Sangkum era
88-522: ≈860,000 (1967) ≈1,420,000 (1968) Total military dead/missing: ≈1,100,000 Total military wounded: ≈604,200 (excluding GRUNK / Khmer Rouge and Pathet Lao ) Second Third American intervention 1965 1966 1967 Tet Offensive and aftermath Vietnamization 1969–1971 1972 Post- Paris Peace Accords (1973–1974) Spring 1975 Air operations Naval operations Lists of allied operations The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975)
176-586: A 10-day state visit to the US . President Eisenhower pledged his continued support, and a parade was held in Diệm's honor. But Secretary of State Dulles privately conceded Diệm had to be backed because they could find no better alternative. Between 1954 and 1957, the Diệm government succeeded in preventing large-scale organized unrest in the countryside. In April 1957, insurgents launched an assassination campaign, referred to as "extermination of traitors". 17 people were killed in
264-668: A Marxist–Leninist political organization which operated primarily in Hong Kong and the Soviet Union . The party aimed to overthrow French rule and establish an independent communist state in Vietnam. In September 1940, Japan invaded French Indochina, following France's capitulation to Nazi Germany . French influence was suppressed by the Japanese, and in 1941 Cung, now known as Ho Chi Minh , returned to Vietnam to establish
352-621: A Military Assistance and Advisory Group (MAAG) to screen French requests for aid, advise on strategy, and train Vietnamese soldiers. By 1954, the US had spent $ 1 billion in support of the French military effort, shouldering 80% of the cost of the war. During the Battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954, US carriers sailed to the Gulf of Tonkin and the US conducted reconnaissance flights. France and
440-558: A psychological warfare campaign which exaggerated anti-Catholic sentiment among the Viet Minh and distributed propaganda attributed to Viet Minh threatening an American attack on Hanoi with atomic bombs. During the 300-day period, up to one million northerners, mainly minority Catholics, moved south, fearing persecution by the Communists. The exodus was coordinated by a U.S.-funded $ 93 million relocation program, which involved
528-488: A 300-day period. Elections throughout the country were to be held in 1956 to establish a unified government. However, the US, represented at the conference by Secretary of State John Foster Dulles , objected to the resolution; Dulles' objection was supported only by the representative of Bảo Đại. John Foster's brother, Allen Dulles , who was director of the Central Intelligence Agency , then initiated
616-414: A clash could very easily escalate and quickly involve nuclear weapons. Instead, the superpowers fought each other through their involvement in proxy wars , military buildups, and diplomatic standoffs. Thus, no two nuclear powers have yet fought a conventional war directly except for two brief skirmishes between China and Soviet Union in the 1969 Sino-Soviet conflict and between India and Pakistan in
704-642: A coordinated uprising in South Vietnam against the government and a third of the population was soon living in areas of communist control. In December 1960, North Vietnam formally created the Viet Cong (VC) with the intent of uniting all anti-GVN insurgents, including non-communists. It was formed in Memot, Cambodia , and directed through COSVN. The VC "placed heavy emphasis on the withdrawal of American advisors and influence, on land reform and liberalization of
792-536: A high profile and levels of popularity amongst the Cambodian populace, particularly the latter two, who had often spoken in favour of the rights of the rural peasantry. Command of the military was however in reality in the hands of Saloth Sar , whose existence in the Khmer Rouge's senior levels (along with that of Nuon Chea , Son Sen and Ieng Sary ) was kept essentially secret. The Front's military forces on
880-539: A message, dated three days after his subsequent radio broadcast, from the three "leading Khmers Rouges [...] three of our outstanding intellectuals" – Hou Yuon , Hu Nim and Khieu Samphan , all three of whom had been involved with Sihanouk's Sangkum in the 1960s. In fact, it seems that Sihanouk arrived in Beijing uncertain as to what his next move should be, and it was only after a secret March 21 meeting with premier Pham Van Dong of North Vietnam and Zhou Enlai –
968-515: A more "modest" winning margin of "60 to 70 percent." Diệm, however, viewed the election as a test of authority. He declared South Vietnam to be an independent state under the name Republic of Vietnam (ROV), with him as president. Likewise, Ho Chi Minh and other communists won at least 99% of the vote in North Vietnamese "elections". The domino theory , which argued that if a country fell to communism, all surrounding countries would follow,
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#17328011805431056-561: A new front organization – Patriotic and Democratic Front of the Great National Union of Kampuchea – to re-legitimize their thoroughly discredited 'Democratic Kampuchea' regime met with little success at first. By June 1982, however, Sihanouk and his FUNCINPEC organisation had re-entered into an uneasy association with the Khmer Rouge in the Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea , which still occupied
1144-405: A particular personal dislike for Ieng Sary, who in 1971 was assigned from Hanoi with the express mission of keeping Sihanouk under control. Sihanouk repeatedly (and quite incorrectly) accused him of being a North Vietnamese agent, and forced Sary to sit through risque films obtained from the French embassy, revelling in his obvious discomfort. Sary, for his part, attempted to spread dissention in
1232-556: A person knowledgeable in Indochinese affairs who did not agree that had elections been held as of the time of the fighting, possibly 80% of the population would have voted for the Communist Ho Chi Minh as their leader rather than Chief of State Bảo Đại. Indeed, the lack of leadership and drive on the part of Bảo Đại was a factor in the feeling prevalent among Vietnamese that they had nothing to fight for. According to
1320-468: A policy of " Vietnamization " from 1969, which saw the conflict fought by an expanded ARVN, while US forces withdrew. A 1970 coup in Cambodia resulted in a PAVN invasion and a US–ARVN counter-invasion , escalating its civil war. US troops had mostly withdrawn from Vietnam by 1972, and the 1973 Paris Peace Accords saw the rest leave. The accords were broken almost immediately and fighting continued until
1408-415: Is a rational calculation in which states fight for their interests (whether they are economic, security-related, or otherwise) once normal discourse has broken down. Most modern wars have been conducted using conventional means. Confirmed use of biological warfare by a nation state has not occurred since 1945, and chemical warfare has been used only a few times (the latest known confrontation in which it
1496-658: Is the most commonly used title in English . It has been called the Second Indochina War since it spread to Laos and Cambodia , the Vietnam Conflict , and Nam (colloquially 'Nam). In Vietnam it is commonly known as Kháng chiến chống Mỹ ( lit. ' Resistance War against America ' ). The Government of Vietnam officially refers to it as the Resistance War against America to Save
1584-621: Is thought to have been tortured and killed at a 're-education' centre in 1976, and Chea San , former GRUNK Minister of Justice, who was killed at Tuol Sleng ; only Penn Nouth avoided a similar fate. Of the prominent Khmer Rouge members of the GRUNK, Hou Yuon had disappeared by 1975 and by 1976 was almost certainly dead. Communist intellectuals Hu Nim and Chau Seng were to be 'purged' and executed at Tuol Sleng in 1977; Khieu Samphan continued as Khmer Rouge Head of State, perhaps protected by his reputation for unswerving loyalty to Pol Pot, though his role
1672-401: Is verified by examination of the conventional armies of the time: large, high-maintenance, and technologically advanced armies designed to compete against similarly designed forces. Clausewitz also forwarded the issue of casus belli . Wars had been fought for social, religious, or even cultural reasons, and Clausewitz taught that war is merely "a continuation of politics by other means." It
1760-476: The 1970 Cambodian coup d'état ; the Khmer Rouge insurgents had until that point been fighting Sihanouk's Sangkum regime. In March 1970, Sihanouk was deposed in a coup led by rightist members of his own government: the Prime Minister Lon Nol , his deputy Prince Sisowath Sirik Matak , and In Tam . Sihanouk, who was on a trip abroad, initially called for a large-scale popular uprising against
1848-525: The 1975 spring offensive and fall of Saigon to the PAVN, marking the war's end. North and South Vietnam were reunified in 1976. The war exacted enormous human cost : estimates of Vietnamese soldiers and civilians killed range from 970,000 to 3 million. Some 275,000–310,000 Cambodians , 20,000–62,000 Laotians , and 58,220 US service members died. Its end would precipitate the Vietnamese boat people and
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#17328011805431936-672: The Châu Đốc massacre at a bar in July, and in September a district chief was killed with his family. By early 1959, Diệm had come to regard the violence as an organized campaign and implemented Law 10/59, which made political violence punishable by death and property confiscation. There had been division among former Viet Minh, whose main goal was to hold elections promised in the Geneva Accords, leading to " wildcat " activities separate from
2024-669: The Cold War between the Soviet Union and US. American military involvement greatly escalated from 1965 until its withdrawal in 1973. The fighting spilled over into the Laotian and Cambodian Civil Wars , which ended with all three countries becoming communist in 1975. After the defeat of French Indochina in the First Indochina War that began in 1946, Vietnam gained independence in the 1954 Geneva Conference but
2112-807: The Cuban Missile Crisis (October 1962) played out on television worldwide. It was the closest the Cold War came to nuclear war . The Kennedy administration remained committed to the Cold War foreign policy inherited from the Truman and Eisenhower administrations. In 1961, the US had 50,000 troops based in South Korea, and Kennedy faced four crisis situations: the failure of the Bay of Pigs Invasion he had approved in April, settlement negotiations between
2200-560: The French Navy and the US Seventh Fleet to ferry refugees. The northern refugees gave the later Ngô Đình Diệm regime a strong anti-communist constituency. Over 100,000 Viet Minh fighters went to the north for "regroupment", expecting to return south within two years. The Viet Minh left roughly 5,000 to 10,000 cadres in the south as a base for future insurgency. The last French soldiers left South Vietnam in April 1956 and
2288-531: The Green Berets , would be effective in a "brush fire" war in Vietnam. GRUNK Later political career The Royal Government of National Union of Kampuchea ( French : Gouvernement royal d'union nationale du Kampuchéa , GRUNK ; Khmer : រាជរដ្ឋាភិបាលរួបរួមជាតិកម្ពុជា ) was a government-in-exile of Cambodia , based in Beijing and Hong Kong , that was in existence between 1970 and 1976, and
2376-669: The Ho Chi Minh trail to supply and reinforce the VC. By 1963, the north had covertly sent 40,000 soldiers of its own People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN), armed with Soviet and Chinese weapons, to fight in the insurgency in the south. President John F. Kennedy increased US involvement from 900 military advisors in 1960 to 16,300 in 1963 and sent more aid to the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN), which failed to produce results. In 1963, Diem
2464-653: The Korean War in June convinced Washington policymakers that the war in Indochina was another example of communist expansionism, directed by the Soviet Union. Military advisors from China began assisting the Viet Minh in July 1950. Chinese weapons, expertise, and laborers transformed the Viet Minh from a guerrilla force into a regular army. In September 1950, the US further enforced the Truman Doctrine by creating
2552-505: The Napoleonic Wars . Prussia was one of the countries that tried to amass military power. Carl von Clausewitz , one of Prussia's officers, wrote On War , a work rooted solely in the world of the state. All other forms of intrastate conflict, such as rebellion , are not accounted for because in theoretical terms, he could not account for warfare before the state. However, near the end of his life, he grew increasingly aware of
2640-627: The Pentagon Papers , which commented on Eisenhower's observation, Diệm would have been a more popular candidate than Bảo Đại against Hồ, stating that "It is almost certain that by 1956 the proportion which might have voted for Ho - in a free election against Diem - would have been much smaller than 80%." In 1957, independent observers from India, Poland, and Canada representing the International Control Commission (ICC) stated that fair elections were impossible, with
2728-598: The Viet Minh , an anti-Japanese resistance movement that advocated for independence. The Viet Minh received aid from the Allies , namely the US, Soviet Union, and Republic of China . Beginning in 1944, the US Office of Strategic Services (O.S.S.) provided the Viet Minh with weapons, ammunition, and training to fight the occupying Japanese and Vichy French forces. Throughout the war, Vietnamese guerrilla resistance against
Vietnam War - Misplaced Pages Continue
2816-436: The "Three Ghosts", as they had previously disappeared in the late 1960s and were widely presumed to have been murdered by Sihanouk's police – were thought to be dead. Later, movie film of the visit was released, which seemed to confirm that the "Three Ghosts" were in fact alive. Though Sihanouk was deliberately kept at a distance from the peasantry during the visit, the Khmer Rouge leadership seem to have been deeply troubled by
2904-414: The "liberated areas" of Cambodia, allowing the GRUNK to claim not to be a government-in-exile – was deputy premier, minister of defense, and chief of the GRUNK's armed forces. Hou Yuon, a popular and relatively liberal figure amongst the communists, was given several portfolios including that of minister for cooperatives, while Hu Nim was Minister of Information. Nouth, Samphan, Yuon and Nim were all men with
2992-440: The "liberated areas", particularly in the western part of the country, where the anti-Vietnamese, nationalist elements of the Khmer Rouge were in control: Hou Yuon was to cause considerable difficulties for himself by protesting at the speed with which collectivisation was being carried out. The term "Royal" ( Khmer : Reach ) was increasingly removed from the GRUNK's proclamations. In public, Sihanouk had remained optimistic about
3080-536: The British were opposed. Eisenhower, wary of involving the US in an Asian land war, decided against intervention. Throughout the conflict, US intelligence estimates remained skeptical of France's chance of success. On 7 May 1954, the French garrison at Dien Bien Phu surrendered. The defeat marked the end of French military involvement in Indochina. At the Geneva Conference , they negotiated a ceasefire with
3168-510: The Cambodian seat at the United Nations. The third partner in the coalition was the 'third force' of Son Sann 's Khmer People's National Liberation Front . Conventional warfare Conventional warfare is a form of warfare conducted by using conventional weapons and battlefield tactics between two or more states in open confrontation. The forces on each side are well-defined and fight by using weapons that target primarily
3256-601: The French ambassador, that the Americans' disregard of Sihanouk, and their continued bombing in support of Lon Nol's troops, would result in a far more violent end to the war. Despite these warnings the US continued to ignore Sihanouk, and the Chinese – with some reluctance – gradually began to transfer their direct support to the Khmer Rouge alone. By the time of the Khmer Rouge's entry into Phnom Penh on 17 April 1975,
3344-454: The GVN, on coalition government and the neutralization of Vietnam." The identities of the leaders of the organization were often kept secret. Support for the VC was driven by resentment of Diem's reversal of Viet Minh land reforms in the countryside. The Viet Minh had confiscated large private landholdings, reduced rents and debts, and leased communal lands, mostly to poorer peasants. Diem brought
3432-587: The ICC reporting that neither South nor North Vietnam had honored the armistice agreement. From April to June 1955, Diệm eliminated political opposition in the south by launching operations against religious groups: the Cao Đài and Hòa Hảo of Ba Cụt . The campaign also attacked the Bình Xuyên organized crime group, which was allied with members of the communist party secret police and had military elements. The group
3520-470: The Japanese grew dramatically, and by the end of 1944 the Viet Minh had grown to over 500,000 members. US President Franklin D. Roosevelt was an ardent supporter of Vietnamese resistance, and proposed that Vietnam's independence be granted under an international trusteeship following the war. Following the surrender of Japan in 1945, the Viet Minh launched the August Revolution , overthrowing
3608-675: The Japanese-backed Empire of Vietnam and seizing weapons from the surrendering Japanese forces. On September 2, Ho Chi Minh proclaimed the Declaration of independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV). However, on September 23, French forces overthrew the DRV and reinstated French rule. American support for the Viet Minh promptly ended, and O.S.S. forces left as the French sought to reassert control of
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3696-647: The Nation. It is sometimes called the American War . Vietnam had been under French control as part of French Indochina since the mid-19th century. Under French rule, Vietnamese nationalism was suppressed, so revolutionary groups conducted their activities abroad, particularly in France and China. One such nationalist, Nguyen Sinh Cung , established the Indochinese Communist Party in 1930,
3784-524: The Nixon administration had made a conscious decision to back Lon Nol, this was an unlikely gamble. The government was headed by Sihanouk as head of state . The Prime Minister was lawyer and veteran centrist politician Penn Nouth , Sihanouk's political adviser, who had several times served in this capacity both under the French colonial regime and as part of the Sangkum . Khieu Samphan – who remained within
3872-456: The PRC also completed its withdrawal from North Vietnam. Between 1953 and 1956, the North Vietnamese government instituted agrarian reforms, including "rent reduction" and "land reform", which resulted in political oppression. During land reform, North Vietnamese witnesses suggested a ratio of one execution for every 160 village residents, which extrapolates to 100,000 executions. Because the campaign
3960-508: The US discussed the use of tactical nuclear weapons , though reports of how seriously this was considered and by whom, are vague. According to then-Vice President Richard Nixon , the Joint Chiefs of Staff drew up plans to use nuclear weapons to support the French. Nixon, a so-called " hawk ", suggested the US might have to "put American boys in". President Dwight D. Eisenhower made American participation contingent on British support, but
4048-491: The US, nor Diệm's State of Vietnam, signed anything at the Geneva Conference. The non-communist Vietnamese delegation objected strenuously to any division of Vietnam, but lost when the French accepted the proposal of Viet Minh delegate Phạm Văn Đồng , who proposed Vietnam eventually be united by elections under the supervision of "local commissions". The US countered with what became known as the "American Plan", with
4136-524: The Vienna summit with Khrushchev, "Now we have a problem making our power credible and Vietnam looks like the place." Kennedy's policy toward South Vietnam assumed Diệm and his forces had to defeat the guerrillas on their own. He was against the deployment of American combat troops and observed "to introduce U.S. forces in large numbers there today, while it might have an initially favorable military impact, would almost certainly lead to adverse political and, in
4224-416: The Viet Minh, and independence was granted to Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. At the 1954 Geneva Conference, Vietnam was temporarily partitioned at the 17th parallel . Ho Chi Minh wished to continue war in the south, but was restrained by Chinese allies who convinced him he could win control by electoral means. Under the Geneva Accords, civilians were allowed to move freely between the two provisional states for
4312-411: The birth of the modern state. Within the statist paradigm, only the state and its appointed representatives may bear arms and enter into war. In fact, war then became understood only as a conflict between sovereign states. Monarchs strengthened that idea and gave it the force of law . Any noble had been allowed to start a war, but European monarchs had to consolidate military power in response to
4400-843: The border. About 500 of the "regroupees" of 1954 were sent south on the trail during its first year of operation. The first arms delivery via the trail was completed in August 1959. In April 1960, North Vietnam imposed universal military conscription for men. About 40,000 communist soldiers infiltrated the south from 1961 to 1963. In the 1960 U.S. presidential election , Senator John F. Kennedy defeated incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon. Although Eisenhower warned Kennedy about Laos and Vietnam, Europe and Latin America "loomed larger than Asia on his sights." In June 1961, he bitterly disagreed with Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev when they met in Vienna to discuss key U.S.–Soviet issues. Only 16 months later,
4488-481: The casualties caused by American bombing . For Sihanouk, the support of the communists enabled him to continue his bid to regain power and to secure the backing of the North Vietnamese (whose forces occupied swathes of rural Cambodia) and of China. However, it is likely that Sihanouk was conscious that the more hardline elements of the Khmer Rouge would seek his eventual removal; his plan therefore depended on attracting American support for his 'national unity' movement. As
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#17328011805434576-479: The communists were firmly in control of the GRUNK, and communications between GRUNK members inside and outside of Cambodia were effectively cut off. Sihanouk was not even informed of the fall of Phnom Penh; he initially went to Pyongyang until Zhou Enlai persuaded him to return as Cambodian Head of State, despite severe misgivings on Sihanouk's part. Sihanouk was given a ceremonial reception in Phnom Penh, but
4664-501: The country . Tensions between the Viet Minh and French authorities had erupted into full-scale war by 1946, a conflict which soon became entwined with the wider Cold War . On March 12, 1947, US President Harry S. Truman announced the Truman Doctrine , an anticommunist foreign policy which pledged US support to nations resisting "attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures". In Indochina, this doctrine
4752-496: The country to the Virgin Mary . In the summer of 1955, Diệm launched the "Denounce the Communists" campaign, during which suspected communists and other anti-government elements were arrested, imprisoned, tortured, or executed. He instituted the death penalty in August 1956 against activity deemed communist. The North Vietnamese government claimed that, by November 1957, over 65,000 individuals were imprisoned and 2,148 killed in
4840-456: The coup via Beijing Radio on 23 March proclaiming a Government of National Union. Sihanouk's own version of the Front's formation, published while it was still in existence, is rather different from versions given by later commentators. He stated that he had immediately decided to form a Government of National Union while on the plane between Moscow and Beijing, and that he was pleased to receive
4928-633: The demilitarized zone, between North and South Vietnam. The North Vietnamese Communist Party approved a "people's war" on the South at a session in January 1959, and, in May, Group 559 was established to maintain and upgrade the Ho Chi Minh trail , at this time a six-month mountain trek through Laos. On 28 July, North Vietnamese and Pathet Lao forces invaded Laos, fighting the Royal Lao Army all along
5016-415: The end of 1965, and to 536,000 by the end of 1968. US forces relied on air supremacy and overwhelming firepower to conduct search and destroy operations in rural areas. In 1968, North Vietnam launched the Tet Offensive , which was a tactical defeat but convinced many in the US that the war could not be won. The PAVN began engaging in more conventional warfare . Johnson's successor, Richard Nixon , began
5104-483: The field, the Cambodian People's National Liberation Armed Forces (CPNLAF) were initially small, and most of the early fighting in the Cambodian Civil War was in fact carried out by North Vietnamese forces with CPNLAF assistance. Sihanouk's relationship with the Khmer Rouge leadership was always rather strained. While Yuon, Nim, and Samphan had a long experience of being castigated and humiliated by Sihanouk during their years as Sangkum deputies and earlier, Sihanouk had
5192-417: The importance of non-state military actors, as is revealed in his conceptions of "the people in arms", which he noted arose from the same social and political sources as traditional interstate warfare. Practices such as raiding or blood feuds were then labeled criminal activities and stripped of legitimacy . That war paradigm reflected the view of most of the modernized world in the early 21st century, as
5280-450: The insurgency entitled "The Road to the South" to the Politburo in Hanoi. However, as China and the Soviets opposed confrontation, his plan was rejected. Despite this, the North Vietnamese leadership approved tentative measures to revive southern insurgency in December 1956. Communist forces were under a single command structure set up in 1958. In May 1958, North Vietnamese forces seized the transportation hub at Tchepone in Southern Laos near
5368-400: The landlords back, people who had been farming land for years had to return it to landlords and pay years of back rent. Marilyn B. Young wrote that "The divisions within villages reproduced those that had existed against the French: 75% support for the NLF, 20% trying to remain neutral and 5% firmly pro-government". In March 1956, southern communist leader Lê Duẩn presented a plan to revive
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#17328011805435456-409: The larger Indochina refugee crisis , which saw millions leave Indochina, an estimated 250,000 perished at sea. The US destroyed 20% of South Vietnam's jungle and 20–50% of the mangrove forests, by spraying over 20 million U.S. gallons (75 million liters) of toxic herbicides; a notable example of ecocide . The Khmer Rouge carried out the Cambodian genocide , while conflict between them and
5544-420: The latter being a longstanding supporter of Sihanouk – that he finally decided to ally himself with the Cambodian communists he had been fighting for the past decade; it seems likely that a desire for revenge on Lon Nol, pride, and possible suspicions of an American role in the coup may have precipitated the decision. "I had chosen," Sihanouk commented later, "not to be with the Americans or the communists [...] It
5632-417: The long run, adverse military consequences." The quality of the South Vietnamese military, however, remained poor. Poor leadership, corruption, and political promotions weakened the ARVN. The frequency of guerrilla attacks rose as the insurgency gathered steam. While Hanoi's support for the VC played a role, South Vietnamese governmental incompetence was at the core of the crisis. One major issue Kennedy raised
5720-489: The nature of the GRUNK regime, stating (for the benefit of Western supporters) that Khieu Samphan "was a socialist with the same basic ideology as the Swedish Prime Minister". However, the American government continued to refuse to deal with him, and in private he had serious concerns about the Khmer Rouge's intentions, stating "the Khmer Rouge will spit me out like a cherry stone" in an interview with an Italian journalist. The Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai warned Étienne Manac'h ,
5808-430: The opponent's military. It is normally fought by using conventional weapons, not chemical , biological , radiological , or nuclear weapons . The general purpose of conventional warfare is to weaken or destroy the opponent's military, which negates its ability to engage in conventional warfare. In forcing capitulation , however, one or both sides may eventually resort to unconventional warfare tactics. The state
5896-442: The other communists and anti-GVN activists. Douglas Pike estimated that insurgents carried out 2,000 abductions, and 1,700 assassinations of government officials, village chiefs, hospital workers and teachers from 1957 to 1960. Violence between insurgents and government forces increased drastically from 180 clashes in January 1960, to 545 clashes in September. In September 1960, COSVN , North Vietnam's southern headquarters, ordered
5984-592: The popular adulation with which his appearance was greeted. During 1973, local officials and military commanders with either Sihanoukist or Vietnamese links were quietly removed in the "liberated areas": political indoctrination began to once more criticise Sihanouk as a feudal figure, and by 1974 forces in the hardline South-Western zone (under the command of Ta Mok ) began to identify themselves as Khmer Krahom ("Red Khmer") rather than as Khmer Rumdo ("Liberation Khmer"), which had often been used up to that point. Repression and forced collectivisation began to increase in
6072-412: The pro-Western government of Laos and the Pathet Lao communist movement in May, construction of the Berlin Wall in August, and the Cuban Missile Crisis in October. Kennedy believed another failure to stop communist expansion would irreparably damage US credibility. He was determined to "draw a line in the sand" and prevent a communist victory in Vietnam. He told James Reston of The New York Times after
6160-407: The process. According to Gabriel Kolko , 40,000 political prisoners had been jailed by the end of 1958. In October 1956, Diệm launched a land reform program limiting the size of rice farms per owner. 1.8m acres of farm land became available for purchase by landless people. By 1960, the process had stalled because many of Diem's biggest supporters were large landowners. In May 1957, Diệm undertook
6248-423: The royal entourage, and between Sihanouk and Penn Nouth. In the wake of CPNLAF military successes in March 1973, Sihanouk made a visit to the "liberated areas", appearing in photographs with Samphan, Yuon, and Hu Nim (as well as with Saloth Sar, though it is likely Sihanouk was unaware of the latter's seniority). The US initially dismissed the photographs as fakes, pointing out that the three senior cadres – known as
6336-777: The support of South Vietnam and the UK. It provided for unification elections under the supervision of the UN, but was rejected by the Soviet delegation. The US said, "With respect to the statement made by the representative of the State of Vietnam, the United States reiterates its traditional position that peoples are entitled to determine their own future and that it will not join in any arrangement which would hinder this". US President Eisenhower wrote in 1954: I have never talked or corresponded with
6424-590: The unified Vietnam escalated into the Cambodian–Vietnamese War . In response, China invaded Vietnam , with border conflicts lasting until 1991. Within the US, the war gave rise to Vietnam syndrome , a public aversion to American overseas military involvement, which, with the Watergate scandal , contributed to the crisis of confidence that affected America throughout the 1970s. Various names have been applied and have shifted over time, though Vietnam War
6512-530: Was Lon Nol who obliged me to choose between them." The GRUNK was officially announced on May 5: it was immediately recognised by China. The formation of the GRUNK under Sihanouk offered the Khmer Rouge leadership a way of obtaining both international recognition and of enlisting the support of the Cambodian peasantry, who were overwhelmingly royalist and conservative, in their fight against Lon Nol's Khmer Republic . Communist forces were rapidly swelled by rural Cambodians, attracted by Sihanouk's name and angry at
6600-596: Was an armed conflict in Vietnam , Laos , and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam was supported by the Soviet Union and China , while South Vietnam was supported by the United States and other anti-communist nations. The conflict was the second of the Indochina Wars and a major proxy war of
6688-556: Was briefly in control of the country starting from 1975. The GRUNK was based on a coalition (the FUNK , acronym for "National United Front of Kampuchea") between the supporters of exiled Head of State Prince Norodom Sihanouk and the Khmer Rouge ("Red Khmer ", an appellation he had himself coined for the members of the Communist Party of Kampuchea ). It was formed, with Chinese backing, shortly after Sihanouk had been deposed in
6776-497: Was deeply shocked by what he observed in the city. The death of his protector Zhou Enlai in January 1976 weakened Sihanouk's position further: after hearing of Khmer Rouge human rights abuses via foreign radio, he resigned in April 1976. According to his own account, the Khmer Rouge leadership initially dispatched Sary to attempt to persuade him to stay, but Sihanouk insisted on resigning, and was subsequently kept under effective house arrest; Khieu Samphan became Head of State. Penn Nouth
6864-509: Was defeated in April following a battle in Saigon . As broad-based opposition to his harsh tactics mounted, Diệm increasingly sought to blame the communists. In a referendum on the future of the State of Vietnam in October 1955, Diệm rigged the poll supervised by his brother Ngô Đình Nhu and was credited with 98% of the vote, including 133% in Saigon. His American advisors had recommended
6952-432: Was divided into two parts at the 17th parallel : the Viet Minh , led by Ho Chi Minh , took control of North Vietnam, while the US assumed financial and military support for South Vietnam, led by Ngo Dinh Diem . The North Vietnamese began supplying and directing the Viet Cong (VC), a common front of dissidents in the south, which intensified a guerrilla war from 1957. In 1958, North Vietnam invaded Laos , establishing
7040-609: Was first advocated by Plato but found more acceptance in the consolidation of power under the Roman Catholic Church . European monarchs then gained power as the Catholic Church was stripped of temporal power and was replaced by the divine right of kings . In 1648, the powers of Europe signed the Treaty of Westphalia , which ended the religious violence for purely political governance and outlook, signifying
7128-883: Was first proposed by the Eisenhower administration . John F. Kennedy , then a senator , said in a speech to the American Friends of Vietnam : "Burma, Thailand, India, Japan, the Philippines and obviously Laos and Cambodia are among those whose security would be threatened if the Red Tide of Communism overflowed into Vietnam." A devout Roman Catholic, Diệm was fervently anti-communist, nationalist, and socially conservative. Historian Luu Doan Huynh notes "Diệm represented narrow and extremist nationalism coupled with autocracy and nepotism ." Most Vietnamese were Buddhist , and alarmed by Diệm's actions, like his dedication of
7216-679: Was first put into practice in February 1950, when the United States recognized the French-backed State of Vietnam in Saigon , led by former Emperor Bảo Đại, as the legitimate government of Vietnam, after the communist states of the Soviet Union and People's Republic of China recognized the Democratic Republic of Vietnam , led by Ho Chi Minh, as the legitimate Vietnamese government the previous month. The outbreak of
7304-474: Was killed in a US-backed military coup , which added to the south's instability. Following the Gulf of Tonkin incident in 1964, the US Congress passed a resolution that gave President Lyndon B. Johnson authority to increase military presence without a declaration of war. Johnson launched a bombing campaign of the north and began sending combat troops, dramatically increasing deployment to 184,000 by
7392-551: Was largely symbolic. After the Vietnamese invasion of 1978 , the defeat of the Khmer Rouge and the subsequent establishment of the People's Republic of Kampuchea , Sihanouk was asked by the Khmer Rouge leadership to present the case of Democratic Kampuchea at the United Nations . Sihanouk publicly broke with the Khmer Rouge, demanding that they be expelled from the UN as mass murderers. The Khmer Rouge attempt at establishing
7480-606: Was mainly in the Red River Delta area, 50,000 executions became accepted by scholars. However, declassified documents from Vietnamese and Hungarian archives indicate executions were much lower, though likely greater than 13,500. In 1956, leaders in Hanoi admitted to "excesses" in implementing this program and restored much of the land to the original owners. The south, meanwhile, constituted the State of Vietnam, with Bảo Đại as Emperor, and Ngô Đình Diệm as prime minister. Neither
7568-635: Was similarly removed; the first plenary meeting of the Representative Assembly of Democratic Kampuchea , held on April 11–13, 1976, confirmed a previously largely unknown "rubber plantation worker" named Pol Pot as Prime Minister. Pol Pot was later revealed to be the former radio technology student and Khmer Rouge cadre Saloth Sâr. Most of the remaining Sihanoukists in the GRUNK were soon to be executed, such as Sihanouk's leftist cousin Prince Norodom Phurissara , who
7656-738: Was utilized being the Syrian Civil War ). Nuclear warfare has only occurred once: the American bombing of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. The state and Clausewitzian principles peaked in the World Wars , during the 20th century, but they also laid the groundwork for their dilapidation from nuclear proliferation . During the Cold War , the superpowers sought to avoid open conflict between their respective forces, as both sides recognized that such
7744-579: Was whether the Soviet space and missile programs had surpassed those of the US. Although Kennedy stressed long-range missile parity with the Soviets, he was interested in using special forces for counterinsurgency warfare in Third World countries threatened by communist insurgencies. Although they were intended for use behind front lines after a conventional Soviet invasion of Europe, Kennedy believed guerrilla tactics employed by special forces, such as
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