Vietnam: The Outbreak

Vietnam: The Outbreak

WARNING: GRAPHIC

The picture above shows a napalm bomb hitting civilians. Napalm bombs were used by the U.S. to clear forests and attack
Viet Kong forces. When napalm came in contact with clothes or skin, it would burn the victim and not come out. 

The picture above shows the bodies form the My Lai Massacre. The My Lai Massacre was an even in which U.S. soldiers
snapped and attacked a village, burning down homes and slaughtering everyone. Of the thirteen solders, only one person was
sentenced to prison, and was there for only two days. 

The picture above is the map of Vietnam before
the war. Vietnam was split at the 37th parallel.
The Viet Kong used Laos and Cambodia to filter
goods into Sough Vietnam for rebels.

The Outbreak

Vietnam was split into two parts after the Geneva Accord, similar to Korea in WWII. The northern half was given to the Soviet Union, while the southern half was given to the U.S. While the U.S.S.R. gave their power to Ho Chi Minh, while the southern election gave Diem a chance to rise to power. Diem and his brother, who ran the secret service, ran the southern half with an iron fist. The U.S. disagreed with his type of rule, and let an assassination plot usurp Diem. With Diem's regime terrorized Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh invaded south Vietnam, planning to unite Vietnam once again.

U.S. Involvement in the War

this is a propaganda poster from North Vietnam.
It states that "The Vietnamese people must resist the
American aggressor".Many North Vietnamese saw the U.S.
as an oppressor of South Vietnam.

The U.S. was occupying South Vietnam with thousands of 'military advisers' 'advising' Diem and his regime. The North Vietnamese army began to try and invade South Vietnam, trying to reunite Vietnam once again. After an 'incident' in the Gulf on Tongkin, Lyndon B Johnson had full power to use U.S. troops in Vietnam. With these troops, Lyndon fought the Viet Kong  with the might of the U.S. military. Because of the high temperatures and humidity, all soldiers were required to take salt tablets, otherwise they could not sweat. President Johnson allowed an experiment take place with the soldiers, giving many of them heroin to see the stages of addiction. However, after returning from the war most of the soldiers went drug free for the rest of their lives. 

Setting

The picture above shows the mountainous terrain the  U.S.
soldiers had to deal with. Many soldiers had to deal with always
being in contact with water. This would lead to 'jungle rot'.

Vietnam is not a place U.S. soldiers had ever experienced before. The land was very mountainous, making it hard to use transportation to move soldiers quickly. The monsoon season took up half of the year, flooding most of Vietnam. The hot temperatures and high humidity combined made the region quite inhospitable for people wearing full armor, requiring many soldiers to take salt tablets to keep sweating. The entirety of Vietnam was covered in rain forest, raining as many as 5 times a day. the forestry was so awful that it was near impossible to see the ground, 10 feet in front of you, or sometimes even the sky. 

The picture above shows the valley-like terrain of Vietnam. Most of the conflicts happened on similar terrain,
causing a hard time to tell where you are being shot from. The constant downpour also made it easy to slip and fall down
the valley. 

On the Home-front

The college student above are protesting the war in Vietnam.
The students are liking arms, probably facing U.S. MP's in front
of them. They are chanting something together. 

Many college student disagreed with the war. Plenty of protests took place in college, protesting the war and U.S. involvement. Many protesters were shot after assaulting the police trying to withhold the mob. Most of the mobs were college students- people with nothing to lose. While many dodged the draft, others looked at other ways to avoid going to Vietnam. Some of the examples were temporarily immigrating to Canada, creating a community away from society, and moving away from the U.S. Even if the soldiers were drafted,many people hated them. When soldiers returned, they returned to hordes calling them awful people and spitting on them. 

The end of the War

Ho Chi Minh, on the left, plans an attack strategy with his general
Vo Nguyen Giap, who is on the right. Many conferences like this
combined the forces of the Viet Kong for the Tet Offensive. The Tet
Offensive was an invasion of Vietnam during an agreed peace time.

With the mass unpopularity of the Vietnam war,
many posters similar to this one were posted in colleges.
While many just said to stay out, some called for violent action
against soldiers from the war. The one above says that Vietnam
will be the death of America.

With the mass civil upset across the United States, The U.S. joined with Ho Chi Minh to discuss U.S. withdrawal. An agreement was reached: The U.S. would begin to withdraw troops if the Viet kong would restrict their invading forces to 70,000 troops. When the U.S. began to pull troops, South Vietnamese people were not happy. Many tried to get their children sent to the U.S., believing they would have a happier life there than under Viet Kong Rule. Two weeks after the U.S. fully withdrew from Vietnam, Saigon was captured by Viet Kong forces.

This picture shows U.S. forces getting on a warship and retreating from Vietnam. While on the retreat, many Vietnamese people tried to smuggle their children onto ships and helicopters, hoping their children would have a happy life in America.  However, most Vietnamese who approached U.S. soldiers were shot.