Vietnam War: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

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{{Short description|Cold War conflict in Southeast Asia from 1955 to 1975}}

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{{redirect|Second Indochina War|the war between India and China|Nathu La and Cho La clashes}}

~~!colspan="2" bgcolor="#ffff99"| '''The Vietnam War'''~~

{{For-multi|a full history of wars in Vietnam|List of wars involving Vietnam|the documentary television series|The Vietnam War (TV series){{!}}''The Vietnam War'' (TV series)}}

{{Infobox military conflict

| conflict = Vietnam War

| partof = the [[Indochina Wars]] and the [[Cold War]] in [[Cold War in Asia|Asia]]

| image = {{multiple image|border=infobox|perrow=2/2/2|total_width=300

| image1= U.S. Army UH-1H Hueys insert ARVN troops at Khâm Đức, Vietnam, 12 July 1970 (79431435).jpg

| alt1=

| image2=Pavnbattle.jpg

| alt2=

| image3=Hue Massacre Interment.jpg

| alt3=

| image4=Flame Thrower. Operation New Castle. - NARA - 532488.tif

| alt4=

| image5=A-4C Skyhawks of VA-146 fly past USS Kearsarge (CVS-33) in the South China Sea on 12 August 1964 (USN 1107965).jpg

| alt5=

| image6=Saigon Execution (cropped).jpg

| alt6=}}'''Clockwise from top left:''' {{flatlist|

* American [[Bell UH-1 Iroquois|Huey]] helicopters inserting South Vietnamese [[Army of the Republic of Vietnam|ARVN]] troops, 1970

* North Vietnamese [[People's Army of Vietnam|PAVN]] troops in action, {{circa|1966}}

* [[United States Marine Corps|American marines]] using a [[flamethrower]], 1967

* South Vietnamese general [[Nguyễn Ngọc Loan]] summarily executing [[Viet Cong]] officer [[Saigon Execution|Nguyễn Văn Lém]] during the [[Tet Offensive]], 1968

* Two [[Douglas A-4C Skyhawk]]s flying past the aircraft carrier [[USS Kearsarge (CVS-33)|USS ''Kearsarge'']], 1964

* Burial of civilians killed in the [[Massacre at Huế]], 1968

}}

| date = November 1955 – 30 April 1975 ({{Age in years, months, weeks and days|month1=11|day1=1|year1=1955|month2=04|day2=30|year2=1975}}){{Refn|Due to the early presence of US troops in Vietnam, the start date of the Vietnam War is a matter of debate. In 1998, after a high-level review by the [[United States Department of Defense|Department of Defense]] (DoD) and through the efforts of [[Richard B. Fitzgibbon, Jr.|Richard B. Fitzgibbon's]] family, the start date of the Vietnam War according to the US government was officially changed to 1 November 1955.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Name of Technical Sergeant Richard B. Fitzgibbon to be added to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial |publisher=[[United States Department of Defense|Department of Defense (DoD)]] |url=http://www.defense.gov/Releases/Release.aspx?ReleaseID=1902 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131020044326/http://www.defense.gov/Releases/Release.aspx?ReleaseID=1902 |archive-date=20 October 2013}}</ref> US government reports currently cite 1 November 1955 as the commencement date of the "Vietnam Conflict", because this date marked when the US [[Military Assistance Advisory Group]] (MAAG) in Indochina (deployed to Southeast Asia under President Truman) was reorganized into country-specific units and MAAG Vietnam was established.<ref name="Lawrence">{{Cite book |last=Lawrence |first=A.T. |title=Crucible Vietnam: Memoir of an Infantry Lieutenant |publisher=McFarland |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-7864-4517-2}}</ref>{{Rp|20}} Other start dates include when Hanoi authorized Viet Cong forces in South Vietnam to begin a low-level insurgency in December 1956,{{Sfn|Olson|Roberts|2008|p=67}} whereas some view 26 September 1959, when the first battle occurred between the Viet Cong and the South Vietnamese army, as the start date.<ref name="WarBegan">{{Cite book |title=The Pentagon Papers (Gravel Edition), Volume 1 |publisher=Beacon Press |year=1971 |location=Boston |at=Section 3, pp. 314–346 |chapter=Chapter 5, Origins of the Insurgency in South Vietnam, 1954–1960 |access-date=17 August 2008 |chapter-url=http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/pentagon/pent14.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019184424/https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/pentagon/pent14.htm |archive-date=19 October 2017 |url-status=dead |via=International Relations Department, Mount Holyoke College}}</ref> |group="A"|name="start date"}}<ref name="mtholyoke.edu">{{Cite report |url=https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/paris.htm |title=The Paris Agreement on Vietnam: Twenty-five Years Later |date=April 1998 |publisher=The Nixon Center |location=Washington, DC |access-date=5 September 2012 |type=Conference Transcript |via=International Relations Department, Mount Holyoke College |archive-date=1 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190901153020/https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/paris.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

| place = {{flatlist|

* [[South Vietnam]]

* [[North Vietnam]]

* [[Cambodia (1953–1970)|Cambodia]]

* [[Kingdom of Laos|Laos]]

* [[South China Sea]]

* [[Gulf of Thailand]] (spillover conflict in [[China]], and [[Thailand]])}}

| territory = Reunification of [[North Vietnam]] and [[Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam|South Vietnam]] into the [[Vietnam|Socialist Republic of Vietnam]] in 1976

| result = [[North Vietnam]]ese victory

| combatant2 = {{Plainlist}}

* {{Flag|South Vietnam}}

* {{Flagdeco|United States|1960}} [[Role of the United States in the Vietnam War|United States]]

* {{Flagcountry|Third Republic of Korea}}

* {{Flag|Australia}}

* {{Flag|New Zealand}}

* {{Flag|Kingdom of Laos|name=Laos}}

* {{Flagdeco|Cambodia}} [[Cambodia (1953–1970)|Cambodia]] (1967–1970)

* {{Nowrap|{{Flagdeco|Cambodia|1970}} [[Khmer Republic]] (1970–1975)}}

* {{Flag|Thailand|1932}}

* {{Flagcountry|Fourth Philippine Republic}}

* {{Flag|Taiwan}}

| combatant1 = {{Plainlist}}

* {{Flag|North Vietnam}}

* {{Flagdeco|Republic of South Vietnam}} [[Viet Cong]] and [[Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam|PRG]]

* {{Flagdeco|Laos}} [[Pathet Lao]]

* {{Flagdeco|Cambodia|1975}} [[Khmer Rouge]]

* {{Nowrap|{{Flagdeco|Cambodia|1973}} [[GRUNK]] (1970–1975)}}

* {{Flag|China}} (1965–1973)

* {{Flag|Soviet Union|1955}}

* {{Flag|North Korea|1948}}

| strength1 = '''≈860,000 (1967)'''

* {{Flagdeco|North Vietnam}} '''North Vietnam:''' 690,000 (1966, including [[People's Army of Vietnam|PAVN]] and Viet Cong){{Refn|group="A"|According to Hanoi's official history, the Viet Cong was a branch of the People's Army of Vietnam.<ref>{{Harvnb|Military History Institute of Vietnam|2002|p=182}}. "By the end of 1966 the total strength of our armed forces was 690,000 soldiers."</ref>}}

* {{Flagdeco|Republic of South Vietnam}} '''Viet Cong:''' {{Nowrap|~200,000 (estimated, 1968)}}<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Doyle |first1=Edward |title=The Vietnam Experience The North |last2=Lipsman |first2=Samuel |last3=Maitland |first3=Terence |publisher=Time Life Education |year=1986 |isbn=978-0-939526-21-5 |pages=45–49}}</ref>

* {{Flagdeco|China|1949}} '''China:''' 170,000 (1968) 320,000 total<ref name="Toledo Blade 320,000 Chinese troops">{{Cite news |date=16 May 1989 |title=China admits 320,000 troops fought in Vietnam |work=Toledo Blade |agency=Reuters |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1350&dat=19890516&id=HkRPAAAAIBAJ&pg=3769,1925460 |access-date=24 December 2013 |archive-date=2 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200702034430/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1350&dat=19890516&id=HkRPAAAAIBAJ&pg=3769,1925460 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Roy">{{Cite book |last=Roy |first=Denny |url=https://archive.org/details/chinasforeignrel0000royd/page/27 |title=China's Foreign Relations |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-8476-9013-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/chinasforeignrel0000royd/page/27 27]}}</ref><ref name="Womack">{{Cite book |last=Womack |first=Brantly |title=China and Vietnam |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-521-61834-2 |page=[{{GBurl|id=GaZvX2BzeegC|p=176}} 179]|publisher=Cambridge University Press }}</ref>

* {{Flagdeco|Cambodia|1975}} '''Khmer Rouge:''' 70,000 (1972)<ref name="Tucker">{{Cite book |last=Tucker |first=Spencer C |title=The Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War: A Political, Social, and Military History |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-85109-960-3}}</ref>{{Rp|376}}

* {{Flagdeco|Laos}} '''Pathet Lao:''' 48,000 (1970)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Area Handbook Series Laos |url=http://www.country-data.com/frd/cs/laos/la_glos.html#Lao |access-date=1 November 2019 |archive-date=7 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307033933/http://www.country-data.com/frd/cs/laos/la_glos.html#Lao |url-status=live }}</ref>

* {{Flagdeco|Soviet Union}} '''Soviet Union:''' ~3,000<ref>{{Cite book |last=O'Ballance |first=Edgar |title=Tracks of the bear: Soviet imprints in the seventies |publisher=Presidio |year=1982 |isbn=978-0-89141-133-8 |page=171}}</ref>

* {{Flagdeco|North Korea|1948}} '''North Korea:''' 200<ref>{{Cite news |last=Pham Thi Thu Thuy |date=1 August 2013 |title=The colorful history of North Korea-Vietnam relations |work=[[NK News]] |url=https://www.nknews.org/2013/08/the-colorful-history-of-north-korea-vietnam-relations/ |access-date=3 October 2016|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150424055821/http://www.nknews.org/2013/08/the-colorful-history-of-north-korea-vietnam-relations/|archive-date=April 24, 2015}}</ref>

| strength2 = '''≈1,420,000 (1968)'''

* {{Flagdeco|South Vietnam}} '''South Vietnam:''' 850,000 (1968) 1,500,000 (1974–1975)<ref>{{Cite book |last=Le Gro |first=William |url=https://history.army.mil/html/books/090/90-29/CMH_Pub_90-29.pdf |title=Vietnam from ceasefire to capitulation |publisher=US Army Center of Military History |year=1985 |isbn=978-1-4102-2542-9 |page=28|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230202012033/https://history.army.mil/html/books/090/90-29/CMH_Pub_90-29.pdf|archive-date=February 2, 2023}}</ref>

* {{Flagdeco|United States|1960}} '''United States:''' 2,709,918 serving in Vietnam total Peak: 543,000 (April 1969)<ref name=Tucker/>{{Rp|xlv}}

* {{Flagdeco|Cambodia|1970}} '''Khmer Republic:''' 200,000 (1973){{Citation needed|date=November 2022}}

* {{Flagdeco|Laos|1952}} '''Laos:''' 72,000 (Royal Army and [[Hmong people|Hmong]] militia)<ref>{{Cite web |title=The rise of Communism |url=http://www.footprinttravelguides.com/c/4999/the-rise-of-communism |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101117114707/http://footprinttravelguides.com/c/4999/the-rise-of-communism/ |archive-date=17 November 2010 |access-date=31 May 2018 |website=www.footprinttravelguides.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Hmong rebellion in Laos |url=http://members.ozemail.com.au/~yeulee/Topical/Hmong%20rebellion%20in%20Laos.html |access-date=11 April 2021 |website=Members.ozemail.com.au|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404230156/http://members.ozemail.com.au/~yeulee/Topical/Hmong%20rebellion%20in%20Laos.html|archive-date=April 4, 2023}}</ref>

* {{Flagdeco|Third Republic of Korea}} '''South Korea:''' 48,000 per year (1965–1973, 320,000 total)

* {{Flagdeco|Thailand|1939}} '''Thailand:''' 32,000 per year (1965–1973) (in Vietnam<ref>{{Cite web |title=Vietnam War Allied Troop Levels 1960–73 |url=http://www.americanwarlibrary.com/vietnam/vwatl.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160802134052/http://www.americanwarlibrary.com/vietnam/vwatl.htm |archive-date=2 August 2016 |access-date=2 August 2016}}, accessed 7 November 2017</ref> and Laos){{Citation needed|date=November 2022}}

* {{Flagdeco|Australia}} '''Australia:''' 50,190 total (Peak: 8,300 combat troops)<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Doyle |first1=Jeff |last2=Grey |first2=Jeffrey |last3=Pierce |first3=Peter |date=2002 |title=Australia's Vietnam War – A Select Chronology of Australian Involvement in the Vietnam War |url=https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/14206/3/14206_Doyle_et_al_2002_Back_Pages.pdf |publisher=[[Texas A&M University Press]]|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20221110165929/https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/14206/3/14206_Doyle_et_al_2002_Back_Pages.pdf|archive-date=November 10, 2022}}</ref>

* {{Flagdeco|New Zealand}} '''New Zealand:''' Peak: 552 in 1968<ref name=Blackburn>{{cite book|last=Blackburn|first=Robert M.|title=Mercenaries and Lyndon Johnson's "More Flage": The Hiring of Korean, Filipino, and Thai Soldiers in the Vietnam War|publisher=McFarland|year=1994|isbn=0-89950-931-2}}</ref>{{rp|158}}

* {{Flagdeco|Fourth Philippine Republic}} '''Philippines:''' 2,061

* {{Flagdeco|Francoist Spain}} '''Spain:''' 100–130 total (Peak: 30 medical troops and advisors)<ref>{{Cite news| url=https://elpais.com/elpais/2012/04/09/inenglish/1333979983_253264.html| title=Spain's secret support for US in Vietnam| newspaper=El País| date=2012-04-09| last1=Marín| first1=Paloma| access-date=18 February 2024| archive-date=4 November 2019| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191104193117/https://elpais.com/elpais/2012/04/09/inenglish/1333979983_253264.html| url-status=live}}</ref>

| commander1 = {{Plainlist}}

* {{Flagicon|North Vietnam}} [[Ho Chi Minh|Hồ Chí Minh]]

* {{Flagicon|North Vietnam}} [[Tôn Đức Thắng]]

* {{Flagicon|North Vietnam}} [[Lê Duẩn]]

* {{Flagicon|North Vietnam}} [[Võ Nguyên Giáp]]

* {{Flagicon|North Vietnam}} [[Phạm Văn Đồng]]

* {{Flagdeco|South Vietnam|1975}} [[Trần Văn Trà]]

* ''...{{Nbsp}}[[Leaders of the Vietnam War#Communist forces|and others]]''

| commander2 = {{Plainlist}}

* {{Flagicon|South Vietnam}} [[Ngô Đình Diệm]]{{Assassinated|Arrest and assassination of Ngo Dinh Diem}} {{Refn|1955–1963| group="A"}}

* {{Flagicon|South Vietnam}} [[Nguyễn Văn Thiệu]]

* {{Flagicon|South Vietnam}} [[Nguyễn Cao Kỳ]]

* {{Flagicon|US|1960}} [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]]

* {{Flagicon|US|1960}} [[John F. Kennedy]] '''[[Assassination of John F. Kennedy|X]]'''

* {{Flagicon|US|1960}} [[Lyndon B. Johnson]]{{Refn|1963–1969| group="A"}}

* {{Flagicon|US|1960}} [[Richard Nixon]]

* {{Flagicon|US|1960}} [[Robert McNamara]]

* {{flagicon|US|1960}} [[Melvin Laird]]

* {{Nowrap|{{Flagicon|US|1960}} [[William Westmoreland]]}}{{Refn|1964–1968| group="A"}}

* {{Flagicon|US|1960}} [[Creighton Abrams]]

* ''...{{Nbsp}}[[Leaders of the Vietnam War#Anti-communist forces|and others]]''

| casualties1 = {{Plainlist}}

* {{Flagdeco|North Vietnam}}{{Flagdeco|Republic of South Vietnam}} '''North Vietnam & Viet Cong''' 30,000–182,000 civilian dead<ref name=Tucker/>{{Rp|176}}<ref name="Hirschman">{{Cite journal |last1=Hirschman |first1=Charles |last2=Preston |first2=Samuel |last3=Vu |first3=Manh Loi |date=December 1995 |title=Vietnamese Casualties During the American War: A New Estimate |url=http://faculty.washington.edu/charles/new%20PUBS/A77.pdf |journal=[[Population and Development Review]] |volume=21 |issue=4 |pages=783 |doi=10.2307/2137774 |jstor=2137774|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131012055340/http://faculty.washington.edu/charles/new%20PUBS/A77.pdf|archive-date=October 12, 2013 |issn=0098-7921 }}</ref><ref name=Lewy/>{{Rp|450–453}}<ref name=bfvietnam>{{Cite web |title=Battlefield:Vietnam – Timeline |url=http://www.pbs.org/battlefieldvietnam/timeline/index2.html |publisher=[[PBS]]|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230604101618/http://www.pbs.org/battlefieldvietnam/timeline/index2.html|archive-date=June 4, 2023}}</ref> 849,018 military dead (per Vietnam; 1/3 non-combat deaths)<ref name="Moyar, Mark" /><ref name="Chuyen">{{Cite web |title=Chuyên đề 4 CÔNG TÁC TÌM KIẾM, QUY TẬP HÀI CỐT LIỆT SĨ TỪ NAY ĐẾN NĂM 2020 VÀ NHỮNG NĂM TIẾP THEO |url=http://datafile.chinhsachquandoi.gov.vn/Qu%E1%BA%A3n%20l%C3%BD%20ch%E1%BB%89%20%C4%91%E1%BA%A1o/Chuy%C3%AAn%20%C4%91%E1%BB%81%204.doc |access-date=11 April 2021 |website=Datafile.chinhsachquandoi.gov.vn|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404230151/http://datafile.chinhsachquandoi.gov.vn/Qu%E1%BA%A3n%20l%C3%BD%20ch%E1%BB%89%20%C4%91%E1%BA%A1o/Chuy%C3%AAn%20%C4%91%E1%BB%81%204.doc|archive-date=April 4, 2023}}</ref><ref name="VNMOD">{{Cite web |title=Công tác tìm kiếm, quy tập hài cốt liệt sĩ từ nay đến năm 2020 và những năn tiếp theo |trans-title=The work of searching and collecting the remains of martyrs from now to 2020 and the next |url=http://chinhsachquandoi.gov.vn/tinbai/309/Tap-huan-cong-tac-chinh-sach |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181217065036/http://chinhsachquandoi.gov.vn/tinbai/309/Tap-huan-cong-tac-chinh-sach |archive-date=17 December 2018 |access-date=11 June 2018 |publisher=[[Ministry of Defence (Vietnam)|Ministry of Defence]], Government of Vietnam |language=vi}}</ref> 666,000–950,765 dead (US estimated 1964–1974){{Refn|Upper figure initial estimate, later thought to be inflated by at least 30% (lower figure)<ref name=Hirschman/><ref name=Lewy/>{{Rp|450–453}}|name=USclaim|group=A}}<ref name=Hirschman/><ref name=Lewy/>{{Rp|450–451}} 232,000+ military missing (per Vietnam)<ref name="Moyar, Mark">Moyar, Mark. "Triumph Regained: The Vietnam War, 1965–1968." Encounter Books, December 2022. Chapter 17 index: "Communists provided further corroboration of the proximity of their casualty figures to American figures in a postwar disclosure of total losses from 1960 to 1975. During that period, they stated, they lost 849,018 killed plus approximately 232,000 missing and 463,000 wounded. Casualties fluctuated considerably from year to year, but a degree of accuracy can be inferred from the fact that 500,000 was 59 percent of the 849,018 total and that 59 percent of the war's days had passed by the time of Fallaci's conversation with Giap. The killed in action figure comes from "Special Subject 4: The Work of Locating and Recovering the Remains of Martyrs From Now Until 2020 And Later Years," downloaded from the Vietnamese government website datafile on 1 December 2017. The above figures on missing and wounded were calculated using Hanoi's declared casualty ratios for the period of 1945 to 1979, during which time the Communists incurred 1.1 million killed, 300,000 missing, and 600,000 wounded. Ho Khang, ed, ''Lich Su Khang Chien Chong My, Cuu Nuoc 1954–1975, Tap VIII: Toan Thang'' (Hanoi: Nha Xuat Ban Chinh Tri Quoc Gia, 2008), 463."</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Joseph Babcock |date=29 April 2019 |title=Lost Souls: The Search for Vietnam's 300,000 or More MIAs |url=https://pulitzercenter.org/stories/lost-souls-search-vietnams-300000-or-more-mias |access-date=28 June 2021 |website=Pulitzer Centre|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20221110165934/https://pulitzercenter.org/stories/lost-souls-search-vietnams-300000-or-more-mias|archive-date=November 10, 2022}}</ref> 600,000+ military wounded<ref name="Hastings">{{Cite book |last=Hastings |first=Max |title=Vietnam an epic tragedy, 1945–1975 |publisher=Harper Collins |year=2018 |isbn=978-0-06-240567-8}}</ref>{{Rp|739}}

* '''{{Flagdeco|Cambodia|1975}}''' '''Khmer Rouge:''' Unknown

* '''{{Flagicon|Laos}}''' '''Pathet Lao:''' Unknown

* '''{{Flagu|China|1949}}:''' ~1,100 dead and 4,200 wounded<ref name=Womack/>

* '''{{Flagu|Soviet Union}}:''' 16 dead<ref>{{Cite book |last1=James F. Dunnigan |title=Dirty Little Secrets of the Vietnam War: Military Information You're Not Supposed to Know |last2=Albert A. Nofi |publisher=Macmillan |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-312-25282-3 |author-link2=Albert A. Nofi}}</ref>

* '''{{Flagu|North Korea|1948}}:''' 14 dead<ref>{{Cite news |date=31 March 2000 |title=North Korea fought in Vietnam War |work=[[BBC News Online]] |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/696970.stm |access-date=18 October 2015|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312063506/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/696970.stm|archive-date=March 12, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/media/documents/publication/NKIDP_eDossier_2_North_Korean_Pilots_in_Vietnam_War.pdf|title=North Korean Pilots in the Skies over Vietnam|last=Pribbenow|first=Merle|publisher=[[Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars]]|date=November 2011|access-date=3 March 2023|page=1|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230605173651/https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/media/documents/publication/NKIDP_eDossier_2_North_Korean_Pilots_in_Vietnam_War.pdf|archive-date=June 5, 2023}}</ref>

'''Total military dead/missing: ≈1,100,000''' '''Total military wounded: ≈604,200''' (excluding [[GRUNK]]/[[Khmer Rouge]] and [[Pathet Lao]])

| casualties2 = {{Plainlist}}

* '''{{Flagu|South Vietnam}}:''' 195,000–430,000 civilian dead<ref name=Hirschman/><ref name="Lewy">{{Cite book |last=Lewy |first=Guenter |title=America in Vietnam |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1978 |isbn=978-0-19-987423-1 |author-link=Guenter Lewy}}</ref>{{Rp|450–453}}<ref name="Thayer">{{Cite book |last=Thayer |first=Thomas C. |title=War Without Fronts: The American Experience in Vietnam |publisher=Westview Press |year=1985 |isbn=978-0-8133-7132-0}}</ref>{{Rp|}} Military dead: 313,000 (total)<ref name="Rummel">{{Citation |last=Rummel |first=R.J |title=Table 6.1A. Vietnam Democide : Estimates, Sources, and Calculations |url=http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/SOD.TAB6.1A.GIF |work=Freedom, Democracy, Peace; Power, Democide, and War, University of Hawaii System |year=1997 |format=GIF|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230313125242/http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/SOD.TAB6.1A.GIF|archive-date=March 13, 2023}}</ref>{{Bulletedlist|254,256 combat deaths (between 1960 and 1974)<ref name="Clarke">{{Cite book |last=Clarke |first=Jeffrey J. |title=United States Army in Vietnam: Advice and Support: The Final Years, 1965–1973 |publisher=Center of Military History, United States Army |year=1988 |quote=The Army of the Republic of Vietnam suffered 254,256 recorded combat deaths between 1960 and 1974, with the highest number of recorded deaths being in 1972, with 39,587 combat deaths}}</ref>{{Rp|275}}}} 1,170,000 military wounded<ref name=Tucker/>{{Rp|}} ≈ 1,000,000 captured<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Fall of South Vietnam |url=https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/reports/2005/R2208.pdf |access-date=11 April 2021 |website=Rand.org|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230129192039/https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/reports/2005/R2208.pdf|archive-date=January 29, 2023}}</ref>

* '''{{Flagu|United States|1960}}:''' 58,281 dead<ref name="2new">{{Cite press release |title=2021 NAME ADDITIONS AND STATUS CHANGES ON THE VIETNAM VETERANS MEMORIAL |date=4 May 2021 |url=https://www.vvmf.org/News/2021-Name-Additions-and-Status-Changes-on-the-Vietnam-Veterans-Memorial/ |author=Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230429132111/https://www.vvmf.org/News/2021-Name-Additions-and-Status-Changes-on-the-Vietnam-Veterans-Memorial/|archive-date=April 29, 2023}}</ref> (47,434 from combat)<ref>{{Citation |title=National Archives–Vietnam War US Military Fatal Casualties |date=15 August 2016 |url=https://www.archives.gov/research/military/vietnam-war/casualty-statistics#hostile |access-date=29 July 2020 |archive-date=26 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200526173917/https://www.archives.gov/research/military/vietnam-war/casualty-statistics#hostile |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>[https://www.archives.gov/research/military/vietnam-war/casualty-statistics#hostile "Vietnam War U.S. Military Fatal Casualty Statistics: HOSTILE OR NON-HOSTILE DEATH INDICATOR."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200526173917/https://www.archives.gov/research/military/vietnam-war/casualty-statistics#hostile |date=26 May 2020 }} US National Archives. 29 April 2008. Accessed 13 July 2019.</ref> 303,644 wounded (including 150,341 not requiring hospital care){{Refn|The figures of 58,220 and 303,644 for US deaths and wounded come from the Department of Defense Statistical Information Analysis Division (SIAD), Defense Manpower Data Center, as well as from a Department of Veterans fact sheet dated May 2010; the total is 153,303 WIA excluding 150,341 persons not requiring hospital care<ref>{{Cite report |url=http://www1.va.gov/opa/publications/factsheets/fs_americas_wars.pdf |title=America's Wars |date=May 2010 |publisher=Department of Veterans Affairs |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140124020810/http://www.va.gov/opa/publications/factsheets/fs_americas_wars.pdf |archive-date=24 January 2014 |url-status=dead}}</ref> the CRS ([[Congressional Research Service]]) Report for Congress, American War and Military Operations Casualties: Lists and Statistics, dated 26 February 2010,<ref>{{Cite report |url=https://fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL32492.pdf |title=American War and Military Operations: Casualties: Lists and Statistics |last1=Anne Leland |last2=Mari–Jana "M-J" Oboroceanu |date=26 February 2010 |publisher=Congressional Research Service|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230514171012/https://sgp.fas.org/crs/natsec/RL32492.pdf|archive-date=May 14, 2023}}</ref> and the book Crucible Vietnam: Memoir of an Infantry Lieutenant.<ref name=Lawrence/>{{Rp|65,107,154,217}} Some other sources give different figures (e.g. the 2005/2006 documentary ''Heart of Darkness: The Vietnam War Chronicles 1945–1975'' cited elsewhere in this article gives a figure of 58,159 US deaths,<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.amazon.com/Heart-Darkness-Vietnam-Chronicles-1945-1975/dp/B000GDIBT8 |title=Heart of Darkness: The Vietnam War Chronicles 1945–1975 |type=Documentary |publisher=Koch Vision |time=321 minutes |format=Box set, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC, Dolby, Vision Software |isbn=1-4172-2920-9 |people=Aaron Ulrich (editor); Edward FeuerHerd (producer and director) (2005, 2006) |access-date=11 May 2017 |archive-date=29 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190329215600/https://www.amazon.com/Heart-Darkness-Vietnam-Chronicles-1945-1975/dp/B000GDIBT8 |url-status=live }}</ref> and the 2007 book ''Vietnam Sons'' gives a figure of 58,226)<ref name="Kueter">{{Cite book |last=Kueter |first=Dale |title=Vietnam Sons: For Some, the War Never Ended |publisher=AuthorHouse |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-4259-6931-8}}</ref>|name=USd&w|group=A}}

* '''{{Flagu|Laos|1952}}:''' 15,000 army dead<ref>T. Lomperis, From People's War to People's Rule (1996)</ref>

* '''{{Flagdeco|Cambodia|1970}}''' '''Khmer Republic:''' Unknown

* '''{{Flagdeco|Third Republic of Korea}}''' '''South Korea''': 5,099 dead; 10,962 wounded; 4 missing

* '''{{Flagu|Australia}}:''' 521 dead; 3,129 wounded<ref>{{Cite web |title=Australian casualties in the Vietnam War, 1962–72 |url=http://www.awm.gov.au/encyclopedia/vietnam/statistics |access-date=29 June 2013 |publisher=Australian War Memorial|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230214111653/https://www.awm.gov.au/articles/encyclopedia/vietnam/statistics|archive-date=February 14, 2023}}</ref>

* '''{{Flagu|Thailand|1939}}:''' 351 dead<ref name=Tucker/>{{Rp|}}

* '''{{Flagu|New Zealand}}:''' 37 dead<ref>{{Cite web |date=16 July 1965 |title=Overview of the war in Vietnam |url=http://vietnamwar.govt.nz/resources |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130726010609/http://vietnamwar.govt.nz/resources |archive-date=26 July 2013 |access-date=29 June 2013 |publisher=New Zealand and the Vietnam War}}</ref>

* '''{{Flagu|Taiwan}}:''' 25 dead<ref>{{Cite web |date=2 October 2013 |title=America Wasn't the Only Foreign Power in the Vietnam War |url=http://militaryhistorynow.com/2013/10/02/the-international-vietnam-war-the-other-world-powers-that-fought-in-south-east-asia/ |access-date=10 June 2017|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230418045659/http://militaryhistorynow.com/2013/10/02/the-international-vietnam-war-the-other-world-powers-that-fought-in-south-east-asia/|archive-date=April 18, 2023}}</ref> 17 captured<ref>{{Cite news |date=1964 |title=Vietnam Reds Said to Hold 17 From Taiwan as Spies |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/07/13/archives/vietnam-reds-said-to-hold-17-from-taiwan-as-spies.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230307170856/https://www.nytimes.com/1964/07/13/archives/vietnam-reds-said-to-hold-17-from-taiwan-as-spies.html|archive-date=March 7, 2023}}</ref>

* '''{{Flagdeco|Fourth Philippine Republic}}''' '''Philippines:''' 9 dead;<ref>{{Cite book |last=Larsen |first=Stanley |url=https://history.army.mil/html/books/090/90-5-1/CMH_Pub_90-5-1.pdf |title=Vietnam Studies Allied Participation in Vietnam |publisher=Department of the Army |year=1975 |isbn=978-1-5176-2724-9|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230606061125/https://history.army.mil/html/books/090/90-5-1/CMH_Pub_90-5-1.pdf|archive-date=June 6, 2023}}</ref> 64 wounded<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 1970 |title=Asian Allies in Vietnam |url=http://175thengineers.homestead.com/Philcav.pdf |access-date=18 October 2015 |publisher=Embassy of South Vietnam|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230521032045/http://175thengineers.homestead.com/Philcav.pdf|archive-date=May 21, 2023}}</ref>

'''Total military dead: 333,620 (1960–1974) – 392,364 (total)''' '''Total military wounded: ≈1,340,000+'''<ref name=Tucker/>{{Rp|}} (excluding [[Royal Cambodian Armed Forces|FARK and FANK]]) '''Total military captured: ≈1,000,000+'''

| casualties3 = {{Plainlist}}

* '''Vietnamese civilian dead''': 405,000–2,000,000<ref name=Lewy/>{{Rp|450–453}}<ref name="Shenon">{{Cite news |last=Shenon |first=Philip |date=23 April 1995 |title=20 Years After Victory, Vietnamese Communists Ponder How to Celebrate |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/23/world/20-years-after-victory-vietnamese-communists-ponder-how-to-celebrate.html |access-date=24 February 2011 |quote=The Vietnamese government officially claimed a rough estimate of 2 million civilian deaths, but it did not divide these deaths between those of North and South Vietnam.|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230527230912/https://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/23/world/20-years-after-victory-vietnamese-communists-ponder-how-to-celebrate.html|archive-date=May 27, 2023}}</ref><ref name="Obermeyer">{{Cite journal |last1=Obermeyer |first1=Ziad |last2=Murray |first2=Christopher J L |last3=Gakidou |first3=Emmanuela |date=23 April 2008 |title=Fifty years of violent war deaths from Vietnam to Bosnia: analysis of data from the world health survey programme |journal=[[British Medical Journal]] |volume=336 |issue=7659 |pages=1482–1486 |doi=10.1136/bmj.a137 |pmc=2440905 |pmid=18566045 |quote=From 1955 to 2002, data from the surveys indicated an estimated 5.4 million violent war deaths{{Nbsp}}... 3.8 million in Vietnam}}</ref>

* '''Vietnamese total dead''': 966,000<ref name=Hirschman/>–3,010,000<ref name=Obermeyer/>

* '''Cambodian Civil War dead''': 275,000–310,000<ref name="Heuveline">{{Cite book |last=Heuveline |first=Patrick |title=Forced Migration and Mortality |publisher=[[National Academies Press]] |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-309-07334-9 |pages=102–104, 120, 124 |chapter=The Demographic Analysis of Mortality Crises: The Case of Cambodia, 1970–1979 |quote=As best as can now be estimated, over two million Cambodians died during the 1970s because of the political events of the decade, the vast majority of them during the mere four years of the 'Khmer Rouge' regime.{{Nbsp}}... Subsequent reevaluations of the demographic data situated the death toll for the [civil war] in the order of 300,000 or less.}}</ref><ref name="Banister">{{Cite book |last1=Banister |first1=Judith |url=https://archive.org/details/genocidedemocrac00kier |title=Genocide and Democracy in Cambodia: The Khmer Rouge, the United Nations and the International Community |last2=Johnson |first2=E. Paige |publisher=Yale University Southeast Asia Studies |year=1993 |isbn=978-0-938692-49-2 |page=[https://archive.org/details/genocidedemocrac00kier/page/97 97] |quote=An estimated 275,000 excess deaths. We have modeled the highest mortality that we can justify for the early 1970s. |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref name="Sliwinski">{{Cite book |last=Sliwinski |first=Marek |title=Le Génocide Khmer Rouge: Une Analyse Démographique |publisher=[[L'Harmattan]] |year=1995 |isbn=978-2-7384-3525-5 |pages=42–43, 48 |trans-title=The Khmer Rouge genocide: A demographic analysis}}</ref>

* '''Laotian Civil War dead''': 20,000–62,000<ref name=Obermeyer/>

* '''Non-Indochinese military dead''': 65,494

* '''Total dead''': 1,326,494–3,447,494

* For more information see [[Vietnam War casualties]] and [[Aircraft losses of the Vietnam War]]

| notes = {{flagicon image|Flag of FULRO.svg}} [[FULRO]] fought an [[FULRO insurgency|insurgency]] against both [[South Vietnam]] and [[North Vietnam]] with the [[Viet Cong]] and was supported by [[Cambodia]] for much of the war.

| campaignbox = {{Campaignbox Indochina Wars}}

}}

The '''Vietnam War''' was a conflict in [[Vietnam]], [[Laos]], and [[Cambodia]] from 1 November 1955<ref group=A name="start date" /> to the [[fall of Saigon]] on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the [[Indochina Wars]] and a major conflict of the [[Cold War]]. While the war was officially fought between [[North Vietnam]] and [[South Vietnam]], the north was supported by the [[Soviet Union]], [[China]], and other countries in the [[Eastern Bloc]], while the south was [[United States in the Vietnam War|supported by the US]] and [[anti-communism|anti-communist]] [[Free World Military Assistance Forces|allies]]. This made it a [[proxy war]] between the US and Soviet Union. It lasted almost 20 years, with direct US military involvement ending in 1973. The conflict spilled into the [[Laotian Civil War|Laotian]] and [[Cambodian Civil War|Cambodian civil wars]], which ended with all three countries becoming communist in 1975.

After the fall of [[French Indochina]] with the [[1954 Geneva Conference]], the country gained independence from France but was divided into two parts: the [[Viet Minh]] took control of North Vietnam, while the US assumed financial and military support for South Vietnam.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Eckhardt |first=George |url=http://www.history.army.mil/books/Vietnam/Comm-Control/index.htm |title=Vietnam Studies Command and Control 1950–1969 |publisher=Department of the Army |year=1991 |page=6 |access-date=31 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019184830/https://history.army.mil/books/Vietnam/Comm-Control/index.htm |archive-date=19 October 2017 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="advisors" group="A">Prior to this, the [[Military Assistance Advisory Group|Military Assistance Advisory Group, Indochina]] (with an authorized strength of 128 men) was set up in September 1950 with a mission to oversee the use and distribution of US military equipment by the French and their allies.</ref> The North Vietnamese controlled [[Viet Cong]] (VC), a South Vietnamese [[common front]] of militant leftists, socialists, communists, workers, peasants and intellectuals, initiated [[guerrilla warfare|guerrilla war]] in the south. The [[People's Army of Vietnam]] (PAVN) engaged in more [[conventional warfare]] with US and [[Army of the Republic of Vietnam]] (ARVN) forces. North Vietnam [[North Vietnamese invasion of Laos|invaded Laos]] in 1958, establishing the [[Ho Chi Minh trail]] to supply and reinforce the VC.<ref name="Ang">{{Cite book |last=Ang |first=Cheng Guan |title=The Vietnam War from the Other Side |publisher=RoutledgeCurzon |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-7007-1615-9}}</ref>{{Rp|16}} By 1963, the north had sent 40,000 soldiers to fight in the south.<ref name=Ang/>{{Rp|16}} US involvement increased under President [[John F. Kennedy]], from 900 [[Military Assistance Advisory Group|military advisors]] at the end of 1960 to 16,300 at the end of 1963.<ref name="AWL">{{Cite web |title=Vietnam War Allied Troop Levels 1960–73 |url=http://www.americanwarlibrary.com/vietnam/vwatl.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160802134052/http://www.americanwarlibrary.com/vietnam/vwatl.htm |archive-date=2 August 2016 |access-date=1 June 2018}}</ref><ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|131}}

Following the [[Gulf of Tonkin incident]] in 1964, the US Congress passed a [[Gulf of Tonkin Resolution|resolution]] that gave President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] authority to increase military presence, without a declaration of war. Johnson ordered deployment of combat units and dramatically increased American military personnel to 184,000 by the end of 1965, and to 536,000 by the end of 1968.<ref name=AWL/> US and South Vietnamese forces relied on [[air supremacy]] and overwhelming firepower to conduct [[search and destroy]] operations. The US conducted a [[strategic bombing]] campaign against North Vietnam<ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|371–374}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Li |first=Xiaobing |title=Voices from the Vietnam War: Stories from American, Asian, and Russian Veterans |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-8131-7386-3 |page=85}}</ref> and built up its forces, despite little progress. In 1968, North Vietnam launched the [[Tet Offensive]]; a tactical defeat, but a strategic victory, as it caused US domestic support to fade.<ref name="Hastings" />{{Rp|481}} In 1969, North Vietnam declared the [[Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam]]. The [[1970 Cambodian coup d'état|1970 deposing]] of Cambodia's monarch, resulted in a PAVN invasion of the country, and then a US-ARVN [[Cambodian campaign|counter-invasion]], escalating Cambodia's Civil War. After [[Richard Nixon]]'s inauguration in 1969, a policy of "[[Vietnamization]]" began, which saw the conflict fought by an expanded ARVN, while US forces withdrew due to domestic opposition. US ground forces had mostly withdrawn by 1972, the 1973 [[Paris Peace Accords]] saw all US forces withdrawn<ref name="Kolko">{{Cite book |last=Kolko |first=Gabriel |url=https://archive.org/details/anatomyofwarviet00kolk |title=Anatomy of a War: Vietnam, the United States, and the Modern Historical Experience |publisher=Pantheon Books |year=1985 |isbn=978-0-394-74761-3 |url-access=registration}}</ref>{{Rp|457}} and were broken almost immediately: fighting continued for two years. [[Fall of Phnom Penh|Phnom Penh fell]] to the [[Khmer Rouge]] in April 1975, while the [[1975 spring offensive]] saw the Fall of Saigon to the PAVN, marking the end of the war. North and South Vietnam were reunified on 2 July the following year.

The war exacted [[Vietnam War casualties|enormous human cost]]: estimates of Vietnamese soldiers and civilians killed range from 970,000 to 3 million. Some 275,000–310,000 [[Khmer people|Cambodians]], 20,000–62,000 [[Lao people|Laotians]], and 58,220 US service members died.<ref name="USd&w" group="A" /> Its end would precipitate the [[Vietnamese boat people]] and the larger [[Indochina refugee crisis]], which saw millions leave Indochina, an estimated 250,000 perished at sea.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":6" /> The US destroyed 20% of South Vietnam's jungle and 20–50% of the [[mangrove]] forests, by spraying over {{convert|20|e6USgal|e6L|round=5|abbr=off|sp=us}} of toxic herbicides;<ref name=":02" /><ref name="Kolko"/>{{Rp|144–145}}<ref name=":0" /> a notable example of [[ecocide]].<ref name=":2" /> The Khmer Rouge carried out the [[Cambodian genocide]], while conflict between them and the unified Vietnam escalated into the [[Cambodian–Vietnamese War]]. In response, China [[Sino-Vietnamese War|invaded Vietnam]], with [[Sino-Vietnamese conflicts (1979–1991)|border conflicts]] lasting until 1991. Within the US, the war gave rise to [[Vietnam syndrome]], a public aversion to American overseas military involvement,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kalb |first=Marvin |date=22 January 2013 |title=It's Called the Vietnam Syndrome, and It's Back |url=http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/up-front/posts/2013/01/22-obama-foreign-policy-kalb |access-date=12 June 2015 |publisher=Brookings Institution|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20221224132036/https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2013/01/22/its-called-the-vietnam-syndrome-and-its-back/|archive-date=December 24, 2022}}</ref> which, with the [[Watergate scandal]], contributed to the crisis of confidence that affected America throughout the 1970s.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Horne |first=Alistair |title=Kissinger's Year: 1973 |publisher=Phoenix Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-7538-2700-0 |pages=370–371}}</ref>

==Names==

Various names have been applied and have shifted over time, though ''Vietnam War'' is the most commonly used title in [[English language|English]]. It has been called the ''Second Indochina War'' since it spread to [[Laos]] and [[Cambodia]],<ref name="Factasy">{{Cite web |last=Factasy |title=The Vietnam War or Second Indochina War |url=http://www.prlog.org/10118782-the-vietnam-war-or-second-indochina-war.html |access-date=29 June 2013 |publisher=PRLog|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230425152621/https://www.prlog.org/10118782-the-vietnam-war-or-second-indochina-war.html|archive-date=April 25, 2023}}</ref> the ''Vietnam Conflict'',<ref>{{Cite web |date=15 August 2016 |title=The National Archives – Vietnam Conflict Extract Data File |url=https://www.archives.gov/research/military/vietnam-war/casualty-statistics |access-date=8 December 2020 |archive-date=26 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200526173917/https://www.archives.gov/research/military/vietnam-war/casualty-statistics |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Marlatt |first=Greta E. |title=Research Guides: Vietnam Conflict: Maps |url=https://libguides.nps.edu/vietnamwar/maps |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405200653/https://libguides.nps.edu/vietnamwar/maps |archive-date=April 5, 2023 |access-date=11 April 2021 |website=Libguides.nps.edu}}</ref> and ''Nam'' (colloquially 'Nam). In Vietnam it is commonly known as ''Kháng chiến chống Mỹ'' ({{Literally|Resistance War against America}}).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Meaker |first=Scott S.F. |title=Unforgettable Vietnam War: The American War in Vietnam – War in the Jungle |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-312-93158-9}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Burns |first=Robert |date=January 27, 2018 |title=Grim reminders of a war in Vietnam, a generation later |url=https://www.concordmonitor.com/Grim-reminders-of-a-war-in-Vietnam-a-generation-later-15159686 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180128005729/https://www.concordmonitor.com/Grim-reminders-of-a-war-in-Vietnam-a-generation-later-15159686 |archive-date=2018-01-28 |access-date=2019-02-28 |website=Concord Monitor |quote=It's been more than for 40-plus years, the war that Americans simply call Vietnam but the Vietnamese refer to as their Resistance War Against America.}}</ref> The [[Government of Vietnam]] officially refers to it as the ''Resistance War against America to Save the Nation.''<ref>{{Cite web |last=Miller |first=Edward |title=Vietnam War perspective: the unreconciled conflict |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/12/18/vietnam-war-perspective-unreconciled-conflict/962358001/ |access-date=2023-09-06 |website=USA TODAY |language=en-US |archive-date=6 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230906182356/https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/12/18/vietnam-war-perspective-unreconciled-conflict/962358001/ |url-status=live }}</ref> It is sometimes called the ''American War''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Asian-Nation: Asian American History, Demographics, & Issues:: The American / Viet Nam War |url=http://www.asian-nation.org/vietnam-war.shtml |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230527183201/https://www.asian-nation.org/vietnam-war.shtml |archive-date=May 27, 2023 |access-date=18 August 2008 |quote=The Viet Nam War is also called 'The American War' by the Vietnamese}}</ref>

== Background ==

Vietnam had been under French control as part of [[French Indochina]] since the mid-19th century. Under French rule, Vietnamese nationalism was suppressed, so revolutionary groups conducted their activities abroad, particularly in France and China. One such nationalist, [[Nguyen Sinh Cung]], established the [[Indochinese Communist Party]] in 1930, a [[Marxism–Leninism|Marxist–Leninist]] political organization which operated primarily in [[Hong Kong]] and the [[Soviet Union]]. The party aimed to overthrow French rule and establish an independent communist state in Vietnam.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Umair Mirza |url=http://archive.org/details/thevietnamwarthedefinitiveillustratedhistory_202002 |title=The Vietnam War The Definitive Illustrated History |date=2017-04-01}}</ref>

=== Japanese occupation of Indochina ===

{{Main|French Indochina in World War II|1940–1946 in French Indochina}}

[[File:Flag of North Vietnam (1945–1955).svg|thumb|[[Viet Minh]] flag, which later became the flag of [[North Vietnam]], prototype of the [[Flag of Vietnam|national flag]] of contemporary Vietnam]]

In September 1940, [[Japanese invasion of French Indochina|Japan invaded]] French Indochina, following France's [[Battle of France|capitulation]] to [[Nazi Germany]]. French influence was suppressed by the Japanese, and in 1941 Cung, now known as [[Ho Chi Minh]], returned to Vietnam to establish the [[Viet Minh]], an anti-Japanese resistance movement that advocated for independence.<ref name=":3" /> The Viet Minh received aid from the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]], namely the US, Soviet Union, and [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]]. Beginning in 1944, the US [[Office of Strategic Services]] (O.S.S.) provided the Viet Minh with weapons, ammunition, and training to fight the occupying Japanese and [[Vichy France|Vichy French]] forces.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-07-15 |title=The OSS in Vietnam, 1945: A War of Missed Opportunities by Dixee Bartholomew-Feis |url=https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/oss-vietnam-1945-dixee-bartholomew-feis |access-date=2023-12-19 |website=The National WWII Museum {{!}} New Orleans |language=en |archive-date=15 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230315115133/https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/oss-vietnam-1945-dixee-bartholomew-feis |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=":7" /> Throughout the war, Vietnamese guerrilla resistance against the Japanese grew dramatically, and by the end of 1944 the Viet Minh had grown to over 500,000 members.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Defense |first=United States Department of |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MHjOVH6k5BQC&pg=RA1-PA4 |title=United States-Vietnam Relations, 1945-1967: Study |date=1971 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |language=en}}</ref> US President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] was an ardent supporter of Vietnamese resistance, and proposed that Vietnam's independence be granted under an international trusteeship following the war.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hess |first=Gary R. |date=1972 |title=Franklin Roosevelt and Indochina |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1890195 |journal=The Journal of American History |volume=59 |issue=2 |pages=353–368 |doi=10.2307/1890195 |jstor=1890195 |issn=0021-8723 |access-date=19 December 2023 |archive-date=14 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240414004902/https://www.jstor.org/stable/1890195 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Following the [[surrender of Japan]] in 1945, the Viet Minh launched the [[August Revolution]], overthrowing the Japanese-backed [[Empire of Vietnam]] and seizing weapons from the surrendering Japanese forces. On September 2, Ho Chi Minh proclaimed the [[Declaration of independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam]] (DRV).<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |title=Page:Pentagon-Papers-Part I.djvu/30 - Wikisource, the free online library |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Page:Pentagon-Papers-Part_I.djvu/30 |access-date=2023-12-19 |website=en.wikisource.org |language=en |archive-date=31 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231031133156/https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Page%3APentagon-Papers-Part_I.djvu/30 |url-status=live }}</ref> However, on September 23, French forces overthrew the DRV and reinstated French rule.<ref name=":5" /> American support for the Viet Minh promptly ended, and O.S.S. forces left as the French [[War in Vietnam (1945–1946)|sought to reassert control of the country]].

=== First Indochina War ===

[[File:Bao Dai and Ho Chi Minh.jpg|thumb|[[Bảo Đại]] (right) as the "supreme advisor" to the government of the [[Democratic Republic of Vietnam]] led by president [[Hồ Chí Minh]] (left), 1 June 1946]]

Tensions between the Viet Minh and French authorities had erupted into [[First Indochina War|full-scale war]] by 1946, a conflict which soon became entwined with the wider [[Cold War]]. On March 12, 1947, US President [[Harry S. Truman]] announced the [[Truman Doctrine]], an [[Anti-communism|anticommunist]] foreign policy which pledged US support to nations resisting "attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Administration |first=United States National Archives and Records |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qqDA6OGvhmUC&pg=PA194 |title=Our Documents: 100 Milestone Documents from the National Archives |date=2006-07-04 |publisher=Oxford University Press, USA |isbn=978-0-19-530959-1 |language=en |access-date=6 March 2024 |archive-date=30 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230630110920/https://books.google.com/books?id=qqDA6OGvhmUC&pg=PA194 |url-status=live }}</ref> In Indochina, this doctrine was first put into practice in February 1950, when the United States recognized the French-backed [[State of Vietnam]] in [[Saigon]], led by former Emperor Bảo Đại, as the legitimate government of Vietnam, after the [[communist state]]s of the [[Soviet Union]] and [[People's Republic of China]] recognized the [[Democratic Republic of Vietnam]], led by Ho Chi Minh, as the legitimate Vietnamese government the previous month.<ref name="McNamara">{{Cite book |last1=McNamara |first1=Robert S. |url=https://archive.org/details/argumentwithoute00mcna |title=Argument Without End: In Search of Answers to the Vietnam Tragedy |last2=Blight |first2=James G. |last3=Brigham |first3=Robert K. |last4=Biersteker |first4=Thomas J. |last5=Schandler |first5=Herbert |date=1999 |publisher=[[PublicAffairs]] |isbn=978-1-891620-87-4 |location=New York |author-link=Robert McNamara |author-link4=Thomas J. Biersteker |url-access=registration}}</ref>{{Rp|377–379}}<ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|88}} The outbreak of the [[Korean War]] in June convinced Washington policymakers that the war in Indochina was another example of communist expansionism, directed by the Soviet Union.<ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|33–35}}

Military advisors from China began assisting the Viet Minh in July 1950.<ref name=Ang/>{{Rp|14}} Chinese weapons, expertise, and laborers transformed the Viet Minh from a guerrilla force into a regular army.<ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|26}}<ref name="HistoryPlace">{{Cite web |title=The History Place – Vietnam War 1945–1960 |url=http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/vietnam/index-1945.html |access-date=11 June 2008|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312070611/http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/vietnam/index-1945.html|archive-date=March 12, 2023}}</ref> In September 1950, the US further enforced the Truman Doctrine by creating a [[Military Assistance Advisory Group|Military Assistance and Advisory Group]] (MAAG) to screen French requests for aid, advise on strategy, and train Vietnamese soldiers.<ref name="Herring">{{Cite book |last=Herring |first=George C. |title=America's Longest War: The United States and Vietnam, 1950–1975 (4th ed.) |date=2001 |publisher=McGraw-Hill |isbn=978-0-07-253618-8}}</ref>{{Rp|18}} By 1954, the US had spent $1 billion in support of the French military effort, shouldering 80% of the cost of the war.<ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|35}}

==== Battle of Dien Bien Phu ====

During the Battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954, US [[Aircraft carrier|carriers]] sailed to the [[Gulf of Tonkin]] and the US conducted reconnaissance flights. France and the US discussed the use of [[tactical nuclear weapon]]s, though reports of how seriously this was considered and by whom, are vague.<ref name="Maclear">{{Cite book |last=Maclear |first=Michael |url=https://archive.org/details/tenthousanddaywa00mich/page/57 |title=The Ten Thousand Day War: Vietnam 1945–1975 |date=1981 |publisher=Thames |isbn=978-0-312-79094-3 |page=[https://archive.org/details/tenthousanddaywa00mich/page/57 57]}}</ref><ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|75}} According to then-Vice President [[Richard Nixon]], the Joint Chiefs of Staff drew up plans to use nuclear weapons to support the French.<ref name=Maclear/> Nixon, a so-called "[[War Hawk|hawk]]", suggested the US might have to "put American boys in".<ref name=Tucker/>{{Rp|76}} President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] made American participation contingent on British support, but the British were opposed.<ref name=Tucker/>{{Rp|76}} Eisenhower, wary of involving the US in an Asian land war, decided against intervention.<ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|75–76}} Throughout the conflict, US intelligence estimates remained skeptical of France's chance of success.<ref name="Gravel">{{Cite book |title=The Pentagon Papers (Gravel Edition), Volume 1 |pages=391–404}}</ref>

On 7 May 1954, the French garrison at Dien Bien Phu surrendered. The defeat marked the end of French military involvement in Indochina. At the [[Geneva Conference (1954)|Geneva Conference]], they negotiated a ceasefire with the Viet Minh, and independence was granted to Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://vietnam.vassar.edu/overview/doc2.html|title=The Final Declarations of the Geneva Conference July 21, 1954|work=The Wars for Viet Nam|publisher=[[Vassar College]]|access-date=20 July 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110807062726/http://vietnam.vassar.edu/overview/doc2.html|archive-date=7 August 2011}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Geneva Accords {{!}} history of Indochina {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Geneva-Accords |access-date=28 October 2022 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en |archive-date=28 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221028002543/https://www.britannica.com/event/Geneva-Accords |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Transition period==

{{Main|1954 Geneva Conference|Operation Passage to Freedom|Land reform in Vietnam|Land reform in North Vietnam|1954 in Vietnam}}

[[File:Gen-commons.jpg|thumb|The [[1954 Geneva Conference]]]]

At the 1954 Geneva Conference, Vietnam was temporarily partitioned at the [[17th parallel north|17th parallel]]. Ho Chi Minh wished to continue war in the south, but was restrained by Chinese allies who convinced him he could win control by electoral means.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1 January 2001 |title=China Contributed Substantially to Vietnam War Victory, Claims Scholar |language=en |work=Wilson Center |url=https://www.wilsoncenter.org/article/china-contributed-substantially-to-vietnam-war-victory-claims-scholar |access-date=20 May 2018|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230502013703/https://www.wilsoncenter.org/article/china-contributed-substantially-to-vietnam-war-victory-claims-scholar|archive-date=May 2, 2023}}</ref><ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|87–88}} Under the Geneva Accords, civilians were allowed to move freely between the two provisional states for a 300-day period. Elections throughout the country were to be held in 1956 to establish a unified government.<ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|88–90}} However, the US, represented at the conference by Secretary of State [[John Foster Dulles]], objected to the resolution; Dulles' objection was supported only by the representative of Bảo Đại.<ref name=":7" /> John Foster's brother, [[Allen Dulles]], who was director of the [[Central Intelligence Agency]], then initiated a [[psychological warfare]] campaign which exaggerated anti-Catholic sentiment among the Viet Minh and distributed propaganda attributed to Viet Minh threatening an American attack on Hanoi with atomic bombs.<ref name=":7">{{Cite book |last=Kinzer |first=Stephen |title=The Brothers: John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles, and Their Secret World War |date=2013 |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=978-1-4299-5352-8 |pages=[{{GBurl|id=LVb4-1l1gF4C|q=lansdale.+attache|p=194}} 195–196]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite thesis |last=Patrick |first=Johnson, David |title=Selling "Operation Passage to Freedom": Dr. Thomas Dooley and the Religious Overtones of Early American Involvement in Vietnam |date=2009 |publisher=University of New Orleans |url=https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/950/ |language=en|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230409174806/https://scholarworks.uno.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1931&context=td|archive-date=April 9, 2023}}</ref><ref name="Hastings" />{{Rp|96–97}}

During the 300-day period, up to one million northerners, mainly minority Catholics, moved south, fearing persecution by the Communists.<ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|96}}<ref>{{Cite web |last=Prados |first=John |date=January–February 2005 |title=The Numbers Game: How Many Vietnamese Fled South In 1954? |url=http://www.vva.org/TheVeteran/2005_01/feature_numbersGame.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060527190340/http://www.vva.org/TheVeteran/2005_01/feature_numbersGame.htm |archive-date=27 May 2006 |access-date=11 May 2017 |publisher=The VVA Veteran}}</ref> The exodus was coordinated by a U.S.-funded $93 million relocation program, which involved the [[French Navy]] and the US [[Seventh Fleet]] to ferry refugees.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Murti |first=B.S.N. |url=https://archive.org/details/vietnamdivided0000unse |title=Vietnam Divided |date=1964 |publisher=Asian Publishing House |url-access=registration}}</ref> The northern refugees gave the later [[Ngô Đình Diệm]] regime a strong anti-communist constituency.<ref name="Karnow">{{Harvnb|Karnow|1997}}</ref>{{Rp|238}} Over 100,000 Viet Minh fighters went to the north for "regroupment", expecting to return south within two years.<ref name=Kolko/>{{Rp|98}} The Viet Minh left roughly 5,000 to 10,000 [[Cadre (politics)|cadres]] in the south as a base for future insurgency.<ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|104}} The last French soldiers left South Vietnam in April 1956<ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|116}} and the PRC also completed its withdrawal from North Vietnam.<ref name=Ang/>{{Rp|14}}

[[File:903aafd6079a3ed1 landing.jpg|thumb|upright=.7|Anti-Bảo Đại, pro-French representatives of the State of Vietnam national assembly, Saigon, 1955]]

Between 1953 and 1956, the North Vietnamese government instituted agrarian reforms, including "rent reduction" and "land reform", which resulted in political oppression. During land reform, North Vietnamese witnesses suggested a ratio of one execution for every 160 village residents, which extrapolates to 100,000 executions. Because the campaign was mainly in the Red River Delta area, 50,000 executions became accepted by scholars.<ref name="Turner">{{Cite book |last=Turner |first=Robert F. |title=Vietnamese Communism: Its Origins and Development |date=1975 |publisher=Hoover Institution Press |isbn=978-0-8179-6431-3}}</ref>{{Rp|143}}<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gittinger |first=J. Price |date=1959 |title=Communist Land Policy in North Viet Nam |journal=Far Eastern Survey |volume=28 |issue=8 |pages=113–126 |doi=10.2307/3024603 |jstor=3024603}}</ref><ref name="Courtois">{{Cite book |last1=Courtois |first1=Stephane |title=The Black Book of Communism |title-link=The Black Book of Communism |last2=Werth |first2=Nicolas |last3=Panne |first3=Jean-Louis |last4=Paczkowski |first4=Andrzej |last5=Bartosek |first5=Karel |last6=Margolin |first6=Jean-Louis |date=1997 |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |isbn=978-0-674-07608-2 |display-authors=1}}</ref>{{Rp|569}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dommen |first=Arthur J. |title=The Indochinese Experience of the French and the Americans |date=2001 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0-253-33854-9 |page=340}}</ref> However, declassified documents from Vietnamese and Hungarian archives indicate executions were much lower, though likely greater than 13,500.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Vu |first=Tuong |date=25 May 2007 |title=Newly released documents on the land reform |url=http://www.lib.washington.edu/southeastasia/vsg/elist_2007/Newly |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110420044800/http://www.lib.washington.edu/southeastasia/vsg/elist_2007/Newly%20released%20documents%20on%20the%20land%20reform%20.html |archive-date=20 April 2011 |access-date=15 July 2016 |website=Vietnam Studies Group |quote=There is no reason to expect, and no evidence that I have seen to demonstrate, that the actual executions were less than planned; in fact the executions perhaps exceeded the plan if we consider two following factors. First, this decree was issued in 1953 for the rent and interest reduction campaign that preceded the far more radical land redistribution and party rectification campaigns (or waves) that followed during 1954–1956. Second, the decree was meant to apply to free areas (under the control of the Viet Minh government), not to the areas under French control that would be liberated in 1954–1955 and that would experience a far more violent struggle. Thus the number of 13,500 executed people seems to be a low-end estimate of the real number. This is corroborated by Edwin Moise in his recent paper "Land Reform in North Vietnam, 1953–1956" presented at the 18th Annual Conference on SE Asian Studies, Center for SE Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley (February 2001). In this paper Moise (7–9) modified his earlier estimate in his 1983 book (which was 5,000) and accepted an estimate close to 15,000 executions. Moise made the case based on Hungarian reports provided by Balazs, but the document I cited above offers more direct evidence for his revised estimate. This document also suggests that the total number should be adjusted up some more, taking into consideration the later radical phase of the campaign, the unauthorized killings at the local level, and the suicides following arrest and torture (the central government bore less direct responsibility for these cases, however).}} cf. {{Cite journal |last=Szalontai |first=Balazs |date=November 2005 |title=Political and Economic Crisis in North Vietnam, 1955–56 |journal=[[Cold War History (journal)|Cold War History]] |volume=5 |issue=4 |pages=395–426 |doi=10.1080/14682740500284630 |s2cid=153956945}} cf. {{Cite book |last=Vu |first=Tuong |title=Paths to Development in Asia: South Korea, Vietnam, China, and Indonesia |date=2010 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-1-139-48901-0 |page=103 |quote=Clearly Vietnamese socialism followed a moderate path relative to China.{{Nbsp}}... Yet the Vietnamese 'land reform' campaign{{Nbsp}}... testified that Vietnamese communists could be as radical and murderous as their comrades elsewhere.}}</ref> In 1956, leaders in Hanoi admitted to "excesses" in implementing this program and restored much of the land to the original owners.<ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|99–100}}

The south, meanwhile, constituted the State of Vietnam, with Bảo Đại as Emperor, and Ngô Đình Diệm as prime minister. Neither the US, nor Diệm's State of Vietnam, signed anything at the Geneva Conference. The non-communist Vietnamese delegation objected strenuously to any division of Vietnam, but lost when the French accepted the proposal of Viet Minh delegate [[Phạm Văn Đồng]],<ref name="PP">{{Cite book |title=The Pentagon Papers (Gravel Edition), Volume 3 |date=1971 |publisher=Beacon Press}}</ref>{{Rp|134}} who proposed Vietnam eventually be united by elections under the supervision of "local commissions".<ref name=PP/>{{Rp|119}} The US countered with what became known as the "American Plan", with the support of South Vietnam and the UK.<ref name=PP/>{{Rp|140}} It provided for unification elections under the supervision of the UN, but was rejected by the Soviet delegation.<ref name=PP/>{{Rp|140}} The US said, "With respect to the statement made by the representative of the State of Vietnam, the United States reiterates its traditional position that peoples are entitled to determine their own future and that it will not join in any arrangement which would hinder this".<ref name=PP/>{{Rp|570–571}}

US President Eisenhower wrote in 1954:

{{Blockquote|I have never talked or corresponded with a person knowledgeable in Indochinese affairs who did not agree that had elections been held as of the time of the fighting, possibly 80% of the population would have voted for the Communist Ho Chi Minh as their leader rather than Chief of State Bảo Đại. Indeed, the lack of leadership and drive on the part of Bảo Đại was a factor in the feeling prevalent among Vietnamese that they had nothing to fight for.{{Sfn|Eisenhower|1963|p=[https://archive.org/details/mandateforchange00eise/page/372 372]}}}}

[[File:Ba Cut Trial.jpg|thumb|left|[[Ba Cut]], commander of the [[Hòa Hảo]] religious movement, in Can Tho Military Court 1956]]

According to the ''Pentagon Papers'', which commented on Eisenhower's observation, Diệm would have been a more popular candidate than Bảo Đại against Hồ, stating that "It is almost certain that by 1956 the proportion which might have voted for Ho - in a free election against Diem - would have been much smaller than 80%."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://nara-media-001.s3.amazonaws.com/arcmedia/research/pentagon-papers/Pentagon-Papers-Part-IV-A-5.pdf |title=Evolution of the War. Origins of the Insurgency |page=6 |date=January 15, 1969 |website=National Archives |access-date=October 8, 2023 |archive-date=12 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230912155004/https://nara-media-001.s3.amazonaws.com/arcmedia/research/pentagon-papers/Pentagon-Papers-Part-IV-A-5.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1957, independent observers from India, Poland, and Canada representing the [[International Control Commission]] (ICC) stated that fair elections were impossible, with the ICC reporting that neither South nor North Vietnam had honored the armistice agreement.<ref>{{Harvnb|Woodruff|2005|p=6}} states: "The elections were not held. South Vietnam, which had not signed the Geneva Accords, did not believe the Communists in North Vietnam would allow a fair election. In January 1957, the International Control Commission (ICC), comprising observers from India, Poland, and Canada, agreed with this perception, reporting that neither South nor North Vietnam had honored the armistice agreement. With the French gone, a return to the traditional power struggle between north and south had begun again."</ref>

From April to June 1955, Diệm eliminated political opposition in the south by launching operations against religious groups: the [[Cao Đài]] and [[Hòa Hảo]] of [[Ba Cụt]]. The campaign also attacked the [[Bình Xuyên]] [[organized crime]] group, which was allied with members of the communist party secret police and had military elements. The group was defeated in April following a [[Battle of Saigon (1955)|battle in Saigon]]. As broad-based opposition to his harsh tactics mounted, Diệm increasingly sought to blame the communists.<ref name=Tucker/>

In a [[1955 State of Vietnam referendum|referendum on the future of the State of Vietnam]] in October 1955, Diệm [[electoral fraud|rigged]] the poll supervised by his brother [[Ngô Đình Nhu]] and was credited with 98% of the vote, including 133% in Saigon. His American advisors had recommended a more "modest" winning margin of "60 to 70 percent." Diệm, however, viewed the election as a test of authority.<ref name=Karnow/>{{Rp|224}} He declared South Vietnam to be an independent state under the name Republic of Vietnam (ROV), with him as president.<ref name=Hastings/> Likewise, Ho Chi Minh and other communists won at least 99% of the vote in North Vietnamese "elections".<ref name=Turner/>{{Rp|193–194, 202–203, 215–217}}

The [[domino theory]], which argued that if a country fell to communism, all surrounding countries would follow, was first proposed by the [[Presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower|Eisenhower administration]].<ref name=McNamara/>{{Rp|19}} [[John F. Kennedy]], then a [[United States Senate|senator]], said in a speech to the [[American Friends of Vietnam]]: "Burma, Thailand, India, Japan, the Philippines and obviously Laos and Cambodia are among those whose security would be threatened if the Red Tide of Communism overflowed into Vietnam."<ref>{{Cite web |title=America's Stakes in Vietnam Speech to the American Friends of Vietnam, June 1956 |url=http://www.jfklibrary.org/Research/Ready-Reference/JFK-Speeches/Remarks-of-Senator-John-F-Kennedy-at-the-Conference-on-Vietnam-Luncheon-in-the-Hotel-Willard-Washing.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120626125802/http://www.jfklibrary.org/Research/Ready-Reference/JFK-Speeches/Remarks-of-Senator-John-F-Kennedy-at-the-Conference-on-Vietnam-Luncheon-in-the-Hotel-Willard-Washing.aspx |archive-date=26 June 2012 |access-date=26 June 2012 |publisher=JFK Library}}</ref>

==Diệm era, 1954–1963==

===Rule===

[[File:Ngo Dinh Diem at Washington - ARC 542189.jpg|thumb|U.S. President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] and Secretary of State [[John Foster Dulles]] greet President [[Ngô Đình Diệm]] of [[South Vietnam]] in Washington, 8 May 1957]]

A devout Roman Catholic, Diệm was fervently anti-communist, nationalist, and socially conservative. Historian Luu Doan Huynh notes "Diệm represented narrow and extremist nationalism coupled with autocracy and [[nepotism]]."<ref name=McNamara/>{{Rp|200–201}} Most Vietnamese were [[Buddhism|Buddhist]], and alarmed by Diệm's actions, like his dedication of the country to the [[Virgin Mary]].

In the summer of 1955, Diệm launched the "Denounce the Communists" campaign, during which suspected communists and other anti-government elements were arrested, imprisoned, tortured, or executed. He instituted the death penalty in August 1956 against activity deemed communist.<ref name="WarBegan" /> The North Vietnamese government claimed that, by November 1957, over 65,000 individuals were imprisoned and 2,148 killed in the process.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Turner |first=Robert F. |title=Vietnamese Communism: Its Origins and Development |date=1975 |publisher=[[Hoover Institution]] Publications |isbn=978-0817964313 |pages=174–178}}</ref> According to [[Gabriel Kolko]], 40,000 [[political prisoner]]s had been jailed by the end of 1958.<ref name=Kolko/>{{Rp|89}} In October 1956, Diệm launched a [[Land reform in South Vietnam|land reform program]] limiting the size of rice farms per owner. 1.8m acres of farm land became available for purchase by landless people. By 1960, the process had stalled because many of Diem's biggest supporters were large landowners.<ref name="Collision">{{Cite book |last1=Doyle |first1=Edward |url=https://archive.org/details/collisionofcultu00doyl |title=The Vietnam Experience, a Collision of Cultures |last2=Weiss |first2=Stephen |date=1984 |publisher=Boston Publishing Company |isbn=978-0939526123 |url-access=registration}}</ref>{{Rp|14–16}}

In May 1957, Diệm undertook a [[Ngô Đình Diệm presidential visit to the United States|10-day state visit to the US]]. President Eisenhower pledged his continued support, and a parade was held in Diệm's honor. But Secretary of State Dulles privately conceded Diệm had to be backed because they could find no better alternative.<ref name=Karnow/>{{Rp|230}}

===Insurgency in the South, 1954–1960===

Between 1954 and 1957, the Diệm government succeeded in preventing large-scale organized unrest in the countryside. In April 1957, insurgents launched an assassination campaign, referred to as "extermination of traitors".<ref name="McNamera35">{{Cite book |last1=McNamera |first1=Robert S. |title=Argument Without End |last2=Blight |first2=James G. |last3=Brigham |first3=Robert K. |date=1999 |publisher=[[PublicAffairs]] |isbn=1-891620-22-3 |pages=35}}</ref> 17 people were killed in the [[Châu Đốc massacre]] at a bar in July, and in September a district chief was killed with his family.<ref name="WarBegan" /> By early 1959, Diệm had come to regard the violence as an organized campaign and implemented Law 10/59, which made political violence punishable by death and property confiscation.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Excerpts from Law 10/59, 6 May 1959 |url=http://vietnam.vassar.edu/doc6.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080723163835/http://vietnam.vassar.edu/doc6.html |archive-date=23 July 2008}}</ref> There had been division among former Viet Minh, whose main goal was to hold elections promised in the Geneva Accords, leading to "[[wildcat strike|wildcat]]" activities separate from the other communists and anti-GVN activists. [[Douglas Pike]] estimated that insurgents carried out 2,000 abductions, and 1,700 assassinations of government officials, village chiefs, hospital workers and teachers from 1957 to 1960.<ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|106}}<ref name="WarBegan" /> Violence between insurgents and government forces increased drastically from 180 clashes in January 1960, to 545 clashes in September.<ref name="cmh">{{Cite book |last=Kelly |first=Francis John |url=http://www.history.army.mil/BOOKS/Vietnam/90-23/90-23C.htm |title=History of Special Forces in Vietnam, 1961–1971 |publisher=[[United States Army Center of Military History]] |year=1989 |location=Washington, D.C. |page=4 |id=CMH Pub 90-23 |access-date=14 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140212151656/http://www.history.army.mil/books/Vietnam/90-23/90-23C.htm |archive-date=12 February 2014 |url-status=dead |orig-year=1973}}</ref>

In September 1960, [[Central Office for South Vietnam|COSVN]], North Vietnam's southern headquarters, ordered a coordinated uprising in South Vietnam against the government and a third of the population was soon living in areas of communist control.<ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|106–107}} In December 1960, North Vietnam formally created the [[Viet Cong]] with the intent of uniting all anti-GVN insurgents, including non-communists. It was formed in [[Memot District|Memot, Cambodia]], and directed through COSVN.<ref name=Ang/>{{Rp|55–58}} The Viet Cong "placed heavy emphasis on the withdrawal of American advisors and influence, on land reform and liberalization of the GVN, on [[coalition government]] and the neutralization of Vietnam." The identities of the leaders of the organization were often kept secret.<ref name="WarBegan" />

Support for the VC was driven by resentment of Diem's reversal of Viet Minh land reforms in the countryside. The Viet Minh had confiscated large private landholdings, reduced rents and debts, and leased communal lands, mostly to poorer peasants. Diem brought the landlords back, people who had been farming land for years had to return it to landlords and pay years of back rent. [[Marilyn B. Young]] wrote that "The divisions within villages reproduced those that had existed against the French: 75% support for the NLF, 20% trying to remain neutral and 5% firmly pro-government".<ref name="Young">{{Cite book |last=Young |first=Marilyn |url=https://archive.org/details/vietnamwars194510000youn |title=The Vietnam Wars: 1945–1990 |date=1991 |publisher=Harper Perennial |isbn=978-0-06-092107-1 |url-access=registration}}</ref>{{Rp|73}}

====North Vietnamese involvement====

In March 1956, southern communist leader [[Lê Duẩn]] presented a plan to revive the insurgency entitled "The Road to the South" to the Politburo in Hanoi. However, as China and the Soviets opposed confrontation, his plan was rejected.<ref name=Ang/>{{Rp|58}} Despite this, the North Vietnamese leadership approved tentative measures to revive southern insurgency in December 1956.{{Sfn|Olson|Roberts |2008|p=67}} Communist forces were under a single command structure set up in 1958.{{Sfn|Military History Institute of Vietnam|2002|p=68}} In May 1958, North Vietnamese forces seized the transportation hub at [[Tchepone]] in Southern Laos near the demilitarized zone, between North and South Vietnam.<ref name="Prados-1999">{{Cite book |last=Prados |first=John |title=The Blood Road: The Ho Chi Minh Trail and the Vietnam War |date=1999 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=9780471254652}}</ref>{{RP|24}}

The North Vietnamese Communist Party approved a "people's war" on the South at a session in January 1959,<ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|119–120}} and, in May, [[Group 559]] was established to maintain and upgrade the [[Ho Chi Minh trail]], at this time a six-month mountain trek through Laos. On 28 July, North Vietnamese and [[Pathet Lao]] forces invaded Laos, fighting the Royal Lao Army all along the border.<ref name="Morrocco-1985">{{Cite book |last=Morrocco |first=John |title=Rain of Fire: Air War, 1969–1973 |date=1985 |publisher=Boston Publishing Company |isbn=9780939526147 |series=Volume 14 of Vietnam Experience}}</ref>{{RP|26}} About 500 of the "regroupees" of 1954 were sent south on the trail during its first year of operation.{{Sfn|Military History Institute of Vietnam|2002|p=xi}} The first arms delivery via the trail was completed in August 1959.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Prados |first=John |title=Rolling Thunder in a Gentle Land |date=2006 |publisher=Osprey Publishing |isbn=978-1-84603-020-8 |editor-last=Wiest |editor-first=Andrew |location=Oxford |pages=74–95 |chapter=The Road South: The Ho Chi Minh Trail |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/rollingthunderin00wies}}</ref> In April 1960, North Vietnam imposed universal military conscription for men. About 40,000 communist soldiers infiltrated the south from 1961 to 1963.<ref name=Ang/>{{Rp|76}}

==Kennedy's escalation, 1961–1963==

[[File:The President's News Conference, 23 March 1961.jpg|thumb|President Kennedy's news conference of 23 March 1961]]

In the [[1960 U.S. presidential election]], Senator John F. Kennedy defeated incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon. Although Eisenhower warned Kennedy about Laos and Vietnam, Europe and Latin America "loomed larger than Asia on his sights."<ref name=Karnow/>{{Rp|264}} In June 1961, he bitterly disagreed with Soviet premier [[Nikita Khrushchev]] when they [[Vienna summit|met in Vienna]] to discuss key U.S.–Soviet issues. Only 16 months later, the [[Cuban Missile Crisis]] (October 1962) played out on television worldwide. It was the closest the Cold War came to [[nuclear war]].

The Kennedy administration remained committed to the Cold War foreign policy inherited from the Truman and Eisenhower administrations. In 1961, the US had 50,000 troops based in South Korea, and Kennedy faced four crisis situations: the failure of the [[Bay of Pigs Invasion]] he had approved in April,<ref>{{Cite web |date=12 May 2015 |title=It's Time to Stop Saying that JFK Inherited the Bay of Pigs Operation from Ike |url=https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/161188 |publisher=History News Network|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230207045947/https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/161188|archive-date=February 7, 2023}}</ref> settlement negotiations between the pro-Western government of Laos and the Pathet Lao communist movement in May,<ref name=Karnow/>{{Rp|265}} construction of the [[Berlin Wall]] in August, and the Cuban Missile Crisis in October. Kennedy believed another failure to stop communist expansion would irreparably damage US credibility. He was determined to "draw a line in the sand" and prevent a communist victory in Vietnam. He told James Reston of ''[[The New York Times]]'' after the Vienna summit with Khrushchev, "Now we have a problem making our power credible and Vietnam looks like the place."<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20040205004638/http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/goldzwig.htm The case of John F. Kennedy and Vietnam Presidential Studies Quarterly].</ref><ref>Mann, Robert. ''A Grand Delusion'', Basic Books, 2002.</ref>

Kennedy's policy toward South Vietnam assumed Diệm and his forces had to defeat the guerrillas on their own. He was against the deployment of American combat troops and observed "to introduce U.S. forces in large numbers there today, while it might have an initially favorable military impact, would almost certainly lead to adverse political and, in the long run, adverse military consequences."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Vietnam Task Force |url=http://media.nara.gov/research/pentagon-papers/Pentagon-Papers-Part-IV-B-4.pdf |title=Report of the Office of the Secretary of Defense Vietnam Task Force |date=1969 |publisher=[[Office of the Secretary of Defense]] |location=Washington, DC |pages=1–2 |chapter=IV. B. Evolution of the War 4. Phased Withdrawal of U.S. Forces in Vietnam, 1962–64 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150504231323/http://media.nara.gov/research/pentagon-papers/Pentagon-Papers-Part-IV-B-4.pdf |archive-date=4 May 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The quality of the South Vietnamese military, however, remained poor. Poor leadership, corruption, and political promotions weakened the ARVN. The frequency of guerrilla attacks rose as the insurgency gathered steam. While Hanoi's support for the Viet Cong played a role, South Vietnamese governmental incompetence was at the core of the crisis.<ref name=McNamara/>{{Rp|369}}

[[File:President meets with Secretary of Defense. President Kennedy, Secretary McNamara. White House, Cabinet Room - NARA - 194244.jpg|thumb|President Kennedy meeting with Secretary of Defense [[Robert McNamara|McNamara]], in June 1962]]

One major issue Kennedy raised was whether the Soviet space and missile programs had surpassed those of the US. Although Kennedy stressed long-range missile parity with the Soviets, he was interested in using [[special forces]] for [[counterinsurgency]] warfare in [[Third World]] countries threatened by communist insurgencies. Although they were intended for use behind front lines after a conventional Soviet invasion of Europe, Kennedy believed guerrilla tactics employed by special forces, such as the [[Special Forces (United States Army)|Green Berets]], would be effective in a "brush fire" war in Vietnam.

Kennedy advisors [[Maxwell D. Taylor|Maxwell Taylor]] and [[Walt Rostow]] [[Taylor-Rostow Report|recommended]] US troops be sent to South Vietnam disguised as flood relief workers.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Stavins |first=Ralph L. |date=22 July 1971 |title=A Special Supplement: Kennedy's Private War |work=The New York Review of Books |url=http://www.nybooks.com/articles/1971/07/22/a-special-supplement-kennedys-private-war/ |access-date=2 December 2017 |issn=0028-7504|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406045200/https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1971/07/22/a-special-supplement-kennedys-private-war/|archive-date=April 6, 2023}}</ref> Kennedy rejected the idea but increased military assistance. In April 1962, [[John Kenneth Galbraith]] warned Kennedy of the "danger we shall replace the French as a colonial force in the area and bleed as the French did."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Galbraith |first=John Kenneth |title=The Pentagon Papers (Gravel Edition), Volume 2 |date=1971 |publisher=Beacon Press |location=Boston |pages=669–671 |chapter=Memorandum to President Kennedy from John Kenneth Galbraith on Vietnam, 4 April 1962 |author-link=John Kenneth Galbraith}}</ref> Eisenhower put 900 advisors in Vietnam, and by November 1963, Kennedy had put 16,000 military personnel there.<ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|131}}

The [[Strategic Hamlet Program]] was initiated in late 1961. This joint U.S.–South Vietnamese program attempted to resettle the rural population into fortified villages. It was implemented in early 1962 and involved some forced relocation and segregation of rural South Vietnamese, into new communities where the peasantry would be isolated from the Viet Cong. It was hoped these new communities would provide security for the peasants and strengthen the tie between them and the central government. However, by November 1963 the program had waned, and it ended in 1964.<ref name=Tucker/>{{Rp|1070}} In July 1962, 14 nations, including China, South Vietnam, the Soviet Union, North Vietnam, and the US, signed an [[International Agreement on the Neutrality of Laos|agreement]] promising to respect Laos' neutrality.

===Ousting and assassination of Ngô Đình Diệm===

{{See also|United States in the Vietnam War|Krulak Mendenhall mission|McNamara Taylor mission|1963 South Vietnamese coup}}

The inept performance of the ARVN was exemplified by failed actions such as the [[Battle of Ap Bac|Battle of Ấp Bắc]] on 2 January 1963, in which a band of Viet Cong won a battle against a much larger and better-equipped South Vietnamese force, many of whose officers seemed reluctant even to engage in combat.<ref name="Sheehan">{{Cite book |last=Sheehan |first=Neil |title=A Bright Shining Lie – John Paul Vann and the American War in Vietnam |date=1989 |publisher=Vintage |isbn=978-0-679-72414-8|url=https://archive.org/details/brightshininglie0000shee_r0g3}}</ref>{{Rp|201–206}} The South Vietnamese lost 83 soldiers and 5 US war helicopters, serving to ferry troops shot down by Vietcong forces, while the Vietcong lost only 18 soldiers. The ARVN forces were led by Diệm's most trusted general, [[Huỳnh Văn Cao]]. Cao was a Catholic, promoted due to religion and fidelity rather than skill, and his main job was to preserve his forces to stave off coups. Policymakers in Washington began to conclude Diệm was incapable of defeating the communists and might even make a deal with Ho Chi Minh. He seemed concerned only with fending off coups and had become paranoid after attempts in [[1960 South Vietnamese coup attempt|1960]] and [[1962 South Vietnamese Independence Palace bombing|1962]], which he partly attributed to US encouragement. As [[Robert F. Kennedy]] noted, "Diệm wouldn't make even the slightest concessions. He was difficult to reason with{{Nbsp}}..."<ref>Live interview by [[John Bartlow Martin]]. ''Was Kennedy Planning to Pull out of Vietnam?'' New York City. John F. Kennedy Library, 1964, Tape V, Reel 1.</ref> Historian James Gibson summed up the situation:

{{Blockquote|Strategic hamlets had failed{{Nbsp}}... The South Vietnamese regime was incapable of winning the peasantry because of its class base among landlords. Indeed, there was no longer a 'regime' in the sense of a relatively stable political alliance and functioning bureaucracy. Instead, civil government and military operations had virtually ceased. The National Liberation Front had made great progress and was close to declaring provisional revolutionary governments in large areas.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Gibson |first=James |date=1986 |title=The Perfect War: Technowar in Vietnam |page=[https://archive.org/details/perfectwartechno0000gibs/page/88 88] |publisher=The Atlantic Monthly Press |url=https://archive.org/details/perfectwartechno0000gibs |url-access=registration}}</ref>}}

Discontent with Diệm's policies exploded in May 1963, following the [[Huế Phật Đản shootings]] of 9 Buddhists protesting the ban on displaying the [[Buddhist flag]] on [[Vesak]], Buddha's birthday. This resulted in mass protests -the [[Buddhist crisis]]- against discriminatory policies that gave privileges to Catholics over the Buddhist majority. Diệm's elder brother [[Ngô Đình Thục]] was the Archbishop of Huế and aggressively blurred the separation between church and state. Thuc's anniversary celebrations occurred shortly before Vesak had been bankrolled by the government, and Vatican flags were displayed prominently. There had been reports of Catholic paramilitaries demolishing Buddhist pagodas throughout Diệm's rule. Diệm refused to make concessions to the Buddhist majority or take responsibility for the deaths. On 21 August 1963, the [[Army of the Republic of Vietnam Special Forces|ARVN Special Forces]] of Colonel [[Lê Quang Tung]], loyal to Diệm's younger brother Ngô Đình Nhu, [[Xá Lợi Pagoda raids|raided pagodas]], causing widespread destruction and leaving a death toll into the hundreds.

[[File:Arvncapture.jpg|thumb|upright=.8|left|ARVN forces capture a Viet Cong]]

US officials began discussing [[regime change]] during the middle of 1963. The [[United States Department of State]] wanted to encourage a coup, while the Pentagon favored Diệm. Chief among the proposed changes was removal of Diệm's younger brother Nhu, who controlled the secret police and special forces, and was seen as being behind the Buddhist repression and the architect of the Ngô family's rule. This proposal was conveyed to the US embassy in Saigon in [[Cable 243]]. The CIA contacted generals planning to remove Diệm, and told them the US would not oppose such a move, nor punish them by cutting off aid. Diệm was executed, along with his brother, on 2 November 1963. When Kennedy was informed, Maxwell Taylor remembered he "rushed from the room with a look of shock and dismay on his face."<ref name=Karnow/>{{Rp|326}} Kennedy had not anticipated Diệm's murder. The U.S. ambassador [[Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.|Henry Cabot Lodge]], invited the coup leaders to the embassy and congratulated them. Lodge informed Kennedy that "the prospects now are for a shorter war".<ref name=Karnow/>{{Rp|327}} Kennedy wrote Lodge a letter congratulating him for "a fine job".<ref>{{Cite book |title=Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961–1963, Volume IV, Vietnam, August–December 1963 |chapter=304. Telegram From the Department of State to the Embassy in Vietnam—Washington, November 6, 1963—7:50 p.m. |chapter-url=https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d304 |via=Office of the Historian|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404230151/https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d304|archive-date=April 4, 2023}}</ref>

Following the coup, chaos ensued. Hanoi took advantage and increased its support for the guerrillas. South Vietnam entered extreme political instability, as one military government toppled another in quick succession. Increasingly, each new regime was viewed by the communists as a puppet of the Americans; whatever the failings of Diệm, his credentials as a nationalist had been impeccable.<ref name=McNamara/>{{Rp|328}} US advisors were embedded at every level of the South Vietnamese armed forces. They were however criticized for ignoring the political nature of the insurgency.{{Sfn|Demma|1989}} The Kennedy administration sought to refocus US efforts on pacification – which in this case was defined as countering the growing threat of insurgency<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 2015 |title=Counterinsurgency in Vietnam: Lessons for Today |url=https://www.afsa.org/counterinsurgency-vietnam-lessons-today |website=The Foreign Service Journal|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407114858/https://afsa.org/counterinsurgency-vietnam-lessons-today|archive-date=April 7, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Pacification |url=http://www.vietnamgear.com/dictionary/pacification.aspx |website=Vietnam War Dictionary|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405065336/http://www.vietnamgear.com/dictionary.aspx?s=pacification|archive-date=April 5, 2023}}</ref> – and [[Hearts and Minds (Vietnam War)|"winning the hearts and minds"]] of the population. Military leadership in Washington, however, was hostile to any role for U.S. advisors other than troop training.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Blaufarb |first=Douglas S. |title=The Counterinsurgency Era: U.S. Doctrine and Performance, 1950 to the Present |date=1977 |publisher=Free Press |isbn=978-0-02-903700-3 |page=119}}</ref> General [[Paul D. Harkins|Paul Harkins]], the [[COMUSMACV|commander of U.S. forces in South Vietnam]], confidently predicted victory by Christmas 1963.<ref name=Herring/>{{Rp|103}} The CIA was less optimistic, however, warning that "the Viet Cong by and large retain de facto control of much of the countryside and have steadily increased the overall intensity of the effort".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Schandler |first=Herbert Y. |url=https://archive.org/details/americainvietnam0000scha |title=America in Vietnam: The War That Couldn't Be Won |date=2009 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-0-7425-6697-2 |page=[https://archive.org/details/americainvietnam0000scha/page/36 36] |url-access=registration}}</ref>

Paramilitary officers from the CIA's [[Special Activities Division]] trained and led [[Hmong people|Hmong]] tribesmen in Laos and into Vietnam. The indigenous forces were in the tens of thousands and conducted direct action missions, led by paramilitary officers, against the Communist Pathet Lao forces and their North Vietnamese supporters.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Southworth |first1=Samuel |url=https://archive.org/details/usspecialforcesg0000sout |title=U.S. Special Forces: A Guide to America's Special Operations Units: the World's Most Elite Fighting Force |last2=Tanner |first2=Stephen |date=2002 |publisher=Da Capo Press |isbn=978-0-306-81165-4 |url-access=registration}}</ref> The CIA ran the [[Phoenix Program]] and participated in the [[Military Assistance Command, Vietnam – Studies and Observations Group]] (MAC-V SOG).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Warner |first=Roger |title=Shooting at the Moon The story of America's clandestine war in Laos |date=1996 |publisher=Steerforth Press |isbn=978-1-883642-36-5}}</ref>

==Gulf of Tonkin and Johnson's escalation, 1963–1969==

{{Further|United States in the Vietnam War#Americanization|January 1964 South Vietnamese coup|September 1964 South Vietnamese coup attempt|December 1964 South Vietnamese coup|1965 South Vietnamese coup}}

President Kennedy [[Assassination of John F. Kennedy|was assassinated]] on 22 November 1963. Vice President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] had not been heavily involved with policy toward Vietnam;<ref name="Karnow 1997 336_339">{{Harvnb|Karnow|1997|pp=336–339}}. Johnson viewed many members that he inherited from Kennedy's cabinet with distrust because he had never penetrated their circle during Kennedy's presidency; to Johnson's mind, those like [[W. Averell Harriman]] and [[Dean Acheson]] spoke a different language.</ref>{{Refn|group="A"|Shortly after the assassination of Kennedy, when [[McGeorge Bundy]] called Johnson on the phone, Johnson responded: "Goddammit, Bundy. I've told you that when I want you I'll call you."<ref>{{Cite book |last=VanDeMark |first=Brian |title=Into the Quagmire |date=1995 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |page=13}}</ref>}} however, upon becoming president, he immediately focused it. On 24 November 1963, he said, "the battle against communism{{Nbsp}}... must be joined{{Nbsp}}... with strength and determination."<ref>{{Harvnb|Karnow|1997|p=339}}. Before a small group, including Henry Cabot Lodge, the new president also said, "We should stop playing cops and robbers [a reference to Diệm's failed leadership] and get back to{{Nbsp}}... winning the war{{Nbsp}}... tell the generals in Saigon that Lyndon Johnson intends to stand by our word{{Nbsp}}... [to] win the contest against the externally directed and supported Communist conspiracy."</ref> Johnson knew he had inherited a deteriorating situation in South Vietnam,<ref name="Karnow 1997 339">{{Harvnb|Karnow|1997|p=339}}: "At a place called Hoa Phu, for example, the strategic hamlet built during the previous summer now looked like it had been hit by a hurricane.{{Nbsp}}... Speaking through an interpreter, a local guard explained to me that a handful of Viet Cong agents had entered the hamlet one night and told the peasants to tear it down and return to their native villages. The peasants complied without question."</ref> but adhered to the widely accepted domino argument for defending the South: Should they retreat or appease, either action would imperil other nations.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hunt |first=Michael |title=The World Transformed – 1945 to the Present |date=2016 |publisher=Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-937102-0 |location=New York |pages=169–171}}</ref> Findings from RAND's [[Viet Cong Motivation and Morale Project]] bolstered his confidence that an air war would weaken the Viet Cong. Some argue the policy of North Vietnam was not to topple other non-communist governments in South East Asia.<ref name=McNamara/>{{Rp|48}}

The military revolutionary council, meeting in lieu of a strong South Vietnamese leader, had 12 members. It was headed by General [[Dương Văn Minh]], whom journalist [[Stanley Karnow]], recalled as "a model of lethargy".<ref name=Karnow/>{{Rp|340}} Lodge cabled home about Minh: "Will he be strong enough to get on top of things?" Minh's regime was overthrown in January 1964 by General [[Nguyễn Khánh]].<ref name=Karnow/>{{Rp|341}} There was persistent instability in the military: several coups—not all successful—occurred in a short period of time.

===Gulf of Tonkin incident===

On 2 August 1964, {{USS|Maddox|DD-731|6}}, on an intelligence mission along North Vietnam's coast, fired upon and damaged torpedo boats approaching it in the Gulf of Tonkin.<ref name=Kolko/>{{Rp|124}} A second attack was reported two days later on {{USS|Turner Joy|DD-951|6}} and ''Maddox''. The circumstances were murky.<ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|218–219}} Johnson commented to Undersecretary of State George Ball that "those sailors out there may have been shooting at flying fish."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kutler |first=Stanley I. |title=Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War |date=1996 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=978-0-13-276932-7 |page=249}}</ref> An [[National Security Agency|NSA]] publication declassified in 2005 revealed there was no attack on 4 August.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Shane |first=Scott |date=31 October 2005 |title=Vietnam Study, Casting Doubts, Remains Secret |work=The New York Times] |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/2005/10/31/politics/31war.html |url-status=live |access-date=4 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081211090222/http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/31/politics/31war.html?fta=y&pagewanted=all |archive-date=11 December 2008}}</ref>

The second "attack" led to [[Operation Pierce Arrow|retaliatory airstrikes]], and prompted Congress to approve the [[Gulf of Tonkin Resolution]] on 7 August 1964.<ref name="Moïse">{{Cite book |last=Moïse |first=Edwin E. |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780807823002 |title=Tonkin Gulf and the Escalation of the Vietnam War |date=1996 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |isbn=978-0-8078-2300-2 |url-access=registration}}</ref>{{Rp|78}} The resolution granted the president power "to take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression" and Johnson relied on this as giving him authority to expand the war.<ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|221}} Johnson pledged he was not "committing American boys to fighting a war that I think ought to be fought by the boys of Asia to help protect their own land".<ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|227}}

The [[United States National Security Council|National Security Council]] recommended a three-stage escalation of the bombing of North Vietnam. Following an [[Attack on Camp Holloway|attack on a U.S. Army base]] on 7 February 1965,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Simon |first=Dennis M. |date=August 2002 |title=The War in Vietnam, 1965–1968 |url=http://faculty.smu.edu/dsimon/Change-Viet2.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090426064833/http://faculty.smu.edu/dsimon/Change-Viet2.html |archive-date=26 April 2009 |access-date=7 May 2009}}</ref> airstrikes were initiated, while Soviet Premier [[Alexei Kosygin]] was on a [[state visit]] to North Vietnam. [[Operation Rolling Thunder]] and [[Operation Arc Light]] expanded aerial bombardment and ground support operations.{{Sfn|Nalty|1998|pp=97, 261}} The bombing campaign, which lasted 3 years, was intended to force North Vietnam to cease its support for the Viet Cong by threatening to destroy North Vietnamese air defenses and infrastructure. It was additionally aimed at bolstering South Vietnamese morale.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tilford |first=Earl L. |url=https://media.defense.gov/2017/Apr/07/2001728434/-1/-1/0/B_0040_TILFORD_SETUP.PDF |title=Setup: What the Air Force did in Vietnam and Why |date=1991 |publisher=Air University Press |page=89|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404230151/https://media.defense.gov/2017/Apr/07/2001728434/-1/-1/0/B_0040_TILFORD_SETUP.PDF|archive-date=April 4, 2023}}</ref> Between March 1965 and November 1968, ''Rolling Thunder'' deluged the north with a million tons of missiles, rockets and bombs.<ref name=Karnow/>{{Rp|468}}

===Bombing of Laos===

Bombing was not restricted to North Vietnam. Other aerial campaigns, targeted different parts of the Viet Cong and PAVN infrastructure. These included the Ho Chi Minh trail supply route, which ran through Laos and Cambodia. The ostensibly neutral Laos had become [[Laotian Civil War|the scene of a civil war]], pitting the [[Kingdom of Laos|Laotian government]] backed by the US, against the Pathet Lao and its North Vietnamese allies.

Massive aerial bombardment against the Pathet Lao and PAVN forces was carried out by the US to prevent the collapse of the Royal central government, and deny use of the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Between 1964 and 1973, the U.S. dropped two million tons of bombs on Laos, nearly equal to the 2.1 million tons of bombs it dropped on Europe and Asia during World War II, making Laos the most heavily bombed country in history, relative to its population.<ref name="KiernanTaylor">{{Cite journal |last1=Kiernan |first1=Ben |author-link=Ben Kiernan |last2=Owen |first2=Taylor |date=26 April 2015 |title=Making More Enemies than We Kill? Calculating U.S. Bomb Tonnages Dropped on Laos and Cambodia, and Weighing Their Implications |url=http://apjjf.org/2015/13/16/Ben-Kiernan/4313.html |journal=The Asia-Pacific Journal |volume=13 |issue=17 |id=4313 |access-date=18 September 2016|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326111723/https://apjjf.org/Ben-Kiernan/4313.html|archive-date=March 26, 2023}}</ref>

The objective of stopping North Vietnam and the Viet Cong was never reached. The [[Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force]] [[Curtis LeMay]], however, had long advocated saturation bombing in Vietnam and wrote of the communists that "we're going to bomb them back into the Stone Age".<ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|328}}

===The 1964 offensive===

[[File:DongXoaiHuey-65a.JPG|thumb|ARVN Forces and a US Advisor inspect a downed helicopter, [[Battle of Dong Xoai]], June 1965]]

Following the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, Hanoi anticipated the arrival of US troops and began expanding the Viet Cong, as well as sending increasing numbers of North Vietnamese personnel southwards. They were outfitting the Viet Cong forces and standardizing their equipment with [[AK-47]] rifles and other supplies, as well as forming the [[9th Division (Vietnam)|9th Division]].<ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|223}}<ref>{{Cite book |title=Vietnam War After Action Reports |publisher=BACM Research |page=[{{GBurl|id=Dch3m7u2K5YC|p=84}} 84] |language=en}}</ref> "From a strength of approximately 5,000 at the start of 1959 the Viet Cong's ranks grew to about 100,000 at the end of 1964{{Nbsp}}... Between 1961 and 1964 the Army's strength rose from about 850,000 to nearly a million men."{{Sfn|Demma|1989}} U.S. troop numbers deployed to Vietnam during the same period were much lower: 2,000 in 1961, rising to 16,500 in 1964.<ref name="Kahin">{{Cite book |last1=Kahin |first1=George |title=The United States in Vietnam: An analysis in depth of the history of America's involvement in Vietnam |last2=Lewis |first2=John W. |date=1967 |publisher=Delta Books}}</ref> The use of captured equipment decreased, while greater numbers of ammunition and supplies were required to maintain regular units. Group 559 was tasked with expanding the Ho Chi Minh trail, in light of the bombardment by US warplanes. The war had shifted into the final, conventional phase of Hanoi's [[Viet Cong and PAVN strategy, organization and structure#The Protracted War conflict model|three-stage protracted warfare model]]. The Viet Cong was now tasked with destroying the ARVN and capturing and holding areas; however, it was not yet strong enough to assault major towns and cities.

In December 1964, ARVN forces suffered heavy losses at the [[Battle of Bình Giã]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Moyar |first=Mark |title=Triumph Forsaken: The Vietnam War, 1954–1965 |date=2006 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-86911-9 |page=[{{GBurl|id=phJrZ87RwuAC|p=339}} 339]}}</ref> in a battle both sides viewed as a watershed. Previously, the VC had utilized hit-and-run guerrilla tactics. At Binh Gia, however, they defeated a strong ARVN force in a conventional battle and remained in the field for four days.<ref name="McNeill">{{Cite book |last=McNeill |first=Ian |title=To Long Tan: The Australian Army and the Vietnam War 1950–1966 |date=1993 |publisher=Allen & Unwin |isbn=978-1-86373-282-6}}</ref>{{Rp|58}} Tellingly, South Vietnamese forces were again defeated in June 1965 at the [[Battle of Đồng Xoài]].<ref name=McNeill/>{{Rp|94}}

===American ground war===

[[File:Vietcongsuspect.jpg|thumb|A Marine from [[1st Battalion, 3rd Marines]], moves a suspected Viet Cong during a search and clear operation held by the battalion {{Convert|15|mi|km|0}} west of [[Da Nang Air Base]], 1965.]]

On 8 March 1965, 3,500 [[United States Marine Corps|U.S. Marines]] were landed near [[Da Nang]], South Vietnam.<ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|246–247}} This marked the beginning of the American ground war. U.S. public opinion overwhelmingly supported the deployment.<ref>{{Cite web |date=17 October 2002 |title=Generations Divide Over Military Action in Iraq |url=http://www.people-press.org/2002/10/17/generations-divide-over-military-action-in-iraq |publisher=Pew Research Center|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20221121005317/https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2002/10/17/generations-divide-over-military-action-in-iraq/|archive-date=21 November 2022}}</ref> The Marines' initial assignment was defense of [[Da Nang Air Base]]. The first deployment of 3,500 in March 1965 was increased to nearly 200,000 by December.<ref name=McNamara/>{{Rp|349–351}} U.S. military had long been schooled in offensive warfare. Regardless of political policies, U.S. commanders were institutionally and psychologically unsuited to a defensive mission.<ref name=McNamara/>{{Rp|349–351}}

General [[William Westmoreland]] informed Admiral [[U. S. Grant Sharp Jr.]], commander of U.S. Pacific forces, that the situation was critical,<ref name=McNamara/>{{Rp|349–351}} "I am convinced that U.S. troops with their energy, mobility, and firepower can successfully take the fight to the NLF (Viet Cong)".<ref>United States – Vietnam Relations, 1945–1967: A Study Prepared by the Department of Defense, vol. 4, p. 7.</ref> With this recommendation, Westmoreland was advocating an aggressive departure from America's defensive posture and the sidelining of the South Vietnamese. By ignoring ARVN units, the U.S. commitment became open-ended.<ref name=McNamara/>{{Rp|353}} Westmoreland outlined a three-point plan to win the war:

* Phase 1. Commitment of U.S. and allied forces necessary to halt the losing trend by the end of 1965.

* Phase 2. U.S. and allied forces mount major offensive actions to seize the initiative to destroy guerrilla and organized enemy forces. This phase would end when the enemy had been worn down and driven back from major populated areas.

* Phase 3. If the enemy persisted, a period of 12–18 months following Phase 2 would be required for final destruction of enemy forces remaining in remote base areas.<ref>United States – Vietnam Relations, 1945–1967: A Study Prepared by the Department of Defense, vol. 5, pp. 8–9.</ref>

The plan was approved by Johnson and marked a profound departure from the insistence that South Vietnam was responsible for defeating the guerrillas. Westmoreland predicted victory by the end of 1967.<ref>United States – Vietnam Relations, 1945–1967: A Study Prepared by the Department of Defense, vol. 4, pp. 117–19. and vol. 5, pp. 8–12.</ref> Johnson did not communicate this change in strategy to the media. Instead he emphasized continuity.<ref>''Public Papers of the Presidents, 1965.'' Washington, DC Government Printing Office, 1966, vol. 2, pp. 794–99.</ref> The change in policy depended on matching the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong in a contest of [[attrition warfare|attrition]] and [[morale]]. The opponents were locked in a cycle of [[Conflict escalation|escalation]].<ref name=McNamara/>{{Rp|353–354}} Westmoreland and McNamara touted the [[Body count#Vietnam War|body count]] system for gauging victory, a metric that would prove flawed.<ref name=Mohr>{{Cite news |last=Mohr |first=Charles |date=16 May 1984 |title=McNamara on Record, Reluctantly, on Vietnam |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/05/16/us/mcnamara-on-record-reluctantly-on-vietnam.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404185613/https://www.nytimes.com/1984/05/16/us/mcnamara-on-record-reluctantly-on-vietnam.html|archive-date=April 4, 2023}}</ref>

[[File:Vietnamese villagers suspected of being communists by the US Army - 1966.jpg|thumb|upright=.9|Peasants suspected of being Viet Cong under detention of U.S. Army, 1966]]

The American buildup transformed the South Vietnamese economy and had a profound effect on society. South Vietnam was inundated with manufactured goods. Washington encouraged its [[Southeast Asia Treaty Organization|SEATO]] allies to contribute troops; Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, and the Philippines<ref name=Karnow/>{{Rp|556}} agreed to do so. South Korea would ask to join the [[Many Flags]] program in return for economic compensation. Major allies, however, notably [[NATO]] countries Canada and the UK, declined troop requests.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Church |first=Peter |title=A Short History of South-East Asia |date=2006 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-0-470-82481-8 |page=193}}</ref>

The U.S. and its allies mounted complex [[search and destroy]] operations. In November 1965, the U.S. engaged in its first major battle with the PAVN, the [[Battle of Ia Drang]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Galloway |first=Joseph |date=18 October 2010 |title=Ia Drang – The Battle That Convinced Ho Chi Minh He Could Win |url=http://www.historynet.com/ia-drang-where-battlefield-losses-convinced-ho-giap-and-mcnamara-the-u-s-could-never-win.htm |access-date=2 May 2016 |publisher=Historynet|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230322083652/https://www.historynet.com/ia-drang-where-battlefield-losses-convinced-ho-giap-and-mcnamara-the-u-s-could-never-win/?f|archive-date=March 22, 2023}}</ref> The operation was the first large scale helicopter air assault by the U.S., and first to employ [[Boeing B-52 Stratofortress]] strategic bombers in support.<ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|284–285}} These tactics continued in 1966–67, however, the PAVN/VC insurgents remained elusive and demonstrated tactical flexibility. By 1967, the war had generated large-scale internal refugees, 2 million in South Vietnam, with 125,000 people evacuated and rendered homeless during [[Operation Masher]] alone,<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Ward |first1=Geoffrey C. |title=The Vietnam War: An Intimate History |last2=Burns |first2=Ken |date=5 September 2017 |publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group |isbn=978-1-5247-3310-0 |page=[{{GBurl|id=i4KyDQAAQBAJ|q=125}} 125] |language=en |quote=By the end of the year, more than 125,000 civilians in the province had lost their homes{{Nbsp}}...}}</ref> which was the largest search and destroy operation to that point. Operation Masher would have negligible impact, however, as the PAVN/VC returned to the province just four months after it ended.<ref name="Ward">{{Cite book |last1=Ward |first1=Geoffrey C. |title=The Vietnam War: An Intimate History |last2=Burns |first2=Ken |date=2017 |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf |isbn=978-0-307-70025-4}}</ref>{{Rp|153–156}} Despite major operations, which the Viet Cong and PAVN would typically evade, the war was characterized by smaller-unit contacts or engagements.<ref name="GS">{{Cite book |title=The Pentagon Papers (Gravel Edition), Volume 4 |at=Section 4, pp. 277–604 |chapter=Chapter 2, US Ground Strategy and Force Deployments, 1965–1968 |access-date=12 June 2018 |chapter-url=https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/pentagon4/pent9.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190626210700/https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/pentagon4/pent9.htm |archive-date=26 June 2019 |url-status=dead |via=International Relations Department, Mount Holyoke College}}</ref> The Viet Cong and PAVN would initiate 90% of large firefights, and thus the PAVN/Viet Cong would retain strategic initiative despite overwhelming US force and fire-power deployment.<ref name=GS/> The PAVN and Viet Cong had developed strategies capable of countering US military doctrines and tactics: see [[NLF and PAVN battle tactics]].

Meanwhile, the political situation in South Vietnam began to stabilize with the arrival of prime minister Air Marshal [[Nguyễn Cao Kỳ]] and figurehead chief of state, General [[Nguyễn Văn Thiệu]], in mid-1965 at the head of a junta. In 1967, Thieu became president with Ky as his deputy, after rigged elections. Although they were nominally a civilian government, Ky was supposed to maintain real power through a behind-the-scenes military body. However, Thieu outmanoeuvred and sidelined Ky. Thieu was accused of murdering Ky loyalists through contrived military accidents. Thieu remained president until 1975, having won a [[1971 South Vietnamese presidential election|one-candidate election in 1971]].<ref name=Karnow/>{{Rp|706}}

Johnson employed a "policy of minimum candor"<ref name=Karnow/>{{Rp|18}} with the media. Military information officers sought to manage coverage by emphasizing stories that portrayed progress. This policy damaged the public trust in official pronouncements. As coverage of the war and the Pentagon diverged, a so-called [[credibility gap]] developed.<ref name=Karnow/>{{Rp|18}} Despite Johnson and Westmoreland publicly proclaiming victory and Westmoreland stating the "end is coming into view",<ref>{{Cite news |title=TWE Remembers: General Westmoreland Says the "End Begins to Come Into View" in Vietnam |language=en |work=Council on Foreign Relations |url=https://www.cfr.org/blog/twe-remembers-general-westmoreland-says-end-begins-come-view-vietnam |access-date=12 June 2018|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230605025020/https://www.cfr.org/blog/twe-remembers-general-westmoreland-says-end-begins-come-view-vietnam|archive-date=June 5, 2023}}</ref> internal reports in the ''[[Pentagon Papers]]'' indicate that Viet Cong forces retained strategic initiative and controlled their losses. Viet Cong attacks against static US positions accounted for 30% of engagements, Viet Cong/PAVN ambushes and encirclements for 23%, American ambushes against Viet Cong/PAVN forces for 9%, and American forces attacking Viet Cong emplacements only 5%.<ref name=GS/>

{| class="wikitable"

|+Types of Engagements, From Department of Defence Study 1967<ref name=GS/>

!TYPE OF ENGAGEMENTS IN COMBAT NARRATIVES

!Percentage of

Total Engagements

!Notes

|Hot Landing Zone. VC/PAVN Attacks U.S. Troops As They Deploy

~~|Conflict||Vietnam War, part of the '''[[Cold War]]'''~~

|13%

| rowspan="3" |Planned VC/PAVN Attacks

Are 66% Of All Engagements

|Planned VC/PAVN Attack Against US Defensive Perimeter

~~|Date||[[1957]]–[[1975]]~~

|30%

|VC/PAVN Ambushes or Encircles A Moving US Unit

~~|Place||[[Southeast Asia]]~~

|23%

|Unplanned US Attacks On A VC/PAVN Defensive Perimeter,

~~|Result||• Capitulation of South Vietnam • Reunification of Vietnam under Communist rule ~~

Engagement A Virtual Surprise To US Commanders

|13%

|Defensive Posts Being Well Concealed

or VC/PAVN Alerted or Anticipated

|Planned US Attack Against Known

~~!colspan="2" bgcolor="#ffff99"|Major Combatants~~

VC/PAVN Defensive Perimeter

|5%

| rowspan="2" |Planned US Attacks Against

VC/PAVN Represent 14%

~~!colspan="2" |Strength~~

Of All Engagements

~~|~1,200,000 (1968)~~

~~|~420,000 (1968)~~

~~!colspan="2" |Casualties~~

~~|'''Total dead:''' 287,232 '''Wounded:''' 1,496,037~~

~~|'''Total dead:''' Official Vietnamese estimate: 1,100,000 '''Wounded:''' 600,000~~

~~!colspan="2" |'''Civilian Casualties: ''' c. 2—4 million~~

~~!colspan="2" |'''Victor: ''' North Vietnam~~

|U.S. Forces Ambushes Moving VC/PAVN Units

~~!colspan="2" |Categories~~

|9%

|Chance Engagement, Neither Side Planned

!colspan="2"| [[Military history of Australia]] [[Military history of New Zealand]] [[Military history of the Philippines]] [[Military history of South Korea]] [[Military history of the Soviet Union]] [[Military history of Thailand]] [[Military history of the United States]] [[Military history of Vietnam]]

|7%

The '''Vietnam War''' or '''Second Indochina War''' ([[Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]]: known as '''the American War'''''' Chiến Tranh Chống Mỹ Cứu Nước''', literally the "War Against the Americans to Save the Nation") was a [[war]] between the governments of North and South Vietnam and their domestic and foreign political allies, to determine the status of a Vietnam as being indefinitely partitioned under the auspices of [[Western society|Western]]-allied [[minority government]] (originally referred to as "[[democracy]]") or [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] and [[People's Republic of China|China]]-supported independence (often referred to in the U.S. as "[[communism]]").

~~The highly controversial and complex war was fought from [[1957]] to [[1975]], ending with the unification of Vietnam under a government controlled by the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]].~~

== Tet Offensive and its aftermath ==

According to most historians, the Vietnam War is best understood as rooted in attempt by the [[United States]] to reinstate [[European]]-oriented colonialism in the region. Spanning much of the [[Southeast Asia]]n peninsula, [[France]] had maintained its "[[French Indochina]]" colony, since the late [[19th century]], and had been forced out in [[1954]] by independence forces under [[Ho Chi Minh]]. The [[Geneva Conference (1954)|Geneva Accords]] of [[1954]], signed only by France and the [[Demcratic Republic of Vietnam]] (North), partitioned the country into North and South —France had done so still seeking to re-establish its colonial influence, while the DRV needed time to reinforce its position in the North.

{{Main|Tet Offensive|United States news media and the Vietnam War}}

[[File:T4 Vietcong Tet Offensive.jpg|thumb|Viet Cong before departing to participate in the Tet Offensive around Saigon-Gia Dinh]]

[[File:ARVN in action HD-SN-99-02062.JPEG|thumb|ARVN forces assault a stronghold in the [[Mekong Delta]].]]

In late 1967, the PAVN lured American forces into the hinterlands at [[Battle of Dak To|Đắk Tô]] and at the Marine [[Battle of Khe Sanh|Khe Sanh combat base]], where the U.S. fought [[The Hill Fights]]. These were part of a diversionary strategy meant to draw US forces towards the Central Highlands.<ref>{{Cite web |date=12 June 2006 |title=Interview with NVA General Tran Van Tra {{!}} HistoryNet |url=http://www.historynet.com/interview-with-nva-general-tran-van-tra.htm |access-date=1 June 2018 |website=www.historynet.com |language=en-US|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230409152943/https://www.historynet.com/interview-with-nva-general-tran-van-tra/?f|archive-date=April 9, 2023}}</ref> Preparations were underway for the [[Tet Offensive]], with the intention of [[Văn Tiến Dũng]] forces to launch "direct attacks on the American and puppet nerve centers—Saigon, [[Huế]], Danang, all the cities, towns and main bases{{Nbsp}}..."<ref name="Wilson">{{Cite news |date=20 October 2014 |title=The Urban Movement and the Planning and Execution of the Tet Offensive |language=en |work=Wilson Center |url=https://www.wilsoncenter.org/publication/the-urban-movement-and-the-planning-and-execution-the-tet-offensive |access-date=1 June 2018|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230409152950/https://www.wilsoncenter.org/publication/the-urban-movement-and-the-planning-and-execution-the-tet-offensive|archive-date=April 9, 2023}}</ref> Le Duan sought to placate critics of the stalemate by planning a decisive victory.<ref name="Nguyen">{{Cite book |last=Nguyen |first=Lien-Hang T. |title=Hanoi's War: An International History of the War for Peace in Vietnam |date=2012 |publisher=Univ of North Carolina Press |isbn=978-1-4696-2835-6}}</ref>{{Rp|90–94}} He reasoned this could be achieved through sparking an uprising within the towns and cities,<ref name=Nguyen/>{{Rp|148}} along with mass defections among ARVN units, who were on leave during the truce period.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Wiest |first=Andrew |date=1 March 2018 |title=Opinion {{!}} The Tet Offensive Was Not About Americans |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/01/opinion/tet-offensive-americans-vietnam.html |access-date=1 June 2018 |issn=0362-4331|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230416233243/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/01/opinion/tet-offensive-americans-vietnam.html|archive-date=April 16, 2023}}</ref>

The South would come under the control of the Europe-oriented [[Catholic]] [[Ngo Dinh Diem]], (prn. "Yim"). who, in seeking European support, became allied with the United States —now a "[[superpower]]" after the end of [[World War II]]. Regardless of his undesirable and ineffectual qualities, the U.S. supported Diem, and his rejection of the Geneva Accords' provision for holding democratic elections —both had recognized that Ho and his "communist" reforms were popular in the South.

With [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] and U.S. backing, the political conflict between independence-allied Vietnamese ("Northern") and European-allied Vietnamese ("Southern"){{fn|1}} became a central issue in the [[Cold War]]. The conflict was slowly but continuously escalated from the late [[1950s]] to the beginning of open hostilities in the early-mid [[1960s]].

The Tet Offensive began on 30 January 1968, as over 100 cities were attacked by over 85,000 VC/PAVN troops, including assaults on military installations, headquarters, and government buildings, including the [[United States Embassy, Saigon|U.S. Embassy in Saigon]].<ref name=McNamara/>{{Rp|363–365}} U.S. and South Vietnamese forces were shocked by the scale, intensity and deliberative planning, as infiltration of personnel and weapons into the cities was accomplished covertly;<ref name=Wilson/> the offensive constituted an [[intelligence failure]] on the scale of [[Attack on Pearl Harbor|Pearl Harbor]].<ref name=Karnow/>{{Rp|556}} Most cities were recaptured within weeks, except the former imperial capital Huế, which PAVN/Viet Cong troops held on for 26 days.<ref name="Bowden">{{Cite book |last=Bowden |first=Mark |title=Hue 1968 A turning point of the American war in Vietnam |date=2017 |publisher=Atlantic Monthly Press}}</ref>{{Rp|495}} They [[Massacre at Huế|executed approximately 2,800 unarmed Huế]] civilians and foreigners they considered to be spies.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hosmer |first=Stephen T. |title=Viet Cong Repression and its Implications for the Future |date=1970 |publisher=Rand Corporation |pages=72–8}}</ref><ref name=Bowden/>{{Rp|495}} In the following [[Battle of Huế]] American forces employed massive firepower that left 80% of the city in ruins.<ref name=Kolko/>{{Rp|308–309}} At Quảng Trị City, the [[Republic of Vietnam Airborne Division|ARVN Airborne Division]], the 1st Division and a regiment of the US [[1st Cavalry Division (United States)|1st Cavalry Division]] managed to hold out and overcome an assault intended to capture the city.<ref name="Villard">{{Cite book |last=Villard |first=Erik B. |url=https://history.army.mil/html/books/vietnam/tet_battles/tet.pdf |title=The 1968 Tet Offensive Battles of Quang Tri City and Hue |date=2008 |publisher=U.S. Army Center of Military History |isbn=978-1-5142-8522-0|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230605173341/https://history.army.mil/html/books/vietnam/tet_battles/tet.pdf|archive-date=June 5, 2023}}</ref>{{Rp|}}<ref name="Ankony">{{Cite book |last=Ankony |first=Robert C. |title=Lurps: A Ranger's Diary of Tet, Khe Sanh, A Shau, and Quang Tri |date=2009 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-7618-3281-2}}</ref>{{Rp|104}} In Saigon, Viet Cong/PAVN fighters had captured areas in and around the city, attacking key installations before US and ARVN forces dislodged them after three weeks.<ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|479}} During one battle, [[Peter Arnett]] reported an infantry commander saying of the [[Battle of Bến Tre]] that "it became necessary to destroy the village in order to save it."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Keyes |first=Ralph |url=https://archive.org/details/quoteverifierwho00keye |title=The Quote Verifier: Who Said What, Where, and When |date=2006 |publisher=St. Martin's Griffin |isbn=978-0-312-34004-9}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Weinraub |first=Bernard |date=8 February 1968 |title=Survivors Hunt Dead of Bentre, Turned to Rubble in Allied Raids |work=The New York Times |url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0D1FFA3F541B7B93CAA91789D85F4C8685F9|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230409014500/https://www.nytimes.com/1968/02/08/archives/survivors-hunt-dead-of-bentre-turned-to-rubble-in-allied-raids.html|archive-date=April 9, 2023}}</ref>

~~==Overview==~~

A precise timeline of the Vietnam War is difficult to determine. Some consider the Vietnam War to have been a continuous conflict beginning with the French attempt to re-establish colonial control in [[1946]] and continuing until the fall of Saigon in 1975. Others divide the conflict into two separate wars, the [[First Indochina War]] between the French and the [[Viet Minh]] and the '''Second Indochina War''' between [[Democratic Republic of Vietnam|North Vietnam]] and [[Republic of Vietnam|South Vietnam]] and its the American allies. Many experts consider the Vietnam War to have been just be one front in the larger [[Cold War]].

[[File:Cholon after Tet Offensive operations 1968.jpg|thumb|The ruins of a section of Saigon, in the Cholon neighborhood, following fierce fighting between ARVN forces and Viet Cong Main Force battalions]]

~~The [[First Indochina War]] may be said to have begun in 1946 with the writing of the Vietnamese constitution and to have ended in 1954 with the Geneva Peace Accord.~~

During the first month of the offensive, 1,100 Americans and other allied troops, 2,100 ARVN and 14,000 civilians were killed.<ref name="Trieu">{{Cite journal |last=Triều |first=Họ Trung |date=5 June 2017 |title=Lực lượng chính trị và đấu tranh chính trị ở thị xã Nha Trang trong cuộc Tổng tiến công và nổi dậy Tết Mậu Thân 1968 |journal=Hue University Journal of Science: Social Sciences and Humanities |volume=126 |issue=6 |doi=10.26459/hujos-ssh.v126i6.3770 |doi-broken-date=12 September 2024 |issn=2588-1213}}</ref> After two months, nearly 5,000 ARVN and over 4,000 U.S. forces had been killed and 45,820 wounded.<ref name=Trieu/> The U.S. claimed 17,000 of the PAVN and Viet Cong had been killed and 15,000 wounded.<ref name=Ankony/>{{Rp|104}}<ref name=Villard/>{{Rp|82}} A month later a second offensive known as the [[May Offensive]] was launched; it demonstrated the Viet Cong were still capable of carrying out orchestrated nationwide offensives.<ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|488–489}} Two months later a third offensive was launched, [[Phase III Offensive]]. PAVN records of their losses across all three offensives was 45,267 killed and 111,179 total casualties.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Tết Mậu Thân 1968 qua những số liệu |language=vi-VN |url=http://www.nhandan.com.vn/chinhtri/item/7976502-.html |access-date=1 June 2018|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407184326/https://nhandan.vn/tet-mau-than-1968-qua-nhung-so-lieu-post484868.html|archive-date=April 7, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Eyraud |first=Henri |date=March 1987 |title=Anatomy of a War: Vietnam, the United States, and the Modern Historical Experience. By Kolko Gabriel. [New York: Pantheon Books, 1985. 628 pp.] |journal=The China Quarterly |volume=109 |page=135 |doi=10.1017/s0305741000017653 |issn=0305-7410 |s2cid=154919829}}</ref> It had become the bloodiest year up to then. The failure to spark a general uprising and lack of defections among the ARVN units meant both war goals of Hanoi had fallen flat at enormous cost.<ref name=Nguyen/>{{Rp|148–149}}

The American involvement in the conflict is less distinct. The United States had supported Vietnamese guerillas against the Japanese during [[World War II]], and provided aid to the French in the early 1950s. An American military presence was established in South Vietnam following the 1954 Peace Accord. As American advisors were drawn into battles between North and South Vietnamese forces the American involvement escalated.

Prior to Tet, in November 1967, Westmoreland had spearheaded a public relations drive for the Johnson administration to bolster flagging public support.<ref name="Witz">{{Cite book |last=Witz |title=The Tet Offensive: Intelligence Failure in War |date=1994 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=978-0-8014-8209-0 |pages=1–2}}</ref> In a speech to the [[National Press Club (United States)|National Press Club]] he said a point had been reached "where the end comes into view."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Berman |first=Larry |title=Lyndon Johnson's War |date=1991 |publisher=W.W. Norton |page=116}}</ref> Thus, the public was shocked and confused when Westmoreland's predictions were trumped by the Tet Offensive.<ref name=Witz/> Public approval of his performance dropped from 48% to 36%, and endorsement for the war fell from 40% to 26%."<ref name=Karnow/>{{Rp|546}} The public and media began to turn against Johnson as the offensives contradicted claims of progress.<ref name=Witz/>

~~Many Americans view the Vietnam War as beginning with the [[Gulf of Tonkin incident]] in 1964.~~

At one point in 1968, Westmoreland considered the use of [[nuclear weapon]]s in a contingency plan codenamed [[Fracture Jaw]], which was abandoned when it became known to the White House.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Sanger |first=David E. |date=6 October 2018 |title=U.S. General Considered Nuclear Response in Vietnam War, Cables Show |language=en |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/06/world/asia/vietnam-war-nuclear-weapons.html |access-date=8 October 2018|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230314213812/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/06/world/asia/vietnam-war-nuclear-weapons.html|archive-date=March 14, 2023}}</ref> Westmoreland requested 200,000 additional troops, which was leaked to the media, and the fallout combined with intelligence failures caused him to be removed from command in March 1968, succeeded by his deputy [[Creighton Abrams]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sorley |first=Lewis |title=A Better War: The Unexamined Victories and Final Tragedy of America's Last Years in Vietnam |date=1999 |publisher=Harvest |isbn=0-15-601309-6 |pages=11–6}}</ref>

The ground war was fought in South Vietnam and the border areas of [[Cambodia]] and [[Laos]] (''see'' [[Secret War]]). The air war was fought there and in the [[strategic bombing]] (''see'' [[Operation Rolling Thunder]]) of North Vietnam. Commando raids or secret operations were conducted by U.S or South Vietnamese forces in the north but there was never any full-scale ground fighting north of the 17th paralel (For more details of the events during the war, see: [[Vietnam war timeline|Timeline of the Vietnam War]].)

On 10 May 1968, [[Paris Peace Accords|peace talks]] began between the US and North Vietnam in Paris. Negotiations stagnated for five months, until Johnson gave orders to halt the bombing of North Vietnam. Hanoi realized it could not achieve a "total victory" and employed a strategy known as "talking while fighting, fighting while talking", in which offensives would occur concurrently with negotiations.<ref>{{Cite news |date=16 April 2012 |title=North Vietnam's "Talk-Fight" Strategy and the 1968 Peace Negotiations with the United States |language=en |work=Wilson Center |url=https://www.wilsoncenter.org/publication/north-vietnams-talk-fight-strategy-and-the-1968-peace-negotiations-the-united-states |access-date=1 June 2018|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230409174807/https://www.wilsoncenter.org/publication/north-vietnams-talk-fight-strategy-and-the-1968-peace-negotiations-the-united-states|archive-date=April 9, 2023}}</ref>

A [[coalition]] of forces fought for South Vietnam, including its army the [[Army of the Republic of Vietnam]] (or ARVN), the [[United States]], [[South Korea]], [[Thailand]], [[Australia]], [[New Zealand]], and the [[Philippines]]. Participation by the [[South Korea]]n military was financed by the [[United States]], but [[Australia]] and [[New Zealand]] fully funded their own involvement. Other countries normally allied with the [[United States]] in the Cold War, including the [[United Kingdom]] and [[Canada]], did not participate in the war militarily, although a few of their [[citizen]]s volunteered to join the US forces and Canada led peace talks between the two countries for years.

Johnson declined to run for re-election as his approval rating slumped from 48% to 36%.<ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|486}} His escalation of the war divided Americans, cost 30,000 American lives by that point and was regarded to have destroyed his presidency.<ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|486}} Refusal to send more troops was seen as Johnson's admission that the war was lost.<ref name="Command Magazine Issue 18, page 15">''Command Magazine'' Issue 18, p. 15.</ref> As Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara noted, "the dangerous illusion of victory by the United States was therefore dead."<ref name=McNamara/>{{Rp|367}}

The North Vietnamese government directed the fighting against that of South Vietnam, using forces including their [[People's Army of Vietnam]] (PAVN, better known to Americans as the NVA) and the [[guerrilla]] forces of the [[National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam|National Liberation Front]], better known as the [[Viet Cong]]. The [[USSR]] provided military and financial aid, along with [[diplomacy|diplomatic support]] to the North Vietnamese as did the [[People's Republic of China]].

Vietnam was a major political issue during the [[1968 United States presidential election|United States presidential election in 1968]]. The election was won by Republican Richard Nixon who claimed to have a secret plan to end the war.<ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|515}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Johns |first=Andrew |title=Vietnam's Second Front: Domestic Politics, the Republican Party, and the War |date=2010 |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |isbn=978-0-8131-7369-6 |pages=198 |language=en}}</ref>

==Vietnamization, 1969–1972==

~~==Background==~~

~~{{main|Background to the Vietnam War}}~~

===Nuclear threats and diplomacy===

France had gained control of Indochina in a series of colonial wars beginning in the 1840s and lasting until the 1880s. During World War II, [[Vichy France]] had collaborated with the occupying [[Imperial Japan]]ese forces. Vietnam was under effective Imperial Japanese control, as well as de facto Japanese administrative control, although the Vichy French continued to serve as the official administrators until [[1944]]. After the Japanese surrender Vietnamese nationalists hoped to achieve to formal independence from France.

President Nixon began troop withdrawals in 1969. His plan to build up the ARVN so it could take over the defense of South Vietnam became known as "[[Vietnamization]]". As the PAVN/VC recovered from their 1968 losses and avoided contact, Creighton Abrams conducted operations aimed at disrupting logistics, with better use of firepower and more cooperation with the ARVN.<ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|517}} In October 1969, Nixon had ordered B-52s loaded with nuclear weapons [[Operation Giant Lance|to race to the border of Soviet airspace]] to convince the Soviet Union, in accord with the [[madman theory]], he was capable of anything to end the Vietnam War.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Sagan |first1=Scott Douglas |last2=Suri |first2=Jeremi |date=16 June 2003 |title=The Madman Nuclear Alert: Secrecy, Signaling, and Safety in October 1969 |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/43692 |journal=International Security |language=en |volume=27 |issue=4 |pages=150–183 |doi=10.1162/016228803321951126 |issn=1531-4804 |s2cid=57564244 |access-date=8 February 2018 |archive-date=7 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190607003022/http://muse.jhu.edu/article/43692 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Evans |first=Michael |title=Nixon's Nuclear Ploy |url=https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB81/index2.htm |access-date=8 February 2018 |website=nsarchive2.gwu.edu|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407114836/https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB81/index2.htm|archive-date=April 7, 2023}}</ref> Nixon had sought [[détente]] with the Soviet Union and [[Sino-American relations#Rapprochement|rapprochement with China]], which decreased tensions and led to nuclear arms reductions. However, the Soviets continued to supply the North Vietnamese.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Foundations of Foreign Policy, 1969-1972 |url=https://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/ho/frus/nixon/i/21100.htm |access-date=4 July 2021 |website=Foreign Relations, 1969-1976, Volume I |publisher=U.S. Department of State|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230513100856/https://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/ho/frus/nixon/i/21100.htm|archive-date=May 13, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Van Ness |first=Peter |date=December 1986 |title=Richard Nixon, the Vietnam War, and the American Accommodation with China: A Review Article |journal=Contemporary Southeast Asia |volume=8 |issue=3 |pages=231–245 |jstor=25797906}}</ref>

On [[September 2]], [[1945]], [[Ho Chi Minh]] spoke at a ceremony heralding an independent Vietnam. In his speech he cited the American [[Declaration of Independence]] and a band played "[[The Star Spangled Banner]]." Ho had hoped that the United States would be an ally of a Vietnamese independence movement based on speeches by U.S. President [[Franklin Roosevelt]] against the continuation of European [[imperialism]] after World War II. However the death of Roosevelt, the development of the Cold War, and Ho's [[Communist]] sympathies led to U.S. support being given to the French.

===Hanoi's war strategy===

Indochina had been in the [[United Kingdom|British]] theater of operations during the war. The French prevailed upon the British to turn control of the region back over to them, setting the stage for the [[First Indochina War]] in which France attempted to re-establish Vietnam as part of a French overseas colony. In a gradual process, accelerated by the establishment of the People's Republic of China, the Vietnamese nationalist army, the Viet Minh, gradually wrested control of the country from France.

[[File:Vietnampropaganda.png|thumb|upright=.8|Propaganda leaflet urging the defection of [[Viet Cong]] and [[North Vietnam]]ese to the side of the [[Republic of Vietnam]]]]

In September 1969, Ho Chi Minh died aged 79.<ref>{{Cite news |date=4 September 1969 |title=Ho Chi Minh Dies of Heart Attack in Hanoi |page=1 |work=The Times}}</ref> The failure of the 1968 Tet Offensive to spark a popular uprising in the south caused a shift in Hanoi's war strategy, and the [[Võ Nguyên Giáp|Giáp]]-[[Trường Chinh|Chinh]] "Northern-First" faction regained control over military affairs from the Lê Duẩn-[[Hoàng Văn Thái]] "Southern-First" faction.<ref name="Currey">{{Cite book |last=Currey |first=Cecil B. |title=Victory at Any Cost: The Genius of Viet Nam's Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap |date=2005 |publisher=Potomac Books, Inc. |isbn=978-1-57488-742-6 |page=[{{GBurl|id=jm-jh1_D0I4C|p=272}} 272]}}</ref>{{Rp|272–274}} An unconventional victory was sidelined in favor of a conventional victory through conquest.<ref name=Nguyen/>{{Rp|196–205}} Large-scale offensives were rolled back in favor of [[Low intensity conflict|small-unit]] and [[Sapper#PAVN and Viet Cong|sapper]] attacks as well as targeting the pacification and Vietnamization strategy.<ref name=Currey/> Following Tet, the PAVN had transformed from a [[Light infantry|light-infantry]], limited mobility force into a [[Maneuver warfare|high-mobile]] and mechanized [[combined arms]] force.<ref name=Currey/>{{Rp|189}} By 1970, over 70% of communist troops in the south were northerners, and southern-dominated VC units no longer existed.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kiernan |first=Ben |title=Viet Nam: A History from Earliest Times to the Present |date=February 2017 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=447}}</ref>

After the Viet Minh's historic victory over the French at the [[battle of Dien Bien Phu]] all of Indochina was granted independence, including [[Laos]], [[Cambodia]], and Vietnam. However, Vietnam was partitioned at the 17th parallel, above which the former Viet Minh established a Communist state and below which an anti-communist state was established under the Emperor [[Bao Dai]]. As dictated in the [[Geneva Conference (1954)|Geneva Accords]] of [[1954]] the division was meant to be temporary pending free elections for national leadership. Neither of the two Vietnamese countries signed the election clause in the agreement. The United States, fearing a Communist takeover of the region, supported [[Ngo Dinh Diem]], who had ousted Bao Dai, as leader of South Vietnam while [[Ho Chi Minh]] became president of the North.

===U.S. domestic controversies===

~~== The War Begins==~~

The [[anti-war movement]] was gaining strength in the US. Nixon appealed to the "[[silent majority]]" who he said supported the war without showing it. But revelations of the 1968 [[My Lai Massacre]],<ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|518–521}} in which a US Army unit under Captain [[Ernest Medina]] raped and killed civilians, and the 1969 "[[Green Beret Affair]]", where 8 [[United States Army Special Forces|Special Forces]] soldiers, were arrested for the murder<ref>{{Cite book |last=Stein |first=Jeff |url=https://archive.org/details/murderinwartimeu00stei |title=A Murder in Wartime: The Untold Spy Story that Changed the Course of the Vietnam War |date=1992 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |isbn=978-0-312-07037-3 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/murderinwartimeu00stei/page/60 60–2] |url-access=registration}}</ref> of a suspected double agent,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bob Seals |date=2007 |title=The "Green Beret Affair": A Brief Introduction |url=http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/20thCentury/articles/greenberets.aspx|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509150017/http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/20thCentury/articles/greenberets.aspx|archive-date=May 9, 2008}}</ref> provoked national and international outrage.

~~=== NLF in the South ===~~

Communist forces initiated guerilla activities in South Vietnam in [[1957]]. Two years later these forces named themselves the National Liberation Front (NLF). Although considered by many to have been composed of northern agents under the control of Hanoi, ostensibly the NLF was an organization of South Vietnamese communists committed to establishing a communist state in South Vietnam. By [[1959]] the Hanoi government were supplying the NLF via the [[Ho Chi Minh Trail]], a supply route running from North Vietnam through Laos and Cambodia (a violation of neutrality) into South Vietnam. Further supplies were sent by sea to Sihanoukville in Cambodia until that outlet was closed by [[Lon Nol]] in [[1970]]. The Ho Chi Minh Trail was steadily expanded to become the vital lifeline for communist forces in South Vietnam, which included the North Vietnamese Army in the 1960s when it became a major target of American air operations.

In 1971, the ''Pentagon Papers'' were leaked to ''The New York Times''. The top-secret history of US involvement in Vietnam, commissioned by the Department of Defense, detailed public deceptions on the part of the government. The [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] ruled its publication was legal.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=[[USA.gov]] |date=February 1997 |title=The Pentagon Papers Case |url=http://usinfo.state.gov/journals/itdhr/0297/ijde/goodsb1.htm |url-status=dead |journal=eJournal USA |volume=2 |issue=1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080112095748/http://usinfo.state.gov/journals/itdhr/0297/ijde/goodsb1.htm |archive-date=12 January 2008 |access-date=27 April 2010}}</ref>

The Diem government was initially able to cope with the insurgency with the aid of American advisors, and by [[1962]] seemed to be winning. Senior U.S. military leaders were receiving positive reports from the American commander, Gen. [[Paul D. Harkins]] of the [[Military Assistance Command, Vietnam]]. However outside Saigon large areas of the country were not under government control. In [[1963]] a Communist offensive beginning with the [[Battle of Ap Bac]] inflicted major defeats on the South Vietnamese army, while disorganization reigned in the Saigon government.

===~~John~~Collapsing FU.S. ~~Kennedy and Vietnam~~morale===

In June [[1961]], [[John F. Kennedy]] met with Soviet premier [[Nikita Khrushchev]] in [[Vienna]], where Khrushchev sought to bully him over key U.S.-Soviet issues. Kennedy left the meeting convinced that the Russians were committed to conflict. This led to the conclusion that Southeast Asia would be an area where Soviet forces would test America's committment to the [[containment]] policy.

Following the Tet Offensive and decreasing support among the US public, US forces began a period of morale collapse, and disobedience.<ref name="Stewart">{{Cite book |last=Stewart |first=Richard |url=https://history.army.mil/books/AMH-V2/AMH%20V2/chapter11.htm |title=American Military History, Volume II, The United States Army in a Global Era, 1917–2003 |date=2005 |publisher=[[United States Army Center of Military History]] |isbn=978-0-16-072541-8 |access-date=22 June 2018 |archive-date=14 December 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071214153119/http://www.history.army.mil/books/AMH-V2/AMH%20V2/chapter11.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>{{Rp|349–350}}<ref name="Daddis">{{Cite book |last=Daddis |first=Gregory A. |title=Withdrawal: Reassessing America's Final Years in Vietnam |date=2017 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-069110-3 |page=[{{GBurl|id=a3QzDwAAQBAJ|pg=PT172}} 172]}}</ref>{{Rp|166–175}} At home, desertion rates quadrupled from 1966 levels.<ref name="Heinl">{{Cite journal |last=Heinl |first=Robert D. Jr. |date=7 June 1971 |title=The Collapse of the Armed Forces |url=https://msuweb.montclair.edu/~furrg/Vietnam/heinl.pdf |journal=Armed Forces Journal |access-date=14 June 2018 |archive-date=12 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190412060044/https://msuweb.montclair.edu/~furrg/Vietnam/heinl.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Among the enlisted, only 2.5% chose infantry combat positions in 1969–70.<ref name=Heinl/> [[Reserve Officers' Training Corps|ROTC]] enrollment decreased from 191,749 in 1966 to 72,459 by 1971,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sevy |first=Grace |title=The American Experience in Vietnam: A Reader |date=1991 |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |isbn=978-0-8061-2390-5 |page=[{{GBurl|id=dZg3emyCL6EC|p=172}} 172]}}</ref> and reached a low of 33,220 in 1974,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Richard Halloran |date=12 August 1984 |title=R.O.T.C. Booming as Memories of Vietnam Fade |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/08/12/us/rotc-booming-as-memories-of-vietnam-fade.html |access-date=14 June 2018|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230415124225/https://www.nytimes.com/1984/08/12/us/rotc-booming-as-memories-of-vietnam-fade.html|archive-date=April 15, 2023}}</ref> depriving US forces of much-needed military leadership.

Open refusal to engage in patrols or carry out orders emerged, with a notable case of an entire company refusing orders to carry out operations.<ref>{{Cite news |date=23 March 1971 |title=General Won't Punish G.I.'s for Refusing Orders |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/03/23/archives/general-wont-punish-gis-for-refusing-orders-53-defiant-gis-escape.html |access-date=13 June 2018|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230409031624/https://www.nytimes.com/1971/03/23/archives/general-wont-punish-gis-for-refusing-orders-53-defiant-gis-escape.html|archive-date=April 9, 2023}}</ref> Unit cohesion began to dissipate and focused on minimizing contact with Viet Cong and PAVN.<ref name=Daddis/>{{Rp|}} A practice known as "sand-bagging" started, where units ordered to patrol would go into the country-side, find a site out of view from superiors and radio in false coordinates and unit reports.<ref name=Ward/>{{Rp|407–411}} Drug usage increased among US forces, 30% regularly used marijuana,<ref name=Ward/>{{Rp|407}} while a House subcommittee found 10% regularly used high-grade heroin.<ref name=Heinl/><ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|526}} From 1969 on, search-and-destroy operations became referred to as "search and avoid" operations, falsifying battle reports while avoiding guerrillas.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Robert |first=Graham |date=1984 |title=Vietnam: An Infantryman's View of Our Failure |url=https://web.viu.ca/davies/H323Vietnam/Vietnam.InfantryView.failure.pdf |journal=Military Affairs |volume=48 |issue=3 (Jul. 1984) |pages=133–139 |doi=10.2307/1987487 |jstor=1987487|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230605173405/https://web.viu.ca/davies/H323Vietnam/Vietnam.InfantryView.failure.pdf|archive-date=June 5, 2023}}</ref> 900 fragging and suspected [[fragging]] incidents were investigated, most occurring between 1969 and 1971.<ref name="Stanton">{{Cite book |last=Stanton |first=Shelby L. |title=The Rise and Fall of an American Army: U.S. Ground Forces in Vietnam, 1963–1973 |date=2007 |publisher=Random House Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-307-41734-3}}</ref>{{Rp|331}}<ref name=Ward/>{{Rp|407}} In 1969, field-performance was characterized by lowered morale, lack of motivation, and poor leadership.<ref name=Stanton/>{{Rp|331}} The significant decline in US morale was demonstrated by the [[Battle of FSB Mary Ann]] in March 1971, in which a sapper attack inflicted serious losses on the U.S. defenders.<ref name=Stanton/>{{Rp|357}} William Westmoreland, no longer in command but tasked with investigation of the failure, cited a dereliction of duty, lax defensive postures and lack of officers in charge.<ref name=Stanton/>{{Rp|357}}

Although Kennedy's election campaign had stressed long-range missile parity with the Soviets, Kennedy was particularly interested in [[Special Forces]]. Originally intended for use behind front lines after a conventional invasion of Europe, it was quickly decided to try them out in the "brush fire" war in Vietnam.

On the collapse of morale, historian Shelby Stanton wrote:

The Kennedy administration remained essentially committed to the Cold War foreign policy inherited from the [[Harry Truman|Truman administration]]. Furthermore in [[1961]] Kennedy found himself faced with a three-part crisis that seemed very similar to that faced by Truman in [[1949]]-[[1950]]. 1961 had already seen the failure of the [[Bay of Pigs]] invasion, the construction of the [[Berlin Wall]], and a negotiated settlement between the pro-Western government of [[Laos]] and the [[Pathet Lao]] Communist movement. Fearing that another failure on the part of the United States to stop Communist expansion would fatally damage the West's position and his reputation, Kennedy was determined to prevent a Communist victory in Vietnam.

{{Blockquote|In the last years of the Army's retreat, its remaining forces were relegated to static security. The American Army's decline was readily apparent in this final stage. Racial incidents, drug abuse, combat disobedience, and crime reflected growing idleness, resentment, and frustration{{Nbsp}}... the fatal handicaps of faulty campaign strategy, incomplete wartime preparation, and the tardy, superficial attempts at Vietnamization. An entire American army was sacrificed on the battlefield of Vietnam.<ref name=Stanton/>{{Rp|366–368}}}}

The Kennedy administration grew increasingly frustrated with Diem. In 1963 a violent crackdown by Diem's forces against [[Buddhism|Buddhist]] monks protesting government policies prompted [[self-immolation]] by monks, leading to embarrassing press coverage. The most famous event is the self-burning of [[Thich Quang Duc]] to protest the goverment's violence against [[Buddhism|Buddhists]]. Vietnam was a largely Buddhist nation, while Diem and much of his administration were [[Roman Catholicism|Roman Catholic]], and Diem was criticized as being out of touch with his citizens. The U.S. attempted to pressure Diem by asking South Vietnamese generals to act against the excesses. The South Vietnamese military interpreted these messages as tacit U.S. support for a ''[[coup d'etat]]'' which overthrew and killed Diem on [[November 1]], [[1963]].

===ARVN taking the lead and U.S. ground force withdrawal===

Initially the death of Diem made the South more unstable. The new military rulers were [[political]]ly inexperienced and unable to provide the strong central authority of Diem's rule and a period of coups and counter-coups followed. The communists, meanwhile, stepped up their efforts to exploit the vacuum.

[[File:ARVN and US Special Forces.jpg|thumb|ARVN and US Special Forces, September 1968]]

Beginning in 1969, American troops were withdrawn from border areas where most of the fighting took place and redeployed along the coast and interior. US casualties in 1970 were less than half of 1969, after being relegated to less active combat.<ref name="upi1970">{{Cite web |title=Vietnamization: 1970 Year in Review |url=http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1970/Apollo-13/12303235577467-2/#title |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110831125343/http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1970/Apollo-13/12303235577467-2 |archive-date=31 August 2011 |website=UPI.com}}</ref> While US forces were redeployed, the ARVN took over combat operations, with casualties double US casualties in 1969, and more than triple US ones in 1970.<ref name="Wiest">{{Cite book |last=Wiest |first=Andrew |title=Vietnam's Forgotten Army: Heroism and Betrayal in the ARVN |date=2007 |publisher=NYU Press |isbn=978-0-8147-9451-7 |pages=[{{GBurl|id=r3dez4JhXUQC|p=124}} 124]–140}}</ref> In the post-Tet environment, membership in the [[South Vietnamese Regional Force]] and [[South Vietnamese Popular Force|Popular Force]] militias grew, and they were now more capable of providing village security, which the Americans had not accomplished.<ref name=Wiest/>

Kennedy himself was assassinated three weeks after Diem's death, and the newly sworn-in president, former Vice President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]], confirmed on [[November 24]] [[1963]] that the United States intended to continue supporting [[South Vietnam]].

In 1970, Nixon announced the withdrawal of an additional 150,000 American troops, reducing US numbers to 265,500.<ref name=upi1970/> By 1970, Viet Cong forces were no longer southern-majority, nearly 70% of units were northerners.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Porter |first=Gareth |title=Vietnam: The Politics of Bureaucratic Socialism |date=1993 |isbn=978-0-8014-2168-6 |page=26|publisher=Cornell University Press }}</ref> Between 1969 and 1971 the Viet Cong and some PAVN units had reverted to [[small unit tactics]] typical of 1967 and prior, instead of nationwide offensives.<ref name=Nguyen/>{{Rp|}} In 1971, Australia and New Zealand withdrew their soldiers and US troops were further reduced to 196,700, with a deadline to remove another 45,000 troops by February 1972. The US reduced support troops, and in March 1971 the [[5th Special Forces Group (United States)|5th Special Forces Group]], the first American unit deployed to South Vietnam, withdrew.<ref name="StantonVOB">{{Cite book |last=Stanton |first=Shelby L. |title=Vietnam order of battle |date=2003 |publisher=Stackpole Books |isbn=978-0-8117-0071-9}}</ref>{{Rp|240}}{{Refn|On 8 March 1965 the first American combat troops, the [[3rd Marine Division (United States)#Vietnam War|Third Marine Regiment, Third Marine Division]], began landing in Vietnam to protect the [[Da Nang Air Base]].{{Sfn|Willbanks|2009|p=110}}<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010 |title=Facts about the Vietnam Veterans memorial collection |url=http://www.nps.gov/mrc/reader/vvmcr.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100528032742/http://www.nps.gov/mrc/reader/vvmcr.htm |archive-date=28 May 2010 |access-date=26 April 2010 |publisher=[[National Park Service]]}}</ref>|group="A"}}

~~=== The propaganda campaign ===~~

===Cambodia===

The nature and identity of the opposing forces was as always a major political focus of the war. The U.S. depicted a war in which an independent country was fighting international Communist aggression, thus depicting the NLF and even the PAVN as puppet armies.

{{Main|Operation Menu|Operation Freedom Deal|5=Cambodian Civil War}}

[[File:Vietconginterrogation.jpg|thumb|upright|An alleged Viet Cong captured during an attack on an American outpost near the Cambodian border is interrogated.]]

Prince [[Norodom Sihanouk]] had proclaimed Cambodia neutral since 1955,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sihanouk |first=Prince Norodom |title=Cambodia Neutral: The Dictates of Necessity |journal=Foreign Affairs |volume=1958 |pages=582–583}}</ref> but permitted the PAVN/Viet Cong to use the port of [[Sihanoukville Autonomous Port|Sihanoukville]] and the [[Sihanouk Trail]]. In March 1969 Nixon launched a secret bombing campaign, called [[Operation Menu]], against communist sanctuaries along the Cambodia/Vietnam border. Only five high-ranking congressional officials were informed.{{Refn|group="A"|They were: Senators [[John C. Stennis]] (MS) and [[Richard B. Russell]] Jr. (GA) and Representatives [[Lucius Mendel Rivers]] (SC), [[Gerald R. Ford]] (MI) and [[Leslie C. Arends]] (IL). Arends and Ford were leaders of the Republican minority and the other three were Democrats on either the Armed Services or Appropriations committees.}}

The North Vietnamese portrayed the conflict as one between an imperialist United States and an indigenous South Vietnamese insurgency that was receiving the noncombat support of North Vietnam and its allies. This view presented the South Vietnamese as puppets of the U.S.

In March 1970, Prince [[Cambodian coup of 1970|Sihanouk was deposed]] by his [[pro-American]] prime minister [[Lon Nol]], who demanded North Vietnamese troops leave Cambodia or face military action.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sutsakhan |first=S. |url=https://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/star/images/239/2390505001A.pdf |title=The Khmer Republic at War and the Final Collapse |date=1987 |publisher=United States Army Center of Military History |page=42 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190412060055/https://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/star/images/239/2390505001A.pdf |archive-date=12 April 2019 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Nol began rounding up Vietnamese civilians in Cambodia into internment camps and massacring them, provoking reactions from the North and South Vietnamese governments.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Lipsman |first1=Samuel |url=https://archive.org/details/fightingfortime00lips/page/145 |title=The Vietnam Experience Fighting for time |last2=Doyle |first2=Edward |date=1983 |publisher=Boston Publishing Company |isbn=978-0-939526-07-9 |page=[https://archive.org/details/fightingfortime00lips/page/145 145]}}</ref> In April–May 1970, North Vietnam invaded Cambodia at the request of the [[Khmer Rouge]], following negotiations with deputy leader [[Nuon Chea]]. Nguyen Co Thach recalls: "Nuon Chea has asked for help and we have liberated five provinces of Cambodia in ten days."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Susan E. Cook |url=https://gsp.yale.edu/genocide-cambodia-and-rwanda-0 |title=Genocide in Cambodia and Rwanda |date=2004 |publisher=Yale University |series=Yale Genocide Studies Program Monograph Series |page=54|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230409052610/https://gsp.yale.edu/genocide-cambodia-and-rwanda-0|archive-date=April 9, 2023}}</ref> US and ARVN forces launched the [[Cambodian Campaign]] in May to attack PAVN and Viet Cong bases. A counter-offensive in 1971, as part of [[Operation Chenla II]] by the PAVN, would recapture most of the border areas and decimate most of Nol's forces.

These conflicting stances influenced early peace talks in which arguments were made over "the shape of the negotiating table," with each side seeking to depict itself as a group of distinct allies opposing a single entity, ignoring the other's "puppet".

The US incursion into Cambodia sparked [[Protests against the Vietnam War|nationwide U.S. protests]] as Nixon had promised to deescalate American involvement. [[Kent State shootings|Four students were killed by National Guardsmen]] in May 1970 during a protest at [[Kent State University]], which provoked further public outrage. The reaction by the administration was seen as callous, reinvigorating the declining anti-war movement.<ref name=Daddis/>{{Rp|128–129}} The US Air Force continued to bomb Cambodia in support of the Cambodian government as part of [[Operation Freedom Deal]].

~~===Escalation===~~

The U.S. involvement in the war has been described as an ''escalation''. This is typically meant to refer to the incremental increase in forces in response to greater need, rather than an intentional strategy. However a key element was that there was no traditional [[declaration of war]] which would have involved a national committment to using all available means to secure victory.

===Laos===

Instead U.S. involvement increased over several years, beginning with the deployment of non-combatant military advisors to the South Vietnamese army, followed by the use of special forces for [[commando]]-style operations, followed by the introduction of regular troops for defensive purposes, until regular troops were used in offensive combat. Once U.S. troops were engaged in active combat, escalation meant the addition of increasing their numbers.

{{Main|3=Operation Commando Hunt|4=Laotian Civil War|6=Operation Lam Son 719}}

Building on the success of ARVN units in Cambodia, and further testing the Vietnamization program, the ARVN were tasked with [[Operation Lam Son 719]] in February 1971, the first major ground operation to attack the Ho Chi Minh trail, at the crossroad of Tchepone. This offensive was the first time the PAVN would field-test its combined arms force.<ref name=Nguyen/>{{Rp|}} The first few days were a success, but momentum slowed after fierce resistance. Thiệu had halted the general advance, leaving armored divisions able to surround them.{{Sfn|Willbanks|2014|p=89}}

The escalation of the war complicated its ambiguous legal status. The treaty agreements between the U.S. and South Vietnam allowed each escalation to be seen as simply another step in helping an ally resist Communist aggression. This allowed the [[Congress of the United States|U.S. Congress]] to vote appropriations for war operations without requiring the Johnson Administration to meet the [[United States Constitution|Constitutionally]] mandated requirement that Congress declare war.

Thieu ordered [[air assault]] troops to capture Tchepone and withdraw, despite facing four-times larger numbers. During the withdrawal, the PAVN counterattack had forced a panicked rout. Half of the ARVN troops were either captured or killed, half of the ARVN/US support helicopters were downed and the operation was considered a fiasco, demonstrating operational deficiencies within the ARVN.<ref name=Karnow/>{{Rp|644–645}} Nixon and Thieu had sought to use to showcase victory simply by capturing Tchepone, and it was spun off as an "operational success".{{Sfn|Willbanks|2014|p=118}}<ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|576–582}}

Successive U.S. administrations also hoped that by limiting its involvement it could support South Vietnam without provoking a major response from [[China]] or the [[Soviet Union]], as had happened in the [[Korean War]]. President Johnson maintained the Kennedy administration's position that South Vietnam's independence was a crucial U.S. defense against Soviet aggression, while at the same time trying to avoid provoking direct participation in the conflict by the [[Warsaw Pact]].

===Easter Offensive and Paris Peace Accords, 1972===

The situation caused friction between the American armed services and the civilian authorities in Washington. Military officials such as General [[William Westmoreland]] resented the [[Lyndon Johnson|Johnson Administration]]'s restraints on their operations but feared making outspoken policy criticisms lest they suffer the same fate as General [[Douglas MacArthur]] who had been dismissed by Truman on such grounds during the [[Korean War]].

[[File:СВС у обломков сбитого Б-52 в окрестностях Ханоя 23.12.1972 (1).jpg|thumb|Soviet advisers inspecting the debris of a B-52 downed in the vicinity of Hanoi]]

Vietnamization was again tested by the [[Easter Offensive]] of 1972, a conventional PAVN invasion of South Vietnam. The PAVN overran the northern provinces and attacked from Cambodia, threatening to cut the country in half. US troop withdrawals continued, but American airpower responded, beginning [[Operation Linebacker]], and the offensive was halted.<ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|606–637}} The US Navy also initiated [[Operation Pocket Money]] in May, an aerial mining campaign in [[Haiphong]] Harbor that prevented North Vietnam's allies from resupplying it with weapons and aid by sea.<ref>{{Cite web |last=magazine |first=Marcelo Ribeiro da Silva, Vietnam |date=2020-01-14 |title=Inside America’s daring plan to mine Haiphong Harbor |url=https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2020/01/14/inside-americas-daring-plan-to-mine-haiphong-harbor/ |access-date=2024-10-03 |website=Navy Times |language=en}}</ref>

The relatively slow process of escalation also tended to mute U.S. political debate, since no individual instance of escalation dramatically increased the level of U.S. involvement. However in [[1968]] the Johnson Administration considered increasing in-country troop levels from approximately 550,000 to about 700,000. When this possibility was made public popular criticism caused the idea to be abandoned. Presidential candidate [[Richard M. Nixon]] called for a decrease in U.S. troop levels and by the end of [[1969]], under his new administration, they were reduced by 60,000 from their wartime peak.

The war was central to the [[1972 United States presidential election|1972 U.S. presidential election]] as Nixon's opponent, [[George McGovern]], campaigned on immediate withdrawal. Nixon's Security Advisor, [[Henry Kissinger]], had continued secret negotiations with North Vietnam's [[Lê Đức Thọ]] and in October 1972 reached an agreement. President Thieu demanded changes to the peace accord upon its discovery, and when North Vietnam went public with the details, the Nixon administration claimed they were attempting to embarrass the president. The negotiations became deadlocked when Hanoi demanded changes. To show his support for South Vietnam and force Hanoi back to the negotiating table, Nixon ordered [[Operation Linebacker II]], a bombing of Hanoi and Haiphong in December 1972.<ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|649–663}} Nixon pressured Thieu to accept the agreement or face military action.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Beschloss |first=Michael |title=Presidents of War: The Epic Story, from 1807 to Modern Times |date=2018 |publisher=Crown |isbn=978-0-307-40960-7 |location=New York |page=579}}</ref>

~~==American Intervention==~~

On 15 January 1973, all US combat activities were suspended. Lê Đức Thọ and Henry Kissinger, along with the PRG Foreign Minister [[Nguyễn Thị Bình]] and a reluctant President Thiệu, signed the [[Paris Peace Accords]] on 27 January 1973.<ref name=Ward/>{{Rp|508–513}} This ended direct U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, created a ceasefire between North Vietnam/PRG and South Vietnam, guaranteed the territorial integrity of Vietnam under the Geneva Conference of 1954, called for elections or a political settlement between the PRG and South Vietnam, allowed 200,000 communist troops to remain in the south, and agreed to a POW exchange. There was a 60-day period for the withdrawal of US forces. "This article", noted Peter Church, "proved{{Nbsp}}... to be the only one of the Paris Agreements which was fully carried out."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Church |first=Peter |title=A Short History of South-East Asia |date=2006 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-0-470-82181-7 |pages=193–194}}</ref> All US forces personnel were withdrawn by March 1973.<ref name=Herring/>{{Rp|260}}

~~===Johnson and the Gulf of Tonkin===~~

~~{{main|Gulf of Tonkin Incident}}~~

Johnson raised the level of U.S. involvement on [[July 27]], [[1964]] when 5,000 additional US military advisors were ordered to South Vietnam. This brought the total number of US forces in Vietnam to 21,000.

==U.S. exit and final campaigns, 1973–1975==

On [[July 31]], [[1964]], the American destroyer [[USS Maddox (DD-731)|USS ''Maddox'']], was in international waters conducting a reconnaissance mission in the Gulf of Tonkin. Critics of President Johnson have suggested that the purpose of the mission was to provoke a reaction from North Vietnamese coastal defense forces as a pretext for a wider war. North Vietnamese torpedo-boats attacked the ''Maddox'' and in response, with the help of air support from the nearby carrier [[USS Ticonderoga (CV-14)|USS ''Ticonderoga'']], she destroyed one of the torpedo-boats, damaging two others. The ''Maddox'' suffered only superficial damage and retired to South Vietnamese waters where she was joined by [[USS C. Turner Joy|USS ''C. Turner Joy'']].

[[File:Hanoi-taxi-march1973.jpg|thumb|American POWs recently released from North Vietnamese prison camps, 1973|alt=]]

In the lead-up to the ceasefire on 28 January, both sides attempted to maximize land and population under their control in a campaign known as the [[War of the flags]]. Fighting continued after the ceasefire, without US participation, and throughout the year.<ref name=Ward/>{{Rp|508–513}} North Vietnam was allowed to continue supplying troops in the South but only to replace expended material. The [[Nobel Peace Prize]] was awarded to Kissinger and Thọ, but the North Vietnamese negotiator declined it saying true peace did not yet exist.

~~[[Image:Kennedyjohnson.jpg|thumb|225px|U.S. President Kennedy and Vice President Johnson.]]~~

On 15 March 1973, Nixon implied the US would intervene militarily if the North launched a full offensive, and Secretary of Defense [[James R. Schlesinger|Schlesinger]] re-affirmed this during his June confirmation hearings. Public and congressional reaction to Nixon's statement was unfavorable, prompting the Senate to pass the [[Case–Church Amendment]] to prohibit any intervention.<ref name=Karnow/>{{Rp|670–672}}

~~On [[August 3]], GVN again attacked North Vietnam; the Rhon River estuary and the Vinh Sonh radar installation were bombarded under cover of darkness.~~

PAVN/VC leaders expected the ceasefire terms would favor their side, but Saigon, bolstered by a surge of US aid just before the ceasefire went into effect, began to roll back the Viet Cong. The PAVN/VC responded with a new strategy hammered out in meetings in Hanoi in March 1973, according to the memoirs of [[Trần Văn Trà]].<ref name=Karnow/>{{Rp|672–674}} With US bombings suspended, work on the Ho Chi Minh trail and other logistical structures could proceed. Logistics would be upgraded until the North was in a position to launch a massive invasion of the South, projected for the 1975–76 dry season. Tra calculated this date would be Hanoi's last opportunity to strike, before Saigon's army could be fully trained.<ref name=Karnow/>{{Rp|672–674}} The PAVN/VC resumed offensive operations when the dry season began in 1973, and by January 1974 had recaptured territory it lost during the previous dry season.

On [[August 4]], a new [[DESOTO]] patrol to the North Vietnam coast was launched, with ''Maddox'' and ''C. Turner Joy''. The latter got radar signals later claimed to be another attack by the North Vietnamese. For some two hours the ships fired on radar targets and maneuvered vigorously amid electronic and visual reports of torpedoes. Later, Captain [[John J. Herrick]] admitted that it was nothing more than an "overeager sonarman" who "was hearing the ship's own propeller beat".

In consequence the [[United States Senate|U.S. Senate]] approved the [[Gulf of Tonkin Resolution]] on [[7 August]] [[1964]], which gave broad support to President Johnson to escalate U.S. involvement in the war "as the President shall determine". In a televised address Johnson claimed that "the challenge that we face in South-East Asia today is the same challenge that we have faced with courage and that we have met with strength in Greece and Turkey, in Berlin and Korea, in Lebanon and in Cuba." [[United States National Security Council|National Security Council]] members, including [[Robert McNamara]], [[Dean Rusk]], and [[Maxwell Taylor]] agreed on [[November 28]], [[1964]] to recommend that President Johnson adopt a plan for a two-stage escalation of bombing in North Vietnam.

Within South Vietnam, the departure of the US and the global recession after the [[1973 oil crisis]] hurt an economy partly dependent on US financial support and troop presence. After clashes that left 55 ARVN soldiers dead, Thieu announced on 4 January 1974, that the war had restarted and the Peace Accords were no longer in effect. There were over 25,000 South Vietnamese casualties during the ceasefire period.<ref>{{Cite web |title=This Day in History 1974: Thieu announces war has resumed |url=http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/thieu-announces-war-has-resumed |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130120114757/http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/thieu-announces-war-has-resumed |archive-date=20 January 2013 |access-date=17 October 2009 |publisher=History.com}}</ref><ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|683}} [[Gerald Ford]] took over as US president in August 1974, and Congress cut financial aid to South Vietnam from $1 billion a year to $700 million. Congress voted in restrictions on funding to be phased in through 1975 and then total cutoff in 1976.<ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|686}}

~~=== Operation Rolling Thunder ===~~

~~{{main|Operation Rolling Thunder}}~~

Operation Rolling Thunder was the code name for bombing raids in North Vietnam conducted by the United States armed forces during the Vietnam War. Its purpose was to destroy the will of the North Vietnamese to fight, to destroy industrial bases and air defenses (SAMs), and to stop the flow of men and supplies down the [[Ho Chi Minh Trail]].

The success of the 1973–1974 dry season offensive inspired Trà to return to Hanoi in October 1974 and plead for a larger offensive the next dry season. This time, Trà could travel on a drivable highway with fueling stops, a vast change from when the Ho Chi Minh trail was a dangerous mountain trek.<ref name="Karnow" />{{Rp|676}} Giáp, the North Vietnamese defense minister, was reluctant to approve Trà's plan since a larger offensive might provoke US reaction and interfere with the big push planned for 1976. Trà appealed to Giáp's superior, Lê Duẩn, who approved it. Trà's plan called for a limited offensive from Cambodia into [[Phước Long Province]]. The strike was designed to solve logistical problems, gauge the reaction of South Vietnamese forces, and determine whether the US would return.<ref name="Hastings" />{{Rp|685–690}} On 13 December 1974, North Vietnamese forces [[Battle of Phuoc Long|attacked Phước Long]]. Phuoc Binh fell on 6 January 1975. Ford desperately asked Congress for funds to assist and re-supply the South before it was overrun.<ref name="Ford asks for additional aid">{{Cite news |title=Ford asks for additional aid |work=history.com |url=https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/ford-asks-for-additional-aid |url-status=dead |access-date=11 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180811232207/https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/ford-asks-for-additional-aid |archive-date=11 August 2018}}</ref> Congress refused.<ref name="Ford asks for additional aid" /> The fall of Phuoc Binh and lack of American response left the South Vietnamese elite demoralized.

Starting in March [[1965]] Operation Rolling Thunder gradually escalated in intensity to force the Communists to negotiate. Although half North Vietnam's bridges were destroyed and many supply depots hit, its Communist allies were always able to resupply it. The two principal areas where supplies came from, Haiphong and the Chinese border, were off limits to aerial attack. Restrictions on the bombing of civilian areas also enabled the North Vietnamese to use them for military purposes, siting anti-aircraft guns on schools.

The speed of this success led the Politburo to reassess its strategy. It decided operations in the Central Highlands would be turned over to General Văn Tiến Dũng and that [[Pleiku]] should be seized, if possible. Dũng said to Lê Duẩn: "Never have we had military and political conditions so perfect or a strategic advantage as great as we have now."<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Dougan |first1=Clark |title=The Vietnam Experience The Fall of the South |last2=Fulgham |first2=David |publisher=Boston Publishing Company |year=1985 |isbn=978-0-939526-16-1 |page=22}}</ref> At the start of 1975, the South Vietnamese had three times as much artillery and twice as many tanks and armored cars as the PAVN. However, heightened oil prices meant many assets could not be leveraged. Moreover, the rushed nature of Vietnamization, intended to cover the US retreat, resulted in a lack of spare parts, ground-crew, and maintenance personnel, which rendered most of it inoperable.<ref name=Stewart/>{{Rp|362–366}}

~~In March [[1968]] Operation Rolling Thunder was suspended after the North agreed to negotiate in the aftermath of the Tet Offensive.~~

===~~U.S.~~Campaign ~~Forces Committed~~275===

{{See also|1975 spring offensive|Battle of Ban Me Thuot|Hue–Da Nang Campaign}}

In [[February]] of [[1965]] the U.S. base at Pleiku was attacked twice killing over a dozen Americans. This provoked the reprisal airstrikes of [[Operation Flaming Dart]] in North Vietnam, the first time an American airstrike was launched because its forces had been attacked in South Vietnam. That same month the U.S. began independent airstrikes in the South. An American HAWK team was sent to Da Nang, a vulnerable airbase if Hanoi intended to bomb it. One result of [[Operation Flaming Dart]] was the shipment of anti-aircraft missiles to North Vietnam which began in a few weeks from the Soviet Union.

[[File:PAVN Captures Hue, Vietnam.jpg|thumb|The capture of Hue, March 1975]]

On 10 March 1975, General Dung launched Campaign 275, a limited offensive into the Central Highlands, supported by tanks and heavy artillery. The target was [[Battle of Ban Me Thuot|Ban Ma Thuột]]; if the town could be taken, the provincial capital Pleiku and the road to the coast, would be exposed for a campaign in 1976. The ARVN proved incapable of resisting the onslaught, and its forces collapsed. Again, Hanoi was surprised by the speed of their success. Dung urged the Politburo to allow him to seize Pleiku immediately and turn his attention to [[Kon Tum]]. He argued that with two months of good weather until onset of the monsoon, it would be irresponsible not to take advantage.<ref name=Tucker/>{{Rp|}}

On [[March 8]], [[1965]], 3,500 [[United States Marines]] became the first American combat troops to land in South Vietnam, adding to the 25,000 US military advisers already in place. The air war escalated as well; on [[July 24]], [[1965]], four [[F-4C Phantom]]s escorting a bombing raid at [[Kang Chi]] became the targets of [[antiaircraft missile]]s in the first such attack against American planes in the war. One plane was shot down and the other three sustained damage. Four days later Johnson announced another order that increased the number of US troops in Vietnam from 75,000 to 125,000. The day after that, [[July 29]], the first 4,000 [[101st Airborne Division]] paratroopers arrived in Vietnam, landing at [[Cam Ranh Bay]].

President Thiệu, a former general, was fearful his forces would be cut off in the north by the attacking communists; Thieu ordered a retreat, which turned into a bloody rout. While the bulk of ARVN forces attempted to flee, isolated units fought desperately. ARVN general Phu abandoned Pleiku and Kon Tum and retreated toward the coast, in what became known as the "column of tears".<ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|693–694}} On 20 March, Thieu reversed himself and ordered Huế, Vietnam's third-largest city, be held at all costs, and then changed policy several times. As the PAVN launched their attack, panic set in, and ARVN resistance withered. On 22 March, the PAVN opened the siege of Huế. Civilians flooded the airport and docks hoping for escape. As resistance in Huế collapsed, PAVN rockets rained down on Da Nang and its airport. By 28 March 35,000 PAVN troops were poised to attack the suburbs. By 30 March 100,000 leaderless ARVN troops surrendered as the PAVN marched through Da Nang. With the fall of the city, the defense of the Central Highlands and Northern provinces ended.<ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|699–700}}

On [[August 18]], [[1965]], [[Operation Starlite]] began as the first major American ground battle of the war when 5,500 US Marines destroyed a Viet Cong stronghold on the [[Van Tuong]] peninsula in [[Quang Ngai Province]]. The Marines were tipped-off by a Viet Cong deserter who said that there was an attack planned against the US base at [[Chu Lai]]. The Vietcong learned from their defeat and tried to avoid fighting a US-style war from then on.

===Final North Vietnamese offensive===

The North Vietnamese committed regular army troops to South Vietnam beginning in late [[1964]] to use guerilla and regular forces to wear down and destroy the South Vietnamese Army. However some North Vietnamese officials favored an immediate invasion, and a plan was drawn up to use [[PAVN]] forces to split South Vietnam in two at the Central Highlands, and then to defeat each half. However in the Battle of the [[Ia Drang Valley]] the [[PAVN]] was defeated, prompting a return to guerilla tactics.

{{Further|topic=the final North Vietnamese offensive|Ho Chi Minh Campaign}}

With the north half of the country under their control, the Politburo ordered Dung to launch the final offensive against Saigon. The operational plan for the [[Ho Chi Minh Campaign]] called for Saigon's capture before 1 May. Hanoi wished to avoid the coming monsoon and prevent redeployment of ARVN forces defending the capital. Northern forces, their morale boosted by their recent victories, rolled on, taking [[Nha Trang]], [[Cam Ranh]] and [[Da Lat]].<ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|702–704}}

[[The Pentagon]] told President Johnson on [[November 27]], [[1965]] that if planned major sweep operations needed to neutralize Viet Cong forces during the next year were to succeed, the number of American troops in Vietnam needed to be increased from 120,000 to 400,000. By the end of 1965, 184,000 US troops were in Vietnam. In February 1966 there was a meeting between the commander of the U.S. effort, head of the [[Military Assistance Command, Vietnam]] General [[William Westmoreland]] and Johnson in [[Honolulu]]. Westmoreland argued that the US presence had prevented a defeat but that more troops were needed to take the offensive, he claimed that an immediate increase could lead to the "cross-over point" in Vietcong and NVA casualties being reached in early 1967. Johnson authorized an increase in troop numbers to 429,000 by August 1966.

On 7 April, three PAVN divisions attacked [[Battle of Xuân Lộc|Xuân Lộc]], {{Convert|40|mi}} east of Saigon. For two bloody weeks, fighting raged as the ARVN defenders made a [[last stand]] to try to block PAVN advance. On 21 April, however, the exhausted garrison was ordered to withdraw towards Saigon.<ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|704–707}} An embittered and tearful president Thieu resigned, declaring that the US had betrayed South Vietnam. In a scathing attack, he suggested Kissinger had tricked him into signing the Paris peace agreement, promising military aid that failed to materialize. Having transferred power to [[Trần Văn Hương]] on 21 April, he left for [[Taiwan]].<ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|714}} After having appealed unsuccessfully to Congress for $722 million in emergency aid for South Vietnam, President Ford gave a televised speech on 23 April, declaring an end to the War and US aid.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Finney |first=John W. |date=12 April 1975 |title=Congress Resists U.S. Aid In Evacuating Vietnamese |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1975/04/12/archives/congress-resists-us-aid-in-evacuating-vietnamese-congress-resists.html |access-date=4 July 2021 |website=The New York Times|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230409033130/https://www.nytimes.com/1975/04/12/archives/congress-resists-us-aid-in-evacuating-vietnamese-congress-resists.html|archive-date=April 9, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Transcript of speech by President Gerald R. Ford - April 23, 1975 |url=https://digitallibrary.tulane.edu/islandora/object/tulane%3A75293 |access-date=4 July 2021 |publisher=Tulane University|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230409183152/https://digitallibrary.tulane.edu/islandora/object/tulane:75293|archive-date=April 9, 2023}}</ref>

On [[12 October]] [[1967]] US [[Secretary of State]] [[Dean Rusk]] stated during a news conference that proposals by the [[Congress of the United States|U.S. Congress]] for peace initiatives were futile because of North Vietnam's opposition. Johnson then held a secret meeting with a group of the nation's most prestigious leaders ("the Wise Men") on [[November 2]] and asked them to suggest ways to unite the American people behind the war effort. Johnson announced on [[November 17]] that, while much remained to be done, "We are inflicting greater losses than we're taking...We are making progress." Following up on this, General [[William Westmoreland]] on [[November 21]] told news reporters: "I am absolutely certain that whereas in 1965 the enemy was winning, today he is certainly losing." Nevertheless it was recognized that although the communists were taking a major beating, true victory could not come until the country was pacified.

By the end of April, the ARVN had collapsed except in the [[Mekong Delta]]. Refugees streamed southward, ahead of the main communist onslaught. On 27 April, 100,000 PAVN troops encircled Saigon. The city was defended by about 30,000 ARVN troops. To hasten a collapse and foment panic, the PAVN shelled [[Tan Son Nhut Airport]] and forced its closure. With the air exit closed, large numbers of civilians had no way out.<ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|716}}

~~[[Image:Viet76.jpg|thumb|225px|U.S forces bomb Viet Cong positions in 1965.]]~~

==~~The~~=Fall ~~Tet~~of ~~Offensive~~Saigon===

~~{{main|Tet Offensive}}~~

[[File:NVA pose for picture in Presidential Palace at end of Vietnam war.jpg|thumb|upright=.8|Victorious PAVN troops at the Presidential Palace, Saigon]]

General Westmoreland had asserted that American forces were on the verge of victory, infamously claiming he "could see the light at the end of the tunnel." As a result it was a considerable shock to public opinion when on [[January 30]], [[1968]] NLF and NVA forces mounted the [[Tet Offensive]] (named after [[Tet Nguyen Dan]], the lunar new year festival which is the most important Vietnamese holiday) in South [[Vietnam]] attacking nearly every major city in South Vietnam.

Chaos and panic broke out as hysterical South Vietnamese officials and civilians scrambled to leave. [[Martial law]] was declared. American helicopters began evacuating South Vietnamese, US and foreign nationals from the city and the U.S. embassy compound. [[Operation Frequent Wind]] had been delayed until the last possible moment, because of Ambassador [[Graham Martin]]'s belief Saigon could be held and a political settlement reached. Frequent Wind was the largest helicopter evacuation in history. It began on 29 April, in an atmosphere of desperation, as hysterical crowds of Vietnamese vied for limited space. Frequent Wind continued around the clock, as PAVN tanks breached defenses near Saigon. In the early morning of 30 April, the last US Marines evacuated the embassy by helicopter, as civilians swamped the perimeter and poured into the grounds.<ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|718–720}}

Although the Communists' military objectives had not been achieved, the propaganda effect was considerable and had a profound impact on public opinion. Many Americans felt that the government was misleading the American people about a war without a clear end. When General Westmoreland called for still more troops to be sent to Vietnam, [[Clark Clifford]], a member of Johnson's own cabinet, came out against the war.

On 30 April 1975, PAVN troops entered Saigon and overcame all resistance, capturing key buildings and installations.<ref name="mtholyoke.edu" /> Tanks from the [[2nd Corps (Vietnam)|2nd Corps]] crashed through the gates of the [[Independence Palace]] and the Viet Cong flag was raised above it.<ref>{{Citation |last=Thai Binh Department of Information and Communications |title=Soldier from Thai Binh who put flag on the roof of Independence Palace |date=30 July 2020 |url=https://thaibinh.gov.vn/english130nam/dat-va-nguoi-thai-binh/soldier-from-thai-binh-who-put-flag-on-the-roof-of-independe.html |work=Thai Binh Provincial Portal |publication-place=Thai Binh |access-date=15 January 2022|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230409174812/https://thaibinh.gov.vn/english130nam/dat-va-nguoi-thai-binh/soldier-from-thai-binh-who-put-flag-on-the-roof-of-independe.html|archive-date=April 9, 2023}}</ref> President Dương Văn Minh, who had succeeded Huong two days earlier, surrendered to Lieutenant colonel Bùi Văn Tùng, political commissar of the 203rd Tank Brigade.<ref>{{Cite web |date=28 April 2020 |title=Reunion of the Veterans organization of Tank Amour force in the South Vietnam |url=https://independencepalace.gov.vn/news/a-reunion-of-the-veterans-organization-of-tank-amour-force-in-the-south-vietnam-was-held-at-independence-palace-historical-site/ |access-date=14 January 2022 |website=[[Independence Palace|Dinh Độc Lập]] official website|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404035108/https://independencepalace.gov.vn/news/a-reunion-of-the-veterans-organization-of-tank-amour-force-in-the-south-vietnam-was-held-at-independence-palace-historical-site/|archive-date=April 4, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Leong, Ernest |title=Vietnam Tries to Create New Image 30 Years After End of War |date=31 October 2009 |url=https://www.voanews.com/a/a-13-2005-04-27-voa67/397223.html |work=Voice of America |access-date=14 January 2022|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404085333/https://www.voanews.com/a/a-13-2005-04-27-voa67/397223.html|archive-date=April 4, 2023}}</ref><ref name="Terzani">{{Cite book |last=Terzani |first=Tiziano |title=Giai Phong! The Fall and Liberation of Saigon |publisher=Angus & Robertson (U.K.) Ltd |year=1976 |isbn=0207957126 |pages=92–96}}</ref>{{Rp|95–96}} Minh was then escorted to [[Radio Saigon]] to announce the surrender declaration.<ref name="Bui Tin">{{Cite book |last=Bui |first=Tin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2NUl_nVpW-gC |title=Following Ho Chi Minh: The Memoirs of a North Vietnamese Colonel |date=1999 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |isbn=9780824822330 |pages=84–86 |access-date=25 July 2023 |archive-date=30 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230430010702/https://books.google.com/books?id=2NUl_nVpW-gC |url-status=live }}</ref>{{Rp|85}} The statement was on air at 2:30 pm.<ref name=Terzani/>

~~===Tet Aftermath===~~

Soon after Tet, Westmoreland was replaced by his deputy, General [[Creighton W. Abrams]]. Abrams pursued a very different approach than Westmoreland's, favoring more openness with the media, less indiscriminate use of airstrikes and heavy artillery, elimination of bodycount as the key indicator of battlefield success, and more meaningful co-operation with ARVN forces. His strategy, although yielding positive results, came too late to influence U.S. public opinion.

==Opposition to U.S. involvement==

Facing a troop shortage, on [[October 14]], [[1968]] the [[United States Department of Defense]] announced that the [[United States Army]] and Marines would be sending about 24,000 troops back to Vietnam for involuntary second tours. Two weeks later on [[October 31]], citing progress with the [[Paris]] peace talks, US President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] announced what became known as the [[October surprise]] when he ordered a complete cessation of "all air, naval, and artillery bombardment of [[North Vietnam]]" effective [[November 1]]. Peace talks eventually broke down, however, and one year later, on [[November 3]], [[1969]], then President [[Richard M. Nixon]] addressed the nation on [[television]] and [[radio]] asking the "silent majority" to join him in solidarity on the Vietnam War effort and to support his policies.

{{Main|Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War|Protests of 1968}}

[[File:vietnamdem.jpg|thumb|The [[March on the Pentagon]], 21 October 1967, an anti-war demonstration organized by the [[National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam]]]]

During the course of the war a large segment of Americans became opposed to U.S. involvement. In January 1967, only 32% of Americans thought the US had made a mistake in sending troops.<ref>{{Cite news |date=28 January 2018 |title=CBS News Poll: U.S. involvement in Vietnam |work=CBS News |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cbs-news-poll-u-s-involvement-in-vietnam/|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230201070627/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cbs-news-poll-u-s-involvement-in-vietnam/|archive-date=February 1, 2023}}</ref> Public opinion steadily turned against the war following 1967 and by 1970 only a third believed the U.S. had not made a mistake by sending troops.<ref>Lunch, W. & Sperlich, P. (1979). The Western Political Quarterly. 32(1). pp. 21–44</ref><ref name="Hagopian">{{Cite book |last=Hagopain |first=Patrick |title=The Vietnam War in American Memory |publisher=University of Massachusetts Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-55849-693-4 |pages=13–4}}</ref>

The credibility of the government suffered when ''[[The New York Times]]'', and later ''[[The Washington Post]]'' and other newspapers, published ''[[The Pentagon Papers]]''. This top-secret historical study of Vietnam, contracted by the Pentagon, presented a pessimistic view of victory in the Vietnam War and generated additional criticism of U.S. policy.

Early opposition to US involvement drew its inspiration from the Geneva Conference of 1954. American support of Diệm in refusing elections was seen as thwarting the democracy America claimed to support. Kennedy, while senator, opposed involvement.<ref name=Kahin/> It is possible to specify groups who led the anti-war movement at its peak in the late 1960s and the reasons why. Many young people protested because they were being [[Conscription in the United States|drafted]], while others were against because the anti-war movement grew popular among the [[counterculture of the 1960s|counterculture]]. Some advocates within the peace movement advocated a [[unilateral]] withdrawal of forces. Opposition to the war tended to unite groups opposed to U.S. anti-communism and [[American imperialism|imperialism]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Zimmer |first=Louis B. |title=The Vietnam War Debate |publisher=Lexington Books |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-7391-3769-7 |pages=54–5}}</ref> and for those involved with the [[New Left]]. Others, such as [[Stephen Spiro]], opposed the war based on the theory of [[Just War]]. Some wanted to show solidarity with the people of Vietnam, such as [[Norman Morrison]] emulating [[Thích Quảng Đức]].

~~==Opposition to the war==~~

~~{{main|Opposition to the Vietnam War}}~~

[[Image:TrangBang.jpg|250px|thumb|right|Children run down a road near Trang Bang after an ARVN napalm attack on villages suspected of harboring NLF fighters in June, 1972. Photo by [[Huynh Cong Ut]], which became a symbol of the international movement against U.S. involvement in Vietnam. (© [[Nick Ut]]/The [[Associated Press]])]]

High-profile opposition to the war increasingly turned to mass protests to shift public opinion. Riots broke out at the [[1968 Democratic National Convention]].<ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|514}} After reports of American military abuses, such as the My Lai Massacre, brought attention and support to the anti-war movement, some veterans joined [[Vietnam Veterans Against the War]]. On 15 October 1969, the [[Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam|Vietnam Moratorium]] attracted millions of Americans.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20230330072002/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/15/newsid_2533000/2533131.stm 1969: Millions march in US Vietnam Moratorium]</ref> The [[Kent State shootings|fatal shooting of 4 students at Kent State University]] in 1970 led to nationwide university protests.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bob Fink |url=http://www.greenwych.ca/vietnam.htm |title=Vietnam – A View from the Walls: a History of the Vietnam Anti-War Movement |publisher=Greenwich Publishing |access-date=18 August 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130111005135/http://www.greenwych.ca/vietnam.htm |archive-date=11 January 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Anti-war protests declined after the Paris Peace Accords and the [[Conscription in the United States#End of conscription|end of the draft]] in January 1973, and the withdrawal of American troops.

Small scale opposition to the war began in [[1964]] on college campuses. This was happening during a time of unprecedented leftist student activism, and of the arrival at college age of the demographically significant [[Baby Boomers]].

==Involvement of other countries==

Protests against the draft began on [[October 15]] [[1965]] when the student-run [[National Coordinating Committee to End the War in Vietnam]] staged the first public burning of a [[draft card]] in the United States. The first [[draft lottery (1969)|draft lottery]] since [[World War II]] in the United States was held on [[1 December]] [[1969]] and was met with large protests and a great deal of controversy; statistical analysis indicated that the methodology of the lotteries unintentionally disadvantaged men with late year birthdays.

===Pro-Hanoi===

[http://www.amstat.org/publications/jse/v5n2/datasets.starr.html] This issue was treated at length in a [[4 January]] [[1970]] ''[[New York Times]]'' article titled "Statisticians Charge Draft Lottery Was Not Random".

====People's Republic of China====

China provided significant support for North Vietnam when the US started to intervene, including financial aid and the deployment of hundreds of thousands of military personnel in support roles. China said its military and economic aid to North Vietnam and the Viet Cong totaled $20 billion ($160 billion adjusted for 2022 prices) during the Vietnam War;<ref name="Womack" />{{Rp|}} included were 5 million tons of food to North Vietnam (equivalent to a year's food production), accounting for 10–15% of their food supply by the 1970s.<ref name="Womack" />{{Rp|}}

In the summer of 1962, [[Mao Zedong]] agreed to supply Hanoi with 90,000 rifles and guns free of charge, and starting in 1965, China began sending [[Anti-aircraft warfare|anti-aircraft]] units and engineering battalions, to repair the damage caused by American bombing. They helped man anti-aircraft batteries, rebuild roads and railroads, transport supplies, and perform other engineering works. This freed North Vietnamese army units for combat. China sent 320,000 troops and annual arms shipments worth $180 million.<ref name="Qiang">{{Cite book |last=Qiang |first=Zhai |title=China and the Vietnam Wars, 1950–1975 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-8078-4842-5}}</ref>{{Rp|135}} China claims to have caused 38% of American air losses in the war.<ref name=Womack/>{{Rp|}} The PRC also began financing the Khmer Rouge as a counterweight to North Vietnam. China "armed and trained" the Khmer Rouge during the civil war, and continued to aid them afterward.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bezlova, Antoaneta |date=21 February 2009 |title=China haunted by Khmer Rouge links |work=Asia Times |url=http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/KB21Ad01.html |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090223174332/http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/KB21Ad01.html |archive-date=23 February 2009}}</ref>

U.S. public opinion became polarized by the war. Many supporters of the war argued for what was known as the [[Domino Theory]], which held that if the South fell to communist guerillas, other nations, primarily in Southeast Asia, would succumb like falling dominoes. Military critics of the war pointed out that the conflict was political and that the military mission lacked clear objectives. Civilian critics of the war argued that the government of South Vietnam lacked political legitimacy and that support for the war was immoral. Some anti-war activists were themselves [[Vietnam Veteran|Vietnam Veterans]], as evidenced by the organization [[Vietnam Veterans Against the War]]. Some of the Americans opposed to the Vietnam War, as for instance [[Jane Fonda]], stressed their support for ordinary Vietnamese civilians struck by a war beyond their influence. President Johnson's undersecretary of state, [[George Ball]], was one of the lone voices in his administration advising against war in Vietnam.

====Soviet Union====

The growing anti-war movement alarmed many in the US government. On [[August 16]], [[1966]] the [[House Un-American Activities Committee]] began investigations of Americans who were suspected of aiding the NLF. Anti-war demonstrators disrupted the meeting and 50 were arrested.

{{Hatnote|For further reading, see [[Bibliography of the post-Stalinist Soviet Union]]}}

[[File:Учителя и ученики. Фото, сделанное весной 1965 г. в зенитно-ракетном учебном центре во Вьетнаме.jpg|thumb|Soviet anti-air instructors and North Vietnamese crewmen in the spring of 1965 at an anti-aircraft training center in Vietnam]]

The Soviet Union supplied North Vietnam with medical supplies, arms, tanks, planes, helicopters, artillery, anti-aircraft missiles and other military equipment. Soviet crews fired Soviet-made [[surface-to-air missile]]s at US aircraft in 1965.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The New York Times|title=Russians Acknowledge a Combat Role in Vietnam|date=14 April 1989|page=13|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/04/14/world/russians-acknowledge-a-combat-role-in-vietnam.html#:~:text=Soviet%20soldiers%20sent%20to%20the,Soviet%20Army%20newspaper%20reported%20today|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407114837/https://www.nytimes.com/1989/04/14/world/russians-acknowledge-a-combat-role-in-vietnam.html|archive-date=April 7, 2023}}</ref> Following the [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]] in 1991, [[Russia]]n officials acknowledged that the USSR had stationed up to 3,000 troops in Vietnam.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Soviet Involvement in the Vietnam War |publisher=historicaltextarchive.com |agency=Associated Press |url=http://historicaltextarchive.com/sections.php?action=read&artid=180|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120222024941/http://historicaltextarchive.com/sections.php?action=read&artid=180|archive-date=February 22, 2012}}</ref>

On [[1 February]] [[1968]], a suspected NLF officer was captured near the site of a ditch holding the bodies of as many as 34 police and their relatives, bound and shot, some of whom were the families of General [[Nguyen Ngoc Loan]]'s deputy and close friend. General Loan, a South Vietnamese National Police Chief, summarily shot the suspect in the head on a public street in front of journalists. The [[execution (legal)|execution]] was filmed and photographed and provided another iconic image that helped sway public opinion in the United States against the war.

According to Russian sources, between 1953 and 1991, the hardware donated by the Soviet Union included: 2,000 tanks; 1,700 [[Armoured personnel carrier|APCs]]; 7,000 artillery guns; over 5,000 anti-aircraft guns; 158 surface-to-air missile launchers; and 120 helicopters. In total, the Soviets sent North Vietnam annual arms shipments worth $450 million.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Sarin |first1=Oleg |url=https://archive.org/details/alienwarssovietu00sari |title=Alien Wars: The Soviet Union's Aggressions Against the World, 1919 to 1989 |last2=Dvoretsky |first2=Lev |publisher=Presidio Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-89141-421-6 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/alienwarssovietu00sari/page/93 93–4] |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref name="Hastings" />{{Rp|364–371}} From July 1965 to the end of 1974, fighting in Vietnam was observed by some 6,500 officers and generals, as well as more than 4,500 soldiers and sergeants of the [[Soviet Armed Forces]], amounting to 11,000 military personnel.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Soviet rocketeer: After our arrival in Vietnam, American pilots refused to fly |url=http://rus.ruvr.ru/2010/01/29/3985810.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130117082418/http://rus.ruvr.ru/2010/01/29/3985810.html |archive-date=17 January 2013 |access-date=26 May 2010 |publisher=rus.ruvr |language=ru}}</ref> The [[KGB]] helped develop the [[signals intelligence]] capabilities of the North Vietnamese.<ref name="MP">{{Cite web |last=Pribbenow |first=Merle |date=December 2014 |title=The Soviet-Vietnamese Intelligence Relationship during the Vietnam War: Cooperation and Conflict |url=https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/CWIHP_Working_Paper_73_Soviet-Vietnamese_Intelligence_Relationship_Vietnam_War_0.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190412060039/https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/CWIHP_Working_Paper_73_Soviet-Vietnamese_Intelligence_Relationship_Vietnam_War_0.pdf |archive-date=12 April 2019 |access-date=1 June 2018}}</ref>

~~[[image:Nguyen.jpg|right|thumb|300px|South Vietnamese police Chief General [[Nguyen Ngoc Loan]] executes Viet Cong Captain [[Nguyen Van Lem]]]]~~

===Pro-Saigon===

On [[15 October]] [[1969]], hundreds of thousands of people took part in [[National Moratorium]] antiwar demonstrations across the United States. A second round of "Moratorium" demonstrations was held on [[November 15]].

As South Vietnam was formally part of a military alliance with the US, Australia, New Zealand, France, the UK, Pakistan, Thailand and the Philippines, the alliance was invoked during the war. The UK, France and Pakistan declined to participate, and South Korea, Taiwan, and Spain were non-treaty participants.

==United Front for the Liberation of Oppressed Races==

On [[April 22]], [[1971]], [[John Kerry]] became the first Vietnam veteran to testify before Congress about the war, when he appeared before a Senate committee hearing on proposals relating to ending the war. He spoke for nearly two hours with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in what has been named the [[Fulbright Hearing]], after the Chairman of the proceedings, Senator [[J. William Fulbright]]. Kerry presented the conclusions of the [[Winter Soldier Investigation]], where veterans had described personally committing or witnessing [[war crimes]].

{{Main|United Front for the Liberation of Oppressed Races|FULRO insurgency}}

The ethnic minority peoples of South Vietnam, like the [[Montagnard (Vietnam)|Montagnards]] in the Central Highlands, the Hindu and Muslim [[Chams|Cham]], and the Buddhist [[Khmer Krom]], were actively recruited in the war. There was a strategy of recruitment and favorable treatment of Montagnard tribes for the Viet Cong, as they were pivotal for control of infiltration routes.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Kaminsky |first1=Arnold P. |title=Nationalism and Imperialism in South and Southeast Asia: Essays Presented to Damodar R.SarDesai |last2=Long |first2=Roger D. |publisher=Routledge |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-351-99742-3}}</ref> Some groups split off and formed the ''United Front for the Liberation of Oppressed Races'' (FULRO) to fight for autonomy or independence. FULRO fought against the South Vietnamese and Viet Cong, later fighting against the unified [[Socialist Republic of Vietnam]], after the fall of South Vietnam.

In 1968, [[President]] Lyndon Johnson began his re-election campaign. A member of his own party, [[Eugene McCarthy]], ran against him for the nomination on an antiwar platform. McCarthy did not win the first primary election in [[New Hampshire]], but he did surprisingly well against an incumbent. The resulting blow to the Johnson campaign, taken together with other factors, led the President to make a surprise announcement in a March 31 televised speech that he was pulling out of the race. He also announced the initiation of the [[Paris Peace Talks]] with Vietnam in that speech. Then, on [[August 4]], [[1969]], US representative [[Henry Kissinger]] and North Vietnamese representative [[Xuan Thuy]] began secret peace negotiations at the apartment of [[France|French]] intermediary [[Jean Sainteny]] in [[Paris]]. This set of negotations failed, however, prior to the 1972 North Vietnamese offensive.

During the war, South Vietnamese president Diem began a program to settle ethnic Vietnamese Kinh on Montagnard lands in the Central Highlands region. This provoked a backlash from the Montagnards, some joining the Viet Cong as a result. The Cambodians under pro-China King Sihanouk and pro-American Lon Nol, supported their fellow co-ethnic Khmer Krom in South Vietnam, following an anti-ethnic Vietnamese policy. Following Vietnamization, many Montagnard groups and fighters were incorporated into the [[Vietnamese Rangers]] as border sentries.

==War crimes==

~~[[Image:vietnamdem.jpg|left|thumb|250px|Anti-Vietnam war demonstration]]~~

{{Main|List of war crimes#1955–1975: Vietnam War|List of massacres in Vietnam}}

Many [[war crimes]] took place, by both sides, including: rape, massacres of civilians, bombings of civilian targets, [[Viet Cong and PAVN strategy, organization and structure#VC/NVA use of terror|terrorism]], torture, and murder of [[prisoners of war]]. Additional common crimes included theft, arson, and the destruction of property not warranted by [[military necessity]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Solis |first=Gary D. |title=The Law of Armed Conflict: International Humanitarian Law in War |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-139-48711-5 |pages=[{{GBurl|id=6FKf0ocxEPAC|p=301}} 301]–303}}</ref>

~~==Pacification and the "Hearts and Minds"==~~

The U.S. realized that the South Vietnamese government needed a solid base of popular support if it was to survive the insurgency. In order to pursue this goal of "winning the hearts and minds" of the Vietnamese people, units of the [[United States]] [[Army]], referred to as "[[Civil Affairs]]" units, were extensively utilized for the first time for this purpose since [[World War II]].

===South Vietnamese, Korean and American{{Anchor|War crimes committed by US forces}}===

Civil Affairs units, while remaining armed and under direct military control, engaged in what came to be known as "[[nation building]]": constructing (or reconstructing) schools, public buildings, roads and other physical infrastructure; conducting medical programs for civilians who had no access to medical facilities; facilitating cooperation among local civilian leaders; conducting hygiene and other training for civilians; and similar activities.

{{See also|United States war crimes#Vietnam War|Winter Soldier Investigation|Vietnam War Crimes Working Group|Tiger Force}}

[[File:My Lai massacre.jpg|thumb|Victims of the [[My Lai massacre]]]]

In 1966, the [[Russell Tribunal]] was organized by a number of public figures opposed to the war led by [[Bertrand Russell]] in an effort to apply the precepts of [[international law]] to the actions of the United States and its allies in Vietnam. The tribunal found the US and its allies guilty of [[War of aggression|acts of aggression]], use of weapons forbidden by the laws of war, bombardment of targets of a purely civilian character, mistreatment of prisoners, and [[genocide]]. Though the tribunal's lack of juridical authority meant its findings were largely ignored by the United States and other governments, the hearings contributed to a growing body of evidence and documentation which established the factual basis for a counter-narrative to the United States' justifications for the war and inspired future hearings, tribunals and legal investigations.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Tulli |first=Umberto |date=2021-06-01 |title=Wielding the human rights weapon against the American empire: the second Russell Tribunal and human rights in transatlantic relations |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s42738-021-00071-4 |journal=Journal of Transatlantic Studies |language=en |volume=19 |issue=2 |pages=215–237 |doi=10.1057/s42738-021-00071-4 |issn=1754-1018}}</ref>

This policy of attempting to win the "[[Hearts and Minds]]" of the Vietnamese people, however, often was at odds with other aspects of the war which served to antagonize many Vietnamese civilians. These policies included the emphasis on "[[body count]]" as a way of measuring military success on the battlefield, the accidental bombing of villages (symbolized by journalist [[Peter Arnett]]'s famous quote, "it was necessary to destroy the village in order to save it"), and the killing of civilians in such incidents as the [[My Lai massacre]]. In [[1974]] the documentary [[Hearts_and_Minds_(film)|''Hearts and Minds'']] sought to portray the devastation the war was causing to the South Vietnamese people, and won an [[Academy Award]] for best documentary amid considerable controversy. The South Vietnamese government also antagonized many of its citizens with its suppression of political opposition, through such measures as holding large numbers of political prisoners, torturing political opponents, and holding a one-man election for President in [[1971]]. Despite this, the government captured a large percentage of the votes of the large percentage of the Vietnamese that participated.

In 1968, the [[Vietnam War Crimes Working Group]] (VWCWG) was established by [[the Pentagon]] [[task force]] set up in the wake of the My Lai Massacre, to ascertain the veracity of emerging claims of [[US war crimes]]. Of the war crimes reported to military authorities, sworn statements by witnesses and status reports indicated 320 incidents had a factual basis.<ref name="TurseNelson">{{Cite web |last1=Nick Turse |last2=Deborah Nelson |date=6 August 2006 |title=Civilian Killings Went Unpunished |url=https://www.latimes.com/news/la-na-vietnam6aug06,0,7018171,full.story |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121215021044/http://www.latimes.com/news/la-na-vietnam6aug06,0,7018171,full.story |archive-date=15 December 2012 |access-date=14 September 2013 |website=[[Los Angeles Times|latimes.com]]}}</ref> The substantiated cases included 7 massacres between 1967 and 1971 in which at least 137 civilians were killed; 78 further attacks targeting non-combatants resulting in at least 57 deaths, 56 wounded and 15 sexually assaulted; and 141 cases of US soldiers torturing civilian detainees, or prisoners of war with fists, sticks, bats, water or electric shock. Journalists since have documented overlooked and uninvestigated war crimes, involving every active army division,<ref name="TurseNelson" /> including atrocities committed by [[Tiger Force]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sallah |first=Michael |url=https://archive.org/details/tigerforcetruest00sall |title=Tiger Force: a true story of men and war |publisher=Little, Brown |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-316-15997-5 |page=[https://archive.org/details/tigerforcetruest00sall/page/306 306] |url-access=registration}}</ref> [[R. J. Rummel]] estimated that American forces committed around 5,500 [[Democide|democidal]] killings between 1960 and 1972.<ref name="Rummel" />{{Rp|}}

~~=="Vietnamization"==~~

Nixon was elected President and began his policy of slow disengagement from the war. The goal was to gradually build up the South Vietnamese Army so that it could fight the war on its own. This policy became the cornerstone of the so-called "[[Nixon Doctrine]]". As applied to Vietnam, the doctrine was called "Vietnamization". The stated goal of Vietnamization was to enable the South Vietnamese army to increasingly hold its own against the NLF and the North Vietnamese Army. The unstated goal of Vietnamization was that the primary burden of combat would be returned to ARVN troops and thereby lessen domestic opposition to the war in the U.S.

US forces established [[free-fire zone]]s to prevent Viet Cong fighters from sheltering in South Vietnamese villages.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Free Fire Zone – The Vietnam War |language=en-US |work=The Vietnam War |url=https://thevietnamwar.info/free-fire-zone/ |access-date=20 June 2018|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230205052554/https://thevietnamwar.info/free-fire-zone/|archive-date=February 5, 2023}}</ref> Such practice, which involved the assumption that anyone appearing in the designated zones was an enemy combatant that could be freely targeted by weapons, was regarded by journalist Lewis Simons as "a severe violation of the laws of war".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lewis M. Simons |title=Free Fire Zones |url=http://www.crimesofwar.org/a-z-guide/free-fire-zones/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161019162449/http://www.crimesofwar.org/a-z-guide/free-fire-zones/ |archive-date=19 October 2016 |access-date=5 October 2016 |publisher=Crimes of War}}</ref> [[Nick Turse]] argues that a relentless drive toward higher [[body count]]s, widespread use of free-fire zones, rules of engagement where civilians who ran from soldiers or helicopters could be viewed as Viet Cong and disdain for Vietnamese civilians, led to massive civilian casualties and war crimes inflicted by US troops.<ref name="Turse">{{Cite book |last=Turse |first=Nick |title=Kill Anything That Moves: The Real American War in Vietnam |publisher=Metropolitan Books |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-8050-8691-1}}</ref>{{Rp|251}} One example cited by Turse is [[Operation Speedy Express]], which was described by [[John Paul Vann]] as, in effect, "many Mỹ Lais".<ref name=Turse/>{{Rp|251}} A report by ''Newsweek'' magazine suggested that at least 5,000 civilians may have been killed during six months of the operation, and there were 748 recovered weapons and an official US military body count of 10,889 enemy combatants killed.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Kevin Buckley |date=19 June 1972 |title=Pacification's Deadly Price |url=http://www.chss.montclair.edu/english/furr/Vietnam/buckley.html |magazine=Newsweek |pages=42–43 |access-date=30 October 2015 |archive-date=10 May 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120510130004/http://chss.montclair.edu/english/furr/Vietnam/buckley.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

During this period, the United States conducted a gradual troop withdrawal from Vietnam. Nixon continued to use air power to bomb the enemy, along with an American troop incursion in Cambodia. Ultimately more bombs were dropped under the Nixon Presidency than under Johnson's, while American troop deaths started to drop significantly. The Nixon administration was determined to remove American troops from the theater while not destabilizing the defensive efforts of South Vietnam.

[[File:The_Terror_of_War.jpg|thumb|"The Terror of War" by [[Nick Ut]], which won the 1973 [[Pulitzer Prize|Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography]], showing [[Phan Thi Kim Phuc|a nine-year-old girl]] running down a road after being severely burned by napalm.]]

Rummel estimated that 39,000 were killed by South Vietnam during the Diem-era in democide; for 1964–75, Rummel estimated 50,000 people were killed in democide. Thus, the total for 1954 to 1975 is about 80,000 deaths caused by South Vietnam.<ref name="Rummel" />{{Rp|}} [[Benjamin Valentino]] estimates 110,000–310,000 deaths as a "possible case" of "counter-guerrilla mass killings" by US and South Vietnamese forces.<ref name="Valentino">{{Cite book |last=Valentino |first=Benjamin |title=Final Solutions: Mass Killing and Genocide in the 20th Century |publisher=[[Cornell University Press]] |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-8014-7273-2 |page=84}}</ref> The Phoenix Program, coordinated by the CIA and involving US and South Vietnamese security forces, was aimed at destroying the political infrastructure of the Viet Cong. The program killed 26,000 to 41,000 people, with an unknown number being innocent civilians.<ref name="Ward" />{{Rp|341–343}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Otterman |first=Michael |title=American Torture: From the Cold War to Abu Ghraib and Beyond |publisher=[[Melbourne University Publishing]] |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-522-85333-9 |page=[{{GBurl|id=wiVqrgS68NoC|p=62}} 62]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Hersh |first=Seymour |author-link=Seymour Hersh |date=15 December 2003 |title=Moving Targets |url=https://www.newyorker.com/archive/2003/12/15/031215fa_fact?currentPage=all |magazine=The New Yorker |access-date=20 November 2013 |archive-date=12 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131112102432/http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2003/12/15/031215fa_fact?currentPage=all |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=McCoy |first=Alfred |title=A question of torture: CIA interrogation, from the Cold War to the War on Terror |publisher=Macmillan |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-8050-8041-4 |page=[{{GBurl|id=FVwUYSBwtKcC|p=68}} 68]}}</ref>

Torture and ill-treatment were frequently applied by the South Vietnamese to POWs, as well as civilian prisoners.<ref name="Greiner">{{Cite book |last=Greiner |first=Bernd |title=War Without Fronts: The USA in Vietnam |publisher=Vintage Books |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-09-953259-0}}</ref>{{Rp|77}} During their visit to the [[Con Dao Prison|Con Son Prison]] in 1970, US congressmen [[Augustus Hawkins]] and [[William Anderson (naval officer)|William R. Anderson]] witnessed detainees either confined in minute "tiger cages" or chained to their cells, and provided with poor-quality food. American doctors inspecting the prison found many inmates suffering symptoms resulting from forced immobility and torture.<ref name=Greiner/>{{Rp|77}} During their visits to US detention facilities in 1968 and 1969, the [[International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement|International Red Cross]] recorded many cases of torture and inhumane treatment before the captives were handed over to South Vietnamese authorities.<ref name=Greiner/>{{Rp|78}} Torture was conducted by the South Vietnamese government in collusion with the CIA.<ref>{{Cite news |date=15 December 2014 |title=Torture: What the Vietcong Learned and the CIA Didn't |language=en |work=Newsweek |url=http://www.newsweek.com/cia-torture-report-vietcong-vietnam-war-292041 |access-date=20 June 2018|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230409031604/https://www.newsweek.com/cia-torture-report-vietcong-vietnam-war-292041|archive-date=April 9, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Man in the Snow White Cell |url=https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol48no1/article06.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070613112835/https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol48no1/article06.html |archive-date=13 June 2007 |access-date=20 June 2018 |publisher=Central Intelligence Agency}}</ref>

Many significant gains in the war were made under the Nixon administration, however. One particularly significant achievement was the weakening of support that the North Vietnamese army received from the [[Soviet Union]] and [[People's Republic of China]]. One of Nixon's main foreign policy goals had been the achievement of a "breakthrough" in U.S. relations with the two nations, in terms of creating a new spirit of cooperation. To a large extent this was achieved. China and the USSR had been the principal backers of the North Vietnamese army through large amounts of military and financial support. The eagerness of both nations to improve their own US relations in the face of a widening breakdown of the inter-Communist alliance led to the reduction of their aid to North Vietnam.

South Korean forces were accused of war crimes. One documented event was the [[Phong Nhị and Phong Nhất massacre]] where the [[2nd Marine Division (South Korea)|2nd Marine Brigade]] reportedly killed between 69 and 79 civilians on 12 February 1968 in Phong Nhị and Phong Nhất village, [[Điện Bàn District]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Go Gyeong-tae |date=15 November 2000 |script-title=ko:잠자던 진실, 30년만에 깨어나다 "한국군은 베트남에서 무엇을 했는가"{{Nbsp}}... 미국 국립문서보관소 비밀해제 보고서·사진 최초공개 |language=ko |work=[[Hankyoreh]] |url=http://h21.hani.co.kr/section-021003000/2000/021003000200011150334040.html |access-date=8 September 2016|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407205452/https://h21.hani.co.kr/section-021003000/2000/021003000200011150334040.html|archive-date=April 7, 2023}}</ref> South Korean forces are accused of perpetrating other massacres: [[Bình Hòa massacre]], [[Binh Tai Massacre]] and [[Hà My massacre]].

===North Vietnamese and Viet Cong===

The morality of US conduct of the war continued to be an issue under the Nixon Presidency. In 1969, American investigative journalist [[Seymour Hersh]] exposed the [[My Lai massacre]] and its cover-up, for which he received the [[Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting]]. It came to light that Lt. [[William Calley]], a platoon leader in Vietnam, had led a massacre of several hundred Vietnamese civilians, including women, babies, and the elderly, at [[My Lai]] a year before. The massacre was only stopped after two American soldiers in a helicopter spotted the carnage and intervened to prevent their fellow Americans from killing any more civilians. Although many were appalled by the wholesale slaughter at My Lai, Calley was given a life sentence after his [[court-martial]] in [[1970]], and was later pardoned by President Nixon. Cover-ups or soft treatments of American war crimes also happened in other cases, e.g. as revealed by the [[Pulitzer Prize]] winning article series about the [[Tiger Force (commandos)|Tiger Force]] by the [[Toledo Blade]] in [[2003]]. But My Lai was the worst.

{{Main|Viet Cong and People's Army of Vietnam use of terror in the Vietnam War}}

[[File:Hue Massacre Interment.jpg|thumb|Interment of victims of the [[Huế Massacre]]]]

Ami Pedahzur has written that "the overall volume and lethality of Viet Cong terrorism rivals or exceeds all but a handful of terrorist campaigns waged over the last third of the twentieth century", based on the definition of terrorists as a non-state actor, and examining targeted killings and civilian deaths which are estimated at over 18,000 from 1966 to 1969.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pedahzur |first=Ami |title=Root Causes of Suicide Terrorism: The Globalization of Martyrdom |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-415-77029-3 |page=116 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LIGTAgAAQBAJ |access-date=25 July 2023 |archive-date=13 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230513214523/https://books.google.com/books?id=LIGTAgAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> The US Department of Defense estimates the VC/PAVN had conducted 36,000 murders and 58,000 kidnappings from 1967 to 1972, {{Circa|1973}}.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Lanning |first1=Michael |title=Inside the VC and the NVA: The Real Story of North Vietnam's Armed Forces |last2=Cragg |first2=Dan |publisher=Texas A&M University Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-60344-059-2 |pages=186–188 |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/book/2746 |access-date=12 June 2023 |archive-date=4 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210504134343/https://muse.jhu.edu/book/2746 |url-status=live }}</ref> Benjamin Valentino attributes 45,000–80,000 "terrorist mass killings" to the Viet Cong.<ref name=Valentino/> Statistics for 1968–1972 suggest "about 80 percent of the terrorist victims were ordinary civilians and only about 20 percent were government officials, policemen, members of the self-defence forces or pacification cadres."<ref name=Lewy/>{{Rp|273}} Viet Cong tactics included frequent mortaring of civilians in refugee camps, and placing of mines on highways frequented by villagers taking goods to urban markets. Some mines were set only to go off after heavy vehicle passage, causing slaughter aboard packed civilian buses.<ref name=Lewy/>{{Rp|270–279}}

In 1970, Prince Sihanouk was deposed by Lon Nol in Cambodia, who became the chief of state. The Khemer Rouge guerillas with North Vietnamese backing began to attack the new regime. Nixon ordered a military incursion into Cambodia in order to destroy NLF sanctuaries bordering on South Vietnam and protect the fragile Cambodian government. This action prompted even more protests on American college campuses. Several students were [[Kent State massacre|shot and killed by National Guard troops]] during demonstrations at [[Kent State University|Kent State]].

Notable Viet Cong atrocities include the massacre of over 3,000 unarmed civilians at Huế<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kiernan |first=Ben |title=Viet Nam: A History from Earliest Times to the Present |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=2017 |isbn=978-0-19-062730-0 |page=444 |author-link=Ben Kiernan}}</ref> during the Tet Offensive and the killing of 252 civilians during the [[Đắk Sơn massacre]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pike |first=Douglas |url=https://archive.org/details/pavnpeoplesarmyo00pike |title=PAVN: People's Army of Vietnam |publisher=Presidio Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-89141-243-4 |url-access=registration}}</ref> 155,000 refugees fleeing the final North Vietnamese Spring Offensive were reported to have been killed, or abducted, on the road to [[Tuy Hòa]] in 1975.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wiesner |first=Louis |title=Victims and Survivors: Displaced Persons and Other War Victims in Viet-Nam, 1954–1975 |publisher=Greenwood Press |year=1988 |isbn=978-0-313-26306-4 |pages=318–319}}</ref> PAVN and Viet Cong troops killed 164,000 civilians in democide between 1954 and 1975 in South Vietnam.<ref name=Rummel/>{{Rp|}} North Vietnam was known for its abusive treatment of American POWs, most notably in [[Hỏa Lò Prison]] (the ''Hanoi Hilton''), where [[Forced confession|torture was employed to extract confessions]].<ref name=Karnow/>{{Rp|655}}

One effect of the incursion was to push communist forces deeper into Cambodia, which destabilized the country and in turn may have encouraged the rise of the [[Khmer Rouge]], who seized power in [[1975]]. The goal of the attacks, however, was to bring the North Vietnamese negotiators back to the table with some flexibility in their demands that the South Vietnamese government be overthrown as part of the agreement. It was also alleged that American and South Vietnamese casualty rates were reduced by the destruction of military supplies the communists had been storing in Cambodia. All U.S. forces left Cambodia on [[June 30]].

==Women==

In an effort to help assuage growing discontent over the war, Nixon announced on [[October 12]], [[1970]] that the United States would withdraw 40,000 more troops before [[Christmas]]. Later that month on [[October 30]], the worst [[monsoon]] to hit Vietnam in six years caused large [[flood]]s, killed 293, left 200,000 homeless and virtually halted the war.

[[File:Second Lieutenant Kathleen M. Sullivan treats a Vietnamese child during Operation MED CAP, a U.S. Air Force civic... - NARA - 542331.jpg|thumb|A nurse treats a Vietnamese child, 1967]]

Women were active in a large variety of roles, making significant impacts and the war having significant impacts on them.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/latenightlive/from-hidden-resistance-to-peace-talks-women-in-the-vietnam-war/6907610|title = From hidden resistance to peace talks: Women in the Vietnam War|website = [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]]|date = 4 November 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url = http://www.thanhniennews.com/arts-culture/exhibition-honors-vietnamese-female-soldiers-in-vietnam-war-40860.html|title = Exhibition honors Vietnamese female soldiers in Vietnam War|date = 8 April 2015|access-date = 8 August 2024|archive-date = 24 May 2022|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220524125544/http://www.thanhniennews.com/arts-culture/exhibition-honors-vietnamese-female-soldiers-in-vietnam-war-40860.html|url-status = dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://femmes-guerres.ens-lyon.fr/spip.php?rubrique90|title = Vietnamese women in wartime – Press Photos – Femmes et guerres}}</ref> Several million Vietnamese women served in the military and in militias, particularly in the Viet Cong, with the slogan "when war comes, even the women must fight" being widely used.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://ro.uow.edu.au/alr/vol1/iss53/5|title=Women in the Vietnam War|first=Elizabeth|last=Windschuttle|date=February 15, 1976|journal=Australian Left Review|volume=1|issue=53|pages=17–25|via=ro.uow.edu.au}}</ref> These women made vital contributions on the Ho Chi Minh trail, espionage, medical care, logistical and administrative work, and sometimes direct combat.<ref>{{cite web|last=|first=|url=https://progressive.international/wire/2021-03-09-portraits-of-vietnamese-women-at-war/en|title=Portraits of Vietnamese Women At War|date=2021-03-09|website=Progressive International}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Springer|first=James|url=https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/3085401/world-war-ii-anti-nazi-greek-resistance-viet-cong-syrian-kurdish-militia|title=Women in combat, from World War II anti-Nazi Greek resistance to Viet Cong to Syrian Kurdish militia |date=2020-05-22|website=South China Morning Post}}</ref> Women workers took on more roles in the economy and Vietnam saw an increase in women's rights.<ref name="Werner">{{cite journal | last1 = Werner | first1 = Jayne | year = 1981 | title = Women, Socialism, and the Economy of Wartime North Vietnam | journal = Studies in Comparative Communism | volume = 16 | pages = 165–90 | doi = 10.1016/0039-3592(81)90005-3 }}</ref> In Vietnam and elsewhere, women emerged as leaders of anti-war peace campaigns and made significant contributions to [[war journalism]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/media/vietnam-women-reporters-becker/2021/03/26/79477986-8e32-11eb-a730-1b4ed9656258_story.html|title=Three groundbreaking journalists saw the Vietnam War differently. It's no coincidence they were women.|newspaper=Washington Post|date=March 28, 2021|author=Margaret Sullivan}}</ref>

Backed by American air and artillery support, South Vietnamese troops invaded [[Laos]] on [[13 February]] [[1971]]. On [[August 18]] of that year, [[Australia]] and [[New Zealand]] decided to withdraw their troops from Vietnam. The total number of American troops in [[Vietnam]] dropped to 196,700 on [[29 October]] [[1971]], the lowest level since January [[1966]]. On [[November 12]], [[1971]] Nixon set a [[1 February]] [[1972]] deadline to remove another 45,000 American troops from Vietnam.

However, women still faced significant levels of discrimination during and were often targets of [[Wartime sexual violence|sexual violence]] and [[List of war crimes#1955–1975: Vietnam War|war crimes]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Turse|first=Nick|url=https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/03/rape-wartime-vietnam/|title=Rape Was Rampant During the Vietnam War. Why Doesn't US History Remember This?|date=2013-03-19|website=Mother Jones}}</ref> Post-war, some Vietnamese women veterans faced difficulty reintegrating into society and having their contributions recognised, as well as advances in women's rights failing to be sustained.<ref name="Lamb 2003">{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-jan-10-fg-vietnam10-story.html|title=Vietnam's Women of War|website=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=10 January 2003}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23750856|jstor = 23750856|title = Laments of warriors' wives: Re-gendering the war in Vietnamese cinema|last1 = Healy|first1 = Dana|journal = South East Asia Research|year = 2006|volume = 14|issue = 2|pages = 231–259|doi = 10.5367/000000006778008149|s2cid = 30828054}}</ref> Portrayals of the war have been criticised for their depictions of women, both for overlooking the role women played and reducing Vietnamese women to racist stereotypes.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/658646|doi = 10.1353/ff.2017.0006|title = (Im)possible Futures: Liberal Capitalism, Vietnamese Sniper Women, and Queer Asian Possibility|year = 2017|last1 = Ly|first1 = Lynn|journal = Feminist Formations|volume = 29|pages = 136–160|s2cid = 149380700|doi-access = free}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1180&context=graddis|title=Racism at the Movies: Vietnam War Films, 1968-2002|date=2008|author=Sara Pike|publisher=University of Vermont}}</ref> Women are at the forefront of campaigns to deal with the war's aftermath, such as the long-terms effect of [[Agent Orange]] use and the [[Lai Đại Hàn]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/16/magazine/laos-agent-orange-vietnam-war.html|title=The Victims of Agent Orange the U.S. Has Never Acknowledged|newspaper=The New York Times|date=16 March 2021|last1=Black|first1=George|last2=Anderson|first2=Christopher}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine|url=http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2071021,00.html|magazine = Time|date = 13 May 2011|last1 = Cain|first1 = Geoffrey|title= Is Time Running Out to Find Soldiers' Remains in Vietnam?}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dw.com/en/vietnamese-woman-sues-seoul-for-wartime-massacre/a-53258186|title=Vietnamese woman sues Seoul for 'wartime massacre' |date= 27 April 2020|website=DW.COM}}</ref>

In the [[1972]] election, the war was once again a major issue in the United States. An antiwar candidate, [[George McGovern]], ran against President Nixon. Nixon's Secretary of State, [[Henry Kissinger]], declared that "peace is at hand" shortly before election day, dealing a death blow to McGovern's campaign, which was already far behind in opinion surveys. However, the peace agreement was not signed until the next year, leading many to conclude that Kissinger's announcement was just a political ploy. Kissinger's defenders assert that the North Vietnamese negotiators had made use of Kissinger's pronouncement as an opportunity to embarrass the Nixon Administration to weaken it at the negotiation table. [[White House]] Press Secretary [[Ron Ziegler]] on [[30 November]] [[1972]] told the press that there would be no more public announcements concerning American troop withdrawals from Vietnam due to the fact that troop levels were then down to 27,000. The US halted heavy bombing of North Vietnam on [[December 30]], [[1972]].

==~~The~~Black ~~end of the war~~servicemen==

{{Main|Military history of African Americans in the Vietnam War}}

~~[[Image:vietnamescape.jpg|The End of the War|thumb|317px|South Vietnamese civilians scramble to board a US helicopter leaving the country.]]~~

[[File:Haeberlewounded.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|A wounded [[African Americans|African-American]] soldier being carried away, 1968]]

The experience of African-American military personnel has received significant attention. The site "African-American Involvement in the Vietnam War" compiles examples,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Fully Integrated |url=http://www.aavw.org/served/homepage_wetoo_integrated.html |access-date=11 May 2017 |website=African-American Involvement in the Vietnam War (aavw.org) |archive-date=25 May 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170525181243/http://www.aavw.org/served/homepage_wetoo_integrated.html |url-status=live }}</ref> as does the work of journalist [[Wallace Terry]] whose book ''Bloods: An Oral History of the Vietnam War by Black Veterans'', includes observations about the impact on the black community and black servicemen. He notes: the higher proportion of combat casualties among African-American servicemen than other races, the shift toward and different attitudes of black military volunteers and conscripts, the discrimination encountered by black servicemen "on the battlefield in decorations, promotion and duty assignments", as well as having to endure "the racial insults, cross-burnings and Confederate flags of their white comrades"—and the experiences faced by black soldiers stateside, during the war and after withdrawal.{{Sfn|Terry|1984|loc=Epigraph, pp. xv–xvii}}

Civil rights leaders protested the disproportionate casualties and overrepresentation in hazardous duty, experienced by African American servicemen, prompting reforms that were implemented beginning in 1967. As a result, by the war's completion in 1975, black casualties had declined to 13% of US combat deaths, approximately equal to percentage of draft-eligible black men, though still slightly higher than the 10% who served in the military.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Appy |first=Christian |title=Working-class War: American Combat Soldiers and Vietnam |publisher=The University of North Carolina Press |year=1993 |isbn=978-0-8078-6011-3}}</ref>

On [[15 January]] [[1973]], citing progress in peace negotiations, President Nixon announced the suspension of offensive action in North Vietnam which was later followed by a unilateral withdrawal of US troops from Vietnam. The [[Paris Peace Accords]] were later signed on [[27 January]] [[1973]] which officially ended US involvement in the Vietnam conflict. This won the 1973 [[Nobel Peace Prize]] for Kissinger and North Vietnamese Politburo member and lead negotiator [[Le Duc Tho]] while fighting continued, leading songwriter [[Tom Lehrer]] to declare that [[irony]] had died. However, five days before the peace accords were signed, [[Lyndon Johnson]], whose presidency was marred by the war, died. The mood during his [[state funeral]] was one of intense sadness and recrimination because the war's wounds were still raw.

==Weapons==

The first American [[prisoner of war|prisoners of war]] were released on [[February 11]] and all US soldiers were ordered to leave by [[March 29]]. In a break with history, soldiers returning from the Vietnam War were generally not treated as heroes, and soldiers were sometimes even condemned for their participation in the war.

[[File:HoChiMinhTrail003.jpg|thumb|upright=.6|Guerrillas assemble shells and rockets delivered along the Ho Chi Minh Trail.]]

Nearly all US-allied forces were armed with US weapons including the [[M1 Garand]], [[M1 carbine]], [[M14 rifle]], and [[M16 rifle]]. The Australian and New Zealand forces employed the 7.62 mm [[L1A1 Self-Loading Rifle]], with occasional use of the M16 rifle.

~~The peace agreement did not last.~~

The PAVN, although having inherited US, French, and Japanese weapons from World War II and the [[First Indochina War]], were largely armed and supplied by China, the Soviet Union, and its [[Warsaw Pact]] allies. Some weapons—notably anti-personnel explosives, the [[K-50M]], and "home-made" versions of the [[RPG-2]]—were manufactured in North Vietnam. By 1969 the US Army had identified 40 rifle/carbine types, 22 machine gun types, 17 types of mortar, 20 recoilless rifle or rocket launcher types, 9 types of antitank weapons, and 14 anti-aircraft artillery weapons used by ground troops on all sides. Also in use, mostly by anti-communist forces, were 24 types of armored vehicles and self-propelled artillery, and 26 types of field artillery and rocket launchers.

Nixon had promised South Vietnam that he would provide military support to them in the event of a crumbling military situation. Nixon was fighting for his political life in the growing [[Watergate Scandal]] at the time. Economic aid continued, but most of it was siphoned off by corrupt elements in the South Vietnamese government and little of it actually went to the war effort. At the same time aid to North Vietnam from the USSR and China began to increase, and with the Americans out, the two countries no longer saw the war as significant to their US relations. The balance of power had clearly shifted to the North.

==Extent of U.S. bombings==

In December 1974, Congress completed passage of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1974 that voted to cut off all military funding to the Saigon government and made unenforceable the peace terms negotiated by Nixon.

{{See also|Operation Rolling Thunder|Operation Menu|Operation Freedom Deal|CIA activities in Laos}}

The US dropped over 7 million tons of bombs on Indochina during the war, more than triple the 2.1 million tons it dropped on Europe and Asia during World War II, and more than ten times the amount during the Korean War. 500 thousand tons were dropped on Cambodia, 1 million tons on North Vietnam, and 4 million tons on South Vietnam. On a per person basis, the 2 million tons dropped on Laos make it the most heavily bombed country in history; ''The New York Times'' noted this was "nearly a ton for every person in Laos."<ref name=KiernanTaylor/> Due to the particularly heavy impact of cluster bombs, Laos was a strong advocate of the [[Convention on Cluster Munitions]] to ban the weapons, and was host to its first meeting in 2010.<ref>{{Cite web |date=November 2011 |title=Disarmament |url=http://www.unog.ch/80256EE600585943/(httpPages)/B3F3E37A2838630FC125772E0050F4F7?OpenDocument |access-date=20 September 2013 |website=The United Nations Office at Geneva |publisher=United Nations |archive-date=21 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921060643/http://www.unog.ch/80256EE600585943/(httpPages)/B3F3E37A2838630FC125772E0050F4F7?OpenDocument |url-status=live }}</ref>

Former US Air Force official Earl Tilford recounted "repeated bombing runs of a lake in central Cambodia. The B-52s literally dropped their payloads in the lake." The Air Force ran many missions like this to secure additional funding during budget negotiations, so the tonnage expended does not directly correlate with the resulting damage.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Greenberg |first=Jon |date=11 September 2014 |title=Kissinger: Drones have killed more civilians than the bombing of Cambodia in the Vietnam War |url=http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2014/sep/11/henry-kissinger/kissinger-drones-have-killed-more-civilians-bombin/ |access-date=18 September 2016 |website=[[Politifact.com]]}}</ref>

By 1975, the South Vietnamese Army stood alone against the powerful North Vietnamese. Despite Vietnamization and the 1972 victories against the PAVN offensive, the ARVN was plagued with corruption, desertion, low wages, and lack of supplies. Then in early March the PAVN launched a powerful offensive into the poorly defended Central Highlands, splitting the Republic of Vietnam in two. President Thieu, fearful that ARVN troops in the northern provinces would be isolated due to a PAVN encirclement, he decided on a redeployment of ARVN troops from the northern provinces to the Central Highlands. But the withdrawal of South Vietnamese forces soon turned into a bloody retreat as the PAVN crossed the DMZ. While South Vietnamese forces retreated from the northern provinces, splintered South Vietnamese forces in the Central Highlands fought desperately against the PAVN.

== Casualties ==

On [[March 11]], [[1975]] Bumnethout fell to the PAVN. The attack began in the early morning hours. After a violent artillery barrage, 4,000- man garrison defending the city retreated with their families. On [[March 15]], President Thieu ordered the Central Highlands and the northern provinces to be abandoned, in what he declared to lighten the top and keep the bottom. General Phu abandoned the cities of [[Pleiku]] and [[Kontum]] and retreated to the coast in what became known as the column of tears. General Phu led his troops to Tum Ky on the coast, but as the ARVN retreated, the civilians also went with them. Due to already destroyed roads and bridges, the column slowed down as the PAVN closed in. As the column staggered down mountains to the coast, PAVN shelling attacked. By [[April 1]], the column ceased to exist after 60,000 ARVN troops were killed.

{| class="wikitable sortable floatright" style="text-align:right;"

|+ '''Military deaths {{Nowrap |(1955–1975)}}'''

! Year || U.S.<ref name="USarchives">{{Cite web |date=30 April 2019 |title=Vietnam War U.S. Military Fatal Casualty Statistics, Electronic Records Reference Report |url=https://www.archives.gov/research/military/vietnam-war/casualty-statistics#category |access-date=2 August 2021 |publisher=U.S. National Archives |at=DCAS Vietnam Conflict Extract File record counts by CASUALTY CATEGORY (as of April 29, 2008)}} (generated from the Vietnam Conflict Extract Data File of the Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS) Extract Files (as of 29 April 2008))</ref>|| South Vietnam

| 1956–1959 || 4 || n.a.

| 1960 || 5 || 2,223

| 1961 || 16 || 4,004

| 1962 || 53 || 4,457

| 1963 || 122 || 5,665

| 1964 || 216 || 7,457

| 1965 || 1,928 || 11,242

| 1966 || 6,350 || 11,953

| 1967 || 11,363 || 12,716

| 1968 || 16,899 || 27,915

| 1969 || 11,780 || 21,833

| 1970 || 6,173 || 23,346

| 1971 || 2,414 || 22,738

| 1972 || 759 || 39,587

| 1973 || 68 || 27,901

| 1974 || 1 || 31,219

| 1975 || 62 || n.a.

| After 1975 || 7 || n.a.

|- class="sortbottom"

! Total || 58,220 || >254,256<ref name=Clarke/>{{Rp|275}}

Estimates of casualties vary, with one source suggesting up to 3.8 million violent war deaths in Vietnam for 1955 to 2002.<ref>{{Cite news |date=23 April 2008 |title=fifty years of violent war deaths: data analysis from the world health survey program: BMJ |url=http://www.bmj.com/content/336/7659/1482 |access-date=5 January 2013}} From 1955 to 2002, data from the surveys indicated an estimated 5.4 million violent war deaths{{Nbsp}}... 3.8 million in Vietnam.</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Lind |first=Michael |year=1999 |title=Vietnam, The Necessary War: A Reinterpretation of America's Most Disastrous Military Conflict |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/first/l/lind-vietnam.html |access-date=17 January 2014 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230307092630/https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/first/l/lind-vietnam.html |archive-date=March 7, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Friedman |first=Herbert |title=Allies of the Republic of Vietnam |url=http://www.psywarrior.com/AlliesRepublicVietnam.html |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120307112918/http://www.psywarrior.com/AlliesRepublicVietnam.html |archive-date=March 7, 2012 |access-date=1 May 2019}}</ref><ref name="Toledo Blade 320,000 Chinese troops" /> A demographic study calculated 791,000–1,141,000 war-related deaths during the war for all of Vietnam, for military and civilians.<ref name=Hirschman/> Between 195,000 and 430,000 South Vietnamese civilians died in the war.<ref name=Lewy/>{{Rp|450–453}}<ref name=Thayer/>{{Rp|}} Extrapolating from a 1969 US intelligence report, Guenter Lewy estimated 65,000 North Vietnamese civilians died.<ref name=Lewy/>{{Rp|450–453}} Estimates of civilian deaths caused by American bombing of North Vietnam range from 30,000<ref name=Tucker/>{{Rp|176,617}} to 182,000.<ref name=bfvietnam/> A 1975 US Senate subcommittee estimated 1.4 million South Vietnamese civilians casualties during the war, including 415,000 deaths.<ref name="Turse" />{{Rp|12}} The military of South Vietnam suffered an estimated 254,256 killed between 1960 and 1974, and additional deaths from 1954 to 1959 and in 1975.<ref name=Clarke/>{{Rp|275}} Other estimates point to higher figures of 313,000 casualties.<ref name=Gravel/><ref name="Obermeyer" /><ref name="Hirschman" /><ref name="Heuveline" /><ref name="Banister" /><ref name="Sliwinski" />

On [[March 20]], Thieu reversed himself and ordered [[Hue]], Vietnam’s 3rd largest city be held out at all cost. But as the PAVN attacked, a panic ensued and South Vietnamese resistance collapsed. On [[March 22]], the PAVN launched a siege on Hue, the civilians, remembering the 1968 massacre jammed into the airport, seaports, and the docks. Some even swam into the ocean to reach boats and barges. The ARVN routed with the civilians and some South Vietnamese shot civilians just to make room for themselves. On [[March 25]], after a 3-day siege, Hue fell.

The official US Department of Defense figure for PAVN/VC killed in Vietnam from 1965 to 1974 was 950,765. Officials believed these body count figures need to be deflated by 30 percent. Guenter Lewy asserts that one-third of the reported "enemy" killed may have been civilians, concluding that the actual number of deaths of PAVN/VC military forces was probably closer to 444,000.<ref name=Lewy/>{{Rp|450–453}}

As Hue fell, PAVN rockets hit downtown Da Nang and the airport. By [[March 28]], 35,000 PAVN troops were poised in the suburbs. On [[March 29]], a World Airways jet led by Edward Daley landed in [[Da Nang]] to save women and children, instead 300 men jammed onto the flight, mostly ARVN troops. On [[March 30]], 100,000 leaderless ARVN troops surrendered as the PAVN marched victoriously through Da Nang on that Easter Sunday. With the fall of Da Nang, the defense of the Central Highlands and northern provinces collapsed. With half of South Vietnam under their control, PAVN prepared for its final phase in its offensive, the Ho Chi Minh campaign, the plan: By [[May 1]], capture [[Saigon]] before South Vietnamese forces could regroup to defend it.

According to figures released by the Vietnamese government there were 849,018 confirmed military deaths on the PAVN/VC side.<ref name=Chuyen/><ref name=VNMOD/> The Vietnamese government released its estimate of war deaths for the more lengthy period of 1955 to 1975. This figure includes battle deaths of Vietnamese soldiers in the Laotian and Cambodian Civil Wars, in which the PAVN was a major participant. Non-combat deaths account for 30-40% of these.<ref name=Chuyen/> However, the figures do not include deaths of South Vietnamese and allied soldiers.<ref name=Shenon/> These do not include the estimated 300,000–500,000 PAVN/VC missing in action. Vietnamese government figures estimate 1.1 million dead and 300,000 missing from 1945 to 1979, with approximately 849,000 dead and 232,000 missing from 1960 to 1975.<ref name="Moyar, Mark"/>

The PAVN continued its attack as South Vietnamese forces and Thieu regime crumbled before their onslaught. On [[April 7]], 3 PAVN divisions attacked [[Xuan-loc]], 40 miles east of Saigon , where they met fierce resistance from the ARVN 18th Infantry division. For 2 bloody weeks, severe fighting raged in the city as the ARVN defenders in a last-ditch effort tried desperately to save South Vietnam from military and economic collapse. Also, hoping Americans forces would return in time to save them, the ARVN 18th Infantry division used many advanced weapons against the PAVN, and it was in the final phase in which Saigon government troops fought well. But on [[April 21]], the exhausted and besieged army garrison defending Xuan-loc surrendered. A bitter and tearful Thieu resigned on [[April 21]], saying America had betrayed South Vietnam and he showed the 1972 document claiming America would retaliate against North Vietnam should they attack. Thieu left for [[Taiwan]] on [[April 25]], leaving control of the doomed government to General Minh.

US reports of "enemy KIA", referred to as body count, were thought to have been subject to "falsification and glorification", and a true estimate of PAVN/VC combat deaths is difficult to assess, as US victories were assessed by having a "greater kill ratio".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kempster |first=Norman |date=31 January 1991 |title=In This War, Body Count Is Ruled Out: Casualties: Gen. Schwarzkopf makes it clear he's not repeating a blunder made in Vietnam. |language=en-US |work=Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-01-31-mn-442-story.html |access-date=3 June 2018 |issn=0458-3035}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Aman |first=Mohammed M. |date=April 1993 |title=General H. Norman Schwarzkopf: The Autobiography: It Doesn't Take a Hero; H. Norman Schwarzkopf with Peter Petre |journal=Digest of Middle East Studies |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=90–94 |doi=10.1111/j.1949-3606.1993.tb00951.x |issn=1060-4367}}</ref> It was difficult to distinguish between civilians and military personnel in the Viet Cong, as many were part-time guerrillas or impressed laborers who did not wear uniforms{{Sfn|Willbanks|2008|p=32}}<ref>[[Rand Corporation]] [http://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a032189.pdf "Some Impressions of Viet Cong Vulnerabilities, an Interim Report"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170216061330/http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a032189.pdf |date=16 February 2017}} 1965</ref> and civilians killed were sometimes written off as enemy killed, because high enemy casualties was directly tied to promotions and commendation.<ref name=Currey/>{{Rp|649–650}}<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Kelman |first1=H.C |url=https://archive.org/details/crimesofobedienc0000unse/page/1 |chapter=The My Lai Massacre: A Military Crime of Obedience |last2=Hamilton |first2=V. |title=Crimes of Obedience: Towards a Social Psychology of Authority and Responsibility |publisher=Yale University Press |year=1989 |isbn=978-0-300-04813-1 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/crimesofobedienc0000unse/page/1 1–12]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Declassification of the BDM Study, "The Strategic Lessons Learned in Vietnam" |url=http://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a096431.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20190412100450/http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a096431.pdf |archive-date=12 April 2019 |publisher=Defense Technical Center |pages=225–234}}</ref>

~~By now PAVN tanks had reached [[Bien Hoa]], they turned towards Saigon, clashing with few South Vietnamese units on the way. The end was near.~~

Between 275,000<ref name=Banister/> and 310,000<ref name=Sliwinski/> Cambodians were estimated to have died, including between 50,000 and 150,000 combatants and civilians from US bombings.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kiernan |first=Ben |url=https://archive.org/details/howpolpotcametop00kier_0 |title=How Pol Pot Came to Power: Colonialism, Nationalism, and Communism in Cambodia, 1930–1975 |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-300-10262-8 |page=xxiii |author-link=Ben Kiernan |url-access=registration}}</ref> 20,000–62,000 Laotians died,<ref name=Obermeyer/> and 58,281 U.S. military personnel were killed,<ref name=2new/> of which 1,584 are still listed as missing {{as of|March 2021|lc=yes}}.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1 March 2021 |title=Vietnam-era unaccounted for statistical report |url=https://www.dpaa.mil/Portals/85/Statistics%20as%20of%20March%201.pdf|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407114839/https://www.dpaa.mil/Portals/85/Statistics%20as%20of%20March%201.pdf|archive-date=April 7, 2023}}</ref>

~~=== '''Fall of Saigon''' ===~~

~~{{SectNPOV}}~~

~~{{main|Fall of Saigon}}~~

By April, the weakened South Vietnamese Army had collapsed on all fronts. The powerful PAVN offensive forced South Vietnamese troops on a bloody retreat that ended up as a hopeless siege at Xuan-loc, a city 40 miles from Saigon, and the last South Vietnamese defense line before Saigon. On [[April 21]], the defense of Xuan-loc collapsed and PAVN troops and tanks rapidly advanced to Saigon. On [[April 27]], 100,000 PAVN troops encircled Saigon, which was to be defended by 30,000 ARVN troops. On [[April 29]], the US launched [[Option IV]], the largest helicopter evacuation in history. Chaos, unrest, and panic ensued as hectic Vietnamese scrambled to leave Saigon before it was too late. Helicopters began evacuating from the US embassy and the airport. Evacuations were held to the last minute because US Ambassador Martin thought Saigon could be held and defended. The operation began in an atmosphere of desperation as hysterical mobs of South Vietnamese raced to takeoff spots designated to evacuate, many yelling to be saved. Martin had pleaded to the US government to send $700 million dollars in emergency aid to South Vietnam in order to bolster the Saigon regime’s ability to fight and to mobilize fresh South Vietnamese units. But the plea was rejected. Many Americans felt the Saigon regime would meet certain collapse. President Ford gave a speech on [[April 23]], declaring the end of the Vietnam War and the end of all American aid to the Saigon regime. The helicopter evacuation continued all day and night while PAVN tanks reached the outskirts of Saigon. In the early hours of [[April 30]], the last US Marines left the embassy as hectic Vietnamese breached the embassy perimeter and raided the place. PAVN [[T-54 tank]]s moved into Saigon. The South Vietnamese resistance was light. Tank skirmishes began as ARVN [[M-41 tank]]s attacked the heavily armored Soviet [[T-34 tank]]s. PAVN troops soon dashed to capture the US embassy, the government army garrison, the police headquarters, radio station, presidential palace, and other vital targets. The PAVN encountered greater-than expected resistance as small pockets of ARVN resistance continued. By now, the helicopter evacuations that had saved 7,000 American and Vietnamese had ended. The presidential palace was captured and the Vietcong flag waved victoriously over it. President Duong Van Minh surrendered Saigon to PAVN colonel Bui Tin. The surrender came over the radio as Minh ordered South Vietnamese forces to lay down their weapons. Columns of South Vietnamese troops came out of defensive positions and surrendered. Saigon fell on [[April 30]], [[1975]]. As for the Americans, many stayed in South Vietnam but by [[May 1]], [[1975]] most Americans had fled, leaving the city of Saigon forever. The Vietnam War was America's most humiliating defeat, with over 58,000 dead and many left severely injured. As for the people of South Vietnam, over a million ARVN soldiers died in the 30-year conflict.

==Aftermath==

North Vietnam united both North and South Vietnam on [[2 July]] [[1976]] to form the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. [[Saigon]] was re-named [[Ho Chi Minh City]] in honor of the former president of North Vietnam. Thousands of supporters of the South Vietnamese government were rounded up and executed, and many more were imprisoned. Communist rule continues to this day.

===In Southeast Asia===

==== In Vietnam ====

~~On [[21 January]] [[1977]] American President [[Jimmy Carter]] pardoned nearly all Vietnam War draft evaders.~~

[[File:B52 CRASH WRECKAGE AT HUU TIEP LAKE HA NOI FEB 2012 (6887035292).jpg|thumb|upright=.7|B-52 wreckage in Huu Tiep Lake, Hanoi. Downed during [[Operation Linebacker II]], its remains have been turned into [[B-52 Victory Museum, Hanoi|a war monument]].]]

On 2 July 1976, North and South Vietnam were merged to form the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Robbers |first=Gerhard |title=Encyclopedia of world constitutions |publisher=[[Infobase Publishing]] |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-8160-6078-8 |page=[{{GBurl|id=M3A-xgf1yM4C|p=1021}} 1021]}}</ref> Despite speculation that the victorious North Vietnamese would, in Nixon's words, "massacre the civilians there [South Vietnam] by the millions," no mass executions took place.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Elliot |first=Duong Van Mai |title=RAND in Southeast Asia: A History of the Vietnam War Era |publisher=RAND Corporation |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-8330-4754-0 |pages=499, 512–513 |chapter=The End of the War |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g9o8fAo2R6wC&pg=PA499}}</ref>{{Refn|group="A"|A study by Jacqueline Desbarats and Karl D. Jackson estimated that 65,000 South Vietnamese were executed for political reasons between 1975 and 1983, based on a survey of 615 Vietnamese refugees who claimed to have personally witnessed 47 executions. However, "their methodology was reviewed and criticized as invalid by authors [[Gareth Porter]] and James Roberts." Sixteen of the 47 names used to extrapolate this "bloodbath" were duplicates; this extremely high duplication rate (34%) strongly suggests Desbarats and Jackson were drawing from a small number of total executions. Rather than arguing that this duplication rate proves there were very few executions in post-war Vietnam, Porter and Roberts suggest it is an artifact of the self-selected nature of the participants in the Desbarats-Jackson study, as the authors followed subjects' recommendations on other refugees to interview.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Elliot |first=Duong Van Mai |title=RAND in Southeast Asia: A History of the Vietnam War Era |publisher=RAND Corporation |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-8330-4754-0 |pages=512–513 |chapter=The End of the War |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g9o8fAo2R6wC&pg=PA512 }} cf. {{Cite journal |last1=Porter |first1=Gareth |last2=Roberts |first2=James |date=Summer 1988 |title=Creating a Bloodbath by Statistical Manipulation: A Review of ''A Methodology for Estimating Political Executions in Vietnam, 1975–1983'', Jacqueline Desbarats; Karl D. Jackson. |journal=Pacific Affairs |volume=61 |issue=2 |pages=303–310 |doi=10.2307/2759306 |jstor=2759306}}</ref> Nevertheless, there exist unverified reports of mass executions.<ref>''see'' Nguyen Cong Hoan' testimony in {{Cite report |url=http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/002939991 |title=Human Rights in Vietnam: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on International Organizations of the Committee on International Relations: House of Representatives, Ninety-Fifth Congress, First Session |date=26 July 1977 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |pages=149, 153 |access-date=2 September 2016 |archive-date=17 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181117043107/https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/002939991 |url-status=live }}; ''see also'' {{Cite journal |last1=Desbarats |first1=Jacqueline |last2=Jackson |first2=Karl D. |date=September 1985 |title=Vietnam 1975–1982: The Cruel Peace |journal=The Washington Quarterly |volume=8 |issue=4 |pages=169–182 |doi=10.1080/01636608509477343 |pmid=11618274}}</ref>}}

[[File:35 Vietnamese boat people 2.JPEG|thumb|upright=.7|Vietnamese refugees fleeing Vietnam, 1984]]

However many South Vietnamese were sent to [[Re-education camp (Vietnam)|re-education camps]] where they endured torture, starvation, and disease while being forced to perform hard labor.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Sagan |first1=Ginetta |last2=Denney |first2=Stephen |date=October–November 1982 |title=Re-education in Unliberated Vietnam: Loneliness, Suffering and Death |url=https://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~sdenney/Vietnam-Reeducation-Camps-1982 |access-date=1 September 2016 |website=The Indochina Newsletter |archive-date=28 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190428231519/https://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~sdenney/Vietnam-Reeducation-Camps-1982 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Nghia |first=M. Vo |title=The Bamboo Gulag: Political Imprisonment in Communist Vietnam |publisher=McFarland |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-7864-1714-8}}</ref> According to Amnesty International, this figure varied depending on different observers: "...{{Nbsp}}"50,000 to 80,000" (''Le Monde'', April 1978), "150,000" (Reuters from Bien Hoa, November 1977), "150,000 to 200,000" (''The Washington Post'', December 1978), and "300,000" (Agence France Presse from Hanoi, February 1978)."<ref>{{Cite web |year=1979 |title=Amnesty International Report, 1979 |url=https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/POL100011979ENGLISH.PDF |access-date=26 March 2018 |publisher=Amnesty International |page=116|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230323142937/https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/pol10/001/1979/en/|archive-date=March 23, 2023}}</ref> Such variations are because "Some estimates may include not only detainees but also people sent from the cities to the countryside." According to a native observer, 443,360 people had to register for a period in re-education camps in Saigon alone, and while some were released after a few days, others stayed for more than a decade.<ref>''Huy, Đức. Bên Thắng Cuộc. OsinBook.''</ref> Between 1975 and 1980, more than 1 million northerners migrated south, to regions formerly in the Republic of Vietnam, while, as part of the [[New Economic Zones program]], around 750,000 to over 1 million southerners were moved mostly to mountainous forested areas.<ref name="Desbarats">{{Cite book |last=Desbarats |first=Jacqueline |title=Repression in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam: Executions and Population Relocation |series=Indochina report ; no. 11 |publisher=Executive Publications |location=Singapore |date=1987}}</ref><ref name="Chapman">{{Cite news |last=Chapman |first=William |date=17 August 1979 |title=Hanoi Rebuts Refugees on 'Economic Zones' |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1979/08/17/hanoi-rebuts-refugees-on-economic-zones/a26c10ab-3791-4d76-9c4a-db4f7d48be32/ |access-date=30 June 2021|archive-date=June 14, 2023|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20230614164256/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1979/08/17/hanoi-rebuts-refugees-on-economic-zones/a26c10ab-3791-4d76-9c4a-db4f7d48be32/}}</ref> [[Gabriel García Márquez]], a [[Nobel Prize]] winning writer, described South Vietnam as a "False paradise" after the war, when he visited in 1980:

~~==Casualties==~~

{{Blockquote|The cost of this delirium was stupefying: 360,000 people mutilated, a million widows, 500,000 prostitutes, 500,000 drug addicts, a million tuberculous and more than a million soldiers of the old regime, impossible to rehabilitate into a new society. Ten percent of the population of Ho Chi Minh City was suffering from serious venereal diseases when the war ended, and there were 4 million illiterates throughout the South.<ref>{{Cite magazine |title=Read Gabriel García Márquez's Moving Vietnam Piece |magazine=Rolling Stone |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/the-vietnam-wars-19800529 |access-date=25 April 2018 |archive-date=17 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180617093009/https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/the-vietnam-wars-19800529 |url-status=live }}</ref>}}

~~{{SectNPOV}}~~

The US used its [[United Nations Security Council veto power|security council veto]] to block Vietnam's UN recognition three times, an obstacle to it receiving international aid.<ref>{{Cite news |date=21 September 1977 |title=Vietnam Is Admitted to the U.N. As 32d General Assembly Opens |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/09/21/archives/vietnam-is-admitted-to-the-un-as-32d-general-assembly-opens.html |access-date=27 April 2018 |issn=0362-4331|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230409052642/https://www.nytimes.com/1977/09/21/archives/vietnam-is-admitted-to-the-un-as-32d-general-assembly-opens.html|archive-date=April 9, 2023}}</ref>

==== Laos and Cambodia ====

~~''Main article: [[Vietnam War casualties]]~~

By 1975, the North Vietnamese had lost influence over the Khmer Rouge.<ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|708}} [[Phnom Penh]], Cambodia's capital, fell to the Khmer Rouge in April 1975. Under [[Pol Pot]], the Khmer Rouge would [[Cambodian genocide|kill 1–3 million Cambodians]] out of a population of around 8 million, in one of the [[List of genocides by death toll|bloodiest genocides ever]].<ref name=Heuveline/>{{Rp|}}<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sharp |first=Bruce |date=1 April 2005 |title=Counting Hell: The Death Toll of the Khmer Rouge Regime in Cambodia |url=http://www.mekong.net/cambodia/deaths.htm |access-date=15 July 2016 |quote=The range based on the figures above extends from a minimum of 1.747 million, to a maximum of 2.495 million. |archive-date=15 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131115041409/http://www.mekong.net/cambodia/deaths.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>The [[Documentation Center of Cambodia]] has mapped some 23,745 mass graves containing approximately 1.3 million suspected victims of execution; execution is believed to account for roughly 60% of the full death toll. See: {{Cite book |last1=Seybolt |first1=Taylor B. |title=Counting Civilian Casualties: An Introduction to Recording and Estimating Nonmilitary Deaths in Conflict |last2=Aronson |first2=Jay D. |last3=Fischoff |first3=Baruch |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-19-997731-4 |page=238}}</ref><ref>[[Ben Kiernan]] cites a range of 1.671 to 1.871 million excess deaths under the Khmer Rouge. See {{Cite journal |last=Kiernan |first=Ben |author-link=Ben Kiernan |date=December 2003 |title=The Demography of Genocide in Southeast Asia: The Death Tolls in Cambodia, 1975–79, and East Timor, 1975–80 |journal=Critical Asian Studies |volume=35 |issue=4 |pages=585–597 |doi=10.1080/1467271032000147041 |s2cid=143971159}}</ref>

The relationship between Vietnam and [[Democratic Kampuchea]] (Cambodia) escalated after the end of the war. In response to the Khmer Rouge taking over [[Phu Quoc]] and [[Tho Chu]], and the belief they were responsible for the disappearance of 500 Vietnamese natives on Tho Chu, Vietnam launched a counterattack to take back these islands.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Farrell |first=Epsey Cooke |title=The Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the law of the sea: an analysis of Vietnamese behavior within the emerging international oceans regime |publisher=Martinus Nijhoff Publishers |year=1998 |isbn=90-411-0473-9}}</ref> After failed attempts to negotiate, Vietnam invaded Democratic Kampuchea in 1978 and ousted the Khmer Rouge, who were being supported by China, in the Cambodian–Vietnamese War. In response, China invaded Vietnam in 1979. The two countries fought a border war: the [[Sino-Vietnamese War]]. From 1978 to 1979, some 450,000 ethnic [[Hoa people|Chinese]] left Vietnam by boat as refugees or were deported.

Estimating the number '''killed''' in the conflict is extremely difficult. Official records from North Vietnam are hard to find or nonexistent and many of those killed were literally blasted to pieces by bombing. For many years the North Vietnamese suppressed the true number of their casualties for '''propaganda''' purposes. It is also difficult to say exactly what counts as a "Vietnam war casualty"; people are still being killed today by [[unexploded ordnance]], particularly [[Cluster Bomb|cluster bomblets]]. More than 40,000 Vietnamese have been killed so far by landmines and unexploded ordnance. [http://www.pbs.org/vietnampassage/perspectives/perspectives.landmines.html]

The Pathet Lao overthrew the monarchy of Laos in December 1975, establishing the [[Lao People's Democratic Republic]]. The change in regime was "quite peaceful, a sort of Asiatic '[[velvet revolution]]'"—although 30,000 former officials were sent to reeducation camps, often enduring harsh conditions.<ref name=Courtois/>{{Rp|575–576}}

~~Environmental effects from chemical agents and the colossal social problems caused by a devastated country with so many dead surely caused many more lives to be shortened.~~

==== Unexploded ordnance ====

The lowest casualty estimates, based on North Vietnamese statements which are now discounted by Vietnam, are around '''1.5 million Vietnamese killed'''. Vietnam's Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs released figures on [[April 3]], [[1995]], reporting that '''1.1 million fighters -- Viet Cong guerrillas and North Vietnamese soldiers -- and nearly 2 million civilians in the north and the south were killed between 1954 and 1975.''' The number of wounded fighters was put at 600,000. It is unclear how many Vietnamese civilians were wounded.

[[Unexploded ordnance]], mostly from US bombing, continues to kill people, and has rendered much land hazardous and impossible to cultivate. Ordnance has killed 42,000 people since the war ended.<ref>{{Cite web |date=3 December 2012 |title=Vietnam War Bomb Explodes Killing Four Children |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/12/03/vietname-war-bomb-explodes_n_2229727.html |website=The Huffington Post |access-date=21 March 2014 |archive-date=19 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131219040016/http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/12/03/vietname-war-bomb-explodes_n_2229727.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>[http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/latest-news/vietnam-war-shell-explodes-kills-two-fishermen/story-fn3dxix6-1226046291270 Vietnam war shell explodes, kills two fishermen]</ref> In Laos, 80 million bombs failed to explode and still remain. Unexploded ordnance has killed or injured over 20,000 Laotians since the war and about 50 people are killed or maimed annually.<ref name="Wright">{{Cite news |last=Wright |first=Rebecca |date=6 September 2016 |title='My friends were afraid of me': What 80 million unexploded US bombs did to Laos |work=CNN |url=http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/05/asia/united-states-laos-secret-war/ |access-date=18 September 2016 |archive-date=17 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190117203916/https://www.cnn.com/2016/09/05/asia/united-states-laos-secret-war/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Lao PDR - Casualties and Victim Assistance |url=http://www.the-monitor.org/en-gb/reports/2016/lao-pdr/casualties-and-victim-assistance.aspx |access-date=17 July 2022 |website=Landmine and Clustering Munition Monitor |archive-date=7 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407114839/http://www.the-monitor.org/en-gb/reports/2016/lao-pdr/casualties-and-victim-assistance.aspx |url-status=live }}</ref> It is estimated the explosives buried will not be removed entirely for centuries.<ref name="Nguyen" />{{Rp|317}}

==== Refugee crisis ====

Of the Americans, 58,226 were killed in action or classified as missing in action. A further 153,303 Americans were wounded to give total casualties of '''211,529'''. The United States Army took the majority of the casualties with 38,179 killed and 96,802 wounded; the Marine Corps lost 14,836 killed and 51,392 wounded; the Navy 2,556 and 4,178; with the Air Force suffering the lowest casualties both in numbers and percentage terms with 2,580 killed and 931 wounded.

Over 3 million people left Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia in the [[Indochina refugee crisis]] after 1975. Most Asian countries were unwilling to accept them, many of whom fled by boat and were known as [[boat people]].<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Stephen Castles |last2=Mark J. Miller |date=10 July 2009 |title=Migration in the Asia-Pacific Region |url=http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/migration-asia-pacific-region |publisher=Migration Policy Institute |access-date=11 August 2014 |archive-date=14 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180614072213/https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/migration-asia-pacific-region |url-status=live }}</ref> Between 1975 and 1998, an estimated 1.2 million [[refugee]]s from Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries resettled in the US, while Canada, Australia, and France resettled over 500,000, China accepted 250,000 people.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Robinson |first=William |title=Terms of refuge: the Indochinese exodus & the international response |publisher=Zed Books |year=1998 |isbn=978-1-85649-610-0 |page=[{{GBurl|id=_rjiOXMRd4sC|p=127}} 127]}}</ref> Laos experienced the largest refugee flight proportionally, 300,000 out of a population of 3 million crossed the border into Thailand. Included among their ranks were "about 90%" of Laos' "intellectuals, technicians, and officials."<ref name=Courtois/>{{Rp|575}} An estimated 200,000 to 400,000 [[Vietnamese boat people]] died at sea, according to the [[United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Nghia |first=M. Vo |title=The Vietnamese Boat People, 1954 and 1975–1992 |publisher=McFarland & Company |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-7864-2345-3}}</ref>

===In the United States===

American allies took casualties as well. South Korea provided the largest outside force and suffered something between 4400 and 5000 killed[http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat2.htm] full details including [[WIA]] and [[MIA]] appear difficult to find. [[Australia]] lost 501 dead and 3,131 wounded out of the 47,000 troops they had deployed to Vietnam. [[New Zealand]] had 38 dead and 187 wounded. [[Thailand]] had 351 casualties. It is difficult to locate accurate figures for the losses of the Philippines. Although [[Canada]] was not involved in the war, thousands of Canadians joined the American armed forces and served in Vietnam. The American fatal casualties include at least 56 Canadian citizens. It is difficult to estimate the exact number because some Canadians crossed the border to volunteer for service under false pretenses whereas others were permanent residents living in the United States who either volunteered or were drafted. See also [[Canada and the Vietnam War]].

[[File:Marine da nang.jpg|thumb|upright=.7|A young [[United States Marine Corps|Marine]] private waits on the beach during the Marine landing, [[Da Nang]], 3 August 1965]]

Failure of US goals is often placed at different institutions and levels. Some have suggested it was due to political failures of leadership.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Lippman |first=Thomas W. |date=9 April 1995 |title=McNamara Writes Vietnam Mea Culpa |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1995/04/09/mcnamara-writes-vietnam-mea-culpa/a85cc058-54fe-4074-bda3-b374885ede8f/ |access-date=28 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191228230351/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1995/04/09/mcnamara-writes-vietnam-mea-culpa/a85cc058-54fe-4074-bda3-b374885ede8f/ |archive-date=28 December 2019 |quote=As recounted by McNamara{{Nbsp}}... the war could and should have been avoided and should have been halted at several key junctures, one as early as 1963. According to McNamara, he and other senior advisers to President Lyndon B. Johnson failed to head it off through ignorance, inattention, flawed thinking, political expediency and lack of courage.}}</ref> Others point to a failure of military doctrine. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara stated that "the achievement of a military victory by U.S. forces in Vietnam was indeed a dangerous illusion."<ref name=McNamara/>{{Rp|368}} The inability to bring Hanoi to the bargaining table by bombing illustrated another US miscalculation, and the limitations of military abilities in achieving political goals.<ref name=Karnow/>{{Rp|17}} [[Chief of Staff of the United States Army|Army Chief of Staff]] [[Harold Keith Johnson]] noted, "if anything came out of Vietnam, it was that air power couldn't do the job."<ref name="Buzzano">{{Cite web |last=Buzzanco |first=Bob |date=17 April 2000 |title=25 Years After End of Vietnam War, Myths Keep Us from Coming to Terms with Vietnam |url=http://www.commondreams.org/views/041700-106.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080605195117/http://www.commondreams.org/views/041700-106.htm |archive-date=5 June 2008 |access-date=11 June 2008 |website=[[The Baltimore Sun]]}}</ref> General William Westmoreland admitted bombing had been ineffective, saying he doubted "that the North Vietnamese would have relented."<ref name=Buzzano/> Kissinger wrote in a memo to President Ford that "in terms of military tactics ... our armed forces are not suited to this kind of war. Even the Special Forces who had been designed for it could not prevail."{{Sfn|Kissinger|1975}} Hanoi had persistently sought unification since the Geneva Accords, and the effects of US bombing had negligible impact on North Vietnam's goals.<ref name=Nguyen/>{{Rp|1–10}} US bombing mobilized people throughout North Vietnam and international support, due to the perception of a superpower attempting to bomb a significantly smaller, agrarian society into submission.<ref name=Nguyen/>{{Rp|48–52}}

In the aftermath of the war many Americans came to believe that some of the 2,300 American soldiers listed as [[Missing in Action]] had in fact been taken prisoner by the DRV and held indefinitely. The Vietnamese list over 200,000 of their own soldiers missing in action, and bodies of MIA soldiers from [[World War I]] and [[World War II|II]] continue to be unearthed in Europe.

In the post-war era, Americans struggled to absorb the lessons of the military intervention. President [[Ronald Reagan]] coined the term "[[Vietnam Syndrome]]" to describe the reluctance of the American public and politicians to support military interventions abroad. US polling in 1978 revealed nearly 72% of Americans believed the war was "fundamentally wrong and immoral."<ref name="Hagopian" />{{Rp|10}} Six months after the beginning of Operation Rolling Thunder, [[Gallup, Inc.]] found 60% of Americans did not believe that sending troops to Vietnam was a mistake in September 1965, and only 24% believed it was. Subsequent polling did not find that a plurality of Americans believed that sending troops was a mistake until October 1967, and did not find a majority believing it was until August 1968, during the third phase of the Tet Offensive. Thereafter, Gallup found majorities believing sending troops was a mistake through the signing of the Peace Accords in January 1973, when 60% believed sending troops was a mistake, and retrospective polls by Gallup between 1990 and 2000, found 69-74% of Americans believed sending troops was a mistake.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Newport|first1=Frank|last2=Carroll|first2=Joseph|date=August 24, 2005|title=Iraq Versus Vietnam: A Comparison of Public Opinion|publisher=Gallup, Inc.|url=https://news.gallup.com/poll/18097/iraq-versus-vietnam-comparison-public-opinion.aspx|access-date=May 8, 2024|archive-date=9 May 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240509004839/https://news.gallup.com/poll/18097/Iraq-Versus-Vietnam-Comparison-Public-Opinion.aspx|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Vietnam War POW/MIA issue]], concerning the fate of US service personnel listed as [[missing in action]], persisted for years afterwards. The costs loom large in American consciousness; a 1990 poll showed the public incorrectly believed more Americans died in Vietnam than World War II.<ref>{{Cite web |date=8 May 2001 |title=Victory in Europe 56 Years Ago |url=http://www.gallup.com/poll/1552/Victory-Europe-Years-Ago.aspx |publisher=Gallup News Service |access-date=2 January 2015 |archive-date=4 January 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150104162059/http://www.gallup.com/poll/1552/Victory-Europe-Years-Ago.aspx |url-status=live }}</ref>

Both during and after the war, significant [[human rights]] violations occurred. Both North and South Vietnamese had large numbers of [[political prisoner|political prisoners]], many of whom were killed or [[torture|tortured]]. In [[1970]], two American congressmen visiting South Vietnam discovered the existence of "tiger cages", which were small prison cells used for torturing South Vietnamese political prisoners. After the war, actions taken by the victors in Vietnam, including firing squads, torture, [[concentration camp|concentration camps]] and "re-education," led to the exodus of hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese. Many of these refugees fled by boat and thus gave rise to the phrase "[[boat people]]." They emigrated to Hong Kong, France, the United States, Canada, Australia, and other countries, creating sizable expatriate communities, notably in the [[Vietnamese-American|United States]].

====Financial cost====

Among the many casualties of the war were the people of the neighboring state of [[Cambodia]]. Approximately 50,000-300,000 died as a result of US bombing campaigns. The bombing campaigns also drove some Cambodians into the arms of the nationalist and communist [[Khmer Rouge]], who took power after America cut off funds for bombing them in [[1973]], and continued the slaughter of opponents or suspected opponents. About 1.7 million Cambodians were murdered or fell victim to starvation and disease before the regime was overthrown by Vietnamese forces in [[1979]].

{| class="wikitable floatright" style="width: 35%;"

|+US expenditures in South Vietnam (1953–74) Direct costs only<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dacy |first=Douglas |url=https://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/108054.pdf |title=Foreign aid, war, and economic development: South Vietnam 1955–1975 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1986 |isbn=978-0-521-30327-9 |page=242}}</ref>

! Military costs || Military aid || Economic aid|| Total || Total (2015 dollars)

| $111 billion || $16 billion || $7 billion || $135 billion || $1 trillion

Between 1953 and 1975, the US was estimated to have spent $168 billion on the war (equivalent to ${{Inflation|US|0.168|1964|r=1}} trillion in {{Inflation/year|US}}).<ref>{{Cite news |date=22 January 2014 |title=How Much Did The Vietnam War Cost? |language=en-US |work=The Vietnam War |url=https://thevietnamwar.info/how-much-vietnam-war-cost/ |access-date=17 May 2018}}</ref> This resulted in a large [[budget deficit]]. Other figures point to $139 billion from 1965 to 1974 (not inflation-adjusted), 10 times all education spending in the US, and 50 times more than housing and community development spending within that period.<ref name="CQ">{{Cite web |title=CQ Almanac Online Edition |url=https://library.cqpress.com/cqalmanac/document.php?id=cqal75-1213988#H2_1 |access-date=14 June 2018 |website=library.cqpress.com}}</ref> It was stated that war-spending could have paid off every mortgage in the US, with money leftover.<ref name=CQ/> {{As of|2013}}, the US government pays Vietnam veterans and their families more than $22 billion a year in war-related claims.<ref>{{Cite news |date=20 March 2013 |title=US still making payments to relatives of Civil War veterans, analysis finds |work=Fox News |agency=[[Associated Press]] |url=http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/03/20/us-still-paying-for-costs-civil-war-analysis-finds/}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Jim Lobe |date=30 March 2013 |title=Iraq, Afghanistan Wars Will Cost U.S. 4–6 Trillion Dollars: Report |agency=[[Inter Press Service]] |url=http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/03/iraq-afghanistan-wars-will-cost-u-s-4-6-trillion-dollars-report/}}</ref>

~~==Domestic effects and aftermath in Indochina==~~

====Impact on the U.S. military====

~~===Vietnam===~~

{{See also|Vietnam War resisters in Canada|Vietnam War resisters in Sweden}}

Virtually every Vietnamese was affected by the war, having endured relentless bombardments--not to mention it was a "People's War" to the northerners. And also to the northerners, fighting and hostility continued on with neighbouring countries until 1989. However, many Vietnamese lost relatives as a result of the war in general. The end of the war marked the first time that Vietnam was not engaged in substantial civil war or active military conflict with an external opponent in many years. North and South Vietnam were reunified under the Socialist Republic of Vietnam following the war.

[[File:OperationHueCity1967wounded.jpg|thumb|A marine gets his wounds treated during operations in Huế City, in 1968]]

However, fear of persecution caused many highly skilled and educated South Vietnamese connected with the former regime to flee the country during the [[fall of Saigon]] and the years following, severely depleting [[human capital]] in Vietnam. The new government promptly sent people connected to the South Vietnam regime to concentration camps for "re-education", often for years at a time. Others were sent to so-called "new economic zones" to develop the undeveloped land. Furthermore, the victorious Communist government implemented land reforms in the south similar to those implemented in North Vietnam earlier. However, it is as well to remember that large areas of land in South Vietnam had already been appropriated by the communists well before the end of the war—and their owners compensated for the loss by the South Vietnamese government. Persecution and poverty prompted an additional 2 million people to flee Vietnam as [[boat people]] over the 20 years following unification. The problem was so severe that during the 1980s and 1990s the UN established refugee camps in neighboring countries to process them. Many of these refugees resettled in the United States, forming large [[Vietnamese-American]] emigrant communities with a decidedly anti-communist viewpoint.

More than 3 million Americans served in the war, 1.5 million of whom saw combat.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Echoes of Combat: The Vietnam War in American Memory |url=http://www.stanford.edu/group/fredturner/cgi-bin/drupal/?q=node/7 |publisher=Stanford University |access-date=29 May 2011 |archive-date=8 May 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120508201447/http://www.stanford.edu/group/fredturner/cgi-bin/drupal/?q=node%2F7 |url-status=dead }}</ref> James Westheider wrote that "At the height of American involvement in 1968, for example, 543,000 American military personnel were stationed in Vietnam, but only 80,000 were considered combat troops."{{Sfn|Westheider|2007|p=78}} Conscription in the US existed since World War II, but ended in 1973.<ref name=bbmdst>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=rjoTAAAAIBAJ&pg=6104%2C3785258 |newspaper=The Bulletin |location=Bend, Oregon |agency=UPI |title=Military draft system stopped |date=January 27, 1973 |page=1}}</ref><ref name=mdebld>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=_6ojAAAAIBAJ&pg=5837%2C1959488 |newspaper=The Times-News |location=Hendersonville, North Carolina |agency=Associated Press |title=Military draft ended by Laird |date=January 27, 1973 |page=1 }}</ref>

58,220 American soldiers were killed,<ref name="USd&w" group="A" /> more than 150,000 wounded, and at least 21,000 permanently disabled.<ref name="DigitalHistory">{{Cite web |title=The War's Costs |url=http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/database/article_display.cfm?HHID=513 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080505035502/http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/database/article_display.cfm?HHID=513 |archive-date=5 May 2008 |access-date=3 November 2019 |publisher=Digital History}}</ref> The average age of US troops killed was 23.<ref>Combat Area Casualty File, November 1993. (The CACF is the basis for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, i.e. The Wall), Center for Electronic Records, National Archives, Washington, DC</ref> According to Dale Kueter, "Of those killed in combat, 86% were white, 13% were black..."<ref name="Kueter" /> Approximately 830,000 veterans, 15%, suffered [[posttraumatic stress disorder]].<ref name="DigitalHistory" /> This unprecedented number was because the military had routinely provided heavy psychoactive drugs to servicemen, which left them unable to process trauma.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=8 April 2016 |title=The Drugs That Built a Super Soldier: During the Vietnam War, the U.S. Military Plied Its Servicemen with Speed, Steroids, and Painkillers to Help Them Handle Extended Combat |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2016/04/the-drugs-that-built-a-super-soldier/477183/ |magazine=The Atlantic|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230520145751/https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2016/04/the-drugs-that-built-a-super-soldier/477183/|archive-date=May 20, 2023}}</ref> Drug use, racial tensions, and the growing incidence of fragging—attempting to kill unpopular officers with grenades or other weapons—created problems for the military and impacted its capability to undertake operations.<ref name="Lepre">{{Cite book |last=Lepre |first=George |title=Fragging: Why U.S. Soldiers Assaulted their Officers in Vietnam |publisher=Texas Tech University Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-89672-715-1}}</ref>{{Rp|44–47}} 125,000 Americans left for Canada to avoid the draft,<ref>{{Cite news |date=19 November 2005 |title=War Resisters Remain in Canada with No Regrets |work=ABC News |url=https://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=1325339 |access-date=26 February 2010|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312063551/https://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=1325339|archive-date=March 12, 2023}}</ref> and approximately 50,000 servicemen deserted.<ref>{{Cite web |date=28 June 2005 |title=Vietnam War Resisters in Canada Open Arms to U.S. Military Deserters |url=http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=24009b4dc8fe8dadcfa96c37bce9dea6 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140812205654/http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=24009b4dc8fe8dadcfa96c37bce9dea6 |archive-date=12 August 2014 |access-date=12 August 2014 |publisher=Pacific News Service}}</ref> In 1977, President [[Jimmy Carter]] granted an unconditional pardon to all Vietnam-era [[Draft evasion in the Vietnam War|draft evaders]] with [[Proclamation 4483]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=21 January 1977 |title=Proclamation 4483: Granting Pardon for Violations of the Selective Service Act, August 4, 1964 To March 38, 1973 |url=http://www.usdoj.gov/pardon/carter_proclamation.htm |access-date=11 June 2008|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404185642/https://www.justice.gov/pardon/proclamation-4483-granting-pardon-violations-selective-service-act|archive-date=April 4, 2023}}</ref>

The newly established [[Republic of South Vietnam]] promptly implemented currency reforms. The [[Vietnamese dong|dong]] previously used in Vietnam was converted to the "liberation dong" at a rate of 500 old dongs to 1 liberation dong, essentially rendering much of the South Vietnamese money worthless. After unification in 1976, the liberation dong was abandoned in favor of a new unified dong. While the north exchanged at the 1:1 rate, the south had to exchange 10 liberation dong for each 8 unified dong. Private enterprises in the South were socialized. During much of the late 1970s and early 1980s, Vietnam underwent an economic depression and came close to famine.

The war called into question army doctrine. Marine general [[Victor H. Krulak]] criticized Westmoreland's attrition strategy, calling it "wasteful of American lives{{Nbsp}}... with small likelihood of a successful outcome."<ref name=Buzzano/> Doubts surfaced about the ability of the military to train foreign forces. There was found to be considerable flaws and dishonesty by commanders, due to promotions being tied to the body count system touted by Westmoreland and McNamara.<ref name=Mohr/> Secretary of Defense McNamara wrote to President Johnson his doubts: "The picture of the world's greatest superpower killing or seriously injuring 1,000 noncombatants a week, while trying to pound a tiny backward nation into submission on an issue whose merits are hotly disputed, is not a pretty one."<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Scheer |first=Robert |date=8 July 2009 |title=McNamara's Evil Lives On |url=https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/mcnamaras-evil-lives/ |magazine=The Nation |issn=0027-8378 |access-date=28 February 2020|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404185636/https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/mcnamaras-evil-lives/|archive-date=April 4, 2023}}</ref>

Ravaged by war, Vietnam is still in the process of recovery. It remains one of the poorest countries in the world, and [[remittance]] from overseas Vietnamese constitute a considerable part of the economy. Vietnamese people often make reference to events as happening "before 1975" or "after 1975", but life in South Vietnam before 1975 is rarely discussed because newspapers and movies published in the South prior to 1975 are forbidden from circulation. Many people were disabled during war, and continue to be killed and disabled by unexploded ordnance. [[Agent Orange]], used as a defoliant during the war, is alleged by the Vietnamese government to continue to cause [[birth defects]] in many children and still preventing any substantial environmental recovery in some areas.

===Effects of U.S. chemical defoliation===

The large number of people born after 1975 may be indicative of a post-war [[baby boom]], and despite the devastating effect of the civil war on their parents' generation, a general disinterest in politics and recent history among this post-war generation of Vietnamese is notable.

[[File:Defoliation agent spraying.jpg|thumb|U.S. helicopter spraying chemical [[defoliant]]s in the [[Mekong Delta]], South Vietnam, 1969]]

One of the most controversial aspects of the US military effort, was the widespread use of chemical [[defoliant]]s between 1961 and 1971. 20 million gallons of toxic herbicides (like [[Agent Orange]]) were sprayed on 6 million acres of forests and crops by the air force.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Westing |first=Arthur H. |url={{GBurl|id=4SfwtAEACAAJ}} |title=Herbicides in War: The Long-term Ecological and Human Consequences |date=1984 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |pages=5ff}}</ref> They were used to [[Wikt:defoliate|defoliate]] large parts of the countryside to prevent the Viet Cong from being able to hide weaponry and encampments under the foliage, and deprive them of food. Defoliation was used to clear sensitive areas, including base perimeters and possible ambush sites along roads and canals. More than 20% of South Vietnam's forests and 3% of its cultivated land was sprayed at least once. 90% of herbicide use was directed at forest defoliation.<ref name=Lewy/>{{Rp|263}} The chemicals used continue to change the landscape, cause diseases and birth defects, and poison the food chain.<ref>{{Harvnb|Palmer|2007}}; {{Harvnb|Stone|2007}}.</ref><ref>{{Cite news |first=Lynne |last=Peeples |date=10 July 2013 |title=Veterans Sick From Agent Orange-Poisoned Planes Still Seek Justice |work=[[The Huffington Post]] |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/10/agent-orange-vietnam-veterans_n_3572598.html |access-date=4 September 2013}}</ref> US military records have listed figures including the destruction of 20% of the jungles of South Vietnam and 20-36% of the [[mangrove]] forests.<ref name=":02">{{cite book |last=Fox |first=Diane N. |url=http://college.holycross.edu/faculty/dnfox/pdf/chemical_politics.pdf |chapter=Chemical Politics and the Hazards of Modern Warfare: Agent Orange |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100727144516/http://college.holycross.edu/faculty/dnfox/pdf/chemical_politics.pdf|archive-date=2010-07-27 |title=Synthetic Planet: Chemical Politics and the Hazards of Modern Life |editor-last=Monica |editor-first=Casper |date=2003 |publisher=Routledge Press}}</ref> The environmental destruction caused was described by Swedish Prime Minister [[Olof Palme]], lawyers, historians and other academics as an [[ecocide]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Zierler |first=David |title=The invention of ecocide: agent orange, Vietnam, and the scientists who changed the way we think about the environment |date=2011 |publisher=Univ. of Georgia Press |isbn=978-0-8203-3827-9 |location=Athens, Georgia}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-12-18 |title=How Imperative Is It To Consider Ecocide As An International Crime? |url=https://www.ijllr.com/post/how-imperative-is-it-to-consider-ecocide-as-an-international-crime |access-date=2023-06-21 |website=IJLLR}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last=Falk |first=Richard A. |date=1973 |title=Environmental Warfare and Ecocide — Facts, Appraisal, and Proposals |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44480206 |journal=Bulletin of Peace Proposals |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=80–96 |doi=10.1177/096701067300400105 |jstor=44480206 |s2cid=144885326 |issn=0007-5035}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=17 February 2022 |last=Cassandra |first=Bianca |title=Industrial disasters from Bhopal to present day: why the proposal to make 'ecocide' an international offence is persuasive |url=https://theleaflet.in/industrial-disasters-from-bhopal-to-present-day-why-the-proposal-to-make-ecocide-an-international-offence-is-persuasive/ |access-date=2023-06-21 |website=The Leaflet |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite journal |first=Giovanni |last=Chiarini |date=1 April 2022 |title=Ecocide: From the Vietnam War to International Criminal Jurisdiction? Procedural Issues In-Between Environmental Science, Climate Change, and Law |ssrn=4072727 |url=https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4072727 |journal=Cork Online Law Review}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-04-07 |title='Ecocide' movement pushes for a new international crime: Environmental destruction |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/ecocide-movement-pushes-new-international-crime-environmental-destruction-n1263142 |access-date=2023-06-21 |website=NBC News}}</ref>

Agent Orange and similar chemical substances used by the US have caused many deaths and injuries in the intervening years, including among the US Air Force crews that handled them. Scientific reports have concluded that refugees exposed to chemical sprays while in South Vietnam continued to experience pain in the eyes and skin as well as gastrointestinal upsets. In one study, 92% of participants suffered incessant fatigue; others reported [[monstrous birth]]s.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last1=Rose |first1=Hilary A. |last2=Rose |first2=Stephen P. |year=1972 |title=Chemical Spraying as Reported by Refugees from South Vietnam |url=https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.177.4050.710 |magazine=Science |volume=177 |issue=4050 |pages=710–712 |doi=10.1126/science.177.4050.710}}</ref> Analysis of studies on the association between Agent Orange and birth defects, have found a statistically significant correlation such that having a parent who was exposed to Agent Orange at any point, will increase one's likelihood of possessing or acting as a genetic carrier of birth defects.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ngo Anh |first1=D. |first2=Richard |last2=Taylor |first3=Christine L. |last3=Roberts |first4=Tuan V. |last4=Nguyen |date=13 February 2006 |title=Association between Agent Orange and Birth Defects: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis |journal=International Journal of Epidemiology |publisher=Oxford University Press |volume=35 |issue=5 |pages=1220–1230 |doi=10.1093/ije/dyl038 |pmid=16543362 |doi-access=free}}</ref> The most common deformity appears to be [[spina bifida]]. There is substantial evidence that birth defects carry on for three generations or more.<ref>{{Cite web |first1=Charles |last1=Ornstein |first2=Hannah |last2=Fresques |first3=Mike |last3=Hixenbaugh |date=16 December 2016 |title=The Children of Agent Orange |url=https://www.propublica.org/article/the-children-of-agent-orange |access-date=23 February 2018 |website=ProPublica}}</ref> In 2012, the US and Vietnam began a cooperative cleaning toxic chemicals on [[Danang International Airport]], marking the first time Washington has been involved in cleaning up Agent Orange in Vietnam.<ref>{{Cite news |date=9 August 2012 |title=U.S. starts its first Agent Orange cleanup in Vietnam |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-vietnam-usa-agentorange-idUSBRE87803K20120809}}</ref>

In the late 1980s the government instituted economic reforms known as ''đổi mới'' (renovation), which introduced some market elements, achieving modest results. The [[Soviet collapse]] in 1991 left Vietnam without its main economic and political partner, and thus it began to seek closer ties with the West. After taking office, U.S. President [[Bill Clinton]] announced his desire to heal relations with Vietnam. His administration lifted economic sanctions on the country in 1994, and in May 1995 the two nations renewed diplomatic relations, with the US opening up an embassy on Vietnamese soil for the first time since 1975.

[[File:A vietnamese Professor is pictured with a group of handicapped children.jpg|thumb|Handicapped children in Vietnam, most of them victims of [[Agent Orange]], 2004]]

~~===Cambodia===~~

In 1975, shortly before the end of the war, the Communist [[Khmer Rouge]] seized power in [[Cambodia]] after a bloody civil war. This led to a genocide that collectively killed some 1.7 million people, one-fifth of the country's population. A month after taking power Khmer Rouge soldiers seized the SS ''Mayaguez'', an American merchant ship, which resulted in a tough response from President Ford who ordered airstrikes on Cambodian oil installations and the landing of troops at Kok Tang Island which resulted in the recapture of the ship and the freeing of the crew (see [[Mayaguez Incident]]). The Khmer Rouge were driven from power in 1979 when Vietnam invaded and installed a pro-Vietnam government.

Vietnamese victims affected by Agent Orange attempted a class action lawsuit against [[Dow Chemical]] and other US chemical manufacturers, but a [[United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York|US District Court]] dismissed their case.<ref>{{Harvnb|Roberts|2005|p=380}} In his 234-page judgment, the judge observed: "Despite the fact that Congress and the President were fully advised of a substantial belief that the herbicide spraying in Vietnam was a violation of international law, they acted on their view that it was not a violation at the time."</ref> They appealed, but the dismissal was cemented in 2008 by an [[United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit|appeals court]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Crook|2008}}.</ref> {{As of|2006}}, the Vietnamese government estimated there were over 4,000,000 victims of [[dioxin]] poisoning in Vietnam, although the US government denies any conclusive scientific links between Agent Orange and Vietnamese victims of dioxin poisoning. In some areas of southern Vietnam, dioxin levels remain at over 100 times the accepted international standard.<ref>{{Cite news |first=Anthony |last=Faiola |date=13 November 2006 |title=In Vietnam, Old Foes Take Aim at War's Toxic Legacy |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/12/AR2006111201065.html |access-date=8 September 2013|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070711142514/https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/12/AR2006111201065.html|archive-date=July 11, 2007}}</ref> On 22 August 2024, the Paris Court of Appeals is expected to rule on the lawsuit filed by [[Tran To Nga]] against 14 US chemical corporations that supplied Agent Orange for the US military.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Vietnam+ (VietnamPlus) |date=2024-05-08 |title=Paris court to issue ruling on AO lawsuit this August |url=https://en.vietnamplus.vn/post-285640.vnp |access-date=2024-05-14 |website=Vietnam+ (VietnamPlus) |language=en}}</ref>

~~==Domestic effects and aftermath in the United States==~~

~~The Vietnam war had many long term repercussions for American society and foreign policy.~~

The U.S. Veterans Administration has listed [[prostate cancer]], [[lung cancer|respiratory cancers]], [[multiple myeloma]], [[Diabetes mellitus type 2]], [[B-cell lymphomas]], [[soft-tissue sarcoma]], [[chloracne]], [[porphyria cutanea tarda]], [[peripheral neuropathy]] as, "presumptive diseases associated with exposure to Agent Orange or other herbicides during military service."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Administration |first=US Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health |title=VA.gov {{!}} Veterans Affairs |url=https://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange/conditions/index.asp |access-date=2023-09-10 |website=www.publichealth.va.gov |language=en}}</ref> Spina bifida is the sole birth defect in children of veterans, recognized as being caused by exposure to Agent Orange.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Veterans' Diseases Associated with Agent Orange |url=http://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange/diseases.asp |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100509191150/http://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange/diseases.asp |archive-date=9 May 2010 |access-date=4 September 2013 |publisher=[[United States Department of Veterans Affairs]]}}</ref>

~~===War powers===~~

Criticism of the Vietnam War's planning and its enabling legislation led the U.S. Congress to reconsider how military deployments were authorized. After the U.S. withdrawal Congress passed the [[War Powers Resolution]] of [[1973]], which curtailed the President's ability to commit troops to action without first obtaining Congressional approval.

===~~Social~~In ~~impact~~popular culture===

The Vietnam War had a powerful impact on American socio-political opinion, especially that of the young Americans of the [[baby boom]]. For both supporters and critics these opinions generated political positions regarding American foreign and domestic policy. The Vietnam War was also significant in encouraging the belief that mass mobilization and protest can influence government policy.

[[File:Thuong Tiec.jpg|thumb|Stone plaque with photo of the "Thương tiếc" ''(Mourning Soldier)'' statue, originally, installed at the [[Bình An Cemetery|Republic of Vietnam National Military Cemetery]]. The original statue was demolished in April 1975.]]

The war has featured extensively in television, film, video games, music and literature. In Vietnam, a notable film set during Operation Linebacker II was ''[[Girl from Hanoi]]'' (1974) depicting war-time life. Another notable work was the diary of Đặng Thùy Trâm, a North Vietnamese doctor who enlisted in the Southern battlefield, and was killed aged 27 by US forces near [[Quảng Ngãi]]. Her diaries were published in Vietnam as ''Đặng Thùy Trâm's Diary'' (''Last Night I Dreamed of Peace''), where it became a bestseller and was made into a film ''[[Don't Burn]]''. In Vietnam, the diary has been compared to ''[[The Diary of a Young Girl|The Diary of Anne Frank]]'', and both are used in literary education.<ref>{{Cite news |date=10 December 2014 |title=Amsterdam Mayor visits Hanoi-Amsterdam High School |work=VOV Online Newspaper |url=http://english.vov.vn/society/amsterdam-mayor-visits-hanoiamsterdam-high-school-284797.vov |url-status=dead |access-date=17 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190428231359/https://english.vov.vn/society/amsterdam-mayor-visits-hanoiamsterdam-high-school-284797.vov |archive-date=28 April 2019}}</ref>

The war and its aftermath led to a mass emigration from Vietnam, mostly to the United States and especially after the Communist takeover. During the post-war period over 1 million refugees arrived in the United States (see [[Vietnamese American]]). They included Cambodians and Vietnamese of many ethnicities as well as [[Amerasians]], the offspring of Vietnamese and Americans. The integration of these groups, particularly Vietnamese ethnic minorities, generated further social issues in the U.S.

One of the first major films based on the war was [[John Wayne]]'s pro-war ''[[The Green Berets (film)|The Green Berets]]'' (1968). Further cinematic representations were released during the 1970s and 1980s, the most noteworthy examples being [[Michael Cimino]]'s ''[[The Deer Hunter]]'' (1978), [[Francis Ford Coppola]]'s ''[[Apocalypse Now]]'' (1979), [[Oliver Stone]]'s ''[[Platoon (film)|Platoon]]'' (1986) and [[Stanley Kubrick]]'s ''[[Full Metal Jacket]]'' (1987). Other films include ''[[Good Morning, Vietnam]]'' (1987), ''[[Casualties of War]]'' (1989), ''[[Born on the Fourth of July (film)|Born on the Fourth of July]]'' (1989), ''[[Forrest Gump]]'' (1994), ''[[We Were Soldiers]]'' (2002), and ''[[Rescue Dawn]]'' (2007).<ref name=Tucker/>{{Rp|}}

~~===Social attitudes and treatment of veterans===~~

Service in the war was unpopular and opposition to the war generated negative views of veterans in some quarters. Some Vietnam veterans experienced social exclusion in the years following the war and some experienced problems readjusting to society. Negative stereotyping of veterans in popular culture was common in the 1970s. Eventually, however, a greater understanding of [[Post-traumatic stress disorder]], previously known as [[battle fatigue]], together with the development of Vietnam veterans associations, generated more sympathy for Vietnam veterans.

The war influenced a generation of musicians and songwriters in Vietnam, the US, and elsewhere, both pro/anti-war and pro/anti-communist, with the [[Vietnam War Song Project]] having identified 5,000+ songs referencing the conflict.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Brummer |first=Justin |title=The Vietnam War: A History in Song |url=https://www.historytoday.com/miscellanies/vietnam-war-history-song |access-date=6 August 2021 |website=History Today}}</ref> The band [[Country Joe and the Fish]] recorded ''[[The "Fish" Cheer/I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die Rag]]'' in 1965, and it became one of the most influential protest anthems.<ref name=Tucker/>{{Rp|}}

~~In contrast to the generous benefits afforded veterans of [[World War II]], Vietnam veterans received benefits no better than those in the prior [[peace]]time service period.~~

====Myths====

Many veterans who had been exposed to the defoliation agent known as [[Agent Orange]] later developed health problems, resulting in [[class action]] lawsuits against the government. The U.S. department of Veterans Affairs awarded compensation to 1,800 of some 250,000 claimants.

{{See also|Myth of the spat-on Vietnam veteran|Vietnam stab-in-the-back myth}}

Myths play a role in the [[historiography]] of the war, and have become part of the [[culture of the United States]]. Discussion of myth has focused on US experiences, but changing myths of war have played a role in Vietnamese and Australian historiography. Scholarship has focused on "myth-busting",<ref name="Milam">{{Cite book |last=Milam |first=Ron |title=Not A Gentleman's War: An Inside View of Junior Officers in the Vietnam War |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-8078-3712-2}}</ref>{{Rp|373}} attacking orthodox and revisionist schools of American historiography, and challenging myths about American society and soldiery in the war.<ref name="Milam" />{{Rp|373}}

Kuzmarov in ''The Myth of the Addicted Army: Vietnam and the Modern War on Drugs'' challenges the popular and Hollywood narrative that US soldiers were heavy drug users,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kuzmarov |first=Jeremy |title=The Myth of the Addicted Army: Vietnam and the Modern War on Drugs |publisher=Univ of Massachusetts Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-55849-705-4 |pages=[{{GBurl|id=qDbtvEIxWigC|dq=nixon+%22tide+of+drug+abuse%22|p=3}} 3–4]}}</ref> in particular the notion that the My Lai massacre was caused by drug use.<ref name=Milam/>{{Rp|373}} According to Kuzmarov, Nixon is primarily responsible for creating the drug myth.<ref name=Milam/>{{Rp|374}} Michael Allen in ''Until The Last Man Comes Home'' accuses Nixon of mythmaking, by exploiting the plight of the [[National League of POW/MIA Families]] to allow the government to appear caring, as the war was increasingly considered lost.<ref name=Milam/>{{Rp|376}} Allen's analysis ties the position of potential missing Americans, or prisoners into post-war politics and presidential elections, including the [[Swift Vets and POWs for Truth|Swift boat]] controversy.<ref name=Milam/>{{Rp|376–377}}

Another important contrast to the post-World War II period is that the acceptability of avoiding service during the Vietnam War has resulted in an increasing majority of U.S. officials, including those elected to major positions, not being war- or even military service- veterans. Each of the eight Presidents from [[1945]] to [[1992]] was a war veteran (it is worth noting that even [[George McGovern]], the [[pacifism|pacifist]] Democratic candidate in 1972, was a highly-decorated B-24 bomber pilot.) Many who did perform military service during this period did not serve in the war itself, including U.S. President [[George W. Bush]]. Former President [[Bill Clinton]], after enrolling in the [[ROTC]], successfully withdrew his commitment and did not serve at all.

===Commemoration===

In [[1982]], construction began on the [[Vietnam Veterans Memorial]] in [[Washington, D.C.]] (also known as 'The Wall') designed by [[Maya Lin]]. It is located on the [[National Mall]] adjacent to the [[Lincoln Memorial]]. [[The Three Soldiers]] statue was added later, in [[1984]].

On 25 May 2012, President [[Barack Obama]] issued a [[Presidential proclamation|proclamation]] of the [[s:Proclamation 8829|commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the Vietnam War]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Office of the Press Secretary |author-link=White House Office of the Press Secretary |date=25 May 2017 |title=Presidential Proclamation Commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the Vietnam War |language=en |work=[[whitehouse.gov]] |publisher=[[White House]] |location=[[Washington, DC]] |url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2012/05/25/presidential-proclamation-commemoration-50th-anniversary-vietnam-war |access-date=13 November 2017|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230409031608/https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2012/05/25/presidential-proclamation-commemoration-50th-anniversary-vietnam-war|archive-date=April 9, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=25 May 2012 |title=Commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the Vietnam War |work=[[Federal Register]] |publisher=[[National Archives and Records Administration]] |location=[[Washington, DC]] |url=https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2012/06/01/2012-13514/commemoration-of-the-50th-anniversary-of-the-vietnam-war |access-date=11 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171114040944/https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2012/06/01/2012-13514/commemoration-of-the-50th-anniversary-of-the-vietnam-war |archive-date=14 November 2017}} [https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-06-01/pdf/2012-13514.pdf Alt URL]</ref> On 10 November 2017, President [[Donald Trump]] issued an additional [[s:Proclamation 9674|proclamation commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Vietnam War]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Dwyer |first=Devin |date=10 November 2017 |title=Trump marks Veterans Day with commemoration in Vietnam |work=[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]] |publisher=[[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] |location=[[New York City]] |url=https://abcnews.go.com/International/trump-marks-veterans-day-commemoration-vietnam/story?id=51057690 |access-date=13 November 2017|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410051710/https://abcnews.go.com/International/trump-marks-veterans-day-commemoration-vietnam/story?id=51057690|archive-date=April 10, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=10 November 2017 |title=Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Vietnam War |work=[[Federal Register]] |publisher=[[National Archives and Records Administration]] |location=[[Washington, DC]] |url=https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2017/11/17/2017-25164/commemoration-of-the-50th-anniversary-of-the-vietnam-war |access-date=20 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171117170703/https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2017/11/17/2017-25164/commemoration-of-the-50th-anniversary-of-the-vietnam-war |archive-date=17 November 2017}} ([https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2017-11-17/pdf/2017-25164.pdf Alt URL])</ref>

Popular opinion regarding the war and its veterans changed slowly through the late 1970s and 1980s. Vietnam service has become more respected and has been an important feature of several election campaigns, notably U.S. Senators [[John McCain]] and [[John Kerry|John F. Kerry]]. Kerry, the first Vietnam combat veteran to be nominated as a presidential candidate by a major party, made his service record a major issue in the [[2004 U.S. presidential campaign]]. Although the specifics of his record proved controversial, the fact that he had actually served in combat in Vietnam was viewed as a major political asset.

==See also==

~~==Common military medals of the Vietnam War==~~

~~{{main|Awards and decorations of the Vietnam War}}~~

* [[List of conflicts in Asia]]

During the war, a wide array of [[military decoration]]s for bravery, meritorious actions, and general service were created by both nations of Vietnam. The United States began issuing combat decorations which were last bestowed in the [[Korean War]] as well as several new service medals.

* [[Soviet–Afghan War]]

* [[Third Indochina War]]

==Annotations==

Most South Vietnamese decorations were issued to both members of the South Vietnamese military and the United States armed forces. As such, several of the current U.S. senior military officers, who served during the Vietnam War, can today still be seen wearing South Vietnamese medals on active duty uniforms. Since South Vietnam as a country no longer exists, such medals are in fact considered obsolete and may only be privately purchased.

==~~Lists~~ References ==

~~{{main article|Vietnam War (lists)}}~~

The references for this article are grouped in three sections.

* [[#Citations|Citations]]: references for the in-line, numbered superscript references contained within the article.

* [[#Main sources|Main sources]]: the main works used to build the content of the article, but not referenced as in-line citations.

* [[#Additional sources|Additional sources]]: additional works used to build the article

==~~Related~~= ~~articles~~Citations ===

* [[Aircraft losses of the Vietnam War]]

* [[Background to the Vietnam War]]

* [[Battlefield:_Vietnam]] Computer Game Reflecting Vietnam War

* [[Canada and the Vietnam War]]

* [[Cold War]]

* [[Cu Chi tunnels]]

* [[Hanoi Hannah]]

* [[History of Vietnam]]

* [[Massacre at Hue]]

* [[Military history]]

* [[Military history of the United States]]

* [[My Lai Massacre]]

* [[Prisoner-of-war camp]]

* [[Tiger Force (commandos)]]

* [[Vietnam Veterans Against the War]]

* [[Vietnam War casualties]]

* [[Weapons of the Vietnam War]]

=== ~~Notes~~Works cited ===

{{fnb|1}} While the terms "North" and "South" are commonly used, they are often misnomers when applied i context. Regardless of the geopraphical boundary set by the [[Geneva Convention (1954)|Geneva Accords]], or the political distinction "communist" and "anti-communist" forces, the terms North and South refer only to the governments of each, ethnicity —not ideology — was the primary boundary in defining who was allied with which government.

* {{Cite journal |last=Crook |first=John R. |year=2008 |title=Court of Appeals Affirms Dismissal of Agent Orange Litigation |journal=[[American Journal of International Law]] |volume=102 |pages=662–664 |doi=10.2307/20456664 |jstor=20456664 |number=3 |s2cid=140810853}}

Some Southern Vietnamese in fact were pro-communist, thus they were also anti-capitalist, hence "anti-Diem," and therefore referred to as defacto "communists," by Diem and the U.S. The war, from the U.S. point of view was largely fought against Southern-native communist [[guerilla]]s, referred to as "[[Viet Cong]]," in addition to [[North Vietnamese Army]] forces in uniform.

* {{Cite book |last=Demma |first=Vincent H. |url=http://www.history.army.mil/books/AMH/amh-toc.htm |title=American Military History |publisher=[[US Army Center of Military History]] |year=1989 |location=Washington, DC |pages=619–694 |chapter=The U.S. Army in Vietnam |access-date=13 September 2013 |chapter-url=http://www.history.army.mil/books/AMH/AMH-28.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200120024852/https://history.army.mil/books/AMH/amh-toc.htm |archive-date=20 January 2020 |url-status=dead}}

* {{Cite book |last=Eisenhower |first=Dwight D. |url=https://archive.org/details/mandateforchange00eise |title=Mandate for Change |publisher=Doubleday & Company |year=1963 |url-access=registration}}

* {{Cite book |last=Karnow |first=Stanley |title=Vietnam: A History |publisher=Penguin Books |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-14-026547-7 |edition=2nd |location=New York |author-link=Stanley Karnow}}

* {{Cite report |url=http://www.ford.utexas.edu/library/exhibits/vietnam/750512a.htm |title="Lessons of Vietnam" by Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, ca. May 12, 1975 |last=Kissinger |access-date=11 June 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509064916/http://www.ford.utexas.edu/library/exhibits/vietnam/750512a.htm |archive-date=9 May 2008 |url-status=dead |type=memo |year=1975}}

* {{Cite book |last=Military History Institute of Vietnam |title=Victory in Vietnam: The Official History of the People's Army of Vietnam, 1954–1975 |publisher=University of Kansas Press |year=2002 |isbn=0-7006-1175-4 |translator-last=Merle Pribbenow|jstor=j.ctt1dgn5kb|url={{GBurl|id=_WluAAAAMAAJ}}}}

* {{Cite book |last=Nalty |first=Bernard |title=The Vietnam War |publisher=Barnes and Noble |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-7607-1697-7 |location=New York}}

* {{Cite book |last1=Olson |first1=James S. |title=Where the Domino Fell: America and Vietnam 1945–1995 |last2=Roberts |first2=Randy |publisher=[[Blackwell Publishing]] |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-4051-8222-5 |edition=5th |location=Malden, MA}}

* {{Cite journal |last=Palmer |first=Michael G. |year=2007 |title=The Case of Agent Orange |journal=Contemporary Southeast Asia |volume=29 |pages=172–195 |doi=10.1355/cs29-1h |jstor=25798819 |number=1}}

* {{Cite journal |last=Roberts |first=Anthea |year=2005 |title=The Agent Orange Case: Vietnam Ass'n for Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin v. Dow Chemical Co |journal=[[American Society of International Law|ASIL Proceedings]] |volume=99 |pages=380–385 |jstor=25660031 |number=1}}

* {{Cite journal |last=Stone |first=Richard |year=2007 |title=Agent Orange's Bitter Harvest |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |volume=315 |issue=5809 |pages=176–179 |doi=10.1126/science.315.5809.176 |jstor=20035179 |pmid=17218503 |s2cid=161597245}}

* {{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/bloodsoralhistor00terr |title=Bloods: An Oral History of the Vietnam War by Black Veterans |publisher=Random House |year=1984 |isbn=978-0-394-53028-4 |editor-last=Terry |editor-first=Wallace |editor-link=Wallace Terry |url-access=registration}}

* {{Cite book |last=Westheider |first=James E. |title=The Vietnam War |publisher=Greenwood Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-313-33755-0 |location=Westport, CN}}

* {{Cite book |last=Willbanks |first=James H. |title=The Tet Offensive: A Concise History |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-231-12841-4}}

* {{Cite book |last=Willbanks |first=James H. |title=Vietnam War almanac |publisher=Infobase Publishing |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-8160-7102-9}}

* {{Cite book |last=Willbanks |first=James H. |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/book/28613 |title=A Raid Too Far: Operation Lam Son 719 and Vietnamization in Laos |publisher=Texas A&M University Press |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-62349-117-8}}

* {{Cite book |last=Woodruff |first=Mark |title=Unheralded Victory: The Defeat of The Viet Cong and The North Vietnamese |publisher=[[Presidio Press]] |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-89141-866-5 |location=Arlington, VA}}

==~~External~~=Main ~~links~~sources===

*[http://www.vwam.com/ A Vietnam Veterans Site, Excellent Historical Information and photos]

* Central Intelligence Agency. "[https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/laos/ Laos]". ''[[The World Factbook]]''.

*[http://www.thirdmarines.net/khe_sanh/ks_title_pg.asp/ About the Khe Sanh Hill Fights]

* {{Cite web |title=Cora Weiss Collection |url=http://guides.lib.jjay.cuny.edu/content.php?pid=227219&sid=1880539 |department=Special Collections – Lloyd Sealy Library: Manuscript Collections |publisher=[[John Jay College of Criminal Justice]]}} Materials related to war resistance and peace activism movements during the Vietnam War.

*[http://www.asian-nation.org/vietnam-war.shtml Asian-Nation: The Viet Nam/American War]

* ''Foreign Relations of the United States''

*[http://www.fas.org/man/crs/RS20775.pdf ''Congressional Use of Funding Cutoffs Involving US Military Forces and Overseas Deployments'']

** {{Cite book |url=https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v01 |title=Volume I, Vietnam 1964 |others=General Editor: John P. Glennon |year=1992 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |isbn=0-16-032358-4 |editor-last=Keefer |editor-first=Edward C. |editor-last2=Sampson |editor-first2=Charles S. |via=Office of the Historian}}

*[http://www.history.navy.mil/seairland/index.html Department of the Navy — Navy Historical Center: By Sea, Air, and Land]

** {{Cite book |url=https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v02 |title=Volume II, Vietnam January–June 1965 |others=General Editor: Glenn W. LaFantasie |year=1996 |isbn=0-16-045126-4 |editor-last=Humphrey |editor-first=David C. |editor-last2=Landa |editor-first2=Ronald D. |editor-last3=Smith |editor-first3=Louis J. |via=Office of the Historian}}

*[http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/3909/olivedrab/olivedrab2.pdf Olive-Drab Rebels - Subversion of the US Armed Forces in the Vietnam War]

** {{Cite book |url=https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v03 |title=Volume III, Vietnam June–December 1965 |others=General Editor: Glenn W. LaFantasie |year=1996 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |isbn=0-16-045129-9 |editor-last=Humphrey |editor-first=David C. |editor-last2=Keefer |editor-first2=Edward C. |editor-last3=Smith |editor-first3=Louis J. |via=Office of the Historian}}

*[http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/vietnam/whos/index.html PBS American Experience: Vietnam Online]

** {{Cite book |url=https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v04 |title=Volume IV, Vietnam 1966 |others=General Editor: David S. Patterson |year=1998 |isbn=0-16-048812-5 |editor-last=Humphrey |editor-first=David C. |via=Office of the Historian}}

*[http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/pentagon/pent11.htm Pentagon Papers]

* {{Cite book |last=Ho |first=Chi Minh |title=Selected Works |date=1960–1962 |chapter=Vietnam Declaration of Independence}}

*[http://www.ericdigests.org/1998-1/vietnam.htm Teaching about Vietnam and the Vietnam War]

* {{Cite book |last1=LeMay |first1=Curtis E. |title=Mission with LeMay |last2=Kantor |first2=MacKinlay |year=1965}} Autobiography of controversial former Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force.

*[http://www.warbirdforum.com/vietnam.htm The Annals of Vietnam] (emphasis on the early years of the conflict)

* {{Cite book |last=O'Connell |first=Kim A. |title=Primary Source Accounts of the Vietnam War |publisher=MyReportLinks.com |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-59845-001-9 |location=Berkeley Heights, NJ}}

*[http://virtualdoug.typepad.com/photos/viet_nam_today_for_vets/ Viet Nam Today for Vets]

* {{Cite book |last=McCain |first=John |title=Faith of My Fathers: A Family Memoir |title-link=Faith of My Fathers: A Family Memoir |year=1999 |publisher=Harper Collins |isbn=0-06-095786-7}}

*[http://www.vietnampix.com/index.html Vietnam War picture essay]

* {{Cite book |last=Marshall |first=Kathryn |title=In the Combat Zone: An Oral History of American Women in Vietnam, 1966–1975 |year=1987 |publisher=Little, Brown |isbn=0-316-54707-7}}

*[http://www.pieceuniquegallery.com Vietnam War picture gallery]

* {{Cite book |last=Myers |first=Thomas |title=Walking Point: American Narratives of Vietnam |year=1988 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-505351-6}}

*[http://www.vietvet.org/glossary.htm Vietnam War Terminology and Slang]

* {{Cite book |title=Pentagon Papers |title-link=Pentagon Papers |publisher=Beacon Press |year=1971 |edition=Gravel |location=Boston}} 5 volumes. {{Cite book |title=Volume 1 |pages=1–52 |chapter=Chapter I, Background to the Crisis, 1940–50 |access-date=9 September 2006 |chapter-url=http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/pentagon/pent1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180818075800/http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/pentagon/pent1.html |archive-date=18 August 2018 |url-status=dead |via=International Relations Department, Mount Holyoke College}} Combination of narrative and secret documents compiled by Pentagon.

*[http://www.vietnamviews.org/ Vietnam Views] (marking the 30th anniversary of its end, a social journal that captures stories from those affected by the war)

* ''Public Papers of the Presidents, 1965'' (1966). Official documents of U.S. presidents.

*[http://www.vietnamgear.com Vietnam War uniforms and equipment]

* {{Cite book |last=Schlesinger |first=Arthur M. Jr. |title=Robert Kennedy and His Times |year=1978}} A first-hand account of the Kennedy administration by one of his principal advisors.

*[http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/virtualarchive/ Virtual Vietnam Archive] (more than 2 million pages of online historical materials)

* {{Cite journal |last=Sinhanouk |first=Prince Norodom |year=1958 |title=Cambodia Neutral: The Dictates of Necessity |journal=Foreign Affairs}} Describes the geopolitical situation of Cambodia.

*[http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/vietnam/vietnamization/ The Effects of Vietnamization on the Republic of Vietnam's Armed Forces, 1969-1972]

* ''United States – Vietnam Relations, 1945–1967: A Study Prepared by the Department of Defense''. Washington, D.C.: Office of the Secretary of Defense, 1971, 12 volumes.

* {{Cite AV media |title=Vietnam: A Television History |date=1983 |publisher=PBS |series=American Experience |title-link=Vietnam: A Television History}}

==~~Further~~=Additional ~~reading~~sources===

* {{Cite book |last=Anderson |first=David L. |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780231114929 |title=Columbia Guide to the Vietnam War |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-231-11492-9 |location=New York}}

* Angio, Joe. ''Nixon a Presidency Revealed'' (2007) [[The History Channel]] television documentary

* {{Cite book |last=Appy |first=Christian G. |title=Vietnam: The Definitive Oral History, Told from All Sides |publisher=Ebury Press |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-09-191011-2 |location=London |author-link=Christian G. Appy}}

* {{Cite book |last=Asselin |first=Pierre |title=Vietnam's American War: A New History |year=2024 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |url=https://www.cambridge.org/highereducation/books/vietnams-american-war/034EEB484F83DC3976982F33AB5B8C51 |isbn=9781009229302}}

* Baker, Kevin. "Stabbed in the Back! The past and future of a right-wing myth", ''[[Harper's Magazine]]'' (June 2006) {{Cite web |title=Stabbed in the back! The past and future of a right-wing myth (Harper's Magazine) |url=http://www.harpers.org/archive/2006/06/0081080 |access-date=11 June 2008}}

* {{Cite book |last=Berman |first=Larry |url=https://archive.org/details/lyndonjohnsonswa00berm |title=Lyndon Johnson's War: The Road to Stalemate in Vietnam |publisher=[[W. W. Norton & Company]] |year=1989 |isbn=978-0-393-02636-8 |location=New York}}

* {{Cite book |last=Blaufarb |first=Douglas S. |title=The Counterinsurgency Era: U.S. Doctrine and Performance, 1950 to the Present |publisher=[[Free Press (publisher)|Free Press]] |year=1977 |isbn=978-0-02-903700-3 |location=New York}}

* Blaufarb Douglas S. ''The Counterinsurgency Era'' (1977). A history of the Kennedy Administration's involvement in South Vietnam.

* Brigham, Robert K. ''Battlefield Vietnam: A Brief History''. A PBS interactive website.

* {{Cite book |last=Brocheux |first=Pierre |url=https://archive.org/details/hochiminhbiograp00broc/page/198 |title=Ho Chi Minh: a biography |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-521-85062-9 |page=[https://archive.org/details/hochiminhbiograp00broc/page/198 198]}}

* {{Cite magazine |last=Buckley |first=Kevin |date=19 June 1972 |title=Pacification's Deadly Price |url=http://chss.montclair.edu/english/furr/Vietnam/buckley.html |magazine=[[Newsweek]] |access-date=5 August 2008}}

* {{Cite book |last=Carney |first=Timothy |title=Cambodia, 1975–1978: Rendezvous with Death |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |year=1989 |isbn=978-0-691-07807-6 |editor-last=Karl D. Jackson |location=Princeton, NJ |pages=13–35 |chapter=The Unexpected Victory}}

* {{Cite book |title=A Short History of South-East Asia |year=2006 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-0-470-82181-7 |editor-last=Church |editor-first=Peter}}

* {{Cite book |last=Cooper |first=Chester L. |url=https://archive.org/details/lostcrusadeameri00coop |title=The Lost Crusade: America in Vietnam |year=1970 |publisher=Dodd, Mead |isbn=978-0-396-06241-7 |url-access=registration}} a Washington insider's memoir of events.

* {{Cite book |last=Courtwright |first=David T. |title=Sky as Frontier: Adventure, Aviation, and Empire |publisher=[[Texas A&M University Press]] |year=2005 |isbn=978-1-58544-384-0 |location=College Station}}

* {{Cite book |last=Crump |first=Laurien |title=The Warsaw Pact Reconsidered: International Relations in Eastern Europe, 1955–1969 |publisher=Routledge |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-315-73254-1 |location=Oxon}}

* {{Cite book |last=Dennis |first=Peter |title=The Oxford Companion to Australian Military History |publisher=Oxford University Press Australia & New Zealand |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-19-551784-2 |edition=2nd |location=Melbourne |display-authors=etal}}

* {{Cite web |last=DoD |date=6 November 1998 |title=Name of Technical Sergeant Richard B. Fitzgibbon to be added to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial |url=http://www.defense.gov/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=1902 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131020044326/http://www.defense.gov/Releases/Release.aspx?ReleaseID=1902 |archive-date=20 October 2013 |publisher=[[United States Department of Defense|Department of Defense (DoD)]]}}

* {{Cite book |last=Dror |first=Olga |title=Making Two Vietnams: War and Youth Identities, 1965–1975 |year=2018 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/making-two-vietnams/BE086D9C1DA355B33EDBABC1C628701A |isbn=9781108556163}}

* {{Cite book |last=Duiker |first=William J. |title=The Communist Road to Power in Vietnam |publisher=[[Westview Press]] |year=1981 |isbn=978-0-89158-794-1}}

* {{Cite book |last=Duncanson |first=Dennis J. |title=Government and Revolution in Vietnam |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=1968 |oclc=411221}}

* {{Cite book |last=Etcheson |first=Craig |title=After the Killing Fields: Lessons from the Cambodian Genocide |publisher=Praeger |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-275-98513-4 |location=New York}}

* {{Cite book |last=Fall |first=Bernard B. |title=The Two Viet-Nams: A Political and Military Analysis |publisher=[[Praeger Publishing|Praeger]] |year=1967 |isbn=978-0-9991417-9-3 |edition=2nd |location=New York |author-link=Bernard B. Fall}}

* {{Cite book |last=Fincher |first=Ernest Barksdale |title=The Vietnam War |year=1980}}

* {{Cite book |last=Ford |first=Harold P. |title=CIA and the Vietnam Policymakers: Three Episodes, 1962–1968 |year=1998 |oclc=39333058}}

* {{Cite book |title=Examining Issues Through Political Cartoons: The Vietnam War |publisher=Greenhaven Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-7377-2531-5 |editor-last=Gerdes |editor-first=Louise I.}}

* {{Cite book |last1=Gettleman |first1=Marvin E. |title=Vietnam and America: A Documented History |last2=Franklin |first2=Jane |last3=Young |first3=Marilyn |year=1995}}

* {{Cite book |last=Greiner |first=Bernd |title=War Without Fronts: The USA in Vietnam |publisher=Vintage Books |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-09-953259-0 |location=London}}

* {{Cite book |last=Healy |first=Gene |title=The Cult of the Presidency: America's Dangerous Devotion to Executive Power |publisher=Cato Institute |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-933995-19-9}}

* {{Cite book |last=Herring |first=George C. |title=America's Longest War: The United States and Vietnam, 1950–1975 |publisher=McGraw-Hill |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-07-253618-8 |edition=4th |location=New York}}

* {{Cite book |last=Hitchens |first=Christopher |title=The Vietnam Syndrome}}

* {{Cite book |last=Kelly |first=Michael P. |title=Where We Were in Vietnam |publisher=Hellgate Press |year=2002 |isbn=978-1-55571-625-7 |location=Oregon}}

* {{Cite book |last=Khong |first=Yuen Foong |url=https://archive.org/details/analogiesatwarko00khon |title=Analogies at War: Korea, Munich, Dien Bien Phu, and the Vietnam Decisions of 1965 |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1992 |isbn=978-0-691-07846-5 |url-access=registration}}

* {{Cite book |last=Kiernan |first=Ben |title=The Pol Pot Regime: Race, Power, and Genocide in Cambodia Under the Khmer Rouge |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-300-14434-5 |edition=3rd |location=New Haven, CN |author-link=Ben Kiernan}}

* {{Cite journal |last1=Kiernan |first1=Ben |last2=Owen |first2=Taylor |author-mask=3 |title=Bombs over Cambodia |url=http://www.yale.edu/cgp/Walrus_CambodiaBombing_OCT06.pdf |journal=[[The Walrus]] |date=14 June 2024 |issue=October 2006 |pages=62–69}}

* {{Cite book |last=Kolko |first=Gabriel |url=https://archive.org/details/anatomyofwarviet00kolk |title=Anatomy of a War: Vietnam, the United States, and the Modern Historical Experience |publisher=Pantheon Books |year=1985 |isbn=978-0-394-74761-3 |location=New York |author-link=Gabriel Kolko |url-access=registration}}

* {{Cite book |last=Kort |first=Michael G. |author-link=Michael Kort |title=The Vietnam War Reexamined |year=2017 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/vietnam-war-reexamined/038E514896A0745CBF02F4A1CE848939 |isbn=9781107110199}}

* {{Cite book |title=Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-13-276932-7 |editor-last=Kutler |editor-first=Stanley I. |location=New York}}

* {{Cite book |last=Lawrence |first=A.T. |title=Crucible Vietnam: Memoir of an Infantry Lieutenant |publisher=McFarland |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-7864-4517-2 |location=Jefferson, NC}}

* {{Cite book |last=Lawrence |first=Mark Atwood |title=The Vietnam War: A Concise International History |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-19-531465-6}}

* {{Cite book |last=Lewy |first=Guenter |url=https://archive.org/details/americainvietnam00lewy |title=America in Vietnam |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1978 |isbn=978-0-19-502732-7 |location=New York |author-link=Guenter Lewy}}

* {{Cite book |last=Logevall |first=Fredrik |title=The Origins of the Vietnam War |publisher=Longman |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-582-31918-9 |location=Harlow |author-link=Fredrik Logevall}}

* {{Cite book |last=Logevall |first=Fredrik |title=The Cambridge History of the Cold War, Volume II: Crises and Détente |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-521-83720-0 |editor-last=Melvyn P. Leffler |location=Cambridge |pages=281–304 |chapter=The Indochina wars and the Cold War, 1945–1975 |author-mask=3 |editor-last2=Odd Arne Westad}}

* {{Cite book |last1=McGibbon |first1=Ian |title=The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Military History |last2=ed |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-19-558376-2 |location=Auckland}}

* {{Cite book |last=McMahon |first=Robert J. |title=Major Problems in the History of the Vietnam War: Documents and Essays |year=1995}}

* {{Cite book |last=McNeill |first=Ian |title=To Long Tan: The Australian Army and the Vietnam War 1950–1966 |publisher=[[Allen & Unwin]] |year=1993 |isbn=978-1-86373-282-6 |location=St Leonards}}

* {{Cite book |last=Miller |first=Edward |title=Misalliance: Ngo Dinh Diem, the United States, and the Fate of South Vietnam |year=2013 |publisher=Harvard University Press |url=https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674072985 |isbn=9780674072985 }}

* {{Cite book |last=Milne |first=David |title=America's Rasputin: Walt Rostow and the Vietnam War |publisher=Hill & Wang |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-374-10386-6 |location=New York}}

* {{Cite book |last=Moïse |first=Edwin E. |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780807823002 |title=Tonkin Gulf and the Escalation of the Vietnam War |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-8078-2300-2 |location=Chapel Hill, N C|author-link=Edwin E. Moise}}

* {{Cite book |last=Moïse |first=Edwin E. |url=https://archive.org/details/historicaldictio0000mois |title=Historical Dictionary of the Vietnam War |publisher=Scarecrow Press |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-8108-4183-3 |location=Lanham, MD |author-mask=3 |url-access=registration}}

* {{Cite book |last=Moss |first=George D. |title=Vietnam |year=2002 |edition=4th}} textbook.

* {{Cite book |last=Moyar |first=Mark |title=Triumph Forsaken: The Vietnam War, 1954–1965 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-521-86911-9 |location=New York |author-link=Mark Moyar}}

* {{Cite book |last=Neale |first=Jonathan |title=The American War: Vietnam, 1960–1975 |publisher=Bookmarks |year=2001 |isbn=978-1-898876-67-0 |location=London}}

* {{Cite book |last=Neel |first=Spurgeon |title=Medical Support of the U.S. Army in Vietnam 1965–1970 |publisher=Department of the Army |year=1991 |author-link=Spurgeon Neel}} official medical history

* {{Cite book |last=Nelson |first=Deborah |url=https://archive.org/details/warbehindmevietn00nels_0 |title=The War Behind Me: Vietnam Veterans Confront the Truth about U.S. War Crimes |publisher=Basic Books |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-465-00527-7 |location=Philadelphia, PA}}

* {{Cite book |last=Nguyen |first=Duy Lap |title=The Unimagined Community: Imperialism and Culture in South Vietnam |date=2020 |publisher=Manchester University Press |isbn=978-1-5261-4396-9}}

* {{Cite book |last=Oberdorfer |first=Don |title=Tet! The Turning Point in the Vietnam War |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-8018-6703-3 |location=Baltimore, MD |author-link=Don Oberdorfer |orig-year=1971}}

* {{Cite journal |last1=Obermeyer |first1=Ziad |last2=Murray |first2=Christopher J.L. |last3=Gakidou |first3=Emmanuela |year=2008 |title=Fifty years of violent war deaths from Vietnam to Bosnia: analysis of data from the world health survey programme |journal=[[BMJ]] |volume=336 |issue=7659 |pages=1482–1486 |doi=10.1136/bmj.a137 |pmc=2440905 |pmid=18566045}}

* {{Cite book |last=Palmer |first=Bruce Jr. |title=The Twenty-Five Year War |year=1984}} Narrative military history by a senior U.S. general.

* {{Cite book |last=Palmer |first=Dave R. |url=https://archive.org/details/summonsoftrumpet00palm |title=Summons of Trumpet: U.S.–Vietnam in Perspective |publisher=[[Presidio Press]] |year=1978 |isbn=978-0-89141-550-3 |location=Novato, CA |author-link=Dave Richard Palmer |url-access=registration}}

* {{Cite book |last=Robbins |first=Mary Susannah |title=Against the Vietnam War: Writings by Activists |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-7425-5914-1 |location=Lanham, MD}}

* {{Cite book |last=Roberts III |first=Mervyn Edwin |title=The Psychological War for Vietnam, 1960–1968 |year=2018}}

* {{Cite book |last=Schandler |first=Herbert Y. |url=https://archive.org/details/americainvietnam0000scha |title=America in Vietnam: The War That Couldn't Be Won |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-7425-6697-2 |location=Lanham, MD |url-access=registration}}

* Schell, Jonathan. ''The Time of Illusion'' (1976).

* Schulzinger, Robert D. ''A Time for War: The United States and Vietnam, 1941–1975'' (1997).

* {{Cite book |last=Sheehan |first=Neil |title=A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam |title-link=A Bright Shining Lie |publisher=Vintage |year=1989 |isbn=978-0-679-72414-8 |location=New York |author-link=Neil Sheehan}}

* Sorley, Lewis, ''A Better War: The Unexamined Victories and Final Tragedy of America's Last Years in Vietnam'' (1999), based upon still classified tape-recorded meetings of top level US commanders in Vietnam, {{ISBN|0-15-601309-6}}

* Spector, Ronald. ''After Tet: The Bloodiest Year in Vietnam'' (1992), very broad coverage of 1968.

* {{Cite book |last=Stanton |first=Shelby L. |title=Vietnam order of battle |publisher=Stackpole Books |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-8117-0071-9 |edition=}}

* {{Cite book |last=Stuart-Fox |first=Martin |title=A History of Laos |title-link=History of Laos |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-521-59235-2 |location=Cambridge |author-link=Martin Stuart-Fox}}

* Summers, Harry G. [{{GBurl|id=-Z4l-ZySVWwC}} ''On Strategy: A Critical Analysis of the Vietnam War''], Presidio press (1982), {{ISBN|0-89141-563-7}} (225 pages)

* {{Cite book |last=Thayer |first=Thomas C. |title=War Without Fronts: The American Experience in Vietnam |publisher=[[Westview Press]] |year=1985 |isbn=978-0-8133-7132-0 |location=Boulder, CO}}

* Tucker, Spencer. ed. ''Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War'' (1998) 3 vol. reference set; also one-volume abridgement (2001).

* {{Cite book |last=Thayer |first=Thomas C. |title=Vietnam |publisher=[[UCL Press]] |year=1999 |isbn=978-1-85728-921-3 |location=London |author-mask=3}}

* {{Cite book |last=Tran |first=Nu-Anh |title=Disunion: Anticommunist Nationalism and the Making of the Republic of Vietnam |year=2022 |publisher=University of Hawaiʻi Press |url=https://uhpress.hawaii.edu/title/disunion-anticommunist-nationalism-and-the-making-of-the-republic-of-vietnam/ |isbn=9780824887865 }}

* {{Cite book |last=Tucker |first=Spencer |title=The Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War: A Political, Social, and Military History |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-85109-960-3 |orig-year=1998}}

* {{Cite book |last=Turner |first=Robert F. |title=Vietnamese Communism: Its Origins and Development |publisher=Hoover Institution Press |year=1975 |isbn=978-0-8179-6431-3 |location=Stanford, CA}}

* {{Cite book |last=Turse |first=Nick |title=Kill Anything That Moves: The Real American War in Vietnam |publisher=Metropolitan Books |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-8050-8691-1 |location=New York |author-link=Nick Turse}}

* {{Cite book |last=Young |first=Marilyn B. |url=https://archive.org/details/vietnamwars194510000youn |title=The Vietnam Wars, 1945–1990 |publisher=[[HarperPerennial]] |year=1991 |isbn=978-0-06-092107-1 |location=New York |author-link=Marilyn B. Young |url-access=registration}}

* Xiaoming, Zhang. "China's 1979 War With Vietnam: A Reassessment", ''China Quarterly.'' Issue no. 184, (December 2005) {{Cite journal |last=Zhang |first=Xiaoming |year=2005 |title=CJO – Abstract – China's 1979 War with Vietnam: A Reassessment |journal=The China Quarterly |volume=184 |pages=851 |doi=10.1017/S0305741005000536 |s2cid=154831743}}

===~~History texts~~Historiography===

*[[Phillip Davidson]]. [[1988]]. ''Vietnam at War: The History 1946-1975''

* {{Cite book |last=Appy|first=Christian G. |title=Vietnam : The Definitive Oral History told from All Sides |date=2006|publisher=Ebury |isbn=978-0-0919-1011-2|location=London|oclc=1302551584|url=https://archive.org/details/vietnamdefinitiv0000appy}}

*[[Daniel Ellsberg]]. [[2002]]. ''Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers''. New York: Viking Press.

* {{Cite journal |last=Hall |first=Simon |date=September 2009 |title=Scholarly Battles over the Vietnam War |journal=Historical Journal |volume=52 |issue=3 |pages=813–829 |doi=10.1017/S0018246X09990185 |s2cid=161303298}}

*[[Frances Fitzgerald]]. [[1972]]. ''Fire in the Lake: The Vietnamese and Americans in Vietnam''. Boston: Little Brown and Company.

* Olson, James Stuart, ed. ''The Vietnam War: Handbook of the literature and research'' (Greenwood, 1993) [{{GBurl|id=vmluAAAAMAAJ}} excerpt].

*[[David Halberstam]]. [[1969]]. ''[[The Best and the Brightest]]''. New York. Ballantine Books.

* {{cite journal |last1=Miller |first1=Edward |last2=Vu |first2=Tuong |date=2009 |title=The Vietnam War as a Vietnamese War: Agency and Society in the Study of the Second Indochina War |journal=Journal of Vietnamese Studies |volume=4 |issue=3 |pages=1–16 |doi=10.1525/vs.2009.4.3.1 }}

*[[Patrick J. Hearden]]. [[1991]]. ''The Tragedy of Vietnam'' New York: Harper Collins.

* {{cite book |last=Kort |first=Michael G. |title=The Vietnam War Reexamined |date=2017 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1107110199 |chapter=The Vietnam War in History |pages=6–36 |chapter-url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/vietnam-war-reexamined/vietnam-war-in-history/8FB0A214DB45CE266D2390721852B9F1 }}

*[[George C. Herring]]. [[1979]]. "America's Longest War: The United States and Vietnam, 1950-1975". Boston: McGraw-Hill.

*[[Stanley Karnow]]. [[1983]]. ''Vietnam, A History''. New York: Viking Press, ISBN 0140265473

*[[Robert J. McMahon]]. [[2003]]. ''Major Problems in the History of the Vietnam War''. New York, Houghton Mifflin Co., ISBN 061819312X

*[[Robert McNamara]]. [[1995]]. ''In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam''. (written with Brian VanDeMark) New York: Vintage Books.

*[[Robert Mann]]. [[2001]]. ''A Grand Delusion: America's Descent into Vietnam''. New York: Basic Books.

*[[James S. Olson]] (editor). [[1988]]. ''Dictionary of the Vietnam War''. New York: Greenwood Press, Inc.

*[[Robert Schulzinger]]. [[1997]]. ''A Time for War: The United States and Vietnam, 1941-1975''. New York: [[Oxford University]] Press.

*[[Neil Sheehan]]. [[1988]]. ''A Bright Shining Lie.'' New York: Vintage.

*[[Lewis Sorley]]. [[1999]]. ''A Better War: The Unexamined Victories and Final Tragedy of America's Last Years in Vietnam'' New York: Harcourt.

*[[Gabriel Kolko]]. [[1994]]. ''Anatomy of a war: Vietnam, the United States, and the Modern Historical Experience'' London: Phoenix Press.

~~===Non-fiction===~~

*Fall, Bernard. 1967. "Hell in a Very Small Place: the Siege of Dien Bien Phu".

*Just, Ward. 1968. "To What End: Report from Vietnam."

*Oberdorfer, Don. 1971. "Tet: the Story of a Battle and its Historic Aftermath".

*Emerson, Gloria. 1976. "Winners and Losers: Battles, Retreats, Gains, Losses and Ruins from a Long War".

*Caputo, Philip. 1977. "A Rumor of War".

*Santoli, Al. 1981. "Everything We Had: an Oral History of the Vietnam War by 33 American Soldiers Who Fought It".

*Mason, Robert C. 1983. "Chickenhawk".

*Moore, LTG Harold G., and Galloway, Joseph L. 1992. "We Were Soldiers Once... and Young".

*O'Brien, Tim. 1973. "If I Die in a Combat Zone".

*Puller, Lewis B. Jr. 1991. "Fortunate Son".

*Woolf, Tobias. 1994. "In Pharaoh's Army".

*Langguth, A. J. 2000. "Our Vietnam: the War 1954-1975".

*Laurence, John. 2002. "The Cat from Hue: a Vietnam War Story".

*Dileo, David L. 1991. "George Ball, Vietnam, and the Rethinking of Containment".

*Davis, Peter. 1974. ''[http://imdb.com/title/tt0071604/ Hearts and Minds.]'' Documentary film. Academy Award for Best Documentary. Available on DVD.

*Herrington, Stuart A. 2004. "Stalking The Vietcong".

*Dockery, Martin J. 2004. "Lost in Translation".

*Plaster, John L. 1998. "Sog: The Secret Wars of America's Commandos in Vietnam".

*Kelly, Daniel E. 1998. "Seawolves: First Choice".

==~~=Fiction=~~External links==

{{Sister project links|d=Q8740|n=no|species=no|voy=no|s=no|b=Modern History/Vietnam War}}

*[[Ford, Daniel]]. 1967. "Incident at Muc Wa" (filmed 1976 as "Go Tell the Spartans")

* [https://watch.opb.org/video/history-detectives-vietnam-diarys-homecoming/ A Vietnam Diary's Homecoming] Video produced by the [[PBS]] Series [[History Detectives]]

*Greene, Graham. 1955. "The Quiet American".

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20230130034322/http://www.americanhistoryprojects.com/downloads/vietnam.htm Detailed bibliography of Vietnam War]

*Herr, Michael. 1977. "Dispatches".

* [http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/vietnam.htm Documents Relating to American Foreign Policy–Vietnam] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120813005227/http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/vietnam.htm |date=13 August 2012}} primary sources on U.S. involvement

*O'Brien, Tim. 1978. "Going After Cacciato".

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120510024439/http://repository.library.georgetown.edu/handle/10822/552505 Fallout of the War] from the [https://web.archive.org/web/20160115205405/https://repository.library.georgetown.edu/handle/10822/552494 Dean Peter Krogh Foreign Affairs Digital Archives]

*Webb, James. 1978. "Fields of Fire".

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20230527121849/http://www2.iath.virginia.edu/sixties/HTML_docs/Resources/Glossary/Sixties_Term_Gloss_K_P.html Glossary of Military Terms & Slang from the Vietnam War]

*Heinemann, Larry. 1986. "Paco's Story".

* [http://content.library.ccsu.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/VHP&CISOPTR=5558&CISOBOX=1&REC=1 Impressions of Vietnam and descriptions of the daily life of a soldier from the oral history of Elliott Gardner, U.S. Army] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110430050258/http://content.library.ccsu.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=%2FVHP&CISOPTR=5558&CISOBOX=1&REC=1 |date=30 April 2011}}

*O'Brien, Tim. 1990. "The Things They Carried".

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20121024150216/http://www.gettysburg.edu/special_collections/collections/manuscripts/collections/ms044.dot Stephen H. Warner Southeast Asia Photograph Collection at Gettysburg College]

*Meyers, Walter Dean. 1988. "Fallen Angels".

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110501134722/http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=vietnam Timeline US – Vietnam (1947–2001)] in Open-Content project

*King, Stephen. 1988. "Hearts in Atlantis".

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20230405190739/http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/academic/history/marshall/military/vietnam/short.history/chap_28.txt The U.S. Army in Vietnam] the official history of the United States Army

*Ninh, Bao. 1995. "The Sorrow of War'.

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20230604154359/https://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war The Vietnam War] at The History Channel

~~~~

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150127045516/http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/pacificaviet/ UC Berkeley Library Social Activism Sound Recording Project: Anti-Vietnam War Protests]

~~[[Category:Vietnam]]~~

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050403230616/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/vietnam/timeline/ Vietnam war timeline] comprehensive timeline of the Vietnam War

~~[[Category:United States wars]]~~

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20230605064225/https://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/virtualarchive/ Virtual Vietnam Archive] – Texas Tech University

~~[[Category:Civil wars]]~~

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20230331213719/https://mashable.com/archive/another-vietnam-photography 1965–1975 Another Vietnam; Unseen images of the war from the winning side] – [[Mashable]]

~~[[Category:Vietnam War| ]]~~

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20221112035456/https://openarchives.umb.edu/digital/collection/p15774coll8/search/searchterm/Vietnam%20War/field/subjec/mode/exact/conn/and/order/date Archival collections about the Vietnam War], University Archives and Special Collections, Joseph P. Healey Library, [[University of Massachusetts Boston]]

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[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]

[[Category:1950s in Vietnam]]

[[Category:1960s in Vietnam]]

[[Category:1970s in Vietnam]]

[[Category:Lyndon B. Johnson administration controversies]]