Nanyang Junior College

Shaping the International Order (1945-2000)

Understanding the Cold War, 1945-1991. Lecture 8 – Vietnam War and Its Consequences

Lecture Content
The Vietnam War and Its Consequences
A. Key events leading up to the Vietnam War
B. Vietnam Partitioned – The Geneva Convention
C. Escalation of American Involvement
D. The Gulf of Tonkin Incident and Its Effects
E. The Domino Theory
F. Chinese and Soviet Responses
G. The Tet Offensive
H. American Withdrawal
I. Consequences of the Vietnam War on the USA
J. Consequences of the Vietnam War on the Cold War

A. KEY EVENTS LEADING UP TO THE VIETNAM WAR

By early 1945, Japanese-occupied Vietnam descended into chaos with famine in Tonkin and Annam (northern
and central Vietnam respectively). By the time World War II ended on 15 August 1945, the stage was set for the
August Revolution of the communist Vietminh. The Vietminh leadership gathered at Pac Bo near the Sino-
Vietnamese border and was joined there by Ho Chi Minh. Ho was a skilled leader and he would prove to be
brilliant and he was hugely a popular political leader. The Vietminh devised a strategy for its cadres and forces
to seize power by the end of the war, and within days of the Japanese surrender, they managed to take control of
most of northern and central Vietnam. They were less successful in the south where they were found opposed
by political and religious forces. Nevertheless, Ho unilaterally declared reunification and independence on 2
September 1945 in Hanoi.

Vietnam however remained divided as the Allies appointed Chinese Nationalist forces to replace the Japanese in
the North. In the South, British and Indian forces took control and they began to rearm the French soldiers who
eventually managed to consolidate their power there by late 1945. Faced with French reoccupation of his
country, Ho’s government started to negotiate with the French in 1946. However, by December 1946, fighting
broke out between them. In 1947, the French, fighting a conventional war appeared to have controlled all the
strategic positions and the Vietminh was forced to fight a guerrilla warfare. This was known as the First
Indochina War (1946-1954).

Ho consistently tried to maintain good relations with both the Soviet Union and Chinese Communists, mainly
for the aid they could offer him. However, he had always wanted his own revolutionary path in Vietnam. This
led to the turning point in 1950, where the newly-established Communist government in China and then the
USSR began to assist the Vietminh with arms and other military material. This precipitated direct American aid
for the French worth USD 15 million. However, the French were beginning to be weary of the inconclusive
conflict and the fall of the French garrison at Dien Bien Phu in May 1954 was a brilliant victory for Vietminh’s
military strategist, General Vo Nguyen Giap. More than 40 000 Vietminh soldiers laid siege to the garrison and
they used Chinese artillery to shell the airstrip. Totally cut off, the French were forced to surrender. This
signalled the failure of France’s attempt to retain Vietnam as its colony.

Theme 1: Understanding the Cold War, 1945 – 1991 1

Nanyang Junior College
Shaping the International Order (1945-2000)
Understanding the Cold War, 1945-1991. Lecture 8 – Vietnam War and Its Consequences

Key Parties in the Vietnam War

1. Communist Party of Vietnam, Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV, North Vietnam)

2. National Liberation Front, Provisional Revolutionary Government (NLF, South Vietnamese revolutionary
side)
3. Republic of Vietnam (RVN, South Vietnamese government)

Periodisation of the Vietnam War

1. 1954 – 1959: Political and military build up

2. 1959 – 1963: Beginnings of insurgency and first combat
3. 1964 – 1973: Period of heavy American combat involvement and bombings
4. 1973 – 1975: North Vietnamese v South Vietnamese

B. VIETNAM PARTITIONED – THE GENEVA CONVENTION

In 1954, delegates from nine nations convened in Geneva to start negotiations that would result in Vietnam
being split at the 17th Parallel. The North became known as the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV). It was
governed by Ho’s communist government. The non-communist South became known as the State of Vietnam. It
was by Bao Dai, who had abdicated as emperor in 1945.

Ho’s forces settled for partition because the Geneva Convention had also provisioned for national elections to be
held in the whole of Vietnam in 1956. However, neither Bao Dai nor the USA accepted the outcome of the
Convention. The elections never took place and as the French withdrew from Vietnam, the Americans backed
Ngo Dinh Diem, who was Catholic and staunchly anti-communist, as Prime Minister under Bao Dai. In 1955,
Diem won a referendum to decide if he or Bao Dai should head the South. Bao Dai subsequently left South
Vietnam and Diem declared himself as the President of the Republic of Vietnam (RVN). In 1956, the United
States started to train South Vietnamese forces after they assumed responsibility from the departing French
forces.

Think: Why was Ho Chi Minh willing to accept the division of Vietnam, but not Bao Dai and the United
States?

In the North, the DRV government gained popularity as they appealed to long-cherished community values but
in the South, Diem’s government never was genuinely popular in the politically and religiously fragmented
South. His indifference to social and economic problems left the South resentful of his government. By 1959, the
DRV government, sponsored a new Vietminh-style front organisation for the South. This was the National
Liberation Front (NLF) – called “Vietcong” by its opponents. The NLF appealed to Vietnamese patriotism and
morality and they promised to oust American influence and to set up a fair and honest government.

C. ESCALATION OF AMERICAN INVOLVEMENT

By the early 1960s, NLF forces were in command of wide areas of South Vietnam’s countryside and they had
won sympathisers from all levels of society. United States President John Kennedy was alarmed by the rapid
spread of communism in the RVN. Hence, he stepped up aid and sent 17,500 military “advisers” to assist Diem
by 1963. However, Diem’s authoritarian and corrupt rule was increasingly unpopular among the people of

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Nanyang Junior College
Shaping the International Order (1945-2000)
Understanding the Cold War, 1945-1991. Lecture 8 – Vietnam War and Its Consequences

South Vietnam. For example, Buddhist monks, who were well respected in the predominantly Buddhist country,
started burning themselves in protest of Diem’s regime. This startled the world. American Vice President
Lyndon Johnson toured Saigon and he visited Diem. Johnson reassured Diem that he was crucial to American
objectives and even praised him as the “Churchill of Asia”. Nonetheless, Diem was subsequently murdered in
1963 as plotters within the South Vietnamese military decided that he had to go.

Diem’s assassination destabilised South Vietnam and encouraged the NLF to increase its activities in the
country. In response, the United States Air Force started to use Agent Orange which was defoliants packed in
orange barrels used to mark trails used by the NLF. Although Agent Orange was targeted at the NLF, it caused
severe deformities amongst the Vietnamese population in the decades to come.

Think: To what extent was the United States justified in using Agent Orange and other forms of chemical
weapons during the Vietnam War?

In 1963, Kennedy was assassinated and Johnson succeeded him. Under Johnson’s leadership, the United States
escalated its involvement in Vietnam by confronting the NLF directly.

D. THE GULF OF TONKIN INCIDENT AND ITS EFFECTS

Johnson was elected in 1964 after a landslide victory against Republican Barry Goldwater. During Johnson’s
election campaign, he appeared to be leaning towards de-escalation of American involvement in Vietnam.
However, he made a U-turn in his stance after winning the election.

On 2 August 1964, three North Vietnamese patrol boats allegedly fired torpedoes at USS Maddox, located in
international waters in the Gulf of Tonkin. This attack came after six months of covert American and South
Vietnamese naval operations. A second but highly disputed attack, came two days later. The United States
Congress approved Johnson to “take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against forces of the US
and to prevent further aggression.” This allowed Johnson to wage war against North Vietnam by sending
combat soldiers, not merely military “advisors”, to Vietnam.

Think: Historians have disagreed on the starting date of the Vietnam War. To what extent could the Gulf of
Tonkin Incident be seen as the start of the Vietnam War?

In February 1965, the NLF attacked an American military airfield at Pleiku. In response, Johnson ordered the
United States Air Force to start bombing targets in South and North Vietnam. In what was known as Operation
Rolling Thunder, this marked the start of nearly continuous air raids for the next three years. Widespread use of
napalm, which was another chemical weapon, was a key characteristic of the air raids. In March 1965, the 9 th
Marine Expeditionary Brigade arrived in Danang and they were tasked to defend the American airfield there. In
response, the North Vietnamese forces increased infiltration into the South, and guerrilla warfare frustrated and
awed American officials.

E. THE DOMINO THEORY

American policy makers declared it was essential to stand firm in Vietnam in order to demonstrate the USA’s
determination to defend its vital interests not only in the region but around the world. They wanted American
allies to be convinced of Washington’s commitment to defending them, while adversaries would not be

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Nanyang Junior College
Shaping the International Order (1945-2000)
Understanding the Cold War, 1945-1991. Lecture 8 – Vietnam War and Its Consequences

emboldened to challenge American interests worldwide. This made Vietnam a “show case” of Washington’s
willingness and ability to exert its power on the international stage, in the process establishing its credibility.
Even though the Sino- Soviet Split by the mid-1960s had seriously affected the strategic balance of the Cold War,
it did not lessen the importance of the credibility imperative that the Americans imposed upon themselves.
Johnson wanted to ensure the survival of a non-communist Saigon in order to send a powerful message to
Moscow and Beijing that indirect aggression could not succeed.

F. CHINESE AND SOVIET RESPONSES

China and the USSR started to raise their aid to the DRV, which in turn raised their commitment to the NLF.
However, both Beijing and Moscow urged Hanoi to progress slowly in their escalation of fighting against the
South, as neither Communist giant was keen to see an Americanised war in Vietnam. North Vietnamese
Premier’s response to Chinese leader Mao Zedong in 1964 was: “If the US dares to start a [larger] war, we will
fight it, and we will win it. But it would be better it did not come to that.”

Beijing appeared to be the more hostile and aggressive of the two Communist powers, the more deeply
committed to global revolution. The Soviets also supported Hanoi and any slackening of American commitment
would lead to an increase in Soviet adventurism. As a result, the USA increased the number of troops to a peak
of 525 000 by 1967. The United States’ major allies in Western Europe remained indifferent throughout the
conflict, even though there was some support from Australia and New Zealand.

Think: Why do you think both the Soviet Union and China were committed to helping North Vietnam? On the
other hand, why were the United States’ allies largely unwilling to assist South Vietnam?

G. THE TET OFFENSIVE

During Tet, which was the Vietnamese New Year, on 30 January 1968, NLF and DRV forces launched a massive
offensive throughout South Vietnam. Their attack was repelled by USA and RVN forces, but the strength and
planning of the attack shocked the Johnson administration. The American people were also alarmed by the Tet
Offensive and the heavy civilian death toll as they were led by their government to believe that the war was
being won. Popular anti-war protests erupted throughout the United States, and public pressure increased on
the government to end the war.

Furthermore, news of atrocities committed by American troops, such as the My Lai Massacre in March 1968,
reached sent shockwaves throughout the United States. It should be noted that several atrocities were
committed by all three sides: the USA, the DRV and the RVN. This further caused President Johnson’s domestic
popularity to drop and he announced that he would not be running for re-election. New President Richard
Nixon, who was elected in November 1968, and his special adviser, Henry Kissinger had to find other strategies
on the American campaign in Vietnam.

Think: To what extent was the Tet Offensive a turning point in the Vietnam War?

Nixon and Kissinger pursued what became known as the Vietnamisation of the war. The United States reduced
its troop levels and encouraged South Vietnam with ever-increasing aid to them. Nixon hoped that this would
quiet domestic opposition and advance peace talks that were underway in Paris. While Nixon was trying to
reduce American troop levels, he simultaneously intensified the bombing of North Vietnam and parts of Laos

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Nanyang Junior College
Shaping the International Order (1945-2000)
Understanding the Cold War, 1945-1991. Lecture 8 – Vietnam War and Its Consequences

and Cambodia, hoping to push Hanoi into concessions. The DRV refused to buckle and the USA increased its
bombings. Nixon announced to the world that he would not allow “the world’s most powerful nation” to act
“like a pitiful, helpless giant.” Meanwhile, Ho Chi Minh died at the age of 79 in 1969.

Think: How successful was Nixon’s Vietnamisation policy?

H. AMERICAN WITHDRAWAL

Vietnamisation became the centrepiece of Nixon’s policy in Vietnam. Although American military involvement
in Vietnam continued through 1972, the American population was tired and weary of the war. By 1973, the
armed forces of South Vietnam, which had gradually taken over most of the fighting from the United States,
numbered 1.1 million soldiers. This was half of the country’s male population between the ages 18 and 35.

On the diplomatic front, Nixon instructed Kissinger to make concessions during the peace negotiations in Paris
as he was eager to improve relations with the USSR and China, and to restore stability at home. In January 1973,
a ceasefire agreement, known as the Paris Peace Accords, was signed among the USA, the RVN, the DRV, and
the pro-DRV revolutionaries in South Vietnam. South Vietnam reluctantly agreed to it as the United States
threatened to cut aid. Although American troops would withdraw from Vietnam by March 1973, the United
States promised to defend the South if the North violated the agreement.

However, both North Vietnam and South Vietnam soon violated the Paris Peace Accords, and large scale
fighting resumed. The RVN government, at the start, possessed a numerical advantage in tanks and artillery.
However, it could not hold out against the invading DRV forces. With the defeat of South Vietnam imminent,
hundreds of Americans and South Vietnamese who worked for them were hastily evacuated from Saigon.
Anticipating the fall of Saigon to the North Vietnamese forces, United States President Gerald Ford, who
succeeded Nixon in 1974, announced that as far as the USA was concerned, the Vietnam War was “finished”. In
April 1975, the South Vietnamese government collapsed and Vietnam was reunified under a Communist
government in Hanoi. The country became known as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in 1976.

Think:
1. How far do you agree that the United States lost the Vietnam War?
2. What was the most important reason that led to the end of the Vietnam War?

I. CONSEQUENCES OF THE VIETNAM WAR ON THE USA

The United States wanted to prevent the Vietnamese “domino” from falling to communism, as they were afraid
that it would lead to other dominos to fall elsewhere in the region and the world. After the fall of Vietnam to
communism, neighbouring Cambodia and Laos also fell. On the contrary, outside of Indochina, other dominos
in Southeast Asia did not fall.

At the start of First Indochina War, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin had minimal interest in Indochina and he saw the
conflict there as a nuisance. American President Harry Truman did not vow to keep China from falling to
communism in 1949, and there was no significant alignment of countries towards the USSR anywhere in the
world after China turned communist. This was similar to Latin America, where Fidel Castro turning Cuba
socialist did not have much of an effect on its neighbouring countries. In essence, these conflicts did not
materialise the fears that the USA had about the “domino effect”.

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Nanyang Junior College
Shaping the International Order (1945-2000)
Understanding the Cold War, 1945-1991. Lecture 8 – Vietnam War and Its Consequences

The constant political rhetoric in Vietnam forced the French first, then the Americans into a political corner. The
United States had no choice but to carry out their promises to their European ally. The consequent economic and
political drain on the capitalist superpower forced it to back out of the war in an embarrassing and haphazard
manner. Several atrocities committed by American troops in Vietnam also made the USA lose its credibility as a
defender of freedom in the world. Furthermore, successive American administrations pledged to defend
Vietnam from communism, but they failed to achieve this objective. Domestically, the American public grew
tired of war and in the international arena, it was clear by the end of the Vietnam War that the USA’s credibility
was questioned.

J. CONSEQUENCES OF THE VIETNAM WAR ON THE COLD WAR

While Soviet and Chinese interests were present at the start of the Vietnam War, both communist powers were
not overly interested in Vietnam as there were other pressing issues present. By 1962, after the Cuban Missile
Crisis, the Sino-Soviet Split was clear and détente was in place. Hence the war did not alter Cold War dynamics
drastically.

China’s relations with the USA started to warm up after the Sino-Soviet Split was apparent. After the Vietnam
War, fears of the “domino effect” spreading within Indochina took a backseat and Cold War factors played a
more subdued role in the aftermath. The Vietnam War also did not severely alter the Cold War equilibrium as
détente between the USA and the USSR was ongoing. Instead, it was the actions of the Soviet Union in 1979,
where it invaded Afghanistan that caused this equilibrium to be upset. While the Korean War brought about the
rise in tensions and the brinkmanship that was associated with it and the Cuban Missile Crisis brought about the
age of détente, the Vietnam War comparatively did not alter the dynamics between the two superpowers as
radically, even though the scale of destruction and damage was far more severe than the other two Cold War
conflicts.

Think:
1. How significant about the Vietnam War?
2. Compare the Vietnam War with the Korean War and the Cuban Missile Crisis. Which event do you think
had the greatest impact on the Cold War? Why?
3. To what extent was the Vietnam War more of a Cold War conflict than a localised conflict?
4. What changed or did not change as a result of the Vietnam War? Was détente altered?

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