Vietnam War

Between 1861 and 1867 France installed in Indochina their colonial power. This was part of the all-European imperialist policy of that time. In Indochina ( Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam) the French planted Catholicism among the local population, and among the new converts from the upper class, who spoke French, they chose allies for themselves who helped them manage the colonies.

In 1940, Japanese troops occupied Indochina. In 1941 Ho Chi Minh created the communist organization of national liberation - Viet Minh , which throughout the Second World War led the guerrilla war against the Japanese. During this period, Ho Chi Minh cooperated extensively with foreign affairs agencies. USA who helped the Viet Minh with weapons and ammunition. Ho Chi Minh viewed the United States as a model of a state liberated from colonial oppression. In September 1945, he declared the independence of Vietnam and wrote to the President Truman support letter. But at the end of the war, the political situation changed, France was an ally of the United States, and this appeal was ignored. But the French forces, in an attempt to re-establish colonial power, returned to Indochina. Ho Chi Minh started a war with them.

There were several reasons why the United States did not recognize the independence of Vietnam. Firstly, this is of course the strategic importance of the region, which protects from the southwest Philippines and Japanese islands. The State Department believed that it would be much easier to control these territories if they were under the colonial rule of the French allies than to negotiate with national governments. independent states. Especially considering that Ho Chi Minh was considered a communist. It was the second important reason. At that time, after the victory in 1949 of the communist mao ze tung in China over an American protégé Chiang Kai Shek, and the flight of the latter to the island Taiwan, the threats of "Asian communism" were feared like fire, regardless of faces and past merits. It should also be said about the moral support of the allies. France in the Second World War was subjected to national humiliation, a small victorious company was needed to restore a sense of pride. Taking into account all this, the United States recognized the puppet government of the emperor Bao Dai, and helped the French with weapons, military advisers and heavy equipment. During the 4 years of the war from 1950 to 1954, the US government spent more than $2 billion on military aid.

In 1954, the French fortified area Dien Bien Phu fell. Administration Eisenhower decided what to do. Chairman of the Joint Committee of Staffs and Vice President Richard Nixon advised to use massive bombing, with tactical nuclear weapons, if necessary. Secretary of State John Foster Dallas offered to seek support United Kingdom but the British government was reluctant to get involved for a variety of reasons. Congress would not support a single US intervention. Eisenhower was very careful, he remembered that in Korea managed to achieve only a draw. The French didn't want to fight anymore.

In 1954, the Geneva Accords were signed. The Soviet Union, Taiwan, Great Britain, France, China, Laos, Cambodia, Bao Dai and Ho Chi Minh signed an agreement recognizing the independence of Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. Vietnam was divided along the 17th parallel, general elections were scheduled for 1956, which were supposed to be held under international supervision and decide on the unification of the country. The military forces were to be disbanded, joining military alliances and organizing military bases of other states was prohibited for both sides. An international commission, composed of India, Poland and Canada, was to oversee the implementation of the agreement. The US did not attend the conference because it refused to recognize the Chinese government.

The division along the demilitarized zone has become a political fact. Those close to the French colonial regime and opponents of Ho Chi Minh settled south of this line, while sympathizers moved north.

The United States provided significant assistance South Vietnam. The Central Intelligence Agency sent its agents there to conduct secret operations, including sabotage, directed against the troops of the northerners.

The US supported the government Ngo Dinh Diem, representing an aristocratic minority professing Catholicism. In 1954, he held a national referendum in the territory South Vietnam, according to official data, 98% of the votes were cast for the proclamation of an independent Republic of Vietnam. However, the Diem government understood that in the event of a general election, Ho Chi Minh would win, so in 1955, with the support of the US State Department, it tore up the Geneva Accords. Assistance from the United States was not limited to political statements, in the period 1955-1961 it amounted to over a billion dollars. Military advisers trained army units and police, delivered humanitarian aid and introduced new technologies Agriculture. In fear of losing local support, Ngo Dinh Diem canceled local elections, preferring to appoint the heads of cities and provinces personally. Those who openly opposed his regime were thrown into prison, and opposition publications and newspapers were banned.

In response, rebel groups organized themselves in 1957 and began terrorist activities. The movement grew, and in 1959 established contact with the northerners, who began supplying weapons to the southern communists. In 1960, in the territory of South Vietnam, the National Liberation Front was formed - Viet Cong. All this created pressure on the US, forcing the State Department to decide how far it could go in supporting an undemocratic and unpopular regime.

The president Kennedy decides not to abandon Ngo Dinh Diem and sends more military advisers and special units. Economic aid is also on the rise. In 1963, the number of American troops in South Vietnam reached 16,700 people whose direct duties did not include participation in hostilities, although this could not stop some of them. The United States and South Vietnam jointly developed a strategic program to combat partisan movement by destroying supposedly supportive villages. Diem also undertook operations against actively protesting Buddhists, who made up the majority of the country's population, but were infringed in their rights by the Catholic elite. This led to the self-immolation of several monks who tried to attract public attention in this way. The political and public resonance around the world turned out to be so serious that the United States began to doubt the advisability of further support for the Diem regime. At the same time, fears that in response he might negotiate with the northerners, predetermined the non-interference of the United States in the military coup organized by the generals of South Vietnam, which resulted in the overthrow and execution of Ngo Dinh Diem.

Lyndon Johnson, who became president of the United States after Kennedy's assassination, further increased economic and military assistance to South Vietnam. He believed that the honor of the United States was at stake. In early 1964, the Viet Cong controlled almost half of the country's agricultural areas. The United States undertook a secret bombing campaign in Laos, through which the Viet Cong's communications with the northerners passed. On August 2, 1964, North Vietnamese boats attacked an American destroyer in the Gulf of Tonkin. Maddox , which, apparently, violated the territorial waters of the northerners. President Johnson covered up the whole truth and reported to Congress that Maddox became a victim of unjustified aggression by North Vietnam. The indignant Congress on August 7 voted 466 votes in favor, not a single one against, and adopted Tonkin resolution giving the President the power to respond to this attack by any means necessary. This legalized the start of the war. However, when Congress rescinded the resolution in 1970, the US fought on.

In February 1965, the Viet Cong attacked a military airfield. Pleiku which resulted in the death of American citizens. In response, the US Air Force bombed North Vietnam for the first time. In the future, these strikes became permanent. During the Vietnam War, the United States dropped more bombs on Indochina than were dropped in the entire Second World War. world war by all participating countries combined.

The South Vietnamese army suffered from massive defections to the Viet Cong and could not provide a serious support, so Johnson constantly increased the American contingent in Vietnam. At the end of 1965, there were 184,000 American troops there, in 1966 there were already 385,000, and the peak was in 1969, at that time there were 543,000 American troops in Vietnam.

The war resulted in heavy losses. The hard test was the feeling that the most developed state in the world, using the latest technology, large masses of soldiers, massive bombing under the slogan “bomb them down to stone age levels”, defoliants, who destroyed vegetation in a significant part of the country's territory, despite all this, are still losing the war. Moreover, it loses it to the "savages" who failed to build even industrial society. Vietnam was considered by the US government as a small war, so no additional ages were called up, and young conscripts were sent to the war, averaging 19 years old. The law set the maximum term of service in Vietnam at 1 year, which led to soldiers counting days to avoid risky operations in order to return home. The interracial conflicts that escalated at that time in the United States itself had a much lower degree of intensity in the armed forces. But the availability of opium and heroin led to the massive spread of drug addiction among military personnel. If wounded, the chances of survival for American soldiers were the highest ever. military history, thanks to the use of helicopters to evacuate the wounded from the battlefield, but this did not help, the morale of the troops was declining rapidly.

Early in 1966, Democratic Senator William Fulbright began holding special hearings on the war. During these hearings, the senator dug into the truth hidden from the rest of the public, and eventually became a vocal critic of the war.

President Johnson realized that the United States needed to start peace negotiations, and in late 1968 Averil Harriman led the American mission aimed at a peaceful end to the conflict. At the same time, Johnson announced that he would not stand as a candidate in the next election, thus, his personal position would not interfere with the negotiations.

In November 1968, North Vietnam responded to the start of negotiations in Paris by withdrawing 22 of its 25 military units from South Vietnam's northern provinces. However, the US Air Force continued massive bombing, despite the negotiations, and the withdrawal of troops stopped. South Vietnam tried to disrupt the negotiations, fearing that without the support of the United States it would not even be able to achieve a draw. His delegates arrived only 5 weeks after the start of negotiations, when the representatives of North Vietnam and the United States already had a package of agreements, and immediately put forward unrealistic demands that crossed out all the work done.

Meanwhile, in the US, new presidential elections won by a Republican Richard Nixon. In July 1969, he declared that the policy of the United States around the world would change dramatically, they would no longer pretend to be the world's overseer and try to solve problems in every corner of the planet. He also stated that he had a secret plan to end the Vietnam War. This was well received by the American public, which was tired of the war and believed that America was trying to do too much at once, dispersing its forces and not solving its problems at home. However, as early as 1971, Nixon warned of the danger of "insufficient intervention" and clarified that his doctrine concerned mainly the Asian part of the world.

Nixon's secret plan was to shift the brunt of the fight to the South Vietnamese military, who were to fight their own civil war. Process Vietnamization The war led to the reduction of the American contingent in Vietnam from 543,000 in 1969 to 60,000 in 1972. This reduced the loss of American forces. Such a small contingent also required fewer young recruits, which had a positive effect on sentiment within the United States.

However, in fact, Nixon significantly expanded military operations. He took advantage of the advice of the military, which was rejected by his predecessor. Prince of Cambodia deposed in 1970 Sihanuk, probably as a result of a CIA sting operation. This brought right-wing radicals to power, led by General Lon Nolom, who began to fight with the troops of North Vietnam moving through its territory. On April 30, 1970, Nixon issued a secret order to invade Cambodia. Although this war was considered a state secret, it was not so for anyone, and immediately sparked a wave of anti-war protests throughout the United States. For a whole year, activists of the anti-war movements did not take their actions, satisfied with the reduction of the US share in the war, but after the invasion of Cambodia, they declared themselves with renewed vigor. In April and May 1970, more than one and a half million students across the country started protests. State governors called in the National Guard to maintain order, but this only made the situation worse, with several students shot dead in clashes. Shooting at students in the center of the United States, at home, as many believed, divided the nation into sympathizers and those who believe that it is right. The intensity of passions only increased, threatening to develop into something more terrible. At this time, the Congress, concerned about the situation, raised the question of the legality of the invasion of Cambodia, and also canceled the Tonkin Resolution, thus depriving the White House administration of legal grounds for continuing the war.

Under such circumstances, Nixon's plan to invade Laos was rejected by Congress and American troops were withdrawn from Cambodia. The troops of South Vietnam tried to achieve victory in Cambodia and Laos on their own, but even the powerful support of the American Air Force did not save them from defeat.

The withdrawal of American troops forced Nixon to look for a solution in the massive use of air and navy. In 1970 alone, American bombers dropped more than 3.3 million tons of bombs into Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. This was more than in the last 5 years combined. Nixon believed he could bomb Viet Cong bases and supply lines while destroying North Vietnamese industry and cutting off access to their ports. This was supposed to weaken the armed forces and deprive them of the opportunity to continue the fight. But when the Viet Cong responded to the all-out bombardment with a new offensive in the spring of 1972, Nixon realized that the war was lost.

During 1969-1971, Henry Kissinger held secret negotiations with representatives of North Vietnam. The United States offered a ceasefire in exchange for political guarantees and the preservation of the regime of the South Vietnamese president. Thieu. Nixon considered Thieu one of the five greatest politicians in the world, and supported him with all his might, even in the presidential election in 1971, which was so fraudulent that all other candidates withdrew their candidacies.

In 1972, shortly before the US presidential election, Nixon announced a ceasefire had been reached. The war ended in 1973. In 1974, Nixon resigned, so he could not influence the course of events in South Vietnam, where the army of the northerners established complete control over the country in 1975.

This war was very costly. More than one and a half million people died, including 58,000 American citizens. Millions were left crippled. More than 500,000 people became refugees. Between 1965 and 1971, the US spent $120 billion on direct military spending alone. Associated spending exceeded 400 billion. An even higher price was paid by the US military, who thought they were invincible and, with difficulty, realized that they were not. And the consequences of a deep wound in American psychology are incalculable.

It was a long war, but not as long as the fight against drugs, or the fight against terrorism, which promises to be eternal.

This topic is quite extensive and philosophical. Many works have been written and many opinions expressed on this subject. It will take a long time to retell and list the essence of each of them, therefore this article objectively describes the reasons for the Vietnam War briefly.

Now no one doubts that this war was unleashed by America. Its imperialistic habits with the desire to subjugate the whole world have caused tragedies and unleashing wars in many countries, not only in Vietnam. But it was in the latter that a total of 14 million tons of explosives were blown up, which is more than in two world wars combined!

Today we can safely say that there were two main reasons for the Vietnam War unleashed by the United States:

1. prevention of spread geographical map"communist plague" (under the guise of North Vietnam, which was supported by the USSR);
2. the desire to get rich of large American corporations, the elite of the "black" business specializing in the sale of weapons.

To mere mortal Americans, the cause of the war between the United States and Vietnam was presented in a very corrected form: according to official version it was the need to establish world democracy.

In fact, everything was much more prosaic: the politicians wanted to subjugate communist Vietnam and thereby show the unviability of the communist states, and the business elite to increase their already considerable fortunes several times over.

It's no secret that in the United States these economic and political elites closely interact, with the former having a greater influence on the latter. Together, they only won, and the start of the Vietnam War was not long in coming.

From the USA, a puppet government headed by Ngo Dinh Diem was represented in South Vietnam, through which they tried to dictate their terms. But that didn't work out for long either. Large-scale open war began in 1964. North Vietnam fought as best it could, and in the territory controlled by the Americans they acted partisan detachments, which caused a lot of trouble for the Yankees. But despite all the efforts of the Vietnamese, the war did not end as soon as they wanted - only in 1975. And yet ... This war was marked by the victory of Vietnam, which dealt an irreparable blow to the authority of the United States in the world.

But Vietnam suffered no less from it ... The figures on the actual destruction, losses, and murders were simply staggering. But having gone through all the trials, Vietnam managed to defend its right to self-determination, to independently resolve internal issues, to choose its own state structure, but in the end - on sovereignty.

What did America get in the end? Tens of thousands of dead, hundreds of wounded, shame on the whole world, but all this did not concern those who were sitting "on top". “There” everything was justified, since war is always a way to make money, and someone took advantage of it very well.

Ordinary American soldiers were simply hostages of the situation - cut off thousands of kilometers from home, tired and demoralized - they had only one dream: to return home as soon as possible.

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With the end of World War II, when it seemed to everyone that now the long-awaited and long peace should come, another serious force appeared on the political arena - the people's liberation movement. If in Europe the end of hostilities developed into a political confrontation between the two systems, then in the rest of the world the end of the world war became a signal for the activation of the anti-colonial movement. In Asia, the struggle of the colonies for self-determination took on a sharp form, giving impetus to a new round of confrontation between the West and the East. A civil war flared in China, and a conflict flared up on the Korean Peninsula. Acute military-political confrontation also affected French Indochina, where Vietnam sought to gain independence after the war.

Further events first took the form of a guerrilla struggle between the pro-communist forces and the French colonial troops. Further, the conflict escalated into a full-scale war that engulfed the entire Indochina, taking the form of direct armed intervention with the participation of the United States. Over time, the Vietnam War became one of the bloodiest and longest military conflicts of the period. cold war", which lasted for 20 long years. The war engulfed the whole of Indochina, bringing destruction, death and suffering to its peoples. The consequences of American participation in the war were fully felt not only by Vietnam, but by the neighboring countries of Laos and Cambodia. Prolonged hostilities and the results of the armed confrontation determined the further fate of the vast and densely populated region. Having first defeated the French and broken the chains of colonial oppression, the Vietnamese had to fight for the next 8 years with one of the most the strongest armies peace.

The entire military conflict can be divided into three stages, each of which differs in the scale and intensity of hostilities and forms of armed struggle:

• the period of guerrilla warfare in South Vietnam (1957-1965);
• direct intervention of the US Army against the DRV (1965-1973);
• Vietnamization of the conflict, withdrawal of American troops from South Vietnam (1973-1975).

It is worth noting that each of the stages, under certain circumstances, could be the last, but external and third-party factors constantly appeared that contributed to the escalation of the conflict. Even before the direct entry of the US Army into hostilities as one of the parties to the conflict, an attempt was made to unravel the military-political knot peacefully. However, the attempts were unsuccessful. The principles of the positions of the parties to the conflict, which did not want to make any concessions, had an effect.

The result of the failure of the negotiation process was the protracted military aggression of the world's leading power against a small country. For eight whole years, the American army tried to destroy the first socialist state in Indochina, throwing armadas of aircraft and ships against the army of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. The United States, for the first time since World War II, gathered in one place such a huge military force. The number of American troops in 1968, at the height of the fighting, reached 540 thousand people. Such a huge military contingent was not only unable to inflict a final defeat on the semi-partisan army of the communist government of the North, but was also forced to leave the territory of the long-suffering war. More than 2.5 million American soldiers and officers passed through the crucible of the war in Indochina. The cost of the war, led by the Americans for 10 thousand km. from the very territory of the United States amounted to a colossal figure - 352 billion US dollars.

Having failed to achieve the necessary results, the Americans lost the geopolitical duel with the countries of the socialist bloc, so the United States does not like to talk about the Vietnam War, even today, when 42 years have passed since the end of the war.

Background to the Vietnam War

Back in the summer of 1940, when, after the defeat of the French army in Europe, the Japanese hurried to seize French Indochina, the first resistance units began to appear on the territory of Vietnam. Vietnamese communist leader Ho Chi Minh led the fight against the Japanese invaders, proclaiming a course for complete release countries of Indochina from Japanese domination. The American government, despite the difference in ideology, then declared its full support for the Viet Minh movement. Communist partisan detachments, who were called nationalists across the ocean, began to receive military and financial assistance from the States. main goal Americans at that time began to use every opportunity to destabilize the situation in the territories occupied by Japan.

The complete history of the Vietnam War calls this period the moment of the formation of the communist regime in Vietnam. Immediately after the end of World War II, the pro-communist Viet Minh movement became the main military and political force in Vietnam, bringing a lot of trouble to its former patrons. First, the French, and later the Americans - former allies, were forced to fight this national liberation movement in the region by all means. The consequences of the struggle radically changed not only the balance of power in South-East Asia, but radically affected other participants in the confrontation.

The main events began to develop rapidly after the surrender of Japan. Armed detachments of the Vietnamese communists captured Hanoi and the northern regions of the country, after which the Democratic Republic of Vietnam was proclaimed in the liberated territory. In no way could the French agree with such a development of events, trying with all their might to keep their former colonies. The French brought an expeditionary force into North Vietnam, again returning the entire territory of the country under their control. From that moment on, all the military-political institutions of the DRV went underground, and a guerrilla war broke out in the country with the French colonial army. Initially, the partisan detachments were armed with guns and machine guns, inherited as trophies from the Japanese occupation army. In the future, more modern weapons began to enter the country through China.

It is important to note that France, despite its imperial ambitions, could not at that time independently maintain control over vast overseas possessions. The actions of the occupying troops were of a limited local character. Without American help, France could no longer keep a huge region in its sphere of influence. For the United States, participation in the military conflict on the side of France meant keeping the region under the control of Western democracies.

The consequences of the guerrilla war in Vietnam for the Americans were very important. If the French colonial army had gained the upper hand, the situation in Southeast Asia would have become controllable for the United States and its allies. Having lost the confrontation with the pro-communist forces in Vietnam, the United States could lose its dominant role in the entire Pacific region. In the context of a global confrontation with the USSR and in the face of the growing strength of communist China, the Americans could not allow the emergence of a socialist state in Indochina.

Involuntarily, America, due to its geopolitical ambitions, was drawn into another, second after the Korean War, major armed conflict. After the defeat of the French troops and the fruitless peace talks in Geneva, the United States assumed the main burden of conducting military operations in this region. Already at that time, the United States paid more than 80% of military spending from its own treasury. Preventing the unification of the country on the basis of the Geneva Accords, in opposition to the Ho Chi Minh regime in the north, the United States contributed to the proclamation of a puppet regime, the Republic of Vietnam, in the south of the country under its control. From that moment, a further escalation of the conflict in a purely military manner became inevitable. The 17th parallel became the border between the two Vietnamese states. The Communists were in power in the North. In the South, in areas controlled by the French administration and the American army, a military dictatorship of a puppet regime was established.

The Vietnam War - the American way of looking at things

The struggle between the North and the South for the unification of the country took on an extremely fierce character. This was facilitated by the military-technical support of the regime of South Vietnam from across the ocean. The number of military advisers in the country in 1964 was already more than 23 thousand people. Together with advisers, main types of weapons were constantly delivered to Saigon. The Democratic Republic of Vietnam was technically and politically supported by the Soviet Union and communist China. Civilian armed confrontation smoothly flowed into a global confrontation between superpowers supported by their allies. The chronicles of those years are full of headlines about how the Viet Cong guerrillas confront the heavily armed army of South Vietnam.

Despite the serious military support of the South Vietnamese regime, the Viet Cong guerrilla units and the army of the DRV managed to achieve significant success. By 1964, nearly 70% of South Vietnam was controlled by communist forces. In order to avoid the collapse of its ally, in the United States, high level It was decided to start a full-scale intervention in the country.

To start the operation, the Americans used a very dubious reason. To do this, an attack by torpedo boats of the Navy of the DRV on the ship of the US Navy, the destroyer Medox, was invented. The collision of ships of the warring parties, later called the "Tonkin Incident", occurred on August 2, 1964. After that, the US Air Force launched the first missile and bomb strikes on coastal and civilian targets in North Vietnam. From that moment on, the Vietnam War became a full-fledged international conflict in which the armed forces participated. various states, active fighting fought on land, in the air and at sea. In terms of the intensity of hostilities, the size of the territories used and the number of military contingents, this war has become the most massive and bloody in modern history.

The Americans decided to air raids to force the government of North Vietnam to stop supplying weapons and providing assistance to the rebels in the South. The army, meanwhile, would have to cut off the supply lines of the rebels in the area of ​​the 17th parallel, block and then destroy the detachments of the South Vietnam Liberation Army.

To bombard military installations on the territory of the DRV, the Americans used mainly tactical and naval aviation, based on airfields in South Vietnam and aircraft carriers of the 7th Fleet. Later, B-52 strategic bombers were deployed to help front-line aviation, which began carpet bombing the territory of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the areas bordering the demarcation line.

In the spring of 1965, the participation of American troops on land began. First Marines tried to take control of the border between the Vietnamese states, then marines US armies began to take regular part in identifying and destroying the bases and supply lines of partisan formations.

The number of American troops constantly increased. Already in the winter of 1968, almost half a million US troops were stationed in South Vietnam, not counting the formations of the Navy. Almost 1/3 of the entire American army took part in the hostilities. Almost half of all US Air Force tactical aviation took part in the raids. Not only the marines were actively used, but also the army aviation, which assumed the main function of fire support. A third of all strike aircraft carriers of the US Navy took part in organizing and supporting regular raids on Vietnamese cities and villages.

Beginning in 1966, the Americans set out to globalize the conflict. From that moment on, the US Armed Forces were supported by Australia and South Korea, Thailand and the Philippines, members of the SEATO military-political bloc.

The results of the military conflict

The Communists of North Vietnam were supported by the USSR and the People's Republic of China. With supplies from Soviet Union anti-aircraft missile systems managed to significantly limit the freedom of American aviation. Military advisers from the Soviet Union and China actively contributed to raising the military power of the army of the DRV, which eventually managed to turn the tide of hostilities in its favor. In total, North Vietnam during the war years received gratuitous loans from the USSR in the amount of 340 million rubles. This not only helped to keep the communist regime afloat, but also became the basis for the transition of the units of the DRV and the Viet Cong detachments to the offensive.

Seeing the futility of military participation in the course of the conflict, the Americans began to look for ways out of the impasse. During the negotiations held in Paris, agreements were reached to stop the bombing of the cities of North Vietnam in exchange for the cessation of the actions of the armed formations of the liberation army of South Vietnam.

The coming to power in the United States of President Nixon's administration gave hope for a subsequent peaceful settlement of the conflict. A course was chosen for the subsequent Vietnamization of the conflict. Vietnam War from that moment was to become again a civil armed confrontation. At the same time, the American armed forces continued to actively support the army of South Vietnam, and aviation only increased the intensity of the bombing of the territory of the DRV. At the final stage of the war, the Americans began to use chemical munitions to fight partisans. The effects of carpet bombing of the jungle with chemical bombs and napalm are still being celebrated today. The number of American troops was reduced by almost half, and all weapons were transferred to the South Vietnamese armed forces.

Despite this, under pressure from the American public, the curtailment of American participation in the war continued. In 1973, a peace agreement was signed in Paris, ending the direct involvement of the US Army in this conflict. For the Americans, this war was the bloodiest in history. For 8 years of participation in hostilities, the US Army has lost 58 thousand people. More than 300,000 wounded soldiers returned to America. Losses military equipment and military equipment represented a colossal figure. Only the number of downed aircraft and helicopters of the Air Force and Navy amounted to more than 9 thousand vehicles.

After the American troops left the battlefield, the North Vietnamese army went on the offensive. In the spring of 1975, units of the DRV defeated the remnants of the South Vietnamese army and entered Saigon. The victory in the war cost the people of Vietnam dearly. In all 20 years of armed confrontation, only 4 million civilians died, not counting the number of guerrilla fighters and military personnel of the armies of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and South Vietnam.

"I just tremble for my country when I think that God is just" -
US President Thomas Jefferson

In the second half of the 19th century, Vietnam became a French colony. The growth of national consciousness after the First World War led to the creation in 1941 in China of the League for the Independence of Vietnam or Viet Minh - a military-political organization that united all opponents of French power.

The main positions were occupied by supporters of communist views under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh. During the Second World War, he actively cooperated with the United States, which helped the Viet Minh with weapons and ammunition to fight the Japanese. After the surrender of Japan, Ho Chi Minh captured Hanoi and other big cities country, proclaiming the formation of an independent Democratic Republic of Vietnam. However, France did not agree with this and transferred an expeditionary force to Indochina, starting a colonial war in December 1946. The French army could not cope with the partisans alone, and since 1950 the United States came to their aid. The main reason for their intervention was the strategic importance of the region, guarding the Japanese islands and the Philippines from the southwest. The Americans considered that it would be easier to control these territories if they were under the rule of the French allies.

The war went on for the next four years and by 1954, after the defeat of the French at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, the situation became almost hopeless. The United States by this time already paid more than 80% of the costs of this war. Vice President Richard Nixon recommended tactical nuclear bombing. But in July 1954, the Geneva Agreement was concluded, according to which the territory of Vietnam was temporarily divided along the 17th parallel (where there was a demilitarized zone) into North Vietnam (under the control of the Viet Minh) and South Vietnam (under the rule of the French, who almost immediately granted her independence ).

In 1960, John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon fought for the White House in the United States. At that time, the fight against communism was considered good form, and therefore the winner was the applicant whose program to combat the "red threat" was more decisive. After the adoption of communism in China, the US government viewed any developments in Vietnam as part of communist expansion. This could not be allowed, and therefore, after the Geneva Accords, the United States decided to completely replace France in Vietnam. With American support, South Vietnamese Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem proclaimed himself the first President of the Republic of Vietnam. His rule was tyranny in one of its worst forms. Only relatives were appointed to government positions, whom the people hated even more than the president himself. Those who opposed the regime were locked up in prisons, and freedom of speech was forbidden. It was hardly to the liking of America, but you can’t turn a blind eye to anything, for the sake of the only ally in Vietnam.

As one US diplomat said, "Ngo Dinh Diem is certainly a son of a bitch, but he is OUR son of a bitch!"

The appearance on the territory of South Vietnam of underground resistance groups, not even supported from the North, was only a matter of time. However, the United States saw only the intrigues of the Communists in everything. Further tightening of measures only led to the fact that in December 1960, all South Vietnamese underground groups united in the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam, called the Viet Cong in the West. Now North Vietnam began to support the partisans. In response, the US stepped up its military aid to Diem. In December 1961, the first regular units arrived in the country. armed forces United States - two helicopter companies designed to increase the mobility of government troops. American advisors trained South Vietnamese soldiers and planned combat operations. The John F. Kennedy administration wanted to demonstrate to Khrushchev its determination to destroy the "communist contagion" and its readiness to defend its allies. The conflict grew and soon became one of the most "hot" hotbeds of the Cold War between the two powers. For the US, the loss of South Vietnam meant the loss of Laos, Thailand, and Cambodia, which posed a threat to Australia. When it became clear that Diem was not capable of effectively fighting the partisans, the American intelligence services, through the hands of South Vietnamese generals, organized a coup. On November 2, 1963, Ngo Dinh Diem was killed along with his brother. Over the next two years, as a result of the struggle for power, another coup took place every few months, which allowed the partisans to expand the captured territories. At the same time, US President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, and many fans of the "conspiracy theory" see this as his desire to end the Vietnam War peacefully, which someone really did not like. This version is plausible, in light of the fact that the first document that Lyndon Johnson signed as new president was to send additional troops to Vietnam. Although on the eve of the presidential elections, he was nominated as a "candidate for the world", which influenced his landslide victory. The number of American soldiers in South Vietnam rose from 760 in 1959 to 23,300 in 1964.

On August 2, 1964, in the Gulf of Tonkin, two American destroyers, Maddox and Turner Joy, were attacked by North Vietnamese forces. A couple of days later, in the midst of confusion in the command of the Yankees, the destroyer Maddox announced a second shelling. And although the ship's crew soon denied the information, intelligence announced the interception of messages in which the North Vietnamese confessed to the attack. The US Congress, with 466 votes in favor and no votes against, passed the Tonkin Resolution, giving the President the right to respond to this attack by any means. This started the war. Lyndon Johnson ordered airstrikes against North Vietnamese naval installations (Operation Pierce Arrow). Surprisingly, the decision to invade Vietnam was made only by the civilian leadership: Congress, President, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, and Secretary of State Dean Rusk. The Pentagon reacted without enthusiasm to the decision to "settle the conflict" in Southeast Asia.

Colin Powell, then a young officer, said: "Our military was afraid to tell the civilian leadership that this method of war leads to a guaranteed loss."
The American analyst Michael Desh wrote: "The unconditional obedience of the military to civilian authorities leads, firstly, to the loss of their authority, and secondly, it unties the hands of official Washington for further, similar to the Vietnamese, adventures."

Most recently, a statement was made public in the United States by independent researcher Matthew Aid, who specializes in the history of the Agency national security(US Intelligence and Counterintelligence Intelligence Service) that key intelligence about the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident that prompted the US invasion of Vietnam was falsified. The basis was a 2001 report by NSA staff historian Robert Heynock, declassified under the Freedom of Information Act (passed by Congress in 1966). The report shows that the NSA officers made an unintentional error in translating the information received as a result of radio interception. Senior officers, who almost immediately revealed the mistake, decided to hide it by correcting all the necessary documents so that they indicated the reality of the attack on the Americans. High-ranking officials repeatedly referred to these false data in their speeches.

Robert McNamara, stated: “I think it is wrong to think that Johnson wanted war. However, we believed that we had evidence that North Vietnam was going to escalate the conflict.

And this is not the latest falsification of intelligence by the leadership of the NSA. The war in Iraq was based on unconfirmed information on the "uranium dossier". However, many historians believe that even if there had been no incident in the Gulf of Tonkin, the United States would still have found a reason to start military operations. Lyndon Johnson believed that America must defend its honor, impose a new round of the arms race on our country, unite the nation, distract its citizens from internal problems.

When a new presidential election was held in the United States in 1969, Richard Nixon declared that foreign policy The United States will change dramatically. The US will no longer pretend to be the overseer and try to solve problems in all corners of the planet. He revealed a secret plan to end the battles in Vietnam. This was well received by the war-weary American public, and Nixon won the election. However, in reality, the secret plan consisted in the massive use of aviation and navy. In 1970 alone, American bombers dropped more bombs on Vietnam than in the past five years combined.

And here we should mention another side interested in the war - US corporations that manufacture ammunition. More than 14 million tons of explosives were detonated in the Vietnam War, which is several times more than during the Second World War in all theaters of operations. Bombs, including high-tonnage bombs and now banned fragment bombs, leveled entire villages to the ground, and the fire of napalm and phosphorus burned hectares of forest. Dioxin, which is the most toxic substance ever created by man, was sprayed over the territory of Vietnam in an amount of more than 400 kilograms. Chemists believe that 80 grams added to New York's water supply is enough to turn it into a dead city. This weapon has continued to kill for forty years, affecting the current generation of Vietnamese. The profits of US military corporations amounted to many billions of dollars. And they were not at all interested in a quick victory for the American army. After all, it is not by chance that the most developed state in the world, using the latest technologies, large masses of soldiers, winning all their battles, still could not win the war.

Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul said: "We are moving towards a fascism not of the Hitler type, but of a softer type of fascism that is expressed in the loss of civil liberties, when everything is run by corporations and the government is in the same bed with big business."

In 1967, the International War Crimes Tribunal held two hearings on the conduct of the Vietnam War. It follows from their verdict that the United States bears full responsibility for the use of force and for the crime against peace in violation of the established provisions of international law.

“In front of the huts,” recalls a former US soldier, “old men stood or squatted in the dust at the threshold. Their life was so simple, it was all in this village and the fields surrounding it. What do they think of strangers invading their village? How can they understand the constant movement of helicopters cutting through their blue sky; tanks and half-tracks, armed patrols paddling through their rice paddies where they cultivate the land?

US military Vietnam War

The "Vietnam War" or "Vietnam War" is Vietnam's Second Indochina War with the United States. It began around 1961 and ended on April 30, 1975. In Vietnam itself, this war is called the Liberation War, and sometimes American war. The Vietnam War is often seen as the peak of the Cold War between the Soviet bloc and China on the one hand, and the US with some of its allies on the other. In America, the Vietnam War is considered the darkest spot in its history. In the history of Vietnam, this war is perhaps the most heroic and tragic page.
The Vietnam War was at the same time civil war between various political forces in Vietnam and the armed struggle against the American occupation.

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Prior to World War II, Vietnam was part of the French colonial empire. During the war years, a national liberation movement was formed on its territory, led by the leader of the Communist Party, Ho Chi Minh.

Fearing the loss of the colony, France sent an expeditionary force to Vietnam, which at the end of the war managed to partially regain control over the southern part of the country.

However, France was unable to suppress the movement of partisans, who put up stubborn resistance, and in 1950 turned to the United States for material support. By that time, an independent Democratic Republic of Vietnam, ruled by Ho Chi Minh, had formed in the north of the country.

Nevertheless, even US financial assistance did not help the Fourth Republic: in 1954, after the defeat of France in the battle of Dien Bien Phu, the First Indochina War was completed. As a result, the Republic of Vietnam was proclaimed in the south of the country with its capital in Saigon, while the north remained with Ho Chi Minh. Fearing the strengthening of the socialists and realizing the precariousness of the South Vietnamese regime, the United States began to actively help its leadership.

In addition to financial support, United States President John F. Kennedy decided to send the first regular units of the US Armed Forces to the country (before that, only military advisers served there). In 1964, when it became clear that these efforts were not enough, America, under the leadership of President Lyndon Johnson, began full-scale military operations in Vietnam.

On the anti-communist wave

One of the main reasons for the US involvement in the Vietnam War was to stop the spread of communism in Asia. After the establishment of the communist regime in China, the American government wanted to put an end to the "red threat" by any means.

On this anti-communist wave, Kennedy won the 1960 presidential race between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon. It was he who introduced the most decisive plan of action to destroy this threat, sending the first American troops to South Vietnam and by the end of 1963 spending a record $3 billion on the war.

“Through this war there was a clash at the global level between the USA and the USSR. All the military power that was opposed to the United States is Soviet modern weapons. During the war, the leading powers of the capitalist and socialist worlds clashed. The Saigon army and regime were on the side of the United States. There was a confrontation between the communist north and south in the face of the Saigon regime, ”explained RT doctor of economic sciences Vladimir Mazyrin, head of the Center for the Study of Vietnam and ASEAN.

Americanization of war

With the help of the bombing of the North and the actions of American troops in the south of the country, Washington hoped to deplete the economy of North Vietnam. Indeed, during the course of this war, the heaviest aerial bombardments in the history of mankind took place. From 1964 to 1973 Air Force The United States dropped about 7.7 million tons of bombs and other munitions into Indochina.

Such decisive actions, according to the calculations of the Americans, should have forced the North Vietnamese leaders to conclude a peace treaty beneficial to the United States and lead to Washington's victory.

• Destroyed American helicopter in Vietnam
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“In 1968, the Americans, on the one hand, agreed to negotiate in Paris, but, on the other hand, they accepted the doctrine of the Americanization of the war, which resulted in an increase in the number of American troops in Vietnam,” Mazyrin said. - Thus, 1969 was the peak of the number of the American army, which ended up in Vietnam, which reached half a million people. But even this number of military did not help the United States win this war.

A huge role in the victory of Vietnam was played by the economic assistance of China and the USSR, which provided Vietnam with the most advanced weapons. To fight the American troops, the Soviet Union allocated about 95 Dvina anti-aircraft missile systems and more than 7.5 thousand missiles for them.

The USSR also provided MiG aircraft, which were superior in maneuverability to the American Phantoms. In general, the USSR daily allocated 1.5 million rubles for the conduct of military operations in Vietnam.

The leadership of Hanoi, led by the Communist Party of North Vietnam, also contributed to the victory of the national liberation movement in the south. He managed to quite skillfully organize a system of defense and resistance, competently build an economic system. In addition, the local population supported the partisans in everything.

“After the Geneva Accords, the country was divided into two parts. But the Vietnamese people really wanted to unite. Therefore, the Saigon regime, which was created to counteract this unity and create a single pro-American regime in the south, opposed the aspirations of the entire population. Attempts to achieve their goal solely with the help of American weapons and the army created at its expense contradicted the real aspirations of the population, ”said Mazyrin.

American fiasco in Vietnam

At the same time, a massive anti-war movement was expanding in America itself, culminating in the so-called Campaign on the Pentagon in October 1967. During this protest, up to 100,000 young people came to Washington to campaign for an end to the war.

In the army, soldiers and officers deserted more and more often. Many veterans suffered from mental disorders- the so-called Vietnamese syndrome. Unable to overcome mental stress, former officers committed suicide. Very soon, the senselessness of this war became clear to everyone.

In 1968, President Lyndon Johnson announced the end of the bombing of North Vietnam and his intention to begin peace negotiations.

Richard Nixon, who succeeded Johnson as President of the United States, began his election campaign under the popular slogan of "ending the war with an honorable peace." In the summer of 1969, he announced the gradual withdrawal of some parts of American troops from South Vietnam. At the same time, the new president actively participated in the Paris talks to end the war.

In December 1972, a North Vietnamese delegation left Paris unexpectedly, refusing to discuss further. To force the northerners back to the negotiating table and hasten the outcome of the war, Nixon ordered an operation codenamed Linebacker II.

• American B-52 strikes Hanoi, December 26, 1972

On December 18, 1972, more than a hundred American B-52 bombers with dozens of tons of explosives on board appeared in the skies over North Vietnam. Within a few days, 20 thousand tons of explosives were dropped on the main centers of the state. American carpet bombing claimed the lives of more than 1,500 Vietnamese.

Operation Linebacker II ended on 29 December, and negotiations resumed in Paris ten days later. As a result, on January 27, 1973, a peace agreement was signed. Thus began the massive withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam.

According to the expert, the Saigon regime was not accidentally called a puppet regime, since a very narrow military-bureaucratic elite was in power. “The crisis of the internal regime gradually intensified, and by 1973 it was greatly weakened from within. Therefore, when the United States withdrew its last units in January 1973, everything crumbled like a house of cards, ”said Mazyrin.

Two years later, in February 1975, the army of North Vietnam, together with the national liberation movement, launched an active offensive and in just three months liberated the entire southern part of the country.

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“No one imagined that the collapse would happen so quickly. This suggests that everything there really rested on bayonets and money. There was no internal support. The United States, together with its supporters and proteges, lost,” concluded Vladimir Mazyrin.

The unification of Vietnam in 1975 was a major victory for the Soviet Union. At the same time, the military defeat of the United States in that country temporarily helped the American leadership realize the need to take into account the interests of other states.