The US withdrawal from Vietnam is recognized as America's defeat in the Vietnam War. The fall of the South Vietnamese dictatorship of Duong Van Minh under the onslaught of the forces of North Vietnam in 1975 allegedly deprived the United States of allies in the region, showed the failure of the American foreign policy and military planning. At a cost to the United States, the Vietnam War ended on a minor note. The war caused a wave of indignation among pacifists and ordinary Americans who did not want to put up with the willfulness of politicians. It would seem that the United States suffered a complete defeat in the Vietnam War, in which the socialists won. Nixon bore the brunt of the defeat at Withenham.
If we look at the sequence of events from 1963 to the late 1980s, the situation for the United States does not look as dramatic as it is portrayed. For the originally declared goals of the war, the United States never claimed victory over the Viet Cong. All that was declared: to restore peace in Asia (without specific criteria, what to consider as such), to prevent the spread of communism in Asia and to strengthen the position of communism in the world. The Vietnam War was largely fueled armed forces USA.
The situation that developed between the USSR and the PRC by 1964 led to the severance of diplomatic relations between the two powers, considered the leaders of communism. The enmity in the socialist camp stemmed from friction that arose during the years of the Korean War and intensified due to the personal conflict between Mao and Khrushchev. Facing a sharp deterioration in relations between the two leading communist powers, the United States is stepping up Operation Rolling Thunder. Researchers and experts, including retired US military officials, draw attention to the irrationality of the operation: the bombing practically did not affect the military infrastructure of the Viet Cong, the location of which was well known. Obviously, the US tactics boiled down to stirring up the Viet Cong to force them to act. Ho Chi Minh, as planned, began to seek help from the leaderships of the USSR and China. But neither the one nor the other side wanted to act together due to ideological contradictions. Both the USSR and the PRC viewed Vietnam as their zone of influence, and saw the country's development paths in completely different directions. Ho Chi Minh was faced with a choice: the PRC could provide more intensive support, while the USSR - more significant.
The temptation to gain a foothold in Vietnam confronted the USSR and the PRC; the Chinese tried in every possible way to disrupt the supply of Soviet weapons to Vietnam, as a result of which, the logistics had to be laid through an unsafe sea communication through North Korea... The Vietnamese resistance culminated in February 1968; the Tet offensive began. The Viet Cong suffered a crushing defeat, and the initiative was completely taken over by the Americans. General William Childs Westmoreland insisted on further pursuing the enemy and destroying the Ho Chi Minh Trail and further routing the Viet Cong forces in just a few weeks. However, the high political command ordered to stop there.
However, like Brezhnev. Nixon spent several years in Degtyarsk as a teenager; his parents came to the USSR to carry out industrialization. The situation in Vietnam has become suspended. The USSR and the PRC began to compete more actively for the right to help the Viet Cong. The slogan “one hundred flowers, one hundred schools” proclaimed by Mao resonated with the leadership of the socialist republics of Europe, who thought the pressure of the USSR was too totalitarian. These included the Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, Albania, Yugoslavia. The sympathies of the Western republics for China irritated the Soviet leadership, pushing more and more to promote their influence in Vietnam, which, in turn, irritated the PRC. Very quickly, within a year, the intensity of passions became so great that the forces of the PRC attacked the USSR, crossing the border in the area of \u200b\u200bthe Damansky Peninsula on March 2, 1969. A further cooling of relations followed. In February 1972, at the invitation of Mao, US President Richard Nixon flies to China. And already in May of the same year, Nixon visited Moscow at the request of Brezhnev. In January 1973, Nixon signs the Paris Agreement on the withdrawal of troops and the cessation of hostilities in Vietnam. By 1973, the United States had established relations with the PRC and the USSR, which were in a state of acute confrontation with each other. By the early 1980s, the first American companies will already have access to the markets of the PRC and the USSR. The USSR and the PRC will be on opposite sides of the civil conflict in Eritrea from 1974 to 1990, and in 1979 the USSR will support Vietnam in the Vietnam-China War. The reputation of Nikosn, spoiled by the departure from Vietnam, was soon spoiled even more by Watergate, forced to leave and Ford became president, calming the US public.
After the Tet Offensive, the Americans were able to decide the fate of Vietnam, which forced the USSR and the PRC to act more decisively in the struggle for access to the Viet Cong. This split the entire socialist camp. Some of the socialist countries supported the PRC, some remained with the USSR. However, the war of ideologies, which was the entire Cold War, was impossible to win in such a state; Western countries remained united, while the socialist camp split. It became obvious that the ideas of communism did not work and were in conflict with each other. The Vietnam War was like playing the fool, where the table was Vietnam, and the players were from China, the USSR and the United States. And the USA was the first to leave the game, and the cards remained with the USSR. And so it turned out that the Vietnam War, in fact, became a tactical defeat for the USSR, predetermining the ideological split of the world movement of communists and the fall of the USSR, which, as a result, remained without allies. The United States achieved its goals - peace in Asia was restored, Chinese communism moved towards capitalism, and the position of the communists in the world was undermined.
In the western, and later in the domestic press, with the light hand of journalists, this war was often called "Soviet Vietnam". No one doubted that the "Russians" could reach even the most remote regions of this country isolated from the whole world on their combat helicopters. But even the most objective predictions boiled down to one thing: if soviet troops want to get beneficial long-term consequences for themselves, they need to "get off the ground." Otherwise, they will never cope with the armed insurgents in their rear. The Mujahideen were not united in their struggle. But, as it may seem paradoxical, the experience of not only the Soviet-Afghan war shows that strength is not always in unity. One tribe or aul could, seeing this as a benefit for themselves, or under the pressure of force, enter into an alliance with the conquerors, but others continued to struggle, since in this country for many centuries everyone provided his own survival.
In backward Afghanistan there were few industrial centers, in the cities industrial production was poorly developed, there was no strong working class and, consequently, no workers' organization on which, according to tradition, the Marxist party could rely. Carrying out sometimes a rather thoughtful colonial policy, the Soviet occupiers and their Afghan allies endowed many local princelings with additional powers, which further intensified the pulverization of society begun by Amin and Taraki, and created a dangerous basis for maintaining fragmentation and internecine war in Afghanistan for many years to come. From the first days of the war, even optimists believed that the reintegration of the country would require a change of at least one generation and much more, provided that the Russians, despite the opposition of the international community, would not abandon their experiment in the near future - and this prophecy is coming true ...
For these reasons, outside the countries of the socialist community, almost no one doubted that the communist regime in Afghanistan was not capable of independent existence, and after the withdrawal of Soviet army units from there, nothing would be left of it but hatred of the Russians, while the country would fall into a prolonged a period of chaos and civil war. Even the top Soviet leadership and the top of the generals largely shared this opinion prevailing in the West, and that is why they continued to insist on further military intervention. Soviet leaders simply had no other choice - after all, they could not allow the fall of the Marxist government.
However, the Afghan insurgents, having only a limited arsenal of weapons, which they got mainly from the disintegrating Afghan army (by the end of 1980, it accounted for 30% of its already reduced number), as well as not very significant military aid from outside (mainly ground rockets -air), put up desperate resistance to the aggressor. Despite the fact that the Soviet military presence in Afghanistan was provided with huge technical and human reserves, even according to the most optimistic estimates, appeasement should have taken many years. Many remembered well how at the end of the 19th century Russia had to spend as many as 25 years to conquer a much smaller country in the Caucasus - Dagestan.
The Vietnam War is a pretty serious milestone in the Cold War. IN exam tests according to history, in some tasks knowledge of World history can be tested, and if you do not know anything about this war, then you are unlikely to solve the test correctly by the "typing" method. Therefore, in this article we will briefly analyze this topic, as much as possible within the framework of the text.
War photos
Origins
The reasons for the Vietnam War of 1964-1975 (also called the Second Indochina War) are varied. To make them out, you need to delve a little into the history of this exotic eastern country. From the second half of XIX century until 1940, Vietnam was a French colony. From the beginning, the country was occupied by Japan. During this war, all French garrisons were destroyed.
Since 1946, France wanted to regain Vietnam, and for this purpose unleashed the first Indochina war (1946 - 1954). Alone, the French could not cope with partisan movement, and the Americans came to their aid. In this war, independent power in North Vietnam, headed by Ho Chi Minh, was strengthened. By 1953, the Americans had taken over 80% of all military spending, and the French had quietly merged. Things got to the point that Vice-President R. Nixon expressed the idea of \u200b\u200bdropping point nuclear charges on the country.
But somehow everything was decided by itself: in 1954, the existence of North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South (Republic of Vietnam) were formally recognized. The northern part of the country began to develop along the path of socialism and communism, which means it began to enjoy support Soviet Union.
Ho Chi Minh
And here we must understand that the division of Vietnam was only the first act. The second was the anti-communist hysteria in the United States, which accompanied them all. It was against the background of such hysteria that J. F. Kennedy came to power there, who, incidentally, was an ardent fighter against communism. Nevertheless, he did not want to unleash a war in Vietnam, but simply somehow politically, with the help of diplomacy, to achieve his goals. Here I must say that since there were communists in the north, the United States supported the south.
Ngo Dinh Diem
In South Vietnam, Ngo Dinh Diem ruled, who actually introduced a dictatorship there: people were killed and hanged for nothing, but the Americans turned a blind eye to this: it was impossible to lose the only ally in the region. However, Ngo soon got tired of the Yankees and they staged a coup. Ngo was killed. Here, by the way, in 1963, J. F. Kennedy was assassinated.
All barriers to war were erased. New President Lyndon Johnson signed a decree sending two helicopter groups to Vietnam. North Vietnam created a South Underground called the Viet Cong. Actually, military advisers and helicopters were sent to fight him. But on August 2, 1964, two American aircraft carriers came under attack from North Vietnam. In response, Johnson signed a decree to start the war.
J. F. Kennedy
In fact, most likely there was no attack in the Gulf of Tonkin. The senior NSA officers who took this message immediately knew it was a mistake. But they didn't fix anything. Because the war in Vietnam was unleashed not by the US military, but by the President, Congress, and big business that was engaged in the production of weapons.
Lyndon Johnson
Pentagon specialists were well aware that this war was doomed to failure in advance. Many experts spoke out openly. But they were obliged to obey the political elite.
Thus, the causes of the Vietnam War are rooted in the communist "contagion" that the United States wanted to oppose. The loss of Vietnam immediately led to the loss of Taiwan, Cambodia, the Philippines by the Americans, and the "infection" could directly threaten Australia. This war was also spurred on by the fact that since the early 1950s China has firmly taken the path of communism.
Richard Nixon
Events
In Vietnam, the United States tested a lot of weapons. More bombs were dropped in this entire war than in the entire Second World War! They also sprayed at least 400 kilograms of dioxin. And this is the most toxic substance created by man at that time. 80 grams of dioxin can kill an entire city when added to water.
Helicopters
The entire conflict can be broken down into the following stages:
- The first stage is 1965 - 1967. It is characterized by the offensive of the allies.
- The second stage of 1968 is called the Tet Offensive.
- The third stage is 1968 - 1973. At that time, R. Nixon came to power in the United States under the slogan of ending the war. America was engulfed in anti-war protests. Nevertheless, the United States dropped more bombs in 1970 than in all the previous time.
- The fourth stage 1973 - 1975 is the final stage of the conflict. Since the United States could no longer provide support to South Vietnam, there was no one to stop the advance of the enemy troops. Therefore, on April 30, 1975, the conflict ended with the complete victory of Ho Chi Minh, the whole of Vietnam became communist!
Outcome
The consequences of this conflict are very diverse. On a macro level, the victory of North Vietnam meant the loss of Laos and Cambodia for the United States, as well as a significant reduction in American influence in Southeast Asia. The war had a serious impact on the values \u200b\u200bof American society, it provoked anti-war sentiment in society.
War photos
At the same time, during the war, the Americans strengthened their armed forces, their military infrastructure and military technologies have significantly developed. However, many of the surviving soldiers received the so-called "Vietnam Syndrome". The conflict has also had a major impact on American cinema. For example, you can call the movie "Rambo. First blood."
During the war, many war crimes were committed on both sides. However, of course, there was no investigation into the fact. The United States lost about 60 thousand dead, more than 300 thousand wounded in this conflict, South Vietnam lost at least 250 thousand people killed, North Vietnam more than 1 million people killed, the USSR, according to official figures, lost about 16 people killed.
This topic is vast, and I think it is understandable that we could not cover all its facets. However, what has been said is quite enough for you to get an idea of \u200b\u200bit and not confuse anything on the exam. You can master all the topics of the History course in our preparation courses.
II. Non-use of force or threat of force
The participating States will refrain in their mutual, as well as in general
in their international relations, from the use of force or the threat of force either against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state or in any other way incompatible with the goals of the United Nations and with this Declaration. No considerations can be used to justify resorting to the threat of force or its use in violation of this principle.
Accordingly, the participating States will refrain from any action constituting a threat by force or the direct or indirect use of force against another participating State ... Likewise, they will also refrain in their mutual relations from any act of reprisal by force.
No such use of force or threat of force will be used as a means of settling disputes or matters that may give rise to disputes between them.
(Reader on national history (1946-1995).
Tutorial for university students under the editorship of A.F. Kisilev, E.M. Shchagin. Humanist. Ed. Center "VLADOS", 1996. p. 559)
Answer the questions:
1. What are the reasons for the transition to a policy of detente?
2. What success has the world community achieved in limiting the arms race and preventing a world war?
3. What role was assigned nuclear weapons in the USSR and the USA?
4. What contradictions existed in the assessments of the Helsinki peace initiatives between the leaders of the USSR and the USA?
Task 4. Think about why the Soviet Union withdrew its troops from Afghanistan? Why are these events called "Soviet Vietnam"?
Practical work No. 4.
Topic: "Political events in Eastern Europe in the second half of the 80s."
Goal:
4.investigate political events in Eastern Europe in the second half of the 80s. "
Tasks:
determine the characteristics of ideology, national and socio-economic
policies of the states of Eastern Europe;
to characterize the reasons for abandoning the socialist model of countries' development;
make a conclusion
Execution order:
Prepare for assignments;
Study the text;
Complete the task in writing.
Exercise 1: Based on the analysis of the causes of revolutions, formulate their main tasks and determine the nature of the revolutions (Words for characteristics: anti-totalitarian, anti-communist, democratic; democratic society, market economy model, sovereignty).
Causes of revolutions in Eastern Europe:
1. Internal factors:
1. Economic - a sharp decline in the rate of economic development, an extensive nature of economic development in most countries, an administrative-command economic model, the absence of structural changes in the economy, inflationary processes, a sharp lag behind Western countries not only in quantitative but also in quality indicators.
2. The accumulation of social problems - a fall in living standards, less noticeable only in the GDR and Czechoslovakia, the aggravation of all contradictions in society, including national ones (in Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Bulgaria).
3. Protest against totalitarian political regimes, the political domination of the communist parties.
4. In all countries, there was growing dissatisfaction with the existing order, which was expressed in a mass strike movement, the formation of opposition organizations (Charter 77 in Czechoslovakia, Solidarity in Poland, environmentalists in Bulgaria).
1. External factor: Political transformations in the USSR (perestroika).
Task 2. Restore the sequence of events:
1. 1. "Prague Spring". 2. Creation of CMEA. 3. Popular uprising in Bulgaria. 4. Normalization of diplomatic relations between the USSR and Yugoslavia. 5. Suppression of the uprising in Hungary by the troops of the USSR. 6. Creation of the Warsaw Pact Organization. 7. Popular uprising in Romania. 8. The introduction of martial law in Poland. 9. The coming of the communist parties to power. 10. Unification of Germany.
Task 3. Complete the table by including factual data on revolutions in Eastern European countries (Appendix to practical work № 4)
Officially, the Vietnam War began in August 1964 and lasted until 1975 (although American direct intervention ceased two years before the end of the armed clashes). This clash is the best illustration of the instability of relations between the USSR and the United States in the years cold war... Let's analyze the preconditions, highlight the main events and results of the military conflict that lasted eleven years.
Background of the conflict
The actual root cause of the conflict is the logical desire of the United States to surround the Soviet Union with those states that will be under its control; if not formally, then in fact. At the time of the start of the clash, South Korea and Pakistan had already been "conquered" in this regard; then the leaders of the United States and made an attempt to add to them North Vietnam.
The situation was conducive to action: at that time Vietnam was divided into North and South, and the country was raging civil War... The southern side requested assistance from the United States. At the same time, the northern side, which was ruled by the communist party led by Ho Chi Minh, received the support of the USSR. It should be noted that openly - officially - the Soviet Union did not enter the war. The Soviet document specialists who arrived in the country in 1965 were civilians; however, more on that later.
Course of events: the outbreak of hostilities
On August 2, 1964, an attack was carried out on a US destroyer that was patrolling the Gulf of Tonkin: torpedo boats from northern Vietnam entered the battle; a similar situation repeated on 4 August, with the result that Lyndon Johnson, then President of the United States, ordered an air strike against naval targets. Whether the boat attacks were real or imaginary is a separate discussion topic, which we will leave to professional historians. One way or another, on August 5, an air attack and shelling of the territory of northern Vietnam by ships of the 7th fleet began.
On August 6-7, the "Tonkin Resolution" was adopted, which made military action sanctioned. The United States of America, which openly entered the conflict, planned to isolate the North Vietnamese army from the DRV, Laos and Cambodia, creating conditions for its destruction. On February 7, 1965, Operation Flaming Spear was carried out first global action to destroy important facilities in North Vietnam. The attack continued on March 2, as part of Operation Rolling Thunder.
Events developed rapidly: soon (in March) about three thousand American Marines appeared in Da Nang. After three years, the number of United States soldiers fighting in Vietnam has risen to 540,000; thousands of pieces of military equipment (for example, about 40% of the country's tactical aviation military aircraft were sent there). In the 166th, a conference of the states that are part of SEATO (allies of the United States) was held, as a result of which about 50 thousand Korean soldiers were brought in, about 14 thousand Australian, about 8 thousand from Australia and more than two thousand from the Philippines.
The Soviet Union also did not sit idly by: in addition to those sent as civilian specialists in military affairs, the DRV (northern Vietnam) received about 340 million rubles. Weapons, ammunition and other means necessary for the war were supplied.
Development of events
In 1965-1966, a large-scale military operation took place from South Vietnam: more than half a million soldiers tried to capture the cities of Pleiku and Kontum, using chemical and biological weapons. However, the attempted attack was unsuccessful: the offensive was thwarted. In the period from 1966 to 1967, a second attempt was made to a large-scale offensive, however, active actions of the AO SE (attacks from the flanks and rear, night attacks, underground tunnels, participation partisan detachments) stopped this attack too.
It is worth noting that at the moment more than a million people fought on the American-Saigon side. In 1968, the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam switched from defense to offensive, as a result of which about 150 thousand enemy soldiers and more than 7 thousand units were destroyed. military equipment (cars, helicopters, planes, ships).
Throughout the conflict, there were active air attacks from the United States; according to available statistics, more than seven million bombs were dropped during the war. However, this policy did not lead to success, since the FER government carried out mass evacuations: soldiers and the population were hiding in the jungle and mountains. Also, thanks to the support of the Soviet Union, the northern side began to use supersonic fighters, modern missile systems and radio equipment, creating a serious air defense system; as a result, more than four thousand United States aircraft were destroyed.
Final stage
In 1969, the RSV (Republic of South Vietnam) was created, and in 1969, due to the failure of the bulk of the operations, the US leaders gradually began to give up their positions. By the end of 1970, more than two hundred thousand American soldiers had been withdrawn from Vietnam. In 1973, the United States government decided to sign an agreement on the cessation of hostilities, after which it finally withdrew its troops from the country. Of course, we are talking only about the formal side: under the guise of civilians, thousands of military specialists remained in South Vietnam. According to available statistics, over the years of the war, the United States lost about sixty thousand people killed, more than three hundred thousand wounded, as well as a colossal amount of military equipment (for example, more than 9 thousand aircraft and helicopters).
The hostilities continued for several more years. In 1973-1974, South Vietnam again went on the offensive: bombing and other military operations were carried out. The result was made only in 1975, when the Republic of South Vietnam carried out Operation Ho Chi Minh, during which the Saigon army was finally defeated. As a result, the DRV and the South Vietnam were united into one state - the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.