Vietnam's history is, more than almost any nation's, a story of resistance. For a thousand years it was ruled by China; later it was colonised by France; and in the 20th century it became the centre of one of the most divisive wars in modern history — and won its independence at staggering cost. This course traces that long arc, and tries to tell it from more than one side. (It deepens our Southeast Asian history library.)You'll begin with the deep sweep — ancient Vietnam, a millennium under Chinese rule, the Vietnamese dynasties, and French colonisation. You'll then turn to the Vietnam War itself, hear it retold from the North Vietnamese perspective that Western accounts often leave out, and finish with the war's turbulent aftermath. Honest note: the Vietnam War is remembered very differently in Hanoi, in Washington and among the millions it displaced; this course deliberately includes more than one viewpoint and does not present a single 'correct' version.
[Music] the Vietnam War began in good faith by good people with good intentions but some two decades later it was all over for the Vietnamese it was not a war about communism it was a war for independence a war for Vietnam but a combination of American overconfidence Cold War tensions and imperialist tendencies the Americans had previously fought so hard against made the war in Vietnam one of America's darkest pages in its short but dense history by the end of the war more than 58,000 Americans would die as too would 250,000 South Vietnamese soldiers over a million North Vietnamese soldiers and Vietcong guerrillas would also perish as well as over two million civilians from both the north and the south and thousands more from Laos and Cambodia the French conquest of Indochina again in 1858 they boasted about bringing their civilization to Vietnam beginning the construction of roads and bridges but the Vietnamese did not take well to their French colonizers just as they hadn't to earlier invasions by the Chinese the French were the enemy and the Vietnamese people struggle for independence in 1919 at the end of the Great War American President Woodrow Wilson went to Paris to help rebuild a new world and advocated for the independence of colonized nations upon his stay in France a man appeared with a petition for the president signed by himself and other Vietnamese nationalists asking that Vietnam to become an independent state the president secretary promised to show it to Wilson but there is no evidence he ever did throughout his career this man would go by some 70 names but eventually settle for the most enlightened one Ho Chi Minh after taking part in a demonstration against a puppet Emperor Ho Chi Minh was marked for arrest and fled Vietnam in 1911 remaining in exile for 30 years when he discovered the anti-colonial writings of Lenin he became a communist his fuel was for an independent Vietnam by 1940 the Second World War had come Germany had conquered most of Western Europe including France and the Japanese began to occupy Vietnam to help fight the Japanese invaders Ho Chi Minh returned to Vietnam and founded a revolutionary movement which he named the Vietnam independence League the Viet Minh this new fighting force grew quickly and relied on guerrilla warfare tactics hit-and-run strategies that would later be used some three decades later when the Americans arrived in the spring of 1945 three years after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor the United States government were looking for ways to undermine Japanese forces in Vietnam when they were contacted by Ho Chi Minh for OSS the precursors for the CIA supplied her and his guerrilla fighters with weapons and were impressed with how quickly they learned to handle them who began to call his followers the Viet American army and praised the United States as a champion of democracy when two atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki Japanese surrender seemed imminent Ho Chi Minh called upon all the people of Vietnam to rise up and take control of their country before the French could re-establish their rule on the 2nd of September 1945 the same day as the Japanese surrendered ending world war two hundreds of thousands of people went to Badin square in Hanoi to see Ho Chi Minh proclaim Vietnam independent the future looked promising but President Franklin Roosevelt who had campaigned for a world of independent self-governing states was now dead and his successor Harry Truman was facing an entirely different world the Soviet Union had occupied Eastern Europe and looked to spread further into Turkey Greece and Iran the Cold War had begun the French warned if their colonies were to become independent under American assistance France would have no choice but to fall under Soviet influence the French poured thousands of men back into Vietnam with the help of American aid in 1950 communist North Korea invaded South Korea domino theory was at the height of political thought the idea that if one nation fell to communism others would as well the United States and tens of thousands of troops to push the invaders back north they did so successfully and it showed Western powers that communism in Asia could be contained by 1953 with the help of American aid the French had been fighting for seven years in Vietnam and had suffered more than a hundred thousand casualties French platoons would be ambushed trains blown up roads blocked all for them to be ambushed again the Viet Minh supplied by the Soviets and Chinese were forced to be reckoned with the French were demoralized and so proposed to begin talks to end the fighting before the talks began however both sides tried to enforce their military position in the French set up a fortified base in dn bien phu believe in any altercation would result in a french victory so confident in fact they saw no need to worry about the jungle covered hills that overlooked their 11,000 men fifty thousand vietnamese soldiers then surrounded the valley and their heavy artillery began to fire the French were trapped after 55 days of brutal attack the French surrendered had been lost 8,000 troops after a hundred years of colonial rule the French were leaving this decisive victory for the viet minh installed a belief that they could fight a great western power and win an armistice was then signed splitting vietnam into two parts along the 17th parallel separated by a demilitarized zone civilians had 300 days to relocate to their preferred destination and so 900,000 refugees fled to the south seeking a life free from communism the south would become known as the republic of vietnam with ZM as its president in the capital of Saigon and protected by the army of the Republic of Vietnam the arvin in the north the capital would become Hanoi where Ho Chi Minh and the Communists implemented land reforms similar to those under Mao leaving thousands dead and imprisoned the Vietcong and their leaders were willing to break the peace to head south along what would soon be called the Ho Chi Minh Trail and fight for United Vietnam these men belonged to an organization called the National Liberation Front the NLF the armed wing of the organization was all the People's Liberation Army forces but the US and its allies gave them a more disparaging name communist traitors to the nation the Viet Cong John F Kennedy had been elected and Cold War tensions were at new heights the lessons from the Second World War on every policymakers mind aggressive dictatorships needed to be stopped before they constituted a serious danger to the Peace of the world a growing number of critics complained at Kennedy's leniency he had failed to stop the construction of the Berlin Wall and communism was spreading in Laos and Cambodia so when time came for Vietnam he couldn't be seen to do nothing Kennedy's advisors insisted he should send ground troops into Vietnam to help the South push back the Vietcong Vietnam can't fall to communism he was told but he refused to send in troops instead he sent an elite group of soldiers the Green Berets and military advisers to train and organize South Vietnam's military Kennedy also took other steps doubling their military funding sending helicopters and armored personnel carriers but he also authorized the use of napalm Toffoli ins and Agent Orange to deny cover to the Vietcong and to destroy the crops that fed them but the American buildup of personnel in South Vietnam War II do Chi Minh who saw an invasion of the north is inevitable the Chinese then promised to arm his troops and conscription was introduced requiring every able-bodied man to serve corruption and the suppression of Buddhists by Catholic officials in South Vietnam's government had become so bad that to protest president ZM and his regimes oppression a 73 year old monk set himself on fire as a silent crowd watched him burn to death another monk repeated again and again a Buddhist monk becomes a martyr a Buddhist monk becomes a martyr soon other monks would become martyrs but instead of allowing greater freedoms for his people President diem imposed martial law and arrested anyone that Pro tested the south a place promised to become a democracy had become a dictatorship Siam's rain could not continue Viet Nam's military generals who had been told a coup would not be stopped by the United States assassinated ZM and his brother people took to the streets in celebration but a new threat had arrived and one Kennedy had dreaded who was to replace him Kennedy would not live to see the question he had pondered he was assassinated on the 22nd of November 1963 and his vice president lyndon b johnson was now in charge fearing it would make a bad situation worse Johnson had opposed the coup that overthrew ZM and had with ZM GaN the Vietcong saw an opportunity and began to carry out attacks throughout the countryside a new power struggle began in the south between January 1964 and June 1965 there would be eight different governments who after cooled after government in ruins as the USS Maddox slowly moved through the Gulf after issuing warning shots and came under fire from a North Vietnamese torpedo squadron Ho Chi Minh was shocked to hear of his Navy's attack and the officer on duty was removed for impulsiveness Ho Chi Minh demanded to know who gave the order to attack but there are still disagreements to this day on who did back in Washington the Joint Chiefs of Staff urged retaliation against Vietnam but Johnson again refused a second attack would have to happen to justify retaliation Johnson argued but no second attack ever did instead sonar operators convinced themselves an attack from the North Vietnamese had probably occurred the attack was probable but not certain Johnson was told and since it had probably happened it shouldn't be left unanswered American pilots were sent to attack North Vietnamese torpedo boat installations and oil facilities for the first time American pilots dropped bombs on Vietnam the non-existent second attack allowed Congress to pass the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution granting the president authority to assist any Southeast Asian country threatened by communist aggression and gave Johnson the legal justification to deploy US forces in Vietnam in retaliation nor Fiat Cong guerrillas shelled the American airbase near Saigon killing five Americans and destroying five b-57 bombers advisors again suggested to Johnson he should place troops on the ground and carry out an air attack on targets in the north but he refused to send ground troops the Vietcong then struck an American helicopter base at pleiku killing eight advisors and hundreds more and native blowing up a hotel killing 23 Americans hoping to bomb them into surrender Johnson responded on March 2nd 1965 systematically bombarding targets codenamed Operation Rolling Thunder the president had changed his policy from retaliatory bombing to an all-out attack something that was kept from the public the American people couldn't know he had widened the war Vietcong attacks continued but America couldn't leave they were too heavily invested and a withdrawal rule would make them look weak so in March 1965 Johnson took the action he avoided for so long he was putting ground troops in Vietnam it was no longer a fight against communism as Pentagon Papers later revealed it was to avoid humiliation as 1966 began 2344 Americans had died in Vietnam 200,000 men were stationed there with more on the way the Vietcong now controlled three-quarters of South Vietnam's countryside moving their supplies and weapons through Laos and Cambodia 12,000 miles of twisted jungle roadways known as the Ho Chi Minh Trail they're Americans reasoned if the trail could be sufficiently damaged the enemy wouldn't be able to sustain itself 3 million tons of explosives would fall in the Laos portion of the trail alone a million more tons than that dropped on Germany and Japan during World War two as the months and years went on and the death tolls of American troops were climbing the American people were told not to worry they were killing the enemy at a ratio of 10 to 1 but American mothers fathers sisters and brothers didn't care about the 10 they cared about the one general westmoreland who claimed he could win the war in three years sent an urgent cable to Washington asking for $200,000 but McNamara the Secretary of Defense told Johnson he had two options negotiate a compromise with Hanoi or give general westmoreland his men but the chances of victory he said and no better than one in three lyndon b johnson chose option two to send more men he had been told the war was unwinnable but hundreds of thousands of American troops were being prepared to be deployed to a war those in Washington knew was a lost cause it wasn't just the Vietnamese the Americans were fighting it was also the terrain soldiers would have to make their way through elephant grass thorn bushes bamboos 20 meters tall and jungles so thick it would take an hour just to move a hundred feet finger long black leeches caused wounds that quickly became infected and sunlight rarely hit the jungle floor booby traps landmines and grenades laced the terrain often causing the loss of limbs or death u.s. soldiers also had to deal with m16 rifles that jammed in gunfights often cost in their lives although the enemy rarely won a battle American victory rarely seemed to matter enemy soldiers were quickly replaced and US soldiers were spread so thin it meant any land they captured and then left was quickly taken back by the enemy by the end of 1967 20,000 Americans would be dead but those back home were told victory was in sight there was light at the end of the tunnel the protests intensified at the beginning of 1968 half a million US troops were in Vietnam and American leaders promised victory was in sight but the North Vietnamese Army and Vietcong were planning the general offensive scores of coordinated attacks of South Vietnamese towns and cities and with Saigon defeated it would leave the Americans with no choice but to withdraw the date chosen for the attack was January 31st the first day of the Vietnamese Lunar New Year celebration known as Tet advance and we will achieve total victory ho chi minh told his soldiers by January 30th a 36-hour troops for Tet was in effect and thousands of Arvin troops had gone home for the holiday the next day 84,000 Vietcong guerillas and North Vietnamese soldiers attacked 36 of South Vietnam's 44 provincial capitals dozens of American and Arvin military bases and the six largest cities in the country including Wei Danang and Saigon but as the fighting raged on the plan the Vietcong an NVA had put in place was not going well South Vietnamese soldiers and US troops were inflicting significant casualties upon them and this would continue throughout the battle for the first time the US soldiers could see what they were fighting the Vietcong were in the streets rather than in the bushes and in the buildings rather than hidden in the trees the Vietcong were now play in America's game the game America was best at after months of fighting the Vietcong were pushed back Johnson claimed the Tet Offensive was a devastating defeat for the Communists of the 84,000 enemy troops that took part in the Tet Offensive 58,000 are killed wounded or captured it was an overwhelming victory for America and the arvin the Vietnam War was the first television war in which on-site coverage from the frontlines was brought into the American livingroom the public had been told up to the Tet Offensive the war was nearly over the North Vietnamese were so ground down that victory was in sight so when the offensive was launched it contradicted what the American people had been told and it broke their trust in the government protesters took to the streets on March 31st 1968 Johnson spoke to the nation on television he announced the u.s. was to stop bombing North Vietnam in the hopes to get them to the negotiating table he also said he would not run for re-election it stunned the nation he would begin to focus his efforts on achieving peace Martin Luther King was then assassinated and protesters again took to the streets the nation hadn't been this divided since the Civil War to make matters worse as Robert Kennedy run for campaigned to bring the war to an end in June he - just like his brother was assassinated the nation was torn apart Richard Nixon was elected president on a program of ending the war and bringing a broken nation together 37 thousand US troops had died when he took office and the war was on everybody's mind but how he got there to the highest office in the land was kept a secret as the next election came Johnson was making significant progress and had agreed to stop all bombing of Vietnam Hanoi for the first time had agreed to talk to Saigon and the u.s. had agreed to include the Vietcong in the peace talks peace for what seemed like the first time was in sight but on November 2nd just three days before the US election President Chu of South Vietnam unexpectedly withdrew from the peace talks a representative of the Nixon campaign had secretly contacted the Saigon government urging - to stay away from the talks promising that once Nixon was elected president he would drive a harder bargain with Hanoi than Hubert Humphrey his competition would do to a CIA bargain Chu's office and an FBI wiretap in the South Vietnamese embassy in Washington Johnson had found out what had happened he discovered that Nixon and his team were committing treason they were contacting a foreign power in the middle of a war Nixon had been willing to delay the bloodshed in order to get elected Johnson unwilling to share how he got the information said nothing Nixon's secret was safe as the peace talks reached stalemate and the war continued American men were sent to their deaths in pointless battles they were to fight for land such as hamburger hill just to lay to give it up for the enemy body count is all that mattered as the protests back home continued Nixon had to change his policy the public had had enough thousands of men were dying for nothing a policy of Vietnamization was to take place arvin troops would gradually take on more and more responsibility and American troops would start coming home the Americans began training the Arvin sending more than a million m16 rifles 40,000 grenade launchers and thousands of vehicles both American and South Vietnamese officials knew if America couldn't win with half a million of its own troops South Vietnam by itself stood no chance publicly Nixon claimed the campaign to be a great success on September 2nd 1969 the 24th anniversary of Ho Chi Minh's declaration of Vietnam's independence ho Chi Minh passed away for America although military victories increased and casualty figures fell anti-war sentiment had still grown when the public found out in the small village of malai American soldiers had slaughtered more than 500 innocent men women and children protests and anti-war sentiment reached new heights hundreds of thousands of people across the country took to the streets four students were killed at Ken's date and another two at Jackson State University with negotiations at stalemate Nixon began a bombing campaign around Hanoi remembered as the Christmas bombing 1,600 civilians were killed on December 26 Hanoi agreed to return to negotiations it would take them just six days to reach a final agreement America had bombed them into accepting a deal prisoners of war were to be released and American troops were to withdraw from Vietnam on March 29th 1973 the last American troops would leave South Vietnam only 200 Marines would remain helping guard the American Embassy and other buildings in Saigon along with diplomats and CIA agents the south and the north would fight on and the population was once again caught in a brutal civil war Nixon had pledged to South Vietnam that if Saigon were to be in trouble the US Air Force would provide assistance to push the Communists back just as they had done with the Easter offensive but in August 1974 Nixon had resigned amid the Watergate scandal and Congress were in no mood to help they cut South Vietnam funds and assistance in half and up to 20,000 arvin troops were leaving the military a month the Americans had provided guns but not enough bullets they're provided planes but no pilots or training they provided trucks but no spare parts things in the South were quickly falling apart the North pushed on South defeating Arvin forces at every turn after thirty years of civil war Saigon was going to fall everything the Americans had fought and died to prevent was going to happen soldiers and civilians began to flee South to evade the North Vietnamese Army and President Chu resigned on April 29th the invasion of Saigon began it was time to evacuate helicopters would pick up groups of people and ferry them to aircraft carriers and ships then to return to pick up more when the ships were full and to prevent more from coming helicopters were pushed into the ocean the South surrendered to stop further bloodshed many were sent to re-education camps for upwards of 10 years arvin graveyards were bulldozed or pad locked and every effort was made to wipe away the memory of South Vietnam regime the Vietnamese after 30 years of war 2 million deaths millions of refugees and villages destroyed were finally united under one communist nation with Soviet help Vietnam would be turned into a new socialist system agriculture was collectivized capitalism was abolished industry was nationalized and planners were appointed to run it all along strict communist lines the results was economic catastrophe the standard of living fell and people starved 1.5 million people would eventually flee with 400,000 making it to America to paraphrase John Kerry the Vietnam War bought everything into question the rationalization of destroying villages in order to save them America's morality in the face of mulai the meaning of free-fire zones shooting anything that moved a soldier's place to cheapness on the lives of civilians the falsification of body counts to increase kill death ratio the unimportance of battles as men charged up hills because their generals told them to and after losing one platoon or two platoons they marched a way to leave the hill for the enemy pride allowed the most unimportant battles to be blown into extravaganzas because America couldn't lose and she couldn't retreat and because it didn't matter how many lives were lost to prove that point but for those who fought and died on all sides risk their lives for their country who showed bravery and crow Feist they shouldn't be forgotten for it was not a soldiers war but a political war for which America and Vietnam will never be the same build a fence around your land but bind by the stones spin you laugh his work [Music] above the ground [Music] take it all in stride [Music] Mullens drive [Music] you
hi i'm griffin johnson the armchair historian mentioning the vietnam war is one of the fastest ways to spark controversy in any military history community opinions will rage back and forth about whether or not the usa was justified in its intervention what mistakes it made and if america really ever had a chance of victory but while topics such as these are very common what is much less talked about is the perspective of the vietnamese people during the conflict their motivations the agenda of their leaders and how they endured nearly 20 years of bloody vicious guerrilla warfare this video will seek to explain their side of the story as well as provide context for the stubborn spirit of resistance that enabled vietnam to hold out against the american juggernaut despite all efforts to beat them into submission supporting our sponsors is the best way to support our channel today's video is brought to you by conflict of nations a free online player versus player strategy game with millions of users worldwide command your own nation and lead your people to victory through weeks of planning strategizing and coordination with or against up to 64 real players at a time in addition armchair historian fans who sign up by clicking our special link below will receive 13 000 gold and a free month of premium subscription this offer is only available for the next 30 days so click the link in the description below choose your country and start fighting your way to victory now to understand the attitude of the vietnamese during the war one must first be aware of vietnam's history of occupation and exploitation by foreign powers first there was china which spent a thousand years trying to absorb the nation through both conquest and cultural assimilation however by the 19th century china was undergoing its own negative experiences with colonialism as powerful european empires began expanding into asia and destroying the old status quo with chinese influence on the wane it seemed as if vietnam might have a chance to stand on its own but a small squadron of french warships would promptly crush those hopes unable to resist this technologically superior foe the win imperial dynasty ruling vietnam at the time quickly capitulated and by 1884 most of vietnam had become part of the greater colonial union of french indochina with the win court reduced to a puppet administration colonial governors operated with virtually no oversight from the french state and were allowed to use any and all means at their disposal to suppress any hint of native resistance often this extended to the point of criminalizing the mere act of identifying oneself as vietnamese trapped in a thoroughly miserable existence the vietnamese peasants were desperate for a savior any savior but after decades of failed revolts and horrific reprisals the iron grip of colonialism remained as strong as ever yet unbeknownst to the peasantry the seeds of a new revolution were already being sown not in the plantations or even in the courts of the wind bureaucracy but in the coffee houses of paris where the few vietnamese lucky enough to scrape together enough money to afford a western education were debating the merits of a strange radical new ideology known as communism unlike any political ideology at the time communism promised freedom and equality for those laboring under the yoke of capitalistic imperialism and so spread like wildfire from the moment it was introduced from overseas becoming vietnam's dominant underground political movement by the early 1930s [Music] central to the communist movement in vietnam was the unassuming son of a disgraced bureaucrat called win sing or as he is more commonly known ho chi minh after leaving vietnam sometime in the 1910s ho chi minh drifted around europe visiting both the united states and possibly britain as early as 1918 he was a dedicated anti-imperialist joining the group of vietnamese patriots which petitioned the french government for independence during the treaty of versailles in 1920 he was one of the many communists avidly following the progress of vladimir lenin's october revolution in russia the success of which proved beyond any doubt that the imperialist system could be overthrown through force of arms [Music] inspired by lenin's success ho chi minh chaired the first meeting of what would become the indo-chinese communist party or icp in 1930 with the express goal of ending colonial rule of his native country but for all of his early efforts regime change in vietnam would not originate with the vietnamese but would instead be instigated from the most unlikely of sources imperial japan in 1940 japan invaded vietnam as part of their efforts to establish the greater east asia co-prosperity sphere or in other words a series of client states under imperial domination in 1945 they officially annexed the country and expelled all western influences including the entire french colonial administration mere months later the japanese surrendered to the allies and with their collapse vietnam's century-old political order had come crashing down leaving total chaos in its wake it was during this last chaotic year of the occupation that ho chi minh truly came into his own as leader he had returned to vietnam in 1941 to organize a major resistance movement against japanese forces known as the viet minh and by 1945 he was leading an army of at least 10 000 communist gorillas his long-awaited revolution began on august 15th before even the ink on the japanese instrument of surrender had time to dry with the french colonial forces in vietnam having been disarmed by the japanese earlier that year there was a brief window in time where the vietmen had free run of the entire country but far from screaming defiance at the hated western imperialists ho chi minh was instead positively desperate to secure a friendship with the united states this was due in large part to the activities of the u.s office of strategic services or oss which had made contact with the viet minh in 1945 and selected ho chi minh as their primary contact within vietnam part of what enabled the close relationship between america and the viet minh was their lack of a traditional communist agenda despite ho chi minh's unabashed belief in the ideology his primary goal was always the liberation of vietnam as he himself stated at first patriotism not yet communism as a result both joseph stalin and mao zedong initially distrusted ho chi minh for his unwillingness to make class warfare a priority above national freedom this however struck a chord with american observers who were naturally sympathetic to the idea of an oppressed nation throwing off the shackles of a domineering imperialist regime [Music] thus oss operatives celebrated alongside the peasantry when ho chi minh declared the democratic republic of vietnam on september 2nd 1945. in his opening speech he began with words familiar to every american behind him on the podium stood oss major archimedes patty and as the speech came to a close a plane bearing u.s markings flew over the assembled crowd which greeted its appearance with thunderous applause all across the nation americans were seen as heroes and liberators and for a moment it seemed as if this would be the start of a glorious new relationship between east and west of course we all know that this was never really an option the french wanted their colonies back and the newly elected president truman had no interest in cooperating with an openly communist regime after negotiations with the french broke down completely the vietnamese had no choice but to fight for their independence and the first indochina war began on december 16th 1946 during this time the wind dynasty attempted to reassert its control over the nation with the 13th emperor bao dai siding with the french and resuming his place as a puppet ruler over their occupied territories as the war dragged on the u.s began sending aid to the french but after their dramatic defeat at diane bien phu in 1954 they agreed to new negotiations with the vietnam the ensuing treaty split the country in two halves the drv in the north and the state of vietnam in the south baodai was then unceremoniously ousted by his prime minister no din diem after a referendum determined that the state of vietnam should become a republic however this was hardly a triumph of democracy over imperialism for diem was utterly corrupt and the referendum was blatantly rigged diem even went so far as to deliberately ignore the french promise that the south would be allowed to vote on whether or not to reunite with the north under the drv when it became obvious that the dm had no intention of allowing reunification drv-backed insurgents began popping up all over the south causing him to become even more anti-communist and in turn causing america to offer increasing amounts of aid to his administration however diem proved to be a fickle ally often refusing to cooperate with his u.s backers especially in regards to rural development and land management in 1963 tensions finally came to a head when diem was abruptly assassinated in a military coup d'etat that was aided by the cia this combined with the gulf of tonkin incident in 1964 paved the way for a full-scale u.s invasion from the outset of war vietnamese generals knew that a conventional victory was impossible america was simply too powerful to defeat using traditional battlefield tactics but the huge rural population of the south was already mostly under the sway of the drv-backed national liberation front or more commonly known as the vietcong or vc the vc in combination with the people's army of vietnam waged a successful series of campaigns against the disorganized south vietnamese until large numbers of american troops began arriving in 1965 following american involvement the conflict began to shift into a war of attrition [Music] vietnamese defense strategy revolved around their extensive network of tunnels which many likened more to underground cities than mere military strongholds over 200 miles or 321 kilometers of tunnel were dug during the war with the largest system at kuche being just 20 miles or 32 kilometers outside saigon their importance was summed up in the words of colonel chaolam we knew the americans were determined to find and destroy the tunnel system they understood as did we however kuche went so did the war it was our determination not to lose even one centimeter of the tunnels it was a contest of wills resulting in some very fierce fighting we made a tremendous sacrifice to gain victory two years after its arrival the united states of america expanded its bombing campaigns across north vietnam in an effort to break their will to fight when a north vietnamese civilian saw the first b-57 bombers open their bombays over his home province of quang min his first thought was not to flee and panic but was instead why is a mother airplane dropping baby airplanes having miraculously survived the initial attack he gathered his family and fled for the nearby caves he later recalled to a journalist people didn't talk about the meaning of the war we were really confused why the americans tried to invade our homeland we hadn't done anything to them [Music] sadly the citizens of vietnam had much more to fear than american bombs when vietcong gorillas went to ground among the rural peasantry u.s forces responded by declaring any villages with a suspected vc presence as free fire zones then came the infamous melee massacre on march 16 1968 when at least 347 unarmed civilians were brutally executed by american soldiers although the heroic actions of a u.s helicopter crew saved a few innocent lives most were not so fortunate and mili would go on to become known as the worst war crime ever perpetrated by u.s soldiers in vietnam as traumatizing as the war was for the civilian population it was arguably just as bad for the vietnamese soldiers on account of how long most were expected to serve on the front lines [Music] lake haudai head of surgery at a military hospital later recalled when we were called to go south everyone was very excited as it turned out while i only planned to stay for six months i ended up staying for eight years given these extended deployment times vietnamese soldiers quickly became hardened to the horrors of war and had little mercy for any americans unfortunate enough to fall into their grasp american pilots were especially loathed due to their indiscriminate bombing campaigns and many were tortured to death after they bailed out over vietnamese territory to keep their populace motivated and stave off the effects of war weariness the drv maintained strong and effective propaganda campaigns throughout the conflict the mastermind behind these campaigns was vo winzop a renowned military leader who had fought alongside ho chi minh since the 1940s people quickly formed long queues to purchase his newspapers and listen to loudspeaker broadcasts about the latest developments on the front lines with minimal access to international news the people of the north were easily swayed by party rhetoric and quickly came to regard the war as a necessary and righteous struggle against yet another imperialist aggressor by contrast the urban population of the south could listen to four news reports and had a much more conflicted attitude towards the violence tearing apart their nation the success of the vietnamese propaganda machine was demonstrated following the tet offensive of 1968 which caught u.s forces completely by surprise amidst the chaos vc infiltrators launched an attack on the american embassy in saigon penetrating the compound and opening fire on the chancery building with rocket-propelled grenades although the building withstood the assault the fact that such an attack had occurred at all was psychologically devastating to the usa proving that not even the capital city of south vietnam was safe from communist infiltration the tet offensive also brought the reality of war to the urban population of the south leading many to lose confidence in the western-backed government by the early 1970s the endless jungle warfare had taken their toll on both sides but the drv remained defiant while u.s morale had plummeted to the point where soldiers were openly ignoring orders and deserting in record numbers desperate to at least preserve the status quo america began pouring resources into strengthening the south vietnamese army while pulling out its own traumatized troops out of the conflict but it was too little too late and in 1975 a massive offensive by the drv known as the ho chi minh campaign smashed through the defenses around saigon and decapitated the republic after almost 20 years of war and millions of deaths the drv finally stood triumphant against all odds communism had won or had it while the sacrifices made by the north vietnamese during the war allowed them to survive and eventually reunite with the south the conflict would leave millions on both sides scarred for life furthermore despite the expectations of the international community communism failed to spread throughout southeast asia after the fall of saigon rendering decades of u.s obsession with the domino theory utterly pointless despite the repeated entries of ho chi minh and extensive testimonies by oss operatives in the 1940s america never fully grasped that it was the desire for liberty not communism that motivated the north vietnamese to fight on against the odds their support of the corrupt diem administration only furthered this rift in understanding and the resultant two decades of violence opened up a deep national wound between north and south that has yet to be fully healed thanks again to our sponsor conflict of nations for making this video possible don't forget to click the link in the description below [Music] you
The Cold War is often presented as two near unified blocks competing against each other for global dominance. The democratic capitalist world on the one hand and the communist world on the other. And whilst we all know that the nations within them didn't always get along, open warfare between members of those blocks was rare. One notable example of this is when communist Vietnam launched a full-scale invasion of its communist neighbor Cambodia in spite of Cambodia's help during its war against America. So what exactly led to this? Why did Vietnam invade its neighbor, former ally and co-revolutionary? And what did it want to achieve? So, as you'll know, Vietnam spent the 1960s divided into two halves. The North being communist and the South being capitalist. These two were supposed to remain distinct nations, but it wasn't long before fighting erupted. America got involved and so Vietnam War. Whilst this was ongoing, neighboring Cambodia was also embroiled in a civil war in which both communist governments aided the other where they could. North Vietnam eventually conquered the South as the Americans were leaving and unified the country under communist rule. About 2 weeks before the northern Vietnamese victory over the south, Paul Pot had put an end to the Kamir Republic and established a communist government in Cambodia which was renamed to Democratic Campuchea whose government is better known as the Kamir Rouge. So initially these two governments celebrated their neighbors success and roughly 4 seconds later went back to hating each other. Why? Well, there were two main reasons for this animosity. The first was that Vietnam had historically invaded and subjugated Cambodia which people there remembered. And even during the communist insurrection against the French, the resistance was dominated by the Vietnamese, which led to some resentment. The second reason was cold war politics. As you'll know, China and the USSR had previously had a falling out. And whilst Vietnam had been supported in its war primarily by the USSR, the Kamir Rouge had received most of its support from China. As a result, the two were worried about being victims of invasion by the other if things got heated. So after taking power, PPOT wanted to reset Cambodian society. This meant that it was time to purge everyone who potentially could have opposed him or communist rule. He targeted, and I use the term very lightly, former political and military leaders, religious minorities, ethnic minorities, and this purge would soon be known as the Cambodian genocide because within a 4-year period, it saw the untimely end of about a quarter of Cambodia's pre-polep population. As a part of this purge, and in order to shore up his popularity, PPO called upon Cambodians to resist the Vietnamese, whom he claimed were planning on conquering the country. By 1978, thanks to help from China, Cambodia's military had grown in strength. And so it launched border raids into Vietnam with the hope of bullying them into submission. And to the surprise of exactly one person, this didn't work. Popot decided that this failure wasn't down to him invading a much stronger neighbor, but was in fact down to betrayal. And so it was obviously time for another purge, this time of the army and the government again. And some of those who were targeted fled to Vietnam. And not long after this, their new protectors with its much stronger military launched an invasion to remove Palpot. The reason being to establish a neighboring government that was both more friendly and much less mass murdery. The invasion didn't take very long and Pulpot's government collapsed in about two weeks and Vietnam then installed a puppet government. The Vietnamese were seen as both liberators and invaders by the Cambodians. And given how objectively dreadful Pulpot was, the international community saw the Vietnamese invasion largely as a humanitarian one. Vietnam had hoped to leverage this with the hope of obtaining international recognition for Cambodia's new government. However, this didn't happen because China was worried about Vietnam conquering former French Indochina, which would then place a powerful Soviet ally on their southern border. And the West opposed it for two reasons. The first being that watching communist governments fight each other was always hilarious. And two, it would require them to acknowledge that Hanoi's communist government had done a good thing, which obviously wasn't going to happen. After a decade of fighting against guerrilla resistance, the Cold War was coming to a close. And so, Vietnam announced that it was going to leave Cambodia, and the Cambodian government agreed that it would reform under the supervision of the United Nations. A peace treaty was agreed. Some of the nation's former politicians were allowed to return. Cambodia restored its monarchy and reformed itself into the modern nation of Cambodia, which still exists to this day. I hope you enjoyed this episode with a special thanks to my patrons James Bizernet Sky Chappelle Cartka Udwan Wang Wan Hockey Anthony Beckett's Blue Cardinal Alex Schwin a Firefly Spencer Lightfoot Captain Sydog the McWer the Flying Deutschand Gustav Swan Robert C Perkins Shuenin Michael Halbert Castle Bravo Marvin Cassau Winston Kwood Rod D Martin spinning three plates Andy McGee Kimoon Yun Danny Atanasio Murza Ahmed Copper Tone Maggie Pascowski Hy from Starv Arthur Joseie Jr. Kitro, Remco, Hoistman, Jim Sternberg, Bet Kabot, Charles I, and Lord Beak.
stretching along the coast of Southeast Asia with dense mountains and jungles to the west the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is home to approximately 100 million people Viet Nam's history has been shaped through its geography maritime trade as well as this tumultuous relationship with its neighbor China to the north since prehistoric times Viet Nam's Red River Delta has been a population center due to its fertile soil and defensible location feudal communities of rice growers began to develop in this region and eventually Confederated to form the kingdom of unload which corresponds to the Bronze Age dong son material culture along the southern coast a separate Sahin seafaring culture developed strong ties with the western central philippine archipelago the LOC Viet people of online united with the you people a noun come to form Olek into 57 BC the ancient new people are the ancestors of the modern Thai speaking peoples of northern Vietnam such as the noon short hair tattoos in the practice of teeth blackening were all cultural aspects originating with the Yoo Hoo Locke had a significant uniting influence however it only lasted the one long reign of its founding monarch in response to the first Chinese emperor Qin Chauhan and his successors expansion southwards the many u tribes in the region United and formed a powerful Kingdom of nanou which became wealthy through the exportation of ivory pearls and precious words from the jungles of Vietnam as China reunited under the Han Dynasty they began to extract tribute from that new eventually this was not enough to satisfy the Han Emperor nan Yu was invaded and incorporated into the Han Empire Han Chinese rule was marked with failed attempts to assimilate the Viet populace into the larger homogenized Chinese culture particularly with common women who enjoy far greater autonomy and cultural status than their Chinese counterparts at the time in 40 AD two Viet daughters of a military prefect rebelled after one of their husbands was executed by the Han the trum sisters ambushed the small local garrison of their village and began taking other cities and towns the Chinese did not initially take the rebellion seriously and responded in competently and were defeated time and again by the sisters who had raised an army of 80,000 including a sizable number of women and villagers whom they had trained the young Trung sisters still in their 20s estaba local rule and were both crowned as Queen and Viceroy their reign would be short as a Han veteran general with the overwhelming force was dispatched depending on the source the trunk sisters were either executed knight in battle are committed suicide to avoid capture according to Chinese sources their decapitated heads were sent back to the Han capital as a trophy during the second Chinese domination of Vietnam the rebellions would continue whenever there was internal instability in the empire to the south the venerable kingdom of Champa formed from an amalgamation of Sahin culture and various other seafaring peoples in the region they were greatly influenced by the Indianized funa an empire to their south and widely adopted Hinduism and Buddhism in 544 after two centuries of failed rebellions the vat Swan kingdom was established by a local magistrate of nanyue descent who granted himself the title southern amber it would take nearly another 60 years till a large enough invasion could be organized to retake them yet over the next 300 years there were eight major rebellions eventually the Tong dynasty granted the Vietnamese the status of an autonomous vassal as long as they would make regular tribute payments shortly after the Tong collapse the Viet were able to gain full independence from the southern Han over the next 60 years a period where twelve warlords ruled over a divided country and three short-lived dynasties ensued despite the disunity of this period a major song Chinese invasion was repulsed in 1981 stability was eventually brought about by the Lee dynasty who instituted equal rule of law rather than the whims of an autocrat the stable 216 year reign of this dynasty ended in a palace coup the six-year-old Empress was overthrown and her seven year old husband of the Tran clan was made emperor in a relatively peaceful transition the trend eyeness tea is most renowned for repulsing not one two but three Mongol invasions of Vietnam most famously in 1288 when a massive Mongol fleet was utterly eviscerated war between the Dai Viet and Champa broke out after the viet emperors sister was married to the cham king who died a year later according to cham tradition she was to be cremated with him at his funeral where she was rescued by viet funeral guests sparking all-out war and the viet conquest of Champa the occupation was short-lived in the tran dynasty fell a new internal infighting with some of the family a line with the cham this began another chaotic period with multiple short-lived dynasties in a brief Chinese Ming Dynasty domination of Vietnam this period was followed by the longest lasting Viet dynasty the late early which firmly incorporated Champa as a vassal state however as time went on the Champa Ming back Mac in the north Trin and Nguyen Lords all acted as independent states with their separate capitals and armies with the Lee dynasty Emperor ventually only acting as a ceremonial leader the trenin win Lords fought in several Wars attempting to unite the country firearms were rapidly adopted by both armies during these wars supplied by French Dutch and Portuguese merchants the lavish lifestyles of the nobility and the toils of war on the majority of the population led to a mass peasant revolt led by the Thai son brothers who briefly ruled the country through a turbulent period where another Chinese invasion was fought off seeking to reinstate the lien burr the unstable rule of the Thai son was overthrown by the resurgent Nguyen who consolidated the country and expanded its territory in alliance with Siam and France who supplied them weapons in exchange for a trade monopoly over time the relationship became strained as Vietnamese Emperor's sought to reduce growing French influence after jailing Catholic missionaries entering the country illegally French Emperor Napoleon the third invaded using this as pretext taking land in the south and negotiating a favorable treaty two decades later the French would conquer the rest of Vietnam and continued to take territory from the Siamese Empire during World War 2 the Empire of Japan would occupy French Indochina rolling through a puppet mber as the French had done the Japanese occupation was countered by the Viet Minh communist rebels who were led by Ho Chi Minh after the war he declared independence for the Democratic Republic of Vietnam the monarchy was disestablished and a 7-year long war with the French began the Soviet Union and communist China supported the Viet Minh while the United Kingdom and United States supported France after the war ended the Geneva Court partition French Indochina into communist Democratic Republic of Vietnam the state of Vietnam Cambodia and Laos Vietnamese Catholics move south while Viet Minh moved north the following year referendum was held which overwhelmingly decided that the south would not be reunited with the north communists in the south alleged mass vote rigging and formed the Viet Cong backed by China the north began aiding the Vietcong while fearing communist expansion throughout the region the US began aiding the south beginning the second Indochina war or simply the Vietnam War this aid was slowly increased to air support and in 1965 3,500 US Marines were deployed by the end of that year more than 200,000 US military personnel had been deployed to South Vietnam the war would be a long and brutal affair in 1970 North Vietnam invaded Cambodia and support of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge the United States in South Vietnam invaded as well in retaliation after this escalation anti-war sentiment began to steadily grow in the United States by 1973 President Nixon who was embroiled in the midst of the Watergate scandal ceased all bombing of the north and subsequently pulled all troops out of Vietnam north then began to rapidly advance toward Saigon as refugees poured south fearing the communist regimes vengeance in April 1975 Saigon fell and the war was effectively over establishing the Socialist Republic of Vietnam the following year this has been Epimetheus and I hope you really enjoyed that lightning-fast version of Vietnamese history let me know in the comments what countries history would you like to see me cover in this fashion in the future if you're feeling generous you can help me create more videos like this over on patreon starting at just a dollar a month link in the description I'm just one man and it takes me many hours of researching drawing narrating and editing to put together these videos and I sincerely appreciate those of you who helped me out with the expenses of this channel and you awesome bunch that always watch to the end of the video like subscribe and leave a comment