Reg Grant - The Vietnam War

E-book published in 2012 by Encyclopdia Britannica, Inc., in association with Arcturus Publishing Limited, 26/27 Bickels Yard, 151-153 Bermondsey Street, London, SE1 3HA. Britannica, Encyclopdia Britannica, and the Thistle logo are registered trademarks of Encyclopdia Britannica, Inc.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Grant, Reg G.
The Vietnam War / by Reg Grant.
p. cm. (Atlas of conflicts)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents: The first Indochina war More U.S. involvement Search and destroy: 1965-1967 A turning point: 1968 Vietnamization: 1969-1971 Easter offensive to Christmas bombing Communism triumphs Aftermath.
ISBN 978-1-61535-602-7 (e-book)
1. Vietnamese Conflict, 1961-1975Juvenile literature. [1. Vietnamese Conflict, 1961-1975 Maps for children.] I. Title. II. Series.
DS557.7.G7 2004
959.7043dc22

2004045160

This North American edition first published in 2005 by
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This U.S. edition copyright 2005 by World Almanac Library.
Original edition copyright 2004 by Arcturus Publishing Limited.
Additional end matter copyright 2005 by World Almanac Library.

Produced by Arcturus Publishing Limited.
Series concept: Alex Woolf
Editor: Philip de Ste. Croix
Designer: Simon Burrough
Cartography: The Map Studio
Consultant: Paul Cornish, Imperial War Museum, London
Picture researcher: Thomas Mitchell

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Japanese troops move into Vietnam in July 1941, beginning their four-year occupation of the country. At the time, Vietnam was part of French Indochina, a French colony.

V ietnam is a communist country in southeast Asia with a population of about 80 million. Its recorded history stretches back more than 2,000 years. In the second half of the nineteenth century, at a time when European countries were extending their rule over much of Asia and Africa, the French made Vietnam part of French Indochina. This French colony also included Vietnams neighbors, Cambodia and Laos.

From the start, Vietnamese nationalists opposed French rule, but the French colonial authorities harshly repressed all opposition. In the early decades of the twentieth century, many nationalists took refuge abroad. One such nationalist was Ho Chi Minh, the son of a Vietnamese official. In 1920, while living in France, Ho became a communist. From then on, he dedicated his life to two goals: achieving national independence for Vietnam and establishing a communist society in which private ownership of industry and land would be abolished.

The French remained firmly in control of Indochina until World War II (193945). Early in the war, Germany invaded and occupied France. As a result, France was in no position to aid its colonists in Indochina when they came under pressure from Japan, an ally of Germany in the war and a rising power in Asia. In 1941, the French colonial authorities were forced to allow Japanese troops to occupy Indochina. Although the Japanese left the French officially in control, they effectively ruled the colony.

NATIONALIST OR COMMUNIST?

Tran Ngoc Danh, a colleague of Viet Minh leader Ho Chi Minh, wrote:

How many times in my life have I been asked: you who know Ho Chi Minh so well, can you say whether he is a nationalist or a communist? The answer is simple: Ho Chi Minh is both. For him, nationalism and communism, the end and the means, complement one another

Quoted in Historical
Atlas of the Vietnam War,
Summers and Karnow

In the same year, Ho Chi Minh and other Vietnamese nationalists founded a guerrilla organization to fight both the Japanese and the French. They called it the Vietnam Doc Lap Dong Minh Hoi (League for the Independence of Vietnam), or Viet Minh for short. The leaders of the Viet Minh, including Ho and the organizations chief military commander, Vo Nguyen Giap, were communists. As the name of the guerrillas suggests, however, they appealed above all to the Vietnamese desire for national independence.

In the early 1950s, French Indochina bordered an area of Asia that was largely under communist rule. The United States considered Indochina to be in the front line of its fight against the spread of communism.

During World War II, the Viet Minh received support from the United States, which had been at war with Japan since December of 1941. Hos guerrillas fought the Japanese with increasing success and won control of large areas of northern Vietnam. In March 1945, the Japanese abolished French rule in Indochina, but the following August Japan surrendered to the United States and its allies. This surrender left a power vacuum in Vietnam that the Viet Minh were quick to exploit. On September 2, 1945, in the northern city of Hanoi, Ho declared Vietnam independent under a Viet Minh government. In the southern city of Saigon, however, which was occupied by British troops, the French regained control.

General Vo Nguyen Giap commanded the Viet Minh forces during the First Indochina War. This picture of Giap is from 1966, when he was North Vietnams Minister of Defense.

At first, the two sides reached a compromise. In March 1946, the Viet Minh and the French agreed that Vietnam would be a Free State within the French empire. But the following November, fighting broke out between the French and the Viet Minh, first in the northern port city of Haiphong and then in Hanoi. The Viet Minh army withdrew from these cities to the countryside, where they launched a guerrilla war against the French.

Viet Minh guerrillas cross an improvised bridge during their struggle against the French in 1953. Traveling almost entirely on foot in Vietnams rough terrain, the Viet Minh were formidable fighters.