117-398: [REDACTED] Republic of South Vietnam Non-state allies: Non-state opponents: The Viet Cong (VC) was an epithet and umbrella term to refer to the communist -driven armed movement and united front organization in South Vietnam . Formally organized as and led by the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam and nominally conducted military operations under the name of
234-611: A "North first", or pro-Beijing, faction led by Trường Chinh , and a "South first" faction led by Lê Duẩn. As the Sino-Soviet split widened in the following months, Hanoi began to play the two communist giants off against each other. The North Vietnamese leadership approved tentative measures to revive the southern insurgency in December 1956. Lê Duẩn's blueprint for revolution in the South was approved in principle, but implementation
351-645: A break in French control. Early Vietnamese resistance centered on the intellectual Phan Bội Châu . Châu looked to Japan, which had modernized and was one of the few Asian nations to successfully resist European colonization. With Prince Cường Để , Châu started the two organizations in Japan, the Duy Tân hội (Modernistic Association) and Vietnam Cong Hien Hoi . Due to French pressure, Japan deported Phan Bội Châu to China. Witnessing Sun Yat-sen 's Xinhai Revolution , Châu
468-602: A handful of terrorist campaigns waged over the last third of the twentieth century". Major reversals in 1966 and 1967, as well as the growing American presence in Vietnam, inspired Hanoi to consult its allies and reassess strategy in April 1967. While Beijing urged a fight to the finish, Moscow suggested a negotiated settlement. Convinced that 1968 could be the last chance for decisive victory, General Nguyễn Chí Thanh , suggested an all-out offensive against urban centers. He submitted
585-693: A large-scale purge. In addition to British support, the French also received assistance from various southern groups that modern historians consider unambiguously Vietnamese. After the August Revolution, the armed militias from the religious Hòa Hảo sect backed by the Japanese were in direct conflict with the Viet Minh who sought to take full control of the country. This ultimately led to the assassination of their leader in April 1947. The Bình Xuyên organized crime group also sought power in
702-628: A lull while Hanoi focused on events in Laos (1960–61). Moscow favored reducing international tensions in 1960, as it was election year for the U.S. presidency. Despite this, 1960 was a year of unrest in South Vietnam, with pro-democracy demonstrations inspired by the South Korean student uprising that year and a failed military coup in November. To counter the accusation that North Vietnam
819-528: A massacre of 252 Montagnards in the village of Đắk Sơn in December 1967 using flamethrowers. VC death squads assassinated at least 37,000 civilians in South Vietnam; the real figure was far higher since the data mostly cover 1967–72. They also waged a mass murder campaign against civilian hamlets and refugee camps; in the peak war years, nearly a third of all civilian deaths were the result of VC atrocities. Ami Pedahzur has written that "the overall volume and lethality of Vietcong terrorism rivals or exceeds all but
936-526: A maximum military effort and the troop strength of the PAVN increased from 174,000 at the end of 1963 to 300,000 in 1964. The Soviets cut aid in 1964 as an expression of annoyance with Hanoi's ties to China. Even as Hanoi embraced China's international line, it continued to follow the Soviet model of reliance on technical specialists and bureaucratic management, as opposed to mass mobilization. The winter of 1964–1965
1053-577: A more militant line. In early 1958, Lê Duẩn met with the leaders of "Inter-zone V" (northern South Vietnam) and ordered the establishment of patrols and safe areas to provide logistical support for activity in the Mekong Delta and in urban areas. In June 1958, the VC created a command structure for the eastern Mekong Delta. French scholar Bernard Fall published an influential article in July 1958 which analyzed
1170-696: A plan for an enormous offensive against Saigon. In response to the anti-war movement , the U.S. Congress passed the Case–Church Amendment to prohibit further U.S. military intervention in Vietnam in June 1973 and reduced aid to South Vietnam in August 1974. With U.S. bombing ended, communist logistical preparations could be accelerated. An oil pipeline was built from North Vietnam to VC headquarters in Lộc Ninh , about 75 miles (121 km) northwest of Saigon. (COSVN
1287-809: A plan to Hanoi in May 1967. After Thanh's death in July, Giáp was assigned to implement this plan, now known as the Tet Offensive . The Parrot's Beak , an area in Cambodia only 30 miles (48 km) from Saigon, was prepared as a base of operations. Funeral processions were used to smuggle weapons into Saigon. VC entered the cities concealed among civilians returning home for Tết . The U.S. and South Vietnamese expected that an announced seven-day truce would be observed during Vietnam's main holiday. At this point, there were about 500,000 U.S. troops in Vietnam, as well as 900,000 allied forces. General William Westmoreland ,
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#17327723581071404-635: A plan to revive the insurgency entitled "The Road to the South" to the other members of the Politburo in Hanoi. He argued adamantly that war with the United States was necessary to achieve unification. But as China and the Soviets both opposed confrontation at this time, Lê Duẩn's plan was rejected and communists in the South were ordered to limit themselves to economic struggle. Leadership divided into
1521-437: A profound psychological impact because South Vietnamese cities were otherwise safe areas during the war. U.S. President Lyndon Johnson and Westmoreland argued that panicky news coverage gave the public the unfair perception that America had been defeated. Aside from some districts in the Mekong Delta, the VC failed to create a governing apparatus in South Vietnam following Tet, according to an assessment of captured documents by
1638-519: A section of Saigon, in ruins. The VC used any available tactic to demoralize and intimidate the population, including the assassination of South Vietnamese commanders. A photo by Eddie Adams showing the summary execution of a VC in Saigon on February 1 became a symbol of the brutality of the war. In an influential broadcast on February 27, newsman Walter Cronkite stated that the war was a "stalemate" and could be ended only by negotiation. The offensive
1755-560: A separate state. Elections on reunification were scheduled for July 1956. A divided Vietnam angered Vietnamese nationalists, but it made the country less of a threat to China. Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai negotiated the terms of the ceasefire with France and then imposed them on the Viet Minh. About 90,000 Viet Minh were evacuated to the North while 5,000 to 10,000 cadre remained in the South, most of them with orders to refocus on political activity and agitation. The Saigon-Cholon Peace Committee,
1872-462: A series of bombs exploded in Saigon and left 13 Americans wounded. In a speech given on September 2, 1957, Hồ reiterated the "North first" line of economic struggle. The launch of Sputnik in October boosted Soviet confidence and led to a reassessment of policy regarding Indochina , long treated as a Chinese sphere of influence. In November, Hồ traveled to Moscow with Lê Duẩn and gained approval for
1989-643: A single banner . North Vietnam established the NLF on December 20, 1960, at Tân Lập village in Tây Ninh Province to foment insurgency in the South. Many of the VC's core members were volunteer "regroupees", southern Viet Minh who had resettled in the North after the Geneva Accord (1954). Hanoi gave the regroupees military training and sent them back to the South along the Ho Chi Minh trail in
2106-615: A sizable regular army facilitated by large popular support. They used guerrilla warfare doctrine and instruction from Mao's China, and used war materiel provided by the Soviet Union. This combination proved fatal for the French bases, culminating in a decisive French defeat at the Battle of Điện Biên Phủ . An estimated 400,000 to 842,707 soldiers died during the war as well as between 125,000 and 400,000 civilians. Both sides committed war crimes including killings of civilians (such as
2223-473: A speech that was published prominently in the official media, so the fortunes of his "North first" faction may have revived at this time. COSVN rejected this view as "lacking resolution and absolute determination." The Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968 led to intense Sino-Soviet tension and to the withdrawal of Chinese forces from North Vietnam. Beginning in February 1970, Lê Duẩn's prominence in
2340-584: A walkover. After the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975, the PRG moved into government offices there. At the victory parade, Tạng noticed that the units formerly dominated by southerners were missing, replaced by northerners years earlier. The bureaucracy of the Republic of Vietnam was uprooted and authority over the South was assigned to the PAVN. People considered tainted by association with the former South Vietnamese government were sent to re-education camps , despite
2457-547: Is a part of the People's Army of Vietnam". Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam The Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam ( PRG , Vietnamese : Chính phủ Cách mạng Lâm thời Cộng hòa miền Nam Việt Nam ), was de facto formed on 8 June 1969 by the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) as an armed underground government opposing
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#17327723581072574-800: Is from 1957. American soldiers referred to the Viet Cong as Victor Charlie or VC. "Victor" and "Charlie" are both letters in the NATO phonetic alphabet . "Charlie" referred to communist forces in general, both VC and North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN). The official Vietnamese history gives the group's name as the Liberation Army of South Vietnam or the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam (NLFSV; Mặt trận Dân tộc Giải phóng miền Nam Việt Nam ). Many writers shorten this to National Liberation Front (NLF). In 1969,
2691-697: The Nhân Dân journal) calling for a general uprising, resistance and guerrilla warfare against the Japanese. It also called on the French in Vietnam to recognize Vietnamese independence and on the DeGaulle French government (Allied French) to recognize Vietnam's independence and fight alongside them against Japan. In an article from August 1945, (republished 17 August 1970), the North Vietnamese National Assembly Chairman Truong Chinh denounced
2808-739: The August Revolution , Japanese forces allowed the Việt Minh and other nationalist groups to take over public buildings and weapons. For the most part, the Japanese Army destroyed their equipment or surrendered it to Allied forces, but some of the weapons fell to the Việt Minh, including some French equipment. The Việt Minh also recruited more than 600 Japanese soldiers to train Vietnamese. On 25 August, Hồ Chí Minh persuaded Emperor Bảo Đại to abdicate and become "supreme advisor" to
2925-463: The Fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975, the PRG formally replaced the Republic of Vietnam to become the nominal and representative government of South Vietnam under the official name Republic of South Vietnam ( Vietnamese : Cộng hòa miền Nam Việt Nam ), inheriting all properties, rights, obligations and sovereignty representation of the Republic of Vietnam. On 2 July 1976, the Republic of South Vietnam and
3042-698: The Franco-Thai War , the Vichy French in Indochina defended their colony in a border conflict in which the forces of Thailand invaded while the Japanese sat on the sidelines. Thai military successes were limited to the Cambodian border area, and in January 1941 Vichy France's modern naval forces soundly defeated the inferior Thai naval forces in the Battle of Ko Chang . The war ended in May, with
3159-676: The Ho–Sainteny agreement . In February 1946, he also forced the French to surrender all of their concessions and ports in China, including Shanghai, in exchange for Chinese troops withdrawing from northern Indochina and allowing French troops to reoccupy the region starting in March 1946. This left the VNQDĐ without support, and they were suppressed by Việt Minh and French troops. The Việt Minh massacred thousands of VNQDĐ members and other nationalists in
3276-872: The Indochina War in France, and as the Anti-French Resistance War in Vietnam , and alternatively internationally as the French-Indochina War ) was fought between France and Việt Minh ( Democratic Republic of Vietnam ), and their respective allies, from 19 December 1946 until 21 July 1954. Việt Minh was led by Võ Nguyên Giáp and Hồ Chí Minh . Most of the fighting took place in Tonkin in Northern Vietnam, although
3393-555: The Joint Chiefs of Staff , estimated that Tet resulted in 40,000 communist dead (compared to about 10,600 U.S. and South Vietnamese dead). "It is a major irony of the Vietnam War that our propaganda transformed this debacle into a brilliant victory. The truth was that Tet cost us half our forces. Our losses were so immense that we were unable to replace them with new recruits", said PRG Justice Minister Trương Như Tảng . Tet had
3510-628: The Liberation Army of South Vietnam (LASV), the movement fought under the direction of North Vietnam against the South Vietnamese and United States governments during the Vietnam War . The organization had both guerrilla and regular army units, as well as a network of cadres who organized and mobilized peasants in the territory the VC controlled. During the war, communist fighters and some anti-war activists claimed that
3627-603: The Mỹ Trạch massacre by French troops), rape and torture. At the International Geneva Conference on 21 July 1954, the new socialist French government and the Việt Minh agreed to give the Việt Minh control of North Vietnam above the 17th parallel , but this was rejected by the State of Vietnam and the United States. A year later, Bảo Đại would be deposed by his prime minister, Ngô Đình Diệm , creating
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3744-655: The Potsdam Conference , 200,000 troops of the Chinese 1st Army occupied northern Indochina to the 16th parallel, while the British under the South-East Asia Command of Lord Mountbatten occupied the south. The Chinese troops had been sent by Chiang Kai-shek under General Lu Han to accept the surrender of Japanese forces occupying that area, then to supervise the disarming and repatriation of
3861-647: The Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam). Soon an insurgency , backed by the communist north, developed against Diệm's anti-communist government. This conflict, known as the Vietnam War , included large U.S. military intervention in support of the South Vietnamese and ended in 1975 with the defeat of South Vietnam to the North Vietnamese and the reunification of Vietnam. Vietnam was absorbed into French Indochina in stages between 1858 and 1887. Vietnamese nationalism grew until World War II, which provided
3978-620: The Tet Offensive . The song was spread again during the fall of Saigon . 10°45′N 106°40′E / 10.750°N 106.667°E / 10.750; 106.667 Indochina War [REDACTED] DR Vietnam [REDACTED] Lao Issara (1945–1949) [REDACTED] Pathet Lao (1949–1954) [REDACTED] Khmer Issarak Supported by : [REDACTED] French Union Supported by : Total: est. 450,000 State of Vietnam : State of Vietnam: Total: est. 134,500 dead or missing Second Third The First Indochina War (generally known as
4095-490: The USSR and China refused to allow South Korea to join the organization on August 6. However, North Vietnam became a UN observer in 1975 while South Vietnam had already been since 1952. Kuwait was the last country to recognize and establish diplomatic relations with the Republic of South Vietnam on 22 and 24 January 1976, before North and South Vietnam were eventually reunited on 2 July 1976. The national anthem of
4212-404: The 1911 revolution and anti-Japanese war which had made it "not the same as feudal China". In September 1945, Ho Chi Minh called on the people to contribute gold to purchase weapons for the Viet Minh and also gifts for the Chinese, presenting a golden opium pipe to the Chinese general Lu Han. Lu Han pressured Ho Chi Minh for rice to feed the Chinese occupation force. Rice sent to Cochinchina by
4329-477: The Allies by surrendering Indochina to Japan. Ho Chi Minh blamed Dong Minh Hoi and VNDQQ for signing the agreement with France which allowed its soldiers to return to Vietnam. Chinese communist guerrilla leader Chu Chia-pi visited northern Vietnam multiple times in 1945 and helped the Viet Minh fight against the French from Yunnan. Chiang Kai-shek forced the contentious French and Việt Minh to come to terms in
4446-587: The Chinese forces which started gradually returning to China. In further negotiations, the French would seek to ratify Vietnam's position within the Union and the Vietnamese main priorities were preserving their independence and the reunification with the Republic of Cochinchina , which had been created by High Commissioner Georges d'Argenlieu in June. In September, once main negotiations had broken down in Paris over these two key issues, Ho Chi Minh and Marius Moutet ,
4563-437: The Chinese soldiers occupied northern Indochina, Ho Chi Minh's Viet Minh tried to appease the Chinese soldiers with welcome parades in Hanoi and Haiphong, while reassuring the Vietnamese people that China supported Vietnam's independence. Viet Minh newspapers emphasized the common ancestry (huyết thống) and culture shared by Vietnamese and Chinese, and their common struggle against western imperialists, and expressed admiration for
4680-548: The Chinese were fully investigated, to the extent of executions for some Vietnamese who attacked Chinese soldiers. While Chiang Kai-shek, Xiao Wen (Hsiao Wen) and the Kuomintang Chinese government were uninterested in occupying Vietnam beyond the allotted time period and involving itself in the war between the Viet Minh and the French, the Yunnan warlord Lu Han wanted to establish a Chinese trusteeship of Vietnam under
4797-561: The Democratic Republic of Vietnam constitutionally merged to form the current Socialist Republic of Vietnam . The Provisional Revolutionary Government was preceded by the Vietnam Alliance of National, Democratic, and Peaceful Forces (VANDPF) made up of anti-government forces and headed by Trinh Dinh Thao. The Alliance was a collection of individuals who wanted a new South Vietnamese government but disagreed with
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4914-674: The French Minister of the Colonies , signed a temporary modus vivendi which reaffirmed the March Accord, although no specifications were made on the issue of a Nam Bộ (Cochinchina) reunification referendum and negotiations for a definitive treaty were set to begin no later than January 1947. In the north, an uneasy peace had been maintained during the negotiations, in November however, fighting broke out in Haiphong between
5031-613: The French agreeing to minor territorial revisions which restored formerly Thai areas to Thailand. Hồ Chí Minh, upon his return to Vietnam in 1941, formed the Viet Nam Doc Lap Dong Minh Hoi (League for the Independence of Vietnam), better known as the Việt Minh. He founded the Việt Minh as an umbrella organization , seeking to appeal to a base beyond his own communist beliefs by emphasizing national liberation instead of class struggle. In March 1945, with
5148-530: The French and the Japanese" for the deaths of "more than two million" Vietnamese. American President Franklin D. Roosevelt and General Joseph Stilwell privately opposed continued French rule in Indochina after the war. Roosevelt suggested that Chiang Kai-shek place Indochina under Chinese rule; Chiang Kai-shek supposedly replied: "Under no circumstances!" Following Roosevelt's death in April 1945, U.S. resistance to French rule weakened. Japanese forces in Vietnam surrendered on 15 August 1945, and an armistice
5265-434: The French colonial administration, the Japanese ruled from behind the scenes, as did the Germans in Vichy France . For Vietnamese nationalists, this was a double-puppet government, with the Axis powers behind the French behind the Vietnamese local officials. Emperor Bảo Đại collaborated with the Japanese, just as he had with the French, ensuring his continued safety safety and comfort. From October 1940 to May 1941, during
5382-444: The French gradually retook control of much of Indochina. Hồ Chí Minh agreed to talk with France but negotiations failed. After one year of low-level conflict, all-out war broke out in December 1946 between French and Việt Minh forces as Hồ Chí Minh and his government went underground. The French tried to stabilize Indochina by reorganizing it as a Federation of Associated States . In 1949, they put former Emperor Bảo Đại back in power, as
5499-588: The French in October 1945 was divided by Ho Chi Minh, with only one third to the northern Vietnamese and two thirds to the Chinese. After 18 December 1945, elections were postponed for 15 days in response to a demand by Chinese general Chen Xiuhe to allow the Dong Minh Hoi and VNQDD to prepare. Beyond their food quota, the occupiers seized several rice stockpiles and other private and public goods, and were accused of rapes, beatings, occupying private dwellings, and burning down others, resulting only in apologies or partial compensation. By contrast, Vietnamese crimes against
5616-411: The French side. Vietnamese society also polarized along ethnic lines: the Nung minority assisted the French, while the Tay assisted the Việt Minh. In March 1946, a preliminary accord signed between the French and Ho Chi Minh which acknowledged the DRV as a free state within an Indochinese Federation in a " French Union " and allowed a limited number of French troops within its borders to replace
5733-511: The French, despite the previous support of the Việt Minh by American OSS representatives. The DRV ruled as the only civil government in all of Vietnam for a period of about 20 days, after the abdication of Emperor Bảo Đại , who had governed under the Japanese rule. On 23 September 1945, with the knowledge of the British commander in Saigon, French forces overthrew the local DRV government, and declared French authority restored in Cochinchina. Guerrilla warfare began around Saigon immediately, but
5850-416: The Government was Liberate the South (Vietnamese: Giải phóng miền Nam ). The song was written in 1961 by Lưu Hữu Phước (1921–1989) and adopted at that time as the anthem of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam (Viet Cong). In 1966, Lưu Hữu Phước wrote a military song March on Saigon [ vi ] ( Tiến về Sài Gòn ) as an encouragement the soldiers going to attack Saigon in
5967-435: The Hòa Hảo and other militant religious sects in early 1956, Diệm turned his attention to the VC. Within a few months, the Viet Cong had been driven into remote swamps. The success of this campaign inspired U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower to dub Diệm the "miracle man" when he visited the U.S. in May 1957. France withdrew its last soldiers from Vietnam in April 1956. In March 1956, southern communist leader Lê Duẩn presented
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#17327723581076084-427: The Japanese Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere as a regime to plunder Asia and to replace the United States and British colonial rule with Japanese colonial rule. Truong Chinh also denounced the retreating Japanese's Three Alls policy: kill all, burn all, loot all. According to Truong the Japanese also tried to pit different ethnic and political groups within Indochina against each other and attempted to infiltrate
6201-486: The Japanese under Field Marshal Hisaichi Terauchi , Commander-in-Chief of Japan's Southern Expeditionary Army Group based in Saigon. Allied troops in Saigon were an airborne detachment, two British companies of the Indian 20th Infantry Division and the French 5th Colonial Infantry Regiment, with British General Sir Douglas Gracey as supreme commander. The latter proclaimed martial law on September 21, and Franco-British troops took control of Saigon. As agreed at
6318-501: The Japanese Army. In the North, the Chinese permitted the DRV government to remain in charge of local administration and food supply. Initially, the Chinese kept the French Colonial soldiers interned, with the acquiescence of the Americans. The Chinese used the VNQDĐ , the Vietnamese branch of the Chinese Kuomintang , to increase their influence in Indochina and put pressure on their opponents. Chiang Kai-shek deliberately withheld his best soldiers from Vietnam, holding them in reserve for
6435-435: The Japanese-imposed Famine of 1945 , one to two million Vietnamese starved to death in the Red river delta of northern Vietnam. The North Vietnamese government accused both France and Japan of the famine. By the time the Chinese came to disarm the Japanese, Vietnamese corpses littered the streets of Hanoi. In the Declaration of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam , Hồ Chí Minh blamed "the double yoke of
6552-406: The NLF created the " Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam " ( Chính Phủ Cách Mạng Lâm Thời Cộng Hòa Miền Nam Việt Nam ), abbreviated PRG. Although the NLF was not officially abolished until 1977, the NLF no longer used the name after the PRG was created. Members generally referred to the NLF as "the Front" ( Mặt trận ). Today's Vietnamese media most frequently refers to
6669-420: The North Vietnamese to reopen the Ho Chi Minh trail. Although 1970 was a much better year for the VC than 1969, it would never again be more than an adjunct to the PAVN. The 1972 Easter Offensive was a direct North Vietnamese attack across the DMZ. Despite the Paris Peace Accords , signed by all parties in January 1973, fighting continued. In March, Trà was recalled to Hanoi for a series of meetings to hammer out
6786-400: The North delivered nearly 365,000 tons of war matériel to battlefields, 2.6 times the total for the previous 13 years. The success of the 1973–74 dry season offensive convinced Hanoi to accelerate its timetable. When there was no U.S. response to a successful PAVN attack on Phước Bình in January 1975, South Vietnamese morale collapsed. The next major battle, at Buôn Ma Thuột in March, was
6903-485: The PRG functioned as a provisional government . The PRG maintained diplomatic relations with many countries of the Non-Aligned Movement , such as Algeria and SFR Yugoslavia as well as with the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China . After the Fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975, the PRG assumed power in South Vietnam and subsequently participated in the reunification of Vietnam . According to professor Ngô Vĩnh Long ( University of Maine ), mid-July 1975,
7020-434: The PRG was to provide a formal governmental structure to the NLF and enhance its claim of representing "the Southern people". Included in this strategy was the pursuit of a negotiated settlement to the war leading to reunification, organized during the initial phase of Vietnamization. According to Justice Minister Trương Như Tảng , the new group's main purpose was to help the NLF "acquire a new international stature." During
7137-603: The Red River region and Lai Cai were occupied by a column from Yunnan. Vietnamese VNQDD fighters accompanied the Chinese soldiers. Lu Han occupied the French governor general's palace after ejecting the French staff under Sainteny. On 9 October 1945, General Leclerc arrived in Saigon, accompanied by French Colonel Massu 's Groupement de marche unit. Leclerc's primary objectives were to restore public order in south Vietnam and to militarize Tonkin (northern Vietnam). Secondary objectives were to explore taking back Chinese-occupied Hanoi, and to negotiate with Việt Minh officials. While
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#17327723581077254-738: The South in 1961–63. The VC grew rapidly; an estimated 300,000 members were enrolled in "liberation associations" (affiliated groups) by early 1962. The ratio of VC to government soldiers jumped from 1:10 in 1961 to 1:5 a year later. The level of violence in the South jumped dramatically in the fall of 1961, from 50 guerrilla attacks in September to 150 in October. U.S. President John F. Kennedy decided in November 1961 to substantially increase American military aid to South Vietnam. The USS Core arrived in Saigon with 35 helicopters in December 1961. By mid-1962, there were 12,000 U.S. military advisors in Vietnam. The "special war" and "strategic hamlets" policies allowed Saigon to push back in 1962, but in 1963
7371-504: The South were northerners, but most communist military personnel were not main-force combat troops. Even in early 1970, MACV estimated that northerners made up no more than 45 percent of communist military forces overall in South Vietnam. The VC created an urban front in 1968 called the Alliance of National, Democratic, and Peace Forces . The group's manifesto called for an independent, non-aligned South Vietnam and stated that "national reunification cannot be achieved overnight." In June 1969,
7488-478: The U.S. CIA . The breakup of larger VC units increased the effectiveness of the CIA's Phoenix Program (1968–72), which targeted individual leaders, as well as the Chiêu Hồi Program, which encouraged defections. By the end of 1969, there was little communist-held territory, or "liberated zones", in the rural lowlands of Cochin China , according to the official communist military history. The US military believed that 70 percent of communist main-force combat troops in
7605-529: The U.S. commander, received reports of heavy troop movements and understood that an offensive was being planned, but his attention was focused on Khe Sanh , a remote U.S. base near the DMZ . In January and February 1968, some 80,000 VC struck more than 100 towns with orders to "crack the sky" and "shake the Earth." The offensive included a commando raid on the U.S. Embassy in Saigon and the massacre at Huế of about 3,500 residents. House-to-house fighting between VC and South Vietnamese Rangers left much of Cholon ,
7722-425: The VC and government forces soon increased drastically from 180 clashes in January 1960 to 545 clashes in September. By 1960, the Sino-Soviet split was a public rivalry, making China more supportive of Hanoi's war effort. For Chinese leader Mao Zedong , aid to North Vietnam was a way to enhance his "anti-imperialist" credentials for both domestic and international audiences. About 40,000 communist soldiers infiltrated
7839-421: The VC regained the military initiative. The VC won its first military victory against South Vietnamese forces at Ấp Bắc in January 1963. A landmark party meeting was held in December 1963, shortly after a military coup in Saigon in which Diệm was assassinated. North Vietnamese leaders debated the issue of "quick victory" vs "protracted war" (guerrilla warfare). After this meeting, the communist side geared up for
7956-489: The VC was a nationalist insurgency indigenous to the South. They said that the VC was composed of several parties—the People's Revolutionary Party , the Democratic Party and the Radical Socialist Party—and that VC chairman Nguyễn Hữu Thọ was not a communist. Anti-communists countered that the VC was merely a front for Hanoi. They said some statements issued by communist leaders in the 1980s and 1990s suggested that southern communist forces were influenced by Hanoi. According to
8073-408: The VC was an insurgency indigenous to the South that represented the legitimate rights of people in South Vietnam, while the U.S. and South Vietnamese governments portrayed the group as a tool of North Vietnam. It was later conceded by the modern Vietnamese communist leadership that the movement was actually under the North Vietnamese political and military leadership, aiming to unify Vietnam under
8190-462: The VC. Later communist offensives were conducted predominantly by the North Vietnamese. The organization officially merged with the Fatherland Front of Vietnam on February 4, 1977, after North and South Vietnam were officially unified under a communist government. The term Việt Cộng appeared in Saigon newspapers beginning in 1956. It is a contraction of Việt Nam cộng sản (Vietnamese communist). The earliest citation for Viet Cong in English
8307-409: The Viet Cong. Squads were assigned monthly assassination quotas. Government employees, especially village and district heads, were the most common targets. But there were a wide variety of targets, including clinics and medical personnel. Notable VC atrocities include the massacre of over 3,000 unarmed civilians at Huế , 48 killed in the bombing of My Canh floating restaurant in Saigon in June 1965 and
8424-470: The Viet Minh. The Japanese forced Vietnamese women to join Burmese, Indonesian, Thai and Filipino comfort women as slaves to the Japanese army. The Japanese inflicted two billion US dollars worth (1945 values) of damage, including destruction of industrial plants, 90% of heavy vehicles, motorcycles, and cars, and 16 tons of junks , railways, port installations, and one third of the bridges. In
8541-754: The Vietcong, the VANDPF, the People's Revolutionary Party (the South Vietnamese communist party) and "the usual assortment of mass organizations, ethnic groups, and geopolitical regions." met off Route 22 in Cambodia 's Fishhook region and formed the Provisional Revolutionary Government (PRG). Banners displayed prominently at the convention proclaimed that "South Vietnam is independent, democratic, peaceful, and neutral". Following
8658-483: The Việt Minh before the beginning of the seasonal rains in May, and military operations were postponed until their conclusion. Come October, the French launched Operation Léa with the objective of swiftly putting an end to the resistance movement by taking out the Vietnamese main battle units and the Việt Minh leadership at their base in Bắc Kạn . Léa was followed by Operation Ceinture in November, with similar aims. As
8775-528: The Việt Minh government and the French over a conflict of interest in import duty at the port. On November 23, 1946, the French fleet bombarded the Vietnamese sections of the city killing 6,000 Vietnamese civilians in one afternoon. The Việt Minh quickly agreed to a cease-fire and left the cities. This is known as the Haiphong incident . There was never any intention among the Vietnamese to give up, as General Võ Nguyên Giáp soon brought up 30,000 men to attack
8892-473: The Việt Minh to attack well-defended bases in remote areas at the end of their logistical trails succeeded at the Battle of Nà Sản . French efforts were hampered by the limited usefulness of tanks in forest terrain, the lack of a strong air force, and reliance on soldiers from French colonies. The Việt Minh used novel and efficient tactics, including direct artillery fire, convoy ambushes, and anti-aircraft weaponry to impede land and air resupplies, while recruiting
9009-683: The World War all but lost, Japan launched the Second French Indochina Campaign to oust the Vichy French, and formally installed Emperor Bảo Đại as head of a nominally independent Vietnam . The Japanese arrested and imprisoned most of the French officials and military remaining in the country. In Hanoi on 15–20 April 1945, the Tonkin Revolutionary Military Conference of the Việt Minh issued a resolution (reprinted 25 August 1970 in
9126-453: The alliance merged with the VC to form a "Provisional Revolutionary Government" (PRG). The Tet Offensive increased American public discontent with participation in the Vietnam War and led the U.S. to gradually withdraw combat forces and to shift responsibility to the South Vietnamese, a process called Vietnamization . Pushed into Cambodia, the VC could no longer draw South Vietnamese recruits. In May 1968, Trường Chinh urged "protracted war" in
9243-408: The city. Although the French were outnumbered, their superior weaponry and naval support made any Việt Minh attack unsuccessful. In 19 December, hostilities between the Việt Minh and the French broke out in Hanoi , and Hồ Chí Minh, along with his government, was forced to evacuate the capital in favor of remote forested and mountainous areas. Guerrilla warfare ensued, with the French controlling most of
9360-568: The conflict engulfed the entire country and also extended into the neighboring French Indochina protectorates of Laos and Cambodia . At the Potsdam Conference in July 1945, the allied Combined Chiefs of Staff decided that Indochina south of latitude 16° north was to be included in the Southeast Asia Command under British Admiral Mountbatten . On V-J Day , September 2, Hồ Chí Minh proclaimed in Hanoi ( Tonkin 's capital)
9477-508: The country and although initially fought alongside the Việt Minh, they would later support Bảo Đại. Militias from the Cao Đài sect, which had initially joined the Viet Minh in their struggle against the return of the French, made a truce with France when their leader was captured on 6 June 1946. The Viet Minh later attacked the Cao Đài after open conflict had erupted with France, which led them to join
9594-475: The country except far-flung areas. By January the following year, most provincial capitals had fallen to the French, while Hue fell in February after a six-week siege. In 1947, Hồ Chí Minh and General Võ Nguyên Giáp retreated with his command into the Việt Bắc , the mountainous forests of northern Vietnam. By March, France had taken control of the main population centers in the country. The French chose not to pursue
9711-550: The delegates of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam ( Nguyễn Văn Lưu ) and the Republic of South Vietnam ( Đinh Bá Thi ) applied to join the United Nations (UN) as two independent member states. However, the Republic of South Vietnam was de facto controlled by the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. And, both countries failed in joining the United Nations due to American vetoes on 11 August and 30 September 1975 as
9828-435: The disguised colonial regime of the imperialists and the dictatorial administration, and to form a national and democratic coalition administration." Thọ, a lawyer and the VC's "neutralist" chairman, was an isolated figure among cadres and soldiers. South Vietnam's Law 10/59, approved in May 1959, authorized the death penalty for crimes "against the security of the state" and featured prominently in VC propaganda. Violence between
9945-495: The empire – North Africans; Laotian, Cambodian and Vietnamese ethnic minorities ; Sub-Saharan Africans – and professional French troops, European volunteers, and units of the Foreign Legion . The use of French metropolitan recruits was forbidden by the government to prevent the war from becoming more unpopular at home. It was called the "dirty war" ( la sale guerre ) by French leftists. The French strategy of inducing
10062-590: The establishment of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV). In late September 1945, Chinese forces entered Tonkin, and Japanese forces to the north of that line surrendered to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek . At the same time, British forces landed in Saigon ( Cochinchina 's capital), and Japanese forces in the south surrendered to the British. The Chinese acknowledged the DRV under Hồ Chí Minh, then in power in Hanoi. The British refused to do likewise in Saigon, and deferred to
10179-411: The ever-present Northern Communist presence. Discussions about forming an alliance had begun as early as 1966, but plans were disrupted when South Vietnamese intelligence agents apprehended a prominent anti-government figure, Ba Tra. Ba Tra gave the South Vietnamese government extensive information on anti-government forces working in the city. This setback was compounded by his identification of one of
10296-498: The fight against the Communists inside China, and instead sent undisciplined warlord troops from Yunnan under Lu Han to occupy Vietnam north of the 16th parallel and accept the Japanese surrender. In total, 200,000 of General Lu Han's Chinese soldiers occupied north Vietnam starting August 1945. 90,000 arrived by October, the 62nd army came on 26 September to Nam Dinh and Haiphong , later arriving at Lang Son and Cao Bang and
10413-674: The first American dead of the Vietnam War. The "2d Liberation Battalion" ambushed two companies of South Vietnamese soldiers in September 1959, the first large unit military action of the war. This was considered the beginning of the "armed struggle" in communist accounts. A series of uprisings beginning in the Mekong Delta province of Bến Tre in January 1960 created "liberated zones", models of VC-style government. Propagandists celebrated their creation of battalions of "long-hair troops" (women). The fiery declarations of 1959 were followed by
10530-566: The first VC front, was founded in 1954 to provide leadership for this group. Other front names used by the VC in the 1950s implied that members were fighting for religious causes, for example, "Executive Committee of the Fatherland Front", which suggested affiliation with the Hòa Hảo sect, or "Vietnam-Cambodia Buddhist Association". Front groups were favored by the VC to such an extent that its real leadership remained shadowy until long after
10647-548: The government of South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) under President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu . Delegates of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam (NLF/Viet Cong), as well as several smaller groups, participated in its creation. The PRG was recognized as the government of South Vietnam by most socialist states and Malta . It signed the 1973 Paris Peace Treaty as an independent entity, de jure separate from both South Vietnam and North Vietnam. After
10764-560: The group as the " Liberation Army of South Vietnam " ( Quân Giải phóng Miền Nam Việt Nam ) . By the terms of the Geneva Accord (1954) , which ended the Indochina War , France and the Viet Minh agreed to a truce and to a separation of forces. The Viet Minh had become the government of North Vietnam, and military forces of the communists regrouped there. Military forces of the non-communists regrouped in South Vietnam , which became
10881-517: The inner workings of the VC. COSVN retreated to Mimot in Cambodia . As a result of an agreement with the Cambodian government made in 1966, weapons for the Viet Cong were shipped to the Cambodian port of Sihanoukville and then trucked to VC bases near the border along the " Sihanouk Trail ", which replaced the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Many VC units operated at night, and employed terror as a standard tactic. Rice procured at gunpoint sustained
10998-488: The key cadre in the financial division. Under torture, Ba Tra identified more figures in the underground, who were then arrested. By 1967, the entire Saigon organization had been sent further underground. In early 1969, the then-new American president, Richard Nixon , started a process of Vietnamization to allow the American Armed Forces to withdraw from South Vietnam. On 8 June 1969 delegates from
11115-497: The late 1950s and early 1960s. The VC called for the unification of Vietnam and the overthrow of the American-backed South Vietnamese government. The VC's best-known action was the Tet Offensive , an assault on more than 100 South Vietnamese urban centers in 1968, including an attack on the U.S. embassy in Saigon . The offensive riveted the attention of the world's media for weeks, but also overextended
11232-545: The memoirs of Trà, the VC's top commander and PRG defense minister, he followed orders issued by the "Military Commission of the Party Central Committee" in Hanoi, which in turn implemented resolutions of the Politburo. Trà himself was deputy chief of staff for the PAVN before being assigned to the South. The official Vietnamese history of the war states that "The Liberation Army of South Vietnam [Viet Cong]
11349-401: The military and political results of the 1968 Tet Offensive and related military offensives in the South by Saigon and America, in which the Vietcong suffered serious military losses, the PRG was envisioned as a political counter-force that could influence international public opinion in support of reunification and in opposition to the United States and South Vietnam. The declared purpose of
11466-641: The new Việt Minh-led government in Hanoi . On September 2, aboard USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, CEFEO Expeditionary Corps leader General Leclerc signed the armistice with Japan on behalf of France. The same day, Hồ Chí Minh declared Vietnam's independence from France. Deliberately echoing the American Declaration of Independence, he proclaimed: We hold the truth that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, among them life, liberty and
11583-435: The north were causing problems for the non-communist members of the PRG. One member in particular, Ba Cap, harshly denounced most of the PRG as bourgeois . Tạng complained to the higher members of the DRV government, but was rebuffed. Tạng later saw this as the point when the PRG turned from being an independent South Vietnam-based alternative government to being a mouthpiece for the communist movement. The central bodies of
11700-545: The official media increased, suggesting that he was again top leader and had regained the upper hand in his longstanding rivalry with Trường Chinh. After the overthrow of Prince Sihanouk in March 1970, the VC faced a hostile Cambodian government which authorized a U.S. offensive against its bases in April. However, the capture of the Plain of Jars and other territory in Laos, as well as five provinces in northeastern Cambodia, allowed
11817-520: The only law enforcement, the Imperial Japanese Army remained in power, keeping French colonial troops and Sainteny detained, to the benefit of the developing Vietnamese nationalist forces. The Viet Minh claimed that they, alongside Meo ( Hmong ) and Muong tribesmen, subdued the Japanese in a nationwide rebellion from 9 March to 19 August 1945, taking control of 6 provinces, although some of these claims are contested. Beginning with
11934-432: The pattern of rising violence and concluded that a new war had begun. The Communist Party of Vietnam approved a "people's war" on the South at a session in January 1959 and this decision was confirmed by the Politburo in March. In May 1959, Group 559 was established to maintain and upgrade the Ho Chi Minh trail , at this time a six-month mountain trek through Laos. About 500 of the "regroupees" of 1954 were sent south on
12051-498: The period 1969–70, most of the PRG's cabinet ministries operated near the Cambodian border. Starting on 29 March to late April 1970, the US and South Vietnamese offensives forced the PRG to flee deeper into Cambodia . The stressful escape caused many of the PRG officials (such as Trương Như Tạng) to need extensive medical furloughs . After Trương Như Tạng returned, he noticed that new cadres from
12168-516: The principles of the Atlantic Charter with the aim of eventually preparing Vietnam for independence. Ho Chi Minh sent a cable on 17 October 1945 to American President Harry S. Truman calling on him, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, Premier Joseph Stalin and Prime Minister Clement Attlee to go to the United Nations against France and demand that they not be allowed to return to occupy Vietnam, accusing France of having sold out and cheated
12285-581: The protests of the non-communist PRG members including Tạng. Without consulting the PRG, North Vietnamese leaders decided to rapidly dissolve the PRG at a party meeting in August 1975. North and South were merged as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in July 1976 and the PRG was dissolved. The VC was merged with the Vietnamese Fatherland Front on February 4, 1977. Activists opposing American involvement in Vietnam said that
12402-555: The pursuit of happiness. Ho Chi Minh denounced the reimposition of French rule, accusing the French of selling out the Vietnamese to the Japanese twice in four years. On 13 September 1945, a Franco -British task force landed in Java , main island of the Dutch East Indies (for which independence was being sought by Sukarno ), and Saigon, capital of Cochinchina (southern part of French Indochina), both being occupied by
12519-501: The ruler of a newly established State of Vietnam . The first few years of the war involved a low-level rural insurgency against the French. During 1950 the conflict to a considerable extent turned into a conventional war between two armies equipped with modern weapons, with the French supplied by the United States, and the Việt Minh supplied by the Soviet Union and a newly communist China. Guerrilla warfare continued to occur in large areas. French Union forces included colonial troops from
12636-584: The trail during its first year of operation. The first arms delivery via the trail, a few dozen rifles, was completed in August 1959. Two regional command centers were merged to create the Central Office for South Vietnam ( Trung ương Cục miền Nam ), a unified communist party headquarters for the South. COSVN was initially located in Tây Ninh Province near the Cambodian border. On July 8, the VC killed two U.S. military advisors at Biên Hòa ,
12753-555: The war was over, prompting the expression "the faceless Viet Cong". Led by Ngô Đình Diệm , South Vietnam refused to sign the Geneva Accord. Arguing that a free election was impossible under the conditions that existed in communist-held territory, Diệm announced in July 1955 that the scheduled election on reunification would not be held. After subduing the Bình Xuyên organized crime gang in the Battle for Saigon in 1955, and
12870-464: Was a high-water mark for the VC, with the Saigon government on the verge of collapse. Soviet aid soared following a visit to Hanoi by Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin in February 1965. Hanoi was soon receiving up-to-date surface-to-air missiles. The U.S. would have 200,000 soldiers in South Vietnam by the end of the year. In January 1966, Australian troops uncovered a tunnel complex that had been used by COSVN. Six thousand documents were captured, revealing
12987-425: Was conditional on winning international support and on modernizing the army, which was expected to take at least until 1959. President Hồ Chí Minh stressed that violence was still a last resort. Nguyễn Hữu Xuyên was assigned military command in the South, replacing Lê Duẩn, who was appointed North Vietnam's acting party boss. This represented a loss of power for Hồ, who preferred the more moderate Võ Nguyên Giáp , who
13104-484: Was defense minister. An assassination campaign, referred to as "extermination of traitors" or "armed propaganda" in communist literature, began in April 1957. Tales of sensational murder and mayhem soon crowded the headlines. Seventeen civilians were killed by machine gun fire at a bar in Châu Đốc in July and in September a district chief was killed with his entire family on a main highway in broad daylight. In October 1957,
13221-750: Was inspired to commence the Viet Nam Quang Phục Hội movement in Guangzhou . From 1914 to 1917, he was imprisoned by Yuan Shikai 's counterrevolutionary government. In 1925, he was captured by French agents in Shanghai and spirited to Vietnam. Due to his popularity, Châu was spared from execution and placed under house arrest until his death in 1940. In September 1940, the Empire of Japan launched its invasion of French Indochina , parallel with its ally Germany's conquest of metropolitan France . Keeping
13338-535: Was moved back to South Vietnam following the Easter Offensive.) The Ho Chi Minh Trail, beginning as a series of treacherous mountain tracks at the start of the war, was upgraded throughout the war, first into a road network driveable by trucks in the dry season, and finally, into paved, all-weather roads that could be used year-round, even during the monsoon . Between the beginning of 1974 and April 1975, with now-excellent roads and no fear of air interdiction,
13455-592: Was signed between Japan and the United States on 20 August. The Provisional Government of the French Republic wanted to restore its colonial rule in French Indochina as the final step of the Liberation of France . On 22 August, OSS agents Archimedes Patti and Carleton B. Swift Jr. arrived in Hanoi on a mercy mission to liberate Allied POWs, accompanied by French official Jean Sainteny . As
13572-472: Was undertaken in the hope of triggering a general uprising, but urban Vietnamese did not respond as the VC anticipated. About 75,000 VC/PAVN soldiers were killed or wounded, according to Trần Văn Trà , commander of the "B-2" district, which consisted of southern South Vietnam. "We did not base ourselves on scientific calculation or a careful weighing of all factors, but...on an illusion based on our subjective desires", Trà concluded. Earle G. Wheeler , chairman of
13689-467: Was violating the Geneva Accord, the independence of the VC was stressed in communist propaganda. The VC created the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam in December 1960 at Tân Lập village in Tây Ninh as a " united front ", or political branch intended to encourage the participation of non-communists. The group's formation was announced by Radio Hanoi and its ten-point manifesto called for, "overthrow
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