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Escalation and confrontation in Vietnam - Coggle Diagram
Escalation and confrontation in Vietnam
Johnsons policy in Vietnam
In 1963 us policy towards the war in vietnam was uncertain; the Kennedy administration was divided between those who urgered greater miliatry support for south veitnam and those who urged restraint
When JFK was assisanted, Johnson’s felt like he had no other decision but to follow kennedys existing policy, until the next election, and a mandate from the us public
He counted US commitment to the counterinsurgency strategy adopted by Kennedy, and increased the number of US miliatry advisers in Vietnam from 16,300 to 23,000
Johnson himself wanted a south Vietnamese victory over the north, however without the war becoming Americanized
The gulf of tonkin resolution
This led congress to pass the gulf of Tonkin resolution on the 7th august 1964
This gave the president the power to take any actions he considered necessary to resist armed attacks on us forces or to prevent future aggression, giving Johnson’s the ability to act without consulting congress
On the 2nd august 1964, a us naval vessel, the USS Maddox, was attacked twice by north Vietnamese torpedo boats in the gulf of Tonkin, near by the cost of north Vietnam
Escalation
By 1964, the war was developing in favour of north Vietnam
The USSR sent miliatry equipment to help north veitnam
the people’s army of north Vietnam moved troops and supplies down the Ho Chi Minh trail from north Vietnam, through Laos and Cambodia to deliver weapons to the Vietcong in south Vietnam
South vietnams army was demoralized by poor leadership, inefficient training and low pay
China agreed to assist north Vietnam
Us advisors had accomplished little
After his victory in the November 1964 election, and given the freedom ton do so by the gulf of Tonkin resolution, Johnson made the decision to escalate American particpation in the Vietnam war
Tactics and strengths of the two sides
The US
strengths
e,g the US Was able to supplu around one million tons of war materuals to south vietnam every month
This meant the US could fifth a war of attrition, hoping to wear down north Vietnam with their superior strength and resources
The US had a stronger miliaty backed by the US's econmic might
weaknesses
Us troops alienated the rural peasant population through its bad actions
in the US there was a small but vocal minority opposed to the Vietnam war which grew after the tet offensive
The south Vietnamese army was poorly trained and badly led
Operation rolling thunder largely failed in its aims of undermining north vietnams economy and miliatry forces as there were fre valuable targets to bomb in what was a largely agrarian country and lost resources were replaced by the USSR and china
Tactics
deadly chemicals were used to defoliate the jungles and destroy crops, leaving guerrillas and peasants without cover or food
US troops arrived in rural villages via helicopter on search and destroy missions to find the Vietcong, often destroying villages livestock and crops and killing innocent civilians in the process
Operation rolling thunder involved the dropping of 864,00 tons of bombs on north Vietnam
North Vietnam
Tactics
Their primary focus was on guerrilla tactics, which included the use of complex tunnel systems, booby traps and ambushes
The Ho Chi Minh trail was used to assist the Vietcong in south Vietnam
North Vietnamese forces ( consisting of the north Vietnamese army and the Vietcong) engaged in limited conventional warfare
Strengths
The Vietcong were well supplied with weapons and equipment from china and Russia. The infranty carried Chinese or soviet assult rifles and other hand combat weapons, and they had plentiful mines and hand grenades
Among the larger weapons, they had rocket launchers, anti tank rifles, flamethrowers, artillery surface air to missiles and anti aircraft weapons. They also used jets, helipcopoters tanks and naval craft
North Vietnamese troops had determination and, unlike the US forces, they knew the country and its people
The Chinese also provided 300,000 troops
The Ho Chi Minh trail allowed the north Vietnamese to funnel resources to the south to assist the Vietcong
The guerllila tactics not only harmed the US troops but created a constant sense of fear and unease
The factor the north Vietnamese forces on the whole showed more respoect towards the peasants than US troops meant that peasants were more willing to join the Vietcong
Weaknesses
They could not match the weaponary of the US supplied south Vietnamese forces
There was no gauranteed support among south Vietnamese peasants
The north did not have the resources or economy to sustain a war without support from the USSR and china
After the tet offensive, north Vietnamese army never recovered to its precision strength
The tet offensive; January- February 1968
In the Vietnam war, and in the wider could war, propaganda and public opinion played a large role in shaping attitudes and thus making policy
had proved the range and determination of north Vietnamese troops
The offensive proved to be a huge military defeat for the Vietcong; they were unable to hold any of the main cities and approxiamately 25,000 were killed. Their miliatry strength was lost
It was vital for north Vietnam to maintain public support in spite of the heavy losses in 1968
North Vietnam was hoping this would lead to a nationalist uprising agaisn the US
In the US, the importance of public opinion was even greater because of daily coverage of the war on national TV networks
However the Vietcong used this lull to launch simultaneous attacks in over a hundred towns and cities in south Vietnam
This is why the tet offensive, despite being a miliatry victory was a physiological defeat for the US
At thew end of January 1968, the fighting was expected to die down as religious celebrations were held for the lunar new year ( or tet)
It was a turning point in American public opinion ( and for the Johnson administration) as the offensive:
suggested north Vietnam would not surrender in the immediate future
suggested the strategy of military escalation was not succeeding
Although US general westmoreland tried to convince the Johnson administration that this was a turning point which put the north Vietnam on the defensive, the designs was made to begin de-escalation. In March 1968 Johnson announced he would not stand for re-election
Operation rolling thunder
The combined forces of those fighting agaisnt the north veitnamese grew greatly during Johnson’s presidency; in 1965 there were approxiamentyly 184,300 us ground troops in Vietnam, by 1968 this had grew to 536,000
He publically announced his decision to escalate the us involvement in july 1965
Although this proposal was in accordance with the Geneva agreements, Johnson’s rejected it completely as he believed acceptance of it could leave to a unified and communist Vietnam
The north Vietnamese responded with a four point demand
the reunification of Vietnam should be settled peacefully only by the populations of north and south Vietnam
US troops must withdraw from south Vietnam
South Vietnamese internal affairs should be settled without external interference
north and south Vietnam should not enter into any miliatry alliances with forgin powers during the temporary division of Vietnam
In February 1965, Johnson announced a strategic bombing campaign that was known as operation rolling thunder
The stated goals of the operation were to
Compel the north Vietnamese to cease assisting guerrillas in the south
Boost the morale of the south Vietnamese army
interrupt the transport of weapons and manpower via the Ho Chi Minh trail
Destroy north vietnams infrastructure
This marked the escalation of American commitment to the vietnam war; the campaign would last until 1968