The Vietnam war (1), Walking into the unknown “First, we didn't know ourselves. We thought that we were going into another Korean War, but this was a different country. Secondly, we didn't know our South Vietnamese allies…… and we knew less about North Vietnam. Who was Ho Chi Minh? Nobody really knew. So until we know the enemy and know our allies and know ourselves, we'd better keep out of this kind of dirty business. It's very dangerous." General Maxwell Taylor (one of the principal architects of the Vietnam War) The Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War, was a Cold War military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from September 26, 1959 to April 30, 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between the communist North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of South Vietnam, supported by the United States and other anti-communist nations. This war is often described as one of the most outstanding examples of Strategic Ambush in history. However, the term Strategic Ambush is in this particular case being used to refer to both ambushing by an enemy and what may be described as self-ambushing. The causes that led the US and its allies to directly interfere in the conflict will be discussed in this series of articles. Whatever the reasons or justifications, what the US had started as a ‘limited war' against what former US Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger had once described as ‘a fourth-rate power', ultimately developed into a total and protracted one that drew other parties to join either side, thus turning the conflict into what may be described as a ‘mini world war'. US troops were so bogged down that ‘to return were as hideous as go over'. In producing the articles of this new section on Strategic Ambush, the writer has consulted numerous references and visited numerous web sites, too many indeed to be listed here. When in August 1945, the Japanese had been defeated in World War II and surrendered unconditionally, a vacuum was created in Indochina (then under French control since 1859). The French were still interned and the Japanese forces stood down. Into this vacuum, the Viet Minh entered and grasped power across Vietnam in the "August Revolution" (in large part supported by the Vietnamese population). On September 2, 1945, Ho Chi Minh (leader of the Viet Minh) declared the independent Democratic Republic of Vietnam before a crowd of 500,000 in Hanoi. In an overture to the Americans, he began his speech by paraphrasing the United States Declaration of Independence: All men are created equal. The Creator has given us certain inviolable Rights: the right to Life, the right to be Free, and the right to achieve Happiness. However, the major allied victors of World War II (the United Kingdom, the US and the Soviet Union) all agreed that the area belonged to the French. As the French did not have the ships, weapons or soldiers to immediately retake Vietnam, the major powers came to an agreement that British troops would occupy the south while Nationalist Chinese forces would move in from the north. When the British landed they rearmed the interned French forces as well as parts of the surrendered Japanese forces to aid them in retaking south Vietnam as they did not have enough troops to do this themselves. Following the party line from Moscow, Ho Chi Minh initially attempted to negotiate with the French who were slowly re-establishing their control across the country. In January 1946, the Viet Minh won elections across central and northern Vietnam. The French landed in Hanoi by March 1946 and in November of that year they ousted the Viet Minh from the city. Soon thereafter the Viet Minh began a guerrilla war against the French Union forces, thus triggering the First Indochina War. The war spread to Laos and Cambodia where Communists organised the Pathet Lao and the Khmer Serai after the model of the Viet Minh. Globally, the Cold War began in earnest which meant that the rapprochement that had existed between the Western powers and the Soviet Union during World War II disintegrated. The Viet Minh fight was hampered by a lack of weapons. However, this situation changed by 1949 when the Chinese Communists had largely won the Chinese Civil War and were free to provide arms to their Vietnamese allies. Dear Egyptian Mail readers, your contributions to and/or comments on articles published in this corner are welcome. We promise to publish whatever is deemed publishable at the end of this series. [email protected]
