Written Report : Story of Conflict

In partial fulfillment
Of the requirements fo
Survey of Afro-Asian Literature
BSEE 35

Salazar, Ma. Cherilyn

Santander, Hazel
Sobrepeña, Hanna Israfel F.
Solas, Carl David

October 2021
 INTRODUCTION

I. Background

The Vietnam War was a lengthy, costly, and controversial battle that pitted North

Vietnam's communist government against South Vietnam and its main ally, the United States.

The term "Vietnam Conflict or Story Conflict" refers to the fact that the US Congress never

declared war on North Vietnam.

The ongoing Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union exacerbated the

issue. More than 3 million people were murdered in the Vietnam War, including over 58,000

Americans, and more than half of those slain were Vietnamese civilians.

Even after President Richard Nixon signed the Paris Peace Accords and ordered the

departure of US soldiers in 1973, opposition to the war in the United States remained deeply

split. In 1975, Communist troops took control of South Vietnam, and the nation was united as

the Socialist Republic of Vietnam the following year.

 BODY

After World War ll, colonies in SE Asia experienced political instability. Countries of

French-Indochina demanded independence from France. Nationalists in Vietnam fought for

independence from France in the year 1946 to 1954 that ended with French withdrawal from the

region and Vietnam was divided into communists in the North while capitalists in the south.

French Indochina war was started for each of the said countries to ask for their own

independence when Vietnam successfully win the war against France and after the said war the

Vietnam country was divided into north which is the communist and the south which is the

capitalist but the communist in the north were not satisfied and they wanted all of Vietnam to be

under one communist. This set the condition for the Americans in the Vietnam war to the south

Vietnamese John F Kennedy began to send Americans and help the south against north

Vietnam. but then Kennedy was assassinated Texas own Lyndon Baines Johnson who was

sworn in the office.

As the Cold War raged on, the United States stiffened its stance against any Soviet

Union allies, and by 1955, President Dwight D. Eisenhower had committed his unwavering

support for Diem and South Vietnam. Diem's security forces used American military and CIA

training and equipment to clamp down on Viet Minh sympathizers in the south, whom he

mockingly referred to as Viet Cong (or Vietnamese Communist), capturing 100,000 individuals,

many of whom were brutally tortured and killed. By 1957, the Viet Cong and other opponents of

Diem's authoritarian administration were launching attacks on government officials and other

targets, and by 1959, they were engaging the South Vietnamese army in firefights. Diem's

numerous opponents in South Vietnam, both communist and non-communist, created the

National Liberation Front (NLF) in December 1960 to coordinate resistance to the rule. Even
though the NLF professed autonomy and that the majority of its members were not communists,

many in Washington felt it was a puppet of Hanoi.

In 1961, President John F. Kennedy dispatched a delegation to South Vietnam to

report on conditions, and they recommended a buildup of American military, economic, and

technological aid to assist Diem in confronting the Viet Cong menace. Working on the "domino

theory”, which believed that if one Southeast Asian nation fell to communism, many others

would follow, Kennedy expanded U.S. aid while avoiding a large-scale military engagement. By

1962, the US military presence in South Vietnam had grown to 9,000 personnel, up from less

than 800 in the 1950s.

In November 1963, three weeks before Kennedy was slain in Dallas, Texas, a coup led

by members of his generals toppled and killed Diem and his brother, Ngo Dinh Nhu.

The resulting political instability in South Vietnam convinced Kennedy's successor,

Lyndon B. Johnson, and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara to strengthen U.S. military

and economic support. After DRV torpedo boats attacked two US warships in the Gulf of Tonkin

in August 1964, Johnson authorized retaliatory bombardment of military targets in North

Vietnam. Congress quickly enacted the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which granted Johnson wide

war-making powers, and the next year, US jets launched regular bombing missions nicknamed

Operation Rolling Thunder.

The bombing was not confined to Vietnam; during the CIA-led "Secret War" in Laos, the

US dropped two million tons of bombs on neighboring, neutral Laos from 1964 to 1973. The

bombing campaign was intended to hamper the flow of supplies across the Ho Chi Minh route

into Vietnam and prevent the Pathet Lao, or Lao communist troops, from rising. Laos became

the world's most heavily bombarded country per capita as a result of US bombs.
 Johnson decided to deploy US combat soldiers into war in Vietnam in March 1965, with

overwhelming popular backing. By June, 82,000 combat soldiers were stationed in Vietnam,

with military authorities seeking an additional 175,000 by the end of 1965 to prop up the failing

South Vietnamese army.

Despite the reservations of some of his advisers regarding the increase, as well as the

overall war effort, in the face of a burgeoning anti-war movement, Johnson ordered the

immediate deployment of 100,000 troops at the end of July 1965, followed by another 100,000

in 1966. South Korea, Thailand, Australia, and New Zealand, in addition to the United States,

contributed soldiers to fight in South Vietnam (albeit on a much smaller scale).

On the ground, the US-South Vietnamese war effort was led by General William

Westmoreland, in collaboration with General Nguyen Van Thieu's administration in Saigon.

Westmoreland's strategy was to kill as many enemy troops as possible rather than

secure territory. Large sections of South Vietnam were declared “free-fire zones” by 1966, to

remove all innocent civilians and leave only enemies. Refugees rushed into camps near Saigon

and other towns after heavy bombardment by B-52 bombers or shelling left these zones

untenable.

Despite the increasing enemy dead count (often overstated by US and South

Vietnamese officials), DRV and Viet Cong forces continued to fight, emboldened by the notion

that personnel and supplies could be readily resupplied via the Ho Chi Minh Trail through

Cambodia and Laos. North Vietnam also reinforced its air defenses with Chinese and Soviet

assistance.

The war ended when the United States and North Vietnam signed a definitive peace

accord in January 1973, putting an end to the country's hostilities. On April 30, 1975, however,

the war between North and South Vietnam resumed, and DRV troops conquered Saigon. The

city was renamed Ho Chi Minh City (Ho himself died in 1969).
 Violent fighting in Vietnam for more than two decades had wreaked havoc on the

country's people, with an estimated 2 million Vietnamese dead, another 3 million injured, and 12

million forced from their homes. Infrastructural and economic damage from the conflict meant

that rebuilding would be delayed.

The Socialist Republic of Vietnam was established in 1976, but warfare erupted on an

irregular basis over the following 15 years, including clashes with China and Cambodia. The

economy began to revive in 1986 after a comprehensive free market policy was implemented,

aided by increased oil export profits and an injection of international money. In the 1990s, trade

and diplomatic ties between the United States and Vietnam were restored.

The consequences of the Vietnam War would be felt for years after the last troops left in

1973 in the United States. The United States spent more than $120 billion on the Vietnam War

between 1965 and 1973, resulting in widespread inflation that was worsened by the 1973 global

oil crisis and soaring fuel costs.

The consequences were significantly more profound on a psychological level. The war

had shattered the illusion of American might and left the country deeply fractured. When they

returned home, many returning veterans were met with hostility from both war opponents (who

saw them as having killed innocent civilians) and war supporters (who saw them as having lost

the war). They also suffered physical injuries, including those caused by exposure to the

herbicide Agent Orange, which the United States dropped in large quantities over Vietnam's

dense forest. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. was dedicated in 1982. It

has the names of 57,939 American service members who died or went missing during World

War II etched on it; subsequent additions raised the number to 58,200.

 CONCLUSION

In a nutshell, the Vietnam War began in 1954, after decades of smoldering conflict. After

Ho's communist soldiers took power in the north, the northern Viet Minh gained a critical victory

at Dien Bien Phu in May 1954. French colonial rule in Indochina ended with their defeat. With

the global Cold War intensifying, the US backed Diem and South Vietnam in 1955. In the south,

Diem's security forces detained about 100,000 Viet Minh sympathizers, many of whom were

tortured and executed. In his 1961 report on South Vietnam, President John F. Kennedy urged

boosting US military, economic, and scientific aid to Diem. It was thought that if one Southeast

Asian nation fell to communism, several others would follow. A small US military presence in

South Vietnam in the 1950s. He and his brother Ngo Dinh Nhu were slain by his own generals in

November 1963, three weeks before Kennedy was shot in Dallas. Consequently, Lyndon B.

Johnson and Defense Secretary Robert McNamara increased US military and economic

support. With 500,000 troops in Vietnam by November 1967, 15,058 died and 109,527 were

wounded. Others mistrust the government's intentions to keep them there, despite Washington's

frequent assertions of triumph. In January 1973, the US and North Vietnam reached a final

peace agreement ending the conflict. North and South Vietnamese armies recaptured Saigon

on April 30, 1975. Ho Chi Minh City was renamed (Ho himself died in 1969).

The war was against man and civilization, and each country had a president. Each

choice affects the country's future. Being selfish and greedy will only lead to bad situations.

Johnson's administration was opportunistic.

REFERENCES:

Editors, H. (2020, February 26). Vietnam War Timeline - HISTORY. HISTORY.

https://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/vietnam-war-timeline#section_10.

Gates, J. M. (n.d.). People’s War In Vietnam. People’s War in Vietnam.

https://discover.wooster.edu/jgates/peoples-war-in-vietnam/.

McDonald, O. (2021, May 28). The Napoleonic Wars - OverSimplified (Part 2). YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mY3SEMTROas.

Spector, R. H. (2016, April 27). The Vietnam War and the media. Encyclopedia Britannica.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Vietnam-War-and-the-media-2051426

Teaches, R. (2020, April 18). Geography Of Southeast Asia: Origins Of the Culture. YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6K0KlLkTcuw.

The Vietnam War: The Definitive Illustrated History, created in association with the Smithsonian
Institution, published by DK | Penguin Random House, 2017.