Vietnam War History
The history of the Vietnam War goes deep into the past, but the modern era began with the defeat of the Japanese after World War II. The French attempted to reassert their pre-war colonial power in the region, backed by the U.S. but failed after a painful nine year struggle that ended with the Geneva Accords of 1956 and partition of the country. The peace of those accords was an illusion and soon Communist forces backed by Ho Chi Minh's government in North Vietnam were at work attempting to undermine the regime in the South.
Ultimately the U.S. was drawn into a major commitment to the defense of South Vietnam, compelled to do so by the region's history and by the need to oppose further Communist gains in Asia. The escalation of the war on the ground in Vietnam, over adjacent borders, and with a major bombing campaign did not defeat the Communist forces but did suppress their efforts and gave the South Vietnamese time to build their own army and gain the ability to defend themselves. However, as the South Vietnamese successfully dealt with the internal Communist Viet Cong insurgency, North Vietnam increasingly took over conduct of the war as a conventional invasion by outside forces.
Ultimately, the U.S. withdrew under the pretext of a new agreement with North Vietnam signed in January 1973, forced to leave prematurely by political pressure on the home front that undermined U.S. ability to vigorously prosecute the war. North Vietnam had agreed not to increase its strength in the South, but in December 1974 North Vietnam invaded and the U.S. did not intervene. ARVN, the army of South Vietnam, initially fought hard but were overwhelmed. Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, fell in April 1975 allowing the Communists to control the entire country. Neighboring Cambodia and Laos fell to Communist forces in the same year.
These pages of Olive-Drab.com develop the history of the Vietnam War in more detail:
- French Indochina War: 1946-1954
- U.S. Military Advisors: 1955-1965
- Gulf of Tonkin Incident: 2 August 1964
- Westmoreland's War: 1965-1968
- Tet Offensive & Khe Sanh: January 1968
- Nixon's War & Vietnamization: 1968-1973
- Cambodia and the Vietnam War
- Laos and the Vietnam War
- Easter Offensive: 1972
- Air War in Vietnam
- River War in Vietnam
- Naval War in Vietnam
- Grunt's War in Vietnam
- War Dogs in Vietnam
- Massacres and Atrocities in Vietnam
- South Vietnam Falls: 1973-1975
- The Cost and Legacy of Vietnam
- Vietnam War Casualties
- Vietnam War POW/MIA
- Vietnam War Refugees
- Vietnam War Veterans' Problems
- Vietnam Memorial: The Wall
- Major Campaigns & Operations of the Vietnam War
- Weapons & Equipment of the Vietnam War
- Vietnam Maps
- Vietnam Internet Resource Links
- Vietnam Books
Recommended Books about the Vietnam War
Anyone interested in the Vietnam War should be aware of the book Stolen Valor. In this book, a lot of the fraudulent history and negative images of US troops in Vietnam are rejected and the facts are presented. Not the least of the issues is the mis-representation of Vietnam service by a few for personal advantage.
And in A Better War: The Unexamined Victories and the Final Tragedy of America's Last Years in Vietnam Lewis Sorley finds the truth of the final phase of the war. While the press and public in the US thought the war was lost, military commanders were making steady progress toward victory.
The Historical Atlas of the Vietnam War provides a penetrating and comprehensive analysis of Vietnam based on both U.S. and Vietnamese postwar accounts, visualized with more than one hundred color maps supplemented by photographs and reconstructions. Far deeper than most accounts.
An excellent condensed history is The Illustrated History of the Vietnam War , by Chris McNab and Andy Wiest, a book with all the essential facts plus a wealth of photos and maps.
When Heaven and Earth Changed Places is a book by Le Ly Hayslip, a Vietnamese peasant woman who endured all the hardships of war including torture, rape, prison, loss of home and family, and more. Initially she supported the VC Communists, like many peasants of the countryside, but eventually came to know, understand and support the Americans. She ultimately emigrated to the U.S. as a soldier's wife, then returned to Vietnam in 1986 as a visitor to try to heal herself and family. The ground level insights of this book are priceless.
