Vietnam Notes:
1950-1975
Wanted to stop the spread of communism. the french connection- during world war 2 the french controlled indochina, france didn't give vietnam their independence after WWII, so war broke out between vietnam and france. vietnam won. powerful countries met at the geneva conference and decided the country would be split at the 17th parallel. communist north, non-communist south. didn't gain independence like they hoped. an election was supposed to be held to vote for a leader of the whole country, but both sides were not confident and the election never happened.
sides: US and south vietnamese against North vietnam and the vietcong
vietcong- guerilla warfare, communists in the south that fought against us. very difficult to find the enemy.
escalation- started with truman-johnson. the involvement in the vietnam war escalated through those presdients. truman- sent money to help the french fight the vietnamese. eisenhower also sent money and provided military advisors. kennedy- continued with money and advisors, also sent special operation forces (green berets). johnson- sent more and more combat forces.
gulf of tonkin resolution- a couple US ships were attacked by vietnam torpedoes. (questionable) was our declaration of war. congress gave johnson the power to "take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States." gave him the power to wage war in vietnam. only two people in congress voted against this.
tet offensive was a lunar new year in vietnam- important holiday- a major offensive by the n. viet and the vietcong. launched offensives in dozens of major cities. johnson had been sending more and more troops. the people believed that the US had been lying when they said the war was almost over. the war turned negative in 1968. up to this point the enemy had been using guerilla warfare, we liked the fact that they were using normal warfare tactics. they knew they had to use guerilla tactics to get rid of the US.
goes down in history as a loss for the united states but it is actually a very strong military win. this war was hard to get out of. "can't leave until the job is done"
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