The Vietnam War ( ) In a street of Huê, summer 2005

North Viêt-Nam

The Indochina War The American Help Beginning of the Military Assistance and Advisory Group (MAAG) Beginning of the Indochina War 1. Chronology A/ The Indochina War or the beginning of the French involvement in Viêt-Nam

The American Help The Indochina War July 1954 : The Geneva Agreements and the end of the Indochina War

THE FRENCH DEFEAT: -Lost in Dien Bien Phu in May Peace in the Geneva Agreement July Laos, Cambodia were independent and Vietnam was temporarily divided into two states at the 17th parallel. -Ho Chi Minh ‘s government was recognized in North Vietnam -In 1955 a referendum chose NGO DIEM as president of south Vietnam. Backed by the USA.( Eisenhower Domino theory)

THE SITUATION IN SOUTH VIETNAM -Diem’s regime was soon discredited: he was from a catholic family ( 75% of the population was Buddhist and was discrominated against). Very corrupted system.Murdered Communist opposition in south Vietnam : the VIETCONG ( former members of the Vietminh during the Indochina war ). Organised into the NLF. Received supplies from North Vietnam -North Vietnam was backed by China, backed by the USSR.

The Liberation War Beginning of the Liberation War Beginning of direct confrontations between North and South March 1965 Landing of the first American troops in Da Nang Kennedy sends Green Berets “ADVISERS”- CIA Safe village policy- isolation fom the Vietcong

March 1965 … the first American soldiers landed in Da Nang … Da Nang became one of the most protected city of South. The Americans strengthened the demilitarized zone…

The Demilitarized Zone was, according to the Geneva, Agreement a zone without any military presence which aimed at splitting Vietnam into two parts. During the War it was one of the most militarized region of the world !! The Americans established a series of fortified camps, it was the McNamara Wall. There occurred the harshest battles of the War.

B/ The War The American DeploymentClimax The American Disengagement Beginning of the War January 1968 : The Têt Offensive July 1969 : The Nixon Doctrine Hardening of the conflict First American Bombings in Cambodia ( Hô Chi Minh Trail )

American “Search an Destroy” Policy in Vietnam… Napalm… Vietnamese used to dig galleries to hide… March 16th 1968 My lay: 347 killed

The American Disengagement January 1973 : The Paris Agreements Number of Killed The USA North Viêt Nam including Viet Cong forces South Viêt Nam Vietnamese Civilians Results of the war « Vietnamisation » of the conflict

The Fall of Saigon on April, 30th 1975, signaled the end of the Liberation War (which began in 1969) by the capitulation of the South Vietnamese government. A Vietnamese tank smashing the grills of the Presidency Palace, symbol of the South government. This is two emblematic photos of the liberation of Saigon The Americans fleeing the US Embassy in Saigon.

C/ After the American withdrawal… Geopolitical Consequences :  Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia had fallen into communism. It was a failure for the Containment Policy  The humiliated USA withdrew from the world stage.  Vietnam was reunified but tensions remained after 30 years of war. The country had to be rebuilt but once the war over the help from the USSR or China ceased. End of the Vietnam War January 1975 : Decisive North- Vietnamese Offensive South Viêt-Nam is fighting alone … April 1975 Fall of Saigon Reunification of both Vietnam and end of the war.

SEVERE CONSEQUENCES  The economy was badly touched by the conflict mostly because of the bombings  More than 5 MILLION vietnamese died from 1965 to 1975, many personns were missing  Ecologically the situation is dramatic, the Americans used tons ammunitions (3 to 4 times the WWII tonnage) 16% of lands were touched by chemical weapons: orange agent and napalm. Orange Agent Before…After Napalm…

The USA used Orange agent as a herbicide to destroy the jungle foliage but…. …it still has severe consequences today!

Another terrible weapon: the Daisy cutter bomb To be exact, the Daisy Cutter bomb ( or The BLU-82B ) weighed in at 6 tons and destroyed anything in a 700 meter radius. It was used to to clear the helicopter landing sites.It had the size of a beetle car and a cargo plane was needed to transport it since it was so big

In 1975, Saigon fell to the communists and Vietnam became a communist land…

Today in Saigon (now Hô Chi Minh City), you can see things that were unimaginable forty years ago : The Rex Hotel where the US Officers used to give conferences is surmounted by the Red Flag. The Red Flag and a statue of “Uncle Hô” in front of the City Hall.