The War of America with Vietnam: causes. Vietnam: the history of the war with America, the years who won

The reasons for the American war with Vietnam began as a whole consisted in opposing the two political systems. In the Asian country, communist and Western democratic ideologies clashed. This conflict was an episode of a much more global confrontation - the Cold War.

Prerequisites

In the first half of the XX century, Vietnam, like other countries of Southeast Asia, was a colony of France. This order was violated by the Second World War. First, Vietnam was occupied by Japan, then there appeared supporters of communism, who opposed the imperialist French authorities. These supporters of national independence received serious support from China. Right after the Second World War, the power of the Communists was finally established.

Leaving South-East Asia, the French recognized the government of South Vietnam as legitimate. The north of the country was under the control of the Communists. In 1957, an internal confrontation began between the two regimes. This was not America's war with Vietnam, but it was at that time that the US intervened for the first time in the situation in the region.

Just then the Cold War was in full swing . Any administration of the White House in every way resisted the establishment of the next communist regime in any country in the world, whether it be supported by the USSR or China. Under President Eisenhower, the Americans openly took the side of South Vietnamese Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem, although they have not yet used their own army.

Approaching the war

The leader of the Vietnamese communists was Ho Chi Minh. He organized the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam. In the West, this organization became widely known as the Vietcong. Supporters of Ho Chi Minh waged a successful guerrilla war. They organized acts of terrorism and did not give rest to the government army. In late 1961, the Americans introduced the first troops to Vietnam. However, these detachments were small. At first, in Washington, they decided to limit themselves to sending military advisers and specialists to Saigon.

Gradually, the situation of the Zem was deteriorating. Under these conditions, the war between America and Vietnam became increasingly inevitable. In 1953, Ziem was overthrown and killed as a result of a coup by the South Vietnamese army. In the following months, power in Saigon changed chaotically several more times. The rebels used the weakness of the enemy and took control of all the new regions of the country.

The first collisions

In August 1964, the war between America and Vietnam became much closer to the order after the battle in the Gulf of Tonkin, in which the American reconnaissance destroyer Maddox and torpedo boats NFOUV collided. In response to this event, the US Congress authorized President Lindon Johnson to launch a full-scale operation in South-East Asia.

The head of state for some time adhered to the peace course. He did this on the eve of the 1964 elections. Johnson won that campaign precisely because of peace-loving rhetoric, the opposite of the ideas of the "hawk" Barry Goldwater. Arriving at the White House, the politician changed his mind and proceeded to prepare the operation.

In the meantime, the Viet Congans captured all the new rural areas. They even began to attack American facilities in the southern part of the country. The number of US servicemen on the eve of a full-scale troop deployment was about 23 thousand people. Finally, Johnson decided to invade Vietnam after the Vietcong attack on the American base in Pleiku.

Entry of troops

The date when America's war with Vietnam began was March 2, 1965. On this day, the US Air Force launched Operation Thunder Rumble - the regular bombing of North Vietnam. A few days later the American Marines landed in the southern part of the country. Its appearance was caused by the need to protect the strategically important Danang aerodrome.

Now it was not just a Vietnamese civil war, but a US war with Vietnam. The campaign years (1965-1973) are considered to be the period of greatest tension in the region. Already in 8 months after the beginning of the invasion in Vietnam there were more than 180 thousand US military. At the peak of the confrontation, this figure has increased three-fold.

In August 1965, the first major battle of the Vietcong with the ground forces of the United States took place. It was Operation Starlight. The conflict flared up. This trend continued in the same autumn, when the whole world flew news of the battle in the Ya Drang valley.

"Find and destroy"

The first four years of intervention until the end of 1969, the US military led a large-scale offensive in South Vietnam. The strategy of the US Army was consistent with the "find and destroy" principle, developed by the commander-in-chief William Westmoreland. American tactics divided the territory of South Vietnam into four zones, which received the names of corps.

In the first of these regions, located directly next to the possessions of the Communists, the Marine Corps operated. The war between America and Vietnam was conducted as follows. The US Army was entrenched in three enclaves (Fubay, Danang and Chulay), after which it began to clean up the surrounding areas. This operation took all of 1966. Over time, military operations here have become more and more complicated. At first, the Americans were opposed by the NFLF forces. But then the main army of this state awaited them on the territory of North Vietnam itself.

A big headache for Americans was the DMZ (demilitarized zone). Through it, Vietcongs sent a large number of people and equipment to the south of the country. Because of this, the Marine Corps had, on the one hand, to unite its enclaves on the coast, and on the other - to restrain the enemy in the DMZ area. In the summer of 1966, Operation Hastings was conducted in the demilitarized zone. Its goal was to stop the transfer of forces to the NLF. In the future, the Marines fully focused on the DMZ, transferring the coast to the care of fresh American forces. The contingent here increased without stopping. In 1967, in South Vietnam, the 23rd US Infantry Division was formed, which fell into oblivion after the defeat of the Third Reich in Europe.

War in the mountains

Tactical Zone II Corps affected the mountainous areas adjacent to the border with Laos. Through these territories, the Vietcong entered the flat coast. In 1965, the operation of the 1st Cavalry Division began in the Annam mountains. In the area of the Ya-Drang valley, she stopped the offensive of the North Vietnamese army.

At the end of 1966, the 4th Infantry Division of the USA entered the mountains (the 1st Cavalry Division moved to Bindan province). They were assisted by South Korean detachments, who also arrived in Vietnam. The war with America, the cause of which was the reluctance of Western countries to tolerate the expansion of communism, affected their Asian allies. South Korea back in the 1950s experienced its own bloody confrontation with North Korea, and its population understood the price of such a conflict better than the rest.

The culmination of hostilities in the zone of the Second Corps was the battle of Dakto in November 1967. The Americans managed to disrupt the Vietcong offensive at great cost. The 173st Airborne Brigade took the greatest blow.

Guerrilla actions

The protracted war between America and Vietnam for years could not stop because of guerrilla warfare. The virgin detachments of the Vietcong attacked enemy infrastructure and hid in the rainforests without hindrance. The main task of the Americans in the fight against the guerrillas was to protect Saigon from the enemy. In the provinces adjacent to the city, the zone of the III corps was formed.

In addition to the South Koreans, the US allies in Vietnam were Australians. The military contingent of this country was based in the province of Fuoktui. Here was the most important road number 13, which began in Saigon, and ended at the border with Cambodia.

Subsequently, several large operations were carried out in South Vietnam: Attleborough, Junction City and Cedar Falls. Nevertheless, the guerrilla war continued. Its main area was the Mekong River Delta. This territory was replete with swamps, forests and canals. A characteristic feature of it, even during the hostilities, was a high population density. Thanks to all these circumstances, the guerrilla war continued for so long and successfully. The United States and Vietnam, briefly, stayed much longer than originally thought in Washington.

New Year's offensive

In early 1968, the North Vietnamese began the siege of the base of the US Marine Corps Kheshan. Thus began the Tete offensive. It got its name from the local New Year. Usually in Tet escalation of the conflict was reduced. This time everything was different - the offensive swept the whole of Vietnam. The war with America, the cause of which was the intransigence of the two political systems, could not end until both sides had exhausted their resources. Having launched a large-scale attack on the enemy's positions, the Vietcong risked almost all the forces available to him.

Numerous cities, including Saigon, were attacked. However, the Communists managed to occupy only Hue - one of the ancient capitals of the country. In other directions, the attacks were successfully repulsed. By March, the offensive was exhausted. It has never achieved its main task: the overthrow of the government of South Vietnam. Moreover, the Americans beat Hue. The battle was one of the most fierce during the war. Vietnam and America, however, continued the bloodshed. Although the offensive actually failed, it had a significant effect on the morale of the Americans.

In the United States, a large-scale attack by the Communists was perceived as a weakness of the US Army. A significant role in shaping public opinion was played by the media. They paid much attention to the siege of Kheshani. Newspapers criticized the government for the huge spending on a meaningless war.

Meanwhile, in the spring of 1968, the counteroffensive of the Americans and their allies began. To successfully complete the operation, the military asked Washington to send more than 200,000 soldiers to Vietnam. President Lyndon Johnson did not dare to take such a step. Anti-militarist sentiment in the United States became an increasingly serious factor in domestic politics. As a result, only small reinforcements went to Vietnam, and at the end of March Johnson announced the end of the bombing of the northern part of the country.

Vietnamization

No matter how long America's war with Vietnam was, the date of withdrawal of American troops inexorably approached. In late 1968, Richard Nixon won the presidential election . He campaigned under anti-war slogans and declared his desire to conclude an "honorable peace." Against this background, supporters of Communists in Vietnam began to attack primarily American bases and positions in order to speed up the withdrawal of US troops from their country.

In 1969, the Nixon administration formulated the principle of the policy of Vietnamese. It replaced the doctrine of "find and destroy." The essence of it was that before leaving the country, the Americans needed to transfer control over their positions to the government in Saigon. Steps in this direction began against the backdrop of the Second Tete offensive. It re-encompassed the whole of South Vietnam.

The history of the war with America could have developed differently if the Communists had no rear bases in neighboring Cambodia. In this country, as well as in Vietnam, there was a civil confrontation between supporters of two opposing political systems. In the spring of 1970, power in Cambodia, as a result of the coup, was captured by officer Lon Nol, who overthrew King Norodom Sihanouk. The new government changed attitudes towards communist insurgents and began to destroy their shelters in the jungle. Dissatisfied with the attacks in the rear of the Vietcong North Vietnam invaded Cambodia. To help Lon Nol in the country, too, the Americans and their allies rushed. These events added fuel to the fire of the antiwar campaign in the States themselves. Two months later, under the pressure of a dissatisfied population, Nixon ordered the withdrawal of an army from Cambodia.

The Last Battle

Many conflicts of the Cold War in the third countries of the world ended with the establishment of communist regimes there. Was not an exception and the war of America with Vietnam. Who won this campaign? Viet Cong. By the end of the war, the morale of American soldiers fell dramatically. Drug use spread throughout the army. By 1971, the Americans had stopped their own major operations and began gradually withdrawing the army.

According to the policy of Vietnamization, responsibility for what was happening in the country fell on the shoulders of the government in Saigon - in February 1971 the forces of South Vietnam launched Operation Lam Sean 719. Its goal was to prevent the transfer of soldiers and weapons of opponents on the partisan "Ho Chi Minh trail". It is noteworthy that the Americans did not take part in it.

In March 1972 the troops of North Vietnam launched a new major Easter offensive. This time, the 125,000-strong army was helped by hundreds of tanks - weapons that NEFUV previously did not have. The Americans did not participate in ground battles, but helped South Vietnam from the air. It was thanks to this support that the onslaught of the Communists was kept. So from time to time the US war with Vietnam could not stop. Infection with pacifist sentiments in the United States, however, continued.

In 1972, representatives of North Vietnam and the United States began negotiations in Paris. The parties almost reached an agreement. However, at the last moment, the president of South Vietnam, Thieu, intervened. He persuaded the Americans to expose the enemy to unacceptable conditions. As a result, the negotiations broke.

End of the war

The last American operation in Vietnam was a series of carpet bombings of North Vietnam in late December 1972. She became known as "Linebacker". Also, the operation fixed the name "Christmas bombing." They were the largest during the entire war.

The operation began under the direct order of Nixon. The president wanted to end the war as soon as possible and decided to put pressure on the Communists. Bombing affected Hanoi and other important cities in the northern part of the country. When the Vietnam War ended with America, it became clear that it was the "Linebacker" that forced the parties to smooth out the contradictions in the final negotiations.

The US Army completely left Vietnam in accordance with the Paris Peace Agreement, signed on January 27, 1973. By that day in the country there were still about 24 thousand Americans. The withdrawal of troops ended March 29.

The peace agreement also implied the beginning of an armistice between two parts of Vietnam. In fact, this did not happen. Without Americans, South Vietnam was defenseless against the Communists and lost the war, although in early 1973 it even had a numerical superiority in military force. Over time, the US ceased to provide economic assistance to Saigon. In April 1975, the Communists finally established their authority over the territory of all of Vietnam. Thus ended the long-standing confrontation in the Asian country.

Perhaps the US would have defeated the enemy, but public opinion played a role in the United States, which did not like the American war with Vietnam (the results of the war were brought forward for many years). The events of that campaign left a significant imprint on the popular culture of the second half of the 20th century. During the war, about 58 thousand American servicemen were killed.