Vietnam+War+Abroad—actual+fighting+etc.

__**Vietnam War: Fighting Abroad**__    By: Madison Prindle

__**Overview**__ The Vietnam War lasted from 1959 to April 30, 1975 with over four million Vietnamese killed and or wounded and over 57,939 American lives lost, all fighting against the spread of communism. The United States spent $150 billion on military spending to help aid Vietnam against what is called the "Domino Theory". This theory states that Communism would spread and take over country after country. The United States supported Ngo Dinh Diem, the prime minister of South Vietnam because North Vietnam fell to communism in 1954. They were supporting him until he was able to consolidate power and issue democratic reform. Unlike the usual tentativeness of the USSR, when Americans landed on Vietnam they were faced with an enemy determined to stop the U.S intervention in Vietnam. With Richard Nixon's bombing strategy, Lyndon Johnson's idea of escalation, and U.S commitment, the U.S destroyed the country using 7 million tons of bombs.



In 1954, in the battle of Dienbienphu, the French were defeated against the Vietnamese. Once the French left, it allowed Vietname to be divided at the 38th parallel. In 1956, the United States troops began to train the Southern Vietnamese Army. The Ho Chi Minh Trail became a strategic target to the U.S in 1959. The Northern Vietnamese Army (NVA), or the "Vietcong" was formed in 1960. In 1961, Vice President Lyndon Johnson tours Saigon to talk to Ngo Dinh Diem about how the Unisted States is crucial to the war. The Buddhist monks revolt against the Diem government and set themselves on fire in protest because Diem replaces Buddhists with Cathloics in 1963. Later that year, Diem and his brother were shot and killed. In the 1964, the Gulf of Tonking Incident took place. On August 2nd, Northern Vietnamese PT boats fired torpedoes at the USS Maddox but it was understood that covert operations had been originating from the Maddox in previous months. In 1965, the U.S started to bomb Northern Vietnam in Operation Rolling Thunder. Southern Vietnamese Army takes Hue and Danang in 1966. A major setback to the war was in 1968 when Northern Vietnamese launches the Tet Offensive which caught the U.S military off guard. They attacked several key cities in South Vietnam. In 1969, the policy of "Vietnamization" is announced which explains the diminishing role of the U.S in Vietnam. By 1972, Nixon orders that seventy thousand troops be cut from Vietnam to bring the war to a close. Lastly, in 1973, the last of the U.S troops leave Vietnam with a victory. __**Fighting Tactics**__ The Vietnamese Communists had many different strategies during the war. Their main group of soldiers were used to launch large scale attacks over a large area. Other smaller forces would unite with the main group when needed to perform a large scale attack. If the enemy pressure became too great for them to handle, they would break up into smaller groups and scatter. Although, the regional forces remained within their districts and acted together to perform small scale attacks. The smaller forces in the districts were made up of mostly young teenagers who were not trained to fight and who were also doubtful of fighting the U.S. The larger force of soldiers were given basic training and political instruction. The Vietnamese Communists relied on heavy machine guns which were able to take down American helicopters. Mortars, grenades, and rifles were used to destroy bunkers and armored vehicles. They often used booby traps and mines and used dud American bombs which contained tons of explosives that they used to make homemade weapons. In 1965, Ho Chi Minh, changed the way that the Vietnamese were fighting so that there were more hit and run attacks and ambushes. They preferred to ambush the Americans either at night, or in bad weather to gain an advantage because the U.S had very powerful weapons. In order to maintain safe bases, the Vietnamese created a vast underground tunnel systems, which provided them a safe area and a way to still conduct operations even when the territory was overrun by the Americans.
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The United States relied on their airplanes, helicopters and bombs to help win the war. In Operation Rolling Thunder, the U.S dropped tons of bombs on Northern Vietnam and the Ho Chi Minh Trail, where the Vietnamese hid. Along with explosive bombs, the U.S used napalm and phosphorus bombs which caused severe burns. "Agent Orange" was used to clear sections of the jungle to show where the Vietnamese were hiding. In addition to these, the Americans had a new way to detect mines and booby traps set by the Vietnamese, they used military dogs. About 4,000 dogs were donated to the military to help the war effort. These dogs would detect booby traps and any other danger which saved about 10,000 American lives. Although, they became a huge target to the Vietnamese who made it a point to try and kill off the dogs. American soldiers were either dropped by helicopter or set off on foot from a U.S base to search for Northern Vietnamese Army in the dense, hot, and humid jungles. The land scape was difficult for the soldiers to travel through because of the jungle, rice paddies, and the steep mountains in which they had to march up and down. One strategy that the U.S used in the war was to kill as many NVA (Northern Vietnamese Army) as possible instead of capturing them in order to break their willingness to fight.

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__**Significance**__ The significance of the Vietnam War was that it was trying to prevent communism from spreading into the surroundng countries and eventually to the United States. Not only was it trying to extinguish communism, but it greatly destroyed the Vietnamese country and civilians. The use of bombs and napalm killed many civilians and the bombs destroyed the enviornment. The war was fought with mostly chemicals which deteriorated the landscape.

__**Impact on the Cold War**__ The Vietnam War's impact on the Cold War was that the Cold War was a war trying to defeat communism and with the aid of the United States in Vietnam, it helped to demolish communism not only in Vietnam but surrounding countries.

__**Citations**__

. "Guerilla Tactics: Overview." //Battlefield: Vietnam//. PBS, n.d. Web. 27 Apr 2012. .

Hillstrom, Kevin, and Laurie Collier Hillstrom. //Vietnam War Almanac//. 3. Detroit, London, San Fransisco, Boston, Woodbridge CT: The Gale Group, 2001. 159-167. Print.

Hillstrom, Kevin, and Laurie Collier Hillstrom. //Vietnam War Primary Sources//. 4. Detroit, London, San Fransisco, Boston, Woodbridge CT: The Gale Group, 2001. 113-122. Print.

. "Modern American Poetry." //A Vietnam War Timeline//. The American Experience, 05/01/2012. Web. 1 May 2012. . . "The Vietnam War (1945–1975) History SparkNotes." //Spark Notes//. SparkNotes LLC, n.d. Web. 26 Apr 2012. .

"Vietnam War." //International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences//. Ed. William A. Darity, Jr. 2nd ed. Vol. 8. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2008. 612-617. //Gale World History In Context//. Web. 27 Apr. 2012.

. "Vietnam War Revision." //Learn History//. Learn History, 05/22/2004. Web. 27 Apr 2012. .