Effects on Surrounding Countries
During the war the countries surrounding Vietnam were affected by the war, by both capitalism and communism. North Vietnam has been trying to influence communism in those countries for a while and when the US showed up with the example of capitalism and having things for themselves instead of rationing like with communism, they decided against communism. Laos and Cambodia, affected by the war were also invaded by both sides and bombed by the Americans which the effects of are still visible today (Llewellyn). The North Vietnamese had a foothold on the eastern part of Cambodia during the war(Boenisch). The Cambodian Campaign was an American offensive against the North Vietnamese footholds along the eastern border of Cambodia. The NV had taken the eastern part of Cambodia and had a circle around the capital. Cambodia had sent a request to multiple countries for aid, including the US. In 1970, the US along with the SV invaded the NV occupied region of Cambodia. They attacked the sanctuaries that the NV used for frequent raids into South Vietnam (Boenisch). The NVA and Vietcong were overwhelmed with air and ground forces and the US and SV pushed them out of their footholds on the SV-Cambodian border (Boenisch). While in the late 1965 in country of Lao, it was being taken over by a communist party within it called Pathet Lao (Jennifer Llewellyn). Soon they gave the U.S in South Vietnam consent to bomb places in their country were the insurgents where. This lasted for over three years involving 100,000 bombing runs within Lao, sadly through 1968 a succession of advances from the NVA and Pathet Lao cut the royal army of Lao down to a thousand men (Jennifer Llewellyn). Which caused much of Northern Lao to be controlled by the Pathet Lao and North Vietnamese, an intensification of the bombing by the U.S did slow down the advance of the two parties. However when the U.S withdrew from 1973 the new Pathet Lao with greater numbers and weaponry than before started to advance further south into Lao (Jennifer Liewellyn). Then in April 1975 the North Vietnamese Army occupied Saigon and the Pathet Lao was marching on to the capital, by December Lao’s government was soon replaced with communism (Jennifer Liewellyn).
- Matt & Harrison
- Matt & Harrison
Effects on Vietnam
North Vietnam
As a result of the Vietnam war, North Vietnam was most affected by the US and it’s involvement in bombing North Vietnam. After the Gulf of Tonkin incident, marked The US’s involvement in the war. The first real attack of the North Vietnamese by the United States was when they started to drop bombs from the B-52 bomber planes. More bombs were dropped on Vietnam than any other target in human history. The magnitude of the bombings destroyed North Vietnam, and it’s morale, causing massive devastation of the land of North Vietnam (Trueman). Operations such as Rolling Thunder, Linebacker I, and Linebacker II also known as “The Christmas Bombings” bombed key targets in North Vietnam. Between 1965 and 1973 the United States dropped 8 million tons of bombs on Vietnam(Trueman) and by the end of the war there was an estimated 1.1 million North Vietnamese casualties. After the Paris peace talks in 1973, Nixon warned North Vietnam of what would happen if they attacked again. The North Vietnamese however were terrified of Nixon and thought he was a madman. They feared that he would bring back American air power and destroy them again. After Nixon resigned, the North Vietnamese attacked the South in 1975 violating the treaty and capturing Saigon. After the fall of Saigon, the North Vietnamese started to operate “re-education” camps (Rexy). They captured millions of people in South Vietnam and forced them to do extremely harsh works (Rexy). These actions caused a lot of tension between the North and South Vietnamese people which for some, are still relevant today. It was a reason that so many of the South Vietnamese people tried to flee after the fall of Saigon. The following year, Vietnam was unified as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. - Matt US Air Force Photo from The National Museum of the US Air Force
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South Vietnam
During the Vietnam war, South Vietnam was extremely affected by this fight both in the beginning and also the aftereffects of it. To start, most battles fought in the war was in South Vietnam and as the U.S started to become more involved, 2,000,000 troops were within the border of South Vietnam. But as the war started to come to a close the US began to have peace talks in paris with the North Vietnamese. Nixon stated how the U.S would attack with full force if North Vietnam attacked again. and then on Jan. 1973 the war officially ended. However on March 10, 1975 the NVA army launched a major offensive and invaded South Vietnam, the vietnamese people were waiting for the U.S, however they never came to help and did not honor their promise. After that, the South Vietnamese felt cheated on, betrayed, lied to, angry, and depressed that the U.S would not be helping them in their time of need. As the NVA began to take over South Vietnam they began to kill all South Vietnam teachers, politicians, people who helped the U.S, and soldiers of the SVA (Kevin McAlester). Also during the invasion, the NLF ( National Liberation Front ) punished any South Vietnamese villages who did not agree to help them. To make matters worse “Agent Orange” began to have serious side effects on people, mostly causing birth defects by damaging the Chromosomes of the fetus, some even died at birth (Chris Truman). In summary, since the beginning of the war South Vietnam has been affected drastically by it, changing the South from what it once was to what it now is. - Harrison South Vietnamese troops fill every available space on a ship evacuating them from Thuan An beach, near Hue, to Da Nang as Communist troops advanced in March, 1975. (AP Photo/Cung)
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