnam
Diem promised to hold elections to
reunite the country, but after years of
blocking the vote, revolts erupted
across the country
Guerrillas or fighters who carry out
hit and run attacks waged a war of
terror against villages loyal to South
Vietnam, troops from the North
supplied and supported the guerillas,
they became known as the Vietcong
The American Role Deepens
• POTUS Kennedy continued
Eisenhower’s policy of support for
South Vietnam once elected, and sent
money along with military advisors to
help Diem’s forces
• Diem begins to imprison anyone he
deems as an enemy causing southern
support for the Vietcong , Kennedy
pulls his support for Diem and the
South Vietnamese Army assassinates
him, 3 weeks later in a strange
occurrence, Kennedy himself will be
assassinated
• POTUS Johnson now takes over and
decides the only way to end the conflict
in Vietnam is to send more troops
A Wider War
• Johnson sees Vietnam as a
test of the resolve of America
to stop the spread of
Communism
• after Diem’s death, Vietnam
falls into shambles, the
Vietcong control vast amounts
of the country
• Johnson orders more advisers
and money sent to aid South
Vietnam – as well as ordering
secret missions against North
Vietnam, in response China &
the USSR start to help not only
North Vietnam, but the VC
The Gulf of Tonkin Incident
• August of 1964 forever changes America’s role in Vietnam, off the coast of
Northern Vietnam, American destroyers are attacked in the Gulf of Tonkin
• The details of the events are very sketchy and the official report on the
incident claim nothing actually happened, POTUS Johnson however was
eager to act and announced that America would begin air strikes against
North Vietnam
• The next day, Johnson asked Congress for permission to do what ever is
necessary to resolve the incident in the Gulf of Tonkin and Congress passed
the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution “the POTUS may do what ever is necessary to
prevent further attacks against the United States of America”
A Massive Buildup
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In 1965, Johnson again ordered mass bombings
of North Vietnam after the Vietcong attacked an
American base at Pleiku
The USA soon realized the need to make plans
for an increased commitment of troops, the first
group of US Marines arrive within days to
protect the air base at Da Nang, within 6 weeks
50,000 new troops arrive, by the end of the year
184,000 and by 1968 over 500,000 troops
The arriving troops are well trained and
equipped with the latest technology, chemical
weapons were used against the VC, planes
dropped Napalm and sprayed “agent orange”
The VC dug in deep and kept fighting, their
advantage was that they were fighting at home
and knew the swamps, they had 30 years of
prior guerilla experience against the French and
because they were being assisted by nations
that claimed they were not involved with the
war
To combat the VC, America began to use “search
and destroy” tactics. Helicopters with heavy
machine guns would drop soldiers into the
jungle where they would search for the VC and
destroy anything assisting the enemy, American
generals believed that if we could kill enough of
the Vietcong, they would give up
The Tet Offensive
• On January 31, 1968 the Vietnamese celebrated Tet (the Vietnamese
New Year). Using the Tet Celebrations as cover, the VC (Vietcong) and
NVA (North Vietnamese Army) launched attacks on every major city in
South Vietnam at the same time, Saigon and Hue were both overrun
• Although American forces were caught by surprise, they responded
quickly and battled fiercely for weeks to regain lost regions, by February
America had won the battle and inflicted heavy losses on the VC
• The