Once the communists realized this, they thought they would wait before going to the peace talks. The communists were ready to surrender, and because of the anti-war movement and the media's coverage, they changed their mind. At the time this started, less than 21,000 military personnel had died. From the time the government stopped bombing the North, and the communists got a second wind, 37,500 more personnel died. Because of the skewed
Beginning in the 1950s, maintaining a non-Communist South Vietnam became crucial in American efforts to contain communism. What was the nation's justification for its actions in South Vietnam in the 1950s and its determination to abide by the outcome of free elections there only if those elections yielded a non-Communist leader? For a long time the United States were in fear of the threat of communism stemming from a direct attack and the aspect of the Cold War, played a vital role in the fears. In the beginning the Vietnam War was first thought to be just another Cold War between northern and southern Vietnam. While the United States was nervous of Communism consuming the entire globe.
In many ways Kennedy did increase US involvement in Vietnam to benefit and protect the south, one of the reasons being Kennedy’s awareness of the limitations and weaknesses of the South Vietnamese Army. The instability of a demoralised army would lead to further political problems and make it very difficult for the south to defend its self from the north. However the USA still needed to protect its own vital national interests. The spread of communism was still a growing concern and a massive threat to the USA which argues that the reason USA became involved with the south was to protect USA from the spread of communism rather than to help the people of South Vietnam. Kennedy and the USA was committed to containment meaning the US foreign policy was predicated by the commitment to protect freedom wherever it was under threat which was applied perfectly to South Vietnams situation.
The Catholic people were in support of Diem, where the Buddhists were not. Buddhist were soon prosecuted for their beliefs, and “under Diem’s family rule, Catholics received favored treatment and enjoyed special privileges and opportunities. Priests enjoyed political influence; most district and province chiefs were Catholics” (Moss 104). The Buddhist crisis took full force in June when a seventy-three-year old Buddhist monk immolated himself in front of many onlookers. When news footage of this event was received around the world, Americans were criticized for supporting a government that would allow religious persecution.
Aiming to win back support from the American’s, as many people did not support the Vietnam war due to the bad media that was publicised. This was the first War to be so publicised and it shocked many of the people back home. This lead to Anti-War protest, which became one of the US governments aims to stop. However they still stuck to the aim to try and contain Vietnam from the spread of communism and supporting the SV defeat the VC in nearby country Cambodia. On the other side the aims of the NV government and their terrorist organisation the VC did not alter as they still aimed to persuade the SV government to vote for Vietnam to become a communist country.
Protest occurred even before the Tet Offensive in both the United States and Vietnam. Vietnamese protests were headed primarily by Buddhist monks in opposition to the war. In one shocking occurance, “on June 11, 1963, Quang Ngai set himself on fire as a protest against the policies of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem. Several others followed his example” (Wills 44). Because the American government openly supported the Christian Diem, the South Vietnamese were almost as against American involvement as the North Vietnamese by the time of the Tet Offensive.
The communist government of the North wished the United States to stop their support of the South Vietnam efforts against communism. The US didn't actually start fighting in the war until troops first entered the small country in March of 1965. The United States army and the South Vietnamese army worked together to try and fight off the North were fighting to unify Vietnam as one communist country. Although America withdrew troops in 1973 the South still fought for their freedom
Fortunately, American forces were able to repel the NVA attack and inflict heavy losses on the viet-cong, but while also taking loses themselves. This tet offensive showed America that it was perhaps in a war that it was not bound to win. Due to the heavy losses of the NVA and viet-cong, President Nixon from 1969 to 1974 was able to begin troop withdrawal and the process of vietnamization. This process of vietnamization meant that there were huge American withdrawals from the north as well as a massive effort to train the south Vietnamese army so they could defend themselves. This whole process finally was at its end on April 29th 1975, with the famous televised withdrawal of the embassy marines form Saigon and the famous footage of helicopter being pushed over the side of a U.S. carrier to make room for
The citizens of Cambodia longed to be an independent country. France denied Cambodia of its freedom until 1949, when Cambodia was granted independence within the French Union. Soon after, the French-Indochinese War began, and Norodom Sihanouk received full military control of Cambodia. Sihanouk was a very controversial ruler. In 1955, Sihanouk resigned from power, and never again returned to the throne.
This meant that if one country fell to communism so would the ones around it. He sent in the first military advisers. They was a peace agreement in Geneva, which set up four countries. However, the US refused to hold elections in the South because they thought that the Communists might win. So instead they supported Ngo Dinh Diem in South Vietnam.