The Vietnam War (1955-1975). The Geneva agreement: Vietnam was called Indochina under the French colonization. After the 2nd World War, the Indochinese communists, led by Ho Chi Minh fought the French to obtain their independence. In 1954, after the French defeat of Dien Bien Phu, Indochina was separated in 3 countries during the Geneva agreement: Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam; Vietnam was divided along the 17th parallel between North Vietnam and South Vietnam. North Vietnam was ruled by Ho Chi Minh and South Vietnam by Ngo Dinh Diem, a catholic dictator and a friend of France and the USA. Elections never occurred and Vietnam was not reunited because of the Cold War context: the USA did not want communism to spread in Asia. Unrest in South Vietnam: Ngo Dinh Diem was a violent dictator. He made laws to arrest communists and to prevent freedom of speech. In 1960, the NLF or National Liberation Front was created in South Vietnam and supported by Ho Chi Minh to fight against Diem and his American allies. In 1963, Diem was assassinated and a period of civil war broke out in South Vietnam. The militia of the NLF, known as the Viet Cong fought a guerrilla war in South Vietnam. US involvement in the conflict: JFK sent advisors to South Vietnam but didn’t want any direct or massive involvement of the American army. His Successor, Lyndon Johnson, sent troops after the Gulf of Tonkin Incident: it was reported that an American ship was attacked by Northern Vietnamese forces in 1964, but it wasn’t true. Still, the USA got involved in the conflict. The Vietnam War was a proxy war (an indirect conflict between East and West during the cold war) as the USA did not fight the Soviets directly but USSR and China helped the Viet Cong. It was also an asymmetric conflict because the USA were battling a guerrilla army. In 1968, the Tet offensive by the Vietcong and the Northern Vietnamese Army took the Americans and their South Vietnamese allies by surprise. The American public opinion discovered the extension of the war as 500,000 US soldiers were sent to help. US public opinion against the war: The Hippie movement, with its “make love not war” motto, organized sit-ins and demonstrations against the war. Many American protesters gathered in universities or public events. In 1970 occurred the Kent State Shootings where 4 students were shot by the National Guard. The Vietnam War was the 1st televised war and napalm bombings, US casualties and scandals such as the My Lai massacre in 1968 where civilians were killed by American soldiers led to the opposition of American citizens. Vietnamization: President Johnson decided the Vietnamization of the conflict at the beginning of the 70s: South Vietnamese forces would fight the Viet Cong and the USA would only support them.

In 1973, the Paris Peace Agreement decided a ceasefire and an exchange of prisoners. The USA withdrew from Vietnam and, in 1975, the fall of Saigon (the Southern capital city) into the hands of North Vietnam would mark the end of the war.



Front page of an Ohio newspaper with the My Lai massacre pictures (1969).>

A student kneeling in front of her dead friend on the campus of Kent State (1970)

Children fleeing a napalm strike by the US Air Force (1972)