The Vietnam War (Chiến tranh Việt Nam), also known as the Second Indochina War or the Resistance War against the United States (Kháng chiến chống Mỹ), was a war between the United States, South Vietnam, and their allies and North Vietnam and their allies. It began shortly after the division of Vietnam in 1954 and lasted until the Liberation of Saigon on April 30, 1975.[1] The United States entered the war after the faked Gulf of Tonkin incident.[2] Overall, the war led to three million Vietnamese deaths.[3]
Background
Japan was defeated in the fall of 1945 and left Indochina. Vietnamese revolutionaries led by Ho Chi Minh declared independence from France and briefly united their country for the first time in modern history.[4] The First Indochina War was a struggle for independence between the Viet Minh and France. France was defeated at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954.
US war crimes
From 1967 to 1972, the CIA helped South Vietnam identify and kill suspected communist guerrillas. This was called the Phoenix Program and led to at least 26,000 deaths.
In March 1968, US soldiers killed at least 347 unarmed civilians in Sơn Mỹ village.[5] The soldiers who tried to stop the massacre were considered traitors by the other soldiers and U.S. congressmen.[6]
Chemical weapons
The USA, as part of Operation Ranch Hand, used Agent Orange, a chemical weapon, over vast areas of jungle in Vietnam. The government of Vietnam states that 4 million people were exposed to the agent most of whom suffered life long illnesses and some of whom suffered birth defects.
Agent Orange was produced by the Dow Chemical Company and the Monsanto Company, as well as others.
References
- ↑ Charles G. Boyd (1998). The Paris Agreement on Vietnam: Twenty-five Years Later. Washington, DC: The Nixon Center.
- ↑ Andrew Glass (2016-08-07). "Congress approves Gulf of Tonkin Resolution: Aug. 7, 1964" Politico. Retrieved 2022-01-05.
- ↑ Ziad Obermeyer, et al. (2008). Fifty years of violent war deaths from Vietnam to Bosnia: analysis of data from the world health survey programme. British Medical Journal. doi: 10.1136/bmj.a137 [HUB]
- ↑ Howard Zinn (1980). A People's History of the United States: 'The Impossible Victory: Vietnam' (pp. 438–439). [PDF] HarperCollins. ISBN 0060194480
- ↑ Susan Brownmiller (1975). Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape (pp. 103–05). Simon & Schuster. ISBN 9780671220624
- ↑ Hugh Thompson (2003). Moral Courage In Combat: The My Lai Story. [PDF] Center for the Study of Professional Military Ethics, United States Naval Academy.