Vietnamisation by Celine & Bianca

Essential Question: How did Vietnamisation have an impact on the Peace agreement in the Vietnam War? Success Criteria: I can determine and give strong evidence demonstrating whether Nixon’s policy was successful or not.

Vocab Words -Nixon -De-Americanisation -Vietnamisation -NLF

Nixon’s election and his policy In 1968, Nixon obtained the presidential election, with and evident majority over the Democrats MAIN GOAL : De-Americanisation of War: Nixon wanted the US to play a smaller role in the war. Paris, May 1968, North Vietnam wanted to reunite with the South, but no progress. WHY ? No progress caused by the US which had a different idea of the case and wanted the countries to remain separate.

Why was peace so hard to achieve? The reason why the US and North Vietnam were struggling to agree on a peace was that both of them were firm on their thoughts. North Vietnam USA -Wanted for South Vietnam to reunite with the North. -Wanted North Vietnamese forces to leave the South, no merging of the countries. -The North also insisted that the National Liberation Front (a communist organization) should take part of the new government in the South. -Nixon proposed that new free elections took place and that the winners could set up the new government. However this wasn’t accepted by the Hanoi government. FOR USA PART: forces refers to NV and US army. Hanoi gov’t is communist.

What was Nixon’s plan of Vietnamisation? Nixon and his National Security adviser (Kissinger), wanted a way out in order for the Vietnamese population not to realize that the United States had lost the war. Nguyen Van Thieu, started being afraid that the Americans might turn their backs on him so that they could reach an agreement with the North. Thieu president of South Vietnam since 1967. One of North Vietnam’s terms was that Thieu couldn’t be part of the new gov’t in SV.

What was Nixon’s plan of Vietnamisation? Nixon’s double plan: Carry out Vietnamisation without Vietnam population to realize, but still giving support to the Saigon government Still carry peace negotiations in Paris, France If the North Vietnam didn’t agree, the US would have intervened using harsh solutions (ex. bombing the North) US support : United States Air Force and equipment, US didn’t want Vietnam to realize they had lost

Did the double-plan work? No. This because North Vietnam realised that the US was struggling already. The anti-war movement in the United Stated was getting stronger North Vietnam knew that: Americans would eventually pull out from South Vietnam leaving it on its own. It wouldn’t have been long until the South Vietnam was reunited to the North.

Peace Agreement October 1972, agreement between Kissinger and Le duc Tho A ceasefire over all Indo-China American troops had to withdraw from Vietnam within 60 days of the ceasefire American prisoners would be made free (about 700 of them) Elections would be held in the South Each side would have stayed in its own territory The Peace Agreement was an excuse for Nixon to be able to win the elections. Thieu understood that this agreement wasn’t beneficial for him and refused to sign the Agreement. Nixon won by a huge majority, he had a second term for 4 years as president and this peace agreement sealed what he wanted. Tho North→ NLF case, wanted to carry out from insurgent (revolutionary) policies.

Consequences Nixon couldn’t accept the loss of the elections. Violent reaction→ 11 days of non-stop massive bombing campaigns in North Vietnam 27, Jan, 1973, Thieu decided to reopen negotiations and sign for the Peace Agreement Nixon won by a huge majority, he had a second term for 4 years as president and this peace agreement sealed what he wanted.

Vocab Definitions -Nixon → President of US towards the end of Vietnam War, signed the peace agreement by October 1972 -De-Americanisation → Involved building up the South Vietnamese army in order to make them more independent and allow the U.S. troops to withdraw -Vietnamisation→ Nixon’s desired policy to enable SV to take a greater responsibility for the war while the US started a planned withdrawal, even though still supporting the gov. in Saigon in its fights against NLF -NLF→ National Liberation Front in South Vietnam, main goal was to carry out an insurgent policy

Reflection Question: Was Nixon’s policy of Vietnamisation a success? TIP: Remember to think about South Vietnam’s response to Nixon during the Peace Agreement!!!!