The Vietnam War

Rice Jr., Earl. The Vietnam War. Part of the Major U.S. Historical Wars series. 2016. 64p. ISBN 978-1-4222-3359-7. Available at 959.6 RIC on the library shelves.

The end of the Second World War led to a renewed hope on the part of European colonies that the bloodshed and the violence that had been the staple of the worst conflict in human history would provide peaceful negotiations for independence. But these hopes were quickly dashed as colonial powers quickly restored control over their colonies. Vietnam was one such colony.

Conquered by the French starting in the mid 1800s, Vietnam was lumped in with the colonies of Laos and Cambodia to form the colony of Indochina. Local activists advocated for independence for Vietnam, but for decades they were unable to make significant progress. Led by Ho Chi Minh, a communist who had spent time working, studying and traveling in Europe, the United States, and Russia, a guerilla was slowly organized. When the Japanese attacked in World War II, the Vietminh fought alongside other groups against them, and fully expected the French to recognize them at the end of the war, if not as an independent country then at least with local representation.

The French however wanted to reinstate their colonial empire. Returning in 1946, the situation between the two groups degenerated until armed conflict was seen as the last solution. Vietnamese and French troops fought until the mid 1950s, when over 11,000 French soldiers surrendered at the battle of Dien Bien Phu. The peace accords negotiated between the two sides led to a temporary division of the country into a communist north, led by Ho Chi Minh, and a regime supported by the French and the Americans in the south. Elections were also called for to determine the final status of both sections of the country. These elections never took place, however, since the Western powers knew the more populous North would carry the electoral weight.

Under the domino theory first espoused by President Eisenhower and continued by Presidents Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon, the Americans believed that if South Vietnam was allowed to fall into communist hands surrounding countries would too. Efforts were stepped up to prop the unpopular and uneffective South Vietman regime. From a few military advisors in the early 1960s, the American presence escalated until over half a million soldiers where in South Vietnam, fighting the communist guerilla known as the Vietcong. Supported by North Vietnam, the guerilla fought hit and run tactics, forcing the Americans to adapt. But as the body count increased with no apparent gains, with protests at home and dwindling support for a war of choice, the United States concluded a peace treaty with North Vietnam in 1973, withdrew all of its forces, and South Vietnam fell in 1975.

Still one of the most unpopular war, the Vietnam War has marked the American psyche and remains less studied than the Second World War.