Vietnam War
Chinese support helped to establish a Communist government in North Vietnam. South East Asia had been controlled by France, but French forces were completely defeated by the North Vietnamese in 1954 (Dien Ben Phu). By the Geneva Agreement of 1954 France withdrew from Indochina, losing their Empire.
Vietnam was partitioned into the communist North and the democratic South. Laos and Cambodia were set up as independent states.The Truman doctrine dictated that the USA would assist the new democracy of South Vietnam. During the cold war, the USA was terrified that many other countries might become communist and help the USSR. The domino theory of communism says that if one country is knocked over by the communist threat, soon all the nearby countries will become communist as well.
In South Vietnam there was a group called the Vietcong that wanted the South and the communist North to join. President Johnson was determined to keep South Vietnam communist free, so he increased troop numbers from 23.000 in 1964 to 500.000 in 1967. He began a bombing campaign of North Vietnam. The offensive resulted in the loss of thousands of American lives (14,000 in 1969), most of whom were young men. The war was very expensive and public opinion soon turned against the war.
President Nixon wanted to finish the war quickly. American troops were gradually withdrawn from Vietnam. Instead the US started training the South Vietnamese to fight the Vietcong. As a result they began heavy bombing of North Vietnam and Cambodia. In 1973 a ceasefire was arranged.
By 1975 Saigon (the South capital) had been captured by the Vietcong. The Americans were defeated for several reasons:
- US bombs killed a lot of civilians.
A female demonstrator offers a flower to military police (Dominio público) - Vietcong guerrillas were very skilful soldiers.
- American troops were not used to fight in the jungle.
- North Vietnam had the support of China and the Soviet Union.
- American public opinion turned against the war.
- The Vietcong treated the South Vietnamese well and gained their support