A Brief History
On January 27, 1973, the United States, North Viet Nam and South Viet Nam signed a treaty in Paris, France, effectively ending direct American involvement in the Viet Nam War.
Digging Deeper
Digging deeper, we find Viet Nam to be a country divided into a communist North and a (supposedly) democratic South.
The North was allied with and supported by the U.S.S.R. and China, while the South was supported by and allied with the U.S. and some other western countries.
The split had taken place after the country’s liberation from Japanese control at the end of World War II and the inability of France to hold onto Viet Nam as a colony. The French defeat at Dien Bien Phu in May of 1954 contributed to the split and slowly led to increased American involvement in trying to keep South Viet Nam out of the communist bloc, especially after the Gulf of Tonkin incident in 1964.
By 1965, U.S. ground forces were engaged in combat with troops from the North and with insurgents from the South. American airpower was also a major player in the escalating war, while China and the U.S.S.R. supplied weapons, other supplies and technical assistance to the North. Although suspected, it was confirmed after the war that Soviet pilots had flown against American planes and that Soviet technicians had manned anti-aircraft missile batteries. Chinese “volunteers” are also believed to have been involved some of the fighting as well.
After increased demand for an end to American military involvement, President R.M. Nixon told the American people in late 1972 that he had achieved “peace with honor” through negotiations with the North. This announcement helped him win another term in office by a landslide, and shortly after his 1973 inauguration, the Treaty of Paris was signed, which signaled an end to the war for the U.S.
The North, however, saw this treaty as a surrender by the U.S., and they kept up their efforts to forcibly reunite the country under communist rule. The United States was then in the midst of the Watergate scandal, and the government was in no position to restart American involvement in the war. In 1975, when communist forces overran Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City), the capital of the South, the Viet Nam War was officially over.
About 68,000 Americans lost their lives for what amounted to nothing, and many more were crippled physically or psychologically from their experiences in Viet Nam. Billions of dollars were wasted that could perhaps have been used for education, technology development or any other more fruitful purpose. The American psyche was scarred by passionate divisions of thought as to whether or not the war should have been fought at all. Meanwhile, perhaps 2 or 3 million Vietnamese had lost their lives! How many more died from reprisals after the communist takeover is hard to determine.
On the same date that the peace accords were signed, Colonel William Nolde became the last American military combat fatality of the war. Ironically, Nolde, a U.S. Army artillery officer, was killed by an artillery shell fired by North Vietnamese forces. He is remembered by a scholarship and a lecture series in his name. (Note: Other Americans died in Viet Nam after Col. Nolde, but they are not considered combat deaths. They are, however, just as dead…)
Question for students (and subscribers): Why did the Vietnam War end when it did? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information on this lengthy conflict, please see…
Department of the Navy and Stuart I. Rochester. The Battle Behind Bars: Navy and Marine POWs in the Vietnam War (The U.S. Navy and The Vietnam War). CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2013.
Vietnam: The Ten Thousand Day War. Time Life Entertainment / VSC, 2013. DVD.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="1095 http://www.crackedhistory.com/?p=1095">124 Comments
Chemical warfare is only a red line if a dictator does it.
This makes me wonder why the United States would get involved with the war with the things going on in the United States anyway.
It is interesting to see how Nixon used the treaty to help him get reelected and the North took the treaty as a surrender by the US.
Using the treaty as a reelection tool was a smart, tactical move by Nixon. Although, I feel that the United States should not have gotten involved in the first place, especially as public support declined drastically and thousands of lives were lost.
A lot of people believed the US shouldn’t have been a part of the war at all, and as it went on the support from Americans decreased. I think that we shouldn’t have been involved because we lost a lot of lives and a lot of money which could have been avoided, and we did not win or stop communism.
I don’t think the US should have been involved in this war. It doesn’t seem like it was their war to fight. Not to forget to mention the US lost money, and resources.
I thought it was interesting how Nixon could win the “Peace with honor” and then it followed up with winning other things back to back. Nixon was a smart man and he for sure got everything he worked for, but I do agree with most people, the United States shouldn’t have been even involved.
I think the US gets involved in wars that do them no good. This war resulted in the US losing money, resources, and men.
The U.S. involvement in this war was detrimental for all involved. With so many deaths and resources lost this was not worth our military’s time.
I don;t think that the U.S. should have been involved in this war at all because nothing good came out of it. However, I do think that Nixon was smart by using the “peace with honor” to get re-elected.
It was not a good idea for the U.S. to get involved. A lot of money, resources, and men were lost. On a side note, I think that the people who served the U.S. should still be honored for what they did, even if we disagree on the war. They still risked their lives and it is upsetting how many people look down on the soldiers.
Although Nixon came up with a good slogan following the war to get re-elected, I don’t think it was a good decision overall for the US to get involved. We lost a lot of money, popularity, and most importantly the number of deaths was outrageous.
I wish the lives of all the US soldiers could have had their lives saved when, in fact, it states that they’re unsure if it was even necessary for the US to enter the war. It is very sad to all the lives of the men taken and all of the unnecessary money that was spend.
i do not think it was a good idea for the US to get involved in this war.
I think that many of the tactics used by the vietnamese in this war were impractical and immoral. For example, the use of little kids as suicide bombers and strapping land mines to children and having them lay under tanks. It is sad to see societies resort to that kind of tactics even in a time of war.
I do not think it was a good idea for the US to get involved in Vietnam as much as they did. It seems like when there is a global issue the US is always involved but there are other countries who could get involved yet choose not to. The end result is numerous casualties for the US when the US could have assisted on a smaller scale.
At the time the government felt they had to stop communism, looking back now it was not smart to get involved but at the time it probably seemed right.
This war was quite amazing in American history. It is a shame that all those people lost live and all that money was spent on a war that really didn’t get anything accomplished.
We should not have been involved in this war. Our soldiers were not prepared for jungle warfare and many losses were due to friendly fire. The soldiers did not deserve this fate and the recognition they received when they came back was not fair to them. They did not choose to go to Vietnam and they were treated poorly when they returned. It is very hard to stop communism.
I don’t think we should of been involved in this war. We lost so many lives and money that could be used for other things. Those soldiers who came back from war have to feel like they wasted there time and most of those soldiers probably didn’t get the proper care that was needed.
Well hindsight is 50/50. Many said the same about the Korean War ,but ask South Koreans if they would rather live like their starving neighbors to the north.
War is a sad thing, there are those who oppose it and those that do not. War is needed and without it things would be worse off. Communism is BAD!
We should not have gotten involved in this war. I appreciate the good intentions of the US to aid in foreign issues however the amount of lives lost was not necessarily worth it.
I believe that the U.S. involvement in the Viet Nam War was the right thing to do. Because are country is a democracy we should give support to other countries that want a democracy as well. Lets say we didn’t fight in the Viet Nam war, lets say we never gave support to countries that needed help from communists, what would the world be like today. Half of the world would probably be under communist rule.
I think that it is nice that the U.S. helps out with every problem brought to them, I just wish that sometimes we would think everything through before we do it. Yes, we were standing up for democracy in a time that communism was trying to spread. But I do not believe that the world would be a much different place if we never got involved, besides the fact that millions of people wouldn’t of had to die too soon, and we may not be in as much debt.. (keywords as much).
The U.S involves its self in a lot of foreign affairs, and I think we rush into that. We helped the south fight for its rights, but I do not think the U.S needed to send troops over. We could have helped by sending supplies, but instead many lives were lost that could have been saved. I’m glad the U.S wants to help countries gain freedom, but is it worth it for our soldiers to lose their lives?
This is just another example of a divided nation. Thousands of live were lost in the War to “help” Vietnam and most Americans had no idea why soldiers were there in the first place. As the article suggests the millions of dollars used for this war could have been put to much better use.
I am studying the United States arguments for the promised land or crusader state and I think the American game is interesting.
I think that to be in a war like that they had a reason but the best thing they could have done and in the end did was leave
The Vietnam War was pointless. Many men were drafted to become U.S. soldiers and were not glorified as heroes, in fact, some believed that they were villains. Of course, being “drafted” into war means that you don’t support it. It’s a shame that so much money was wasted on warfare and artillery when it could have provided a purpose in promoting better education, health care, or something else that would have benefited America at large. We should learn from this in modern day 2014 as America is recovering from the war with Iraq. Years back it was rumored to be over, but it still continues as Americans remain suspicious of what goes on in the Middle East and are fearful for another 9/11 episode. It remains a controversy as it whether we should pull troops out or not. However, Vietnam did not pose a threat to the U.S, even if the North was attacking the South. I think to some extent the U.S. should have intervened, but should have pulled out sooner than they did.
I believe that the intentions of this war were good but the outcome did not happen as expected. As mentioned, it is best that they eventually left before more American citizens were killed.
The intentions of this war were ridiculous. If they wanted to be a communist country, let them. That system hasn’t had a great success rate, but maybe it would have for Vietnam. It is silly that we were so obsessive with an idea that our way is better (even though it has been more successful) to allow 68,000 American troops to be killed. In our governments efforts to stop communism, it only encouraged it to spread because of the methods we used to contain it. Che Guevara is a great example of that.
The Americans shouldn’t of stuck their nose in that war at all. It was called the Vietnam War for a reason, not the Vietnam-American war.
I do not think the Americans should of gotten involved in this war.
There was really no reason for the US. to have gotten involved in this matter. All it did was lead to 68,000 soldiers getting killed and and many protests back in the states.
I don’t feel that the Americans should have gotten involved with this. It just seems as though we like to have a hand in everything.
I know that we are supposedly the only country in the world that will get involved in other countries affairs, but that certainly doesn’t mean we should. America really had no need to get involved in this war and it may have cost us more than any benefits we received from it.
Our involvement in the Vietnam war costed a great amount of money, times, and costed us the lives of many Americans. Maybe the losses from this war are something we should consider today when we want to get involved in problems that do not directly affect us.
I think Americans should of stayed out of the war
There were many things that went on with our involvement in the Vietnam War that ended up not very good for some Americans… I think that the Americans should have just stayed out of war..
In my opinion we should have never gone to Vietnam. It caused way more bad than good and in that in mind why anger so many Americans. If this is a true self-government (which it is not) than the majority of Americans would have voted not to go to war.
The war of Vietnam was a political mess that the U.S. administration wanted to get involved in. Feel free to disagree. In the words of John Fogerty’s “Fortunate Son”.
It is hard to say now that we shouldn’t of gotten ourselves involved.
This is just another typical mistake that we haven’t learned from. Just like the Iraq war, we wasted our resources and more importantly lost American lives. As a country, we need to stop worrying about the world and more about our homeland. If all the money spend on the Vietnam, Korean, and wars in the Middle East were spend on improving our country, we could have had flying cars for all we know. That might be an exaggeration, but there would be a lot less problems here at home and all other countries would not be able to compare to our superiority of excellence as a nation if we invested at home.
I think that we need to learn from our mistakes of getting involved in everything. Yes, it is important sometimes. But every single thing that comes up shouldn’t be our business.
I wonder how many people in the US realized that we really didn’t win the war. It is kind of upsetting that we just kind of abandoned the South Vietnamese.
I don’t think playing international police is beneficial to the U.S, and I don’t think the nation’s top leaders were trying to stop Chinese expansion.
I wonder what would have happened if the US did stay in the war…
There are so many ifs when it comes to the Vietnam war. What if we sent more troops, what if we would have stayed longer. I guess we will never know for sure.
Again, I do not think we ever should have got involved in the war. So many lives lost and so many soldiers with health issues, it was just not worth it.
Many things can be learned from lives lost in this war
I don’t think we should have gotten involved in war, too many innocent lives lost.
I cannot imagine the relief upon hearing that the war was over. It should never have happened in the first place, but it would have still been a wonderful moment to hear that the end was finally there.
I don’t think we should have gotten involved in another war. Wonder what today would be like if we never had that war.
The U.S. being involved in this war just wasted resources, money, and unnecessary lives.
It probably would have been better if we had not gotten involved.
i do not believe that America should have been involved in this war
I also do not think we should have joined the war.
So many lives were lost during this terrible war
This was the smartest thing for America to do. We had lots several troops and billions of dollars in a war that was going no where.
Im still upset that north korea thinks they won because they technically didn’t lose. to be honest everyone paid a tremendous price for this war and honestly nothing was substantially accomplished.
It makes me feel unconformable that we technically did not win the war. This proves to countries around the world that we are not an entirely “unstoppable force.”
I don’t think that the U.S. should have got involved with this war.
This was not a war for someone to “win”. Everyone was losing on all sides and America decided to end the suffering.
The U.S. should have avoided involvement and put more efforts towards resolving the issues within our own country.
By Nixon signing a treaty that led North Vietnam to believe that we surrendered wasted so many people’s lives and billions of dollars that could have been used to better America. I think he may be the worst president that America has seen.
Should we have been involved to begin with? I don’t know. I just know we were involved and we should have made sure that we won.
It is so sad to see that 68,000 Americans lost their lives for getting involved of something that they should not have and could have been avoided.
In my opinion, the US should have minded their collective “own business” regarding the Vietnam conflict, maybe choosing to focus more on domestic policy at this time. Millions of veterans continue to pay the price for their country even today.
I think that the US should have not gotten involved with the war in the first place, I think that the US should have focused more on the policies at the time, many of the veterans from the Vietnam war are still facing the consequences many years later.
I feel that we should not have even been involved with the war at all. It caused so much more harm than good and we lost so many soldiers for almost nothing. There are still so many problems that we are still dealing with today from this war.
This war was truly pointless and I feel bad for the many Americans that served and lost their lives because of it. It is unfair that so many Americans died for something that did not amount to anything.
America didnt allow itself to win this war. the people wanted us out and thus thats what we had to do. Its not that we shouldnt of been their it is more of we should of backed our troops right or wrong
What a great time for Americans, this horrible conflict had ended.
It was great that the the conflict was ending and all the pointless stuff was working itself out.
The day the Vietnam War was over was a miraculous day. This war was unnecessary.
I find it very disappointing that so many Americans lost their lives for a war that seemed pointless in the end.
So many lives were lost as a result of a war that was so dangerous. It had a pointless ending that makes you wonder if it was really worth it.
It is unfortunate that the war did not result in much, but lost so many lives and so much money.
The Vietnam war was practically pointless for America. We saw no results besides death from it.
I find it pretty sad that around 68,000 Americans lost their lives in the Vietnam war. It is also pretty sad that billions of dollars were spent on Americans having nothing to show.
I am sure that there were many American’s who were relieved that the Vietnam war was over. 68,000 lives lost would only have grown if the war were to continue.
To read the words, “68,000 Americans lost their lives for what amounted to nothing.” Is the toughest part for all Americans to accept.
So many more lives would have been lost if the war would have continued but what makes it even worse is that the war was lost. I cannot imagine how the parents of these soldiers felt. If it were my child I would feel pretty bitter.
While we should have finished what we started, I can also understand why we left the war. It could have been never ending.
This war was a very sad case of poor judgement! Many soldiers suffered and many did not ask to be in this war but were drafted.
It was a failed war. It harassed the people and wasted money. The government should not intervene in others’ domestic politics.
I’ve never agreed with other countries trying to jump into a war that doesn’t involve them.
There would be more people get harm when the war still continuous. It was great that the war was stop.
This may seem like happy times but truly most veterans returning were neglected and mistreated for something out of their control.
I think the Vietnam war shouldn’t have happened in the first place.
2 or 3 million Vietnamese lost in this war…that is astounding. The number of lives lost in war is devastating no matter how small or large. Every life is just as important as another.
it is good because the war finally end.
Viet Nam was a joke and a waste of human life. France should have just remained in control and we should have helped France to do so.
68,000 lives! Still unbelievable we lost that many soldiers. Glad it ended.
I see it as a surrender as well. It is terrible that the men who never came home, died or were captured and will never feel the appreciation and honor that we have for them today.
This war was a terrible travesty. We should have never been over there. The idea that somehow communism was going to spread like wildfire and make it into the United States seems ludicrous.
Had the US won the war in a decided manner, the question of whether we should have been there or not wouldn’t be an issue. Unfortunately for us, we didn’t “win” the war, so everything gets second guessed. Given the outcome, I am one of those that do not believe we should have been there.
The US should not of even been there in the first place. At least we had the sense to get out of that situation.
So many lives were lost during this war that we should of never been involved in.
I feel if we weren’t there in the first place we wouldn’t have lost all those soldiers
Again, we see many lives lost that didn’t need to be. I do not think we should of been over there.
My grandfather fought in the Vietnam war. We shouldn’t have even been involved in the first place with this war in my opinion.
Agreed with most classmates. Way to many lives were lost during this war.
To many lives were loss in both sides, but that is the price of war. A soldier follows orders because that what they are thought and do not worry about the politics. Regardless of what you think about the war, you should never turn your back on U.S. military because these men and women are only doing there job and protecting our country, and not everyone can say that.
It is such a shame that so many people died for nothing. I had an uncle who was killed within the first ninety days while serving in Viet Nam. The worst part of his death was that he was killed by friendly fire.
America should have pulled out long before 1973. The actual war coming to an end in 1975 and Vietnam was unable to defeat the communism.
Again, the numbers are staggering. However, when the nation calls we must act and cannot second guess their orders at the time. And the fact China and the USSR helped the North should be reminder today not to trust them (Russia).
Nixon signing the Paris Peace Accord was the greatest thing he ever did as President. The war should have never gone on for as long as it did and we should have never lost the 68,000, average age of 19, Americans that we did.
Too many lives were lost during this war and it was for nothing.
It is so sad that so many lives for no reason. I never realized that the Vietnam war was not “won”. It caused so much sorrow and changed the soldiers’ and families’ lives drastically.
Of all the wars fought, I believe this was one of the most ridiculous! So many lives were lost! I feel there was no point to the war and considering the North took our peace as a sign of surrender, is a slap in the face. I feel that this was the most misconstrued and misinterpreted war with a huge lack of information.
As I stated in previous statements and I agree with most others that have posted before me. War is devastating in the amount of lives lost. The Vietnam War is no different. Unfortunately, this is a war that the US probably should not have been involved in.
From all the readings and things I have learned about this war I feel we really should not have been a part of it. This was a awful war with so very many lives lost.
I know a man that served in this war and he still suffers from PTSD, depression, and guilt. When he tells stories you can tell for him it is still very real. He tells us that his troop went out with 35 and came back with 11 in one night. They even spoke up that they didn’t think it was a good idea to go out that night but nobody would listen to them.
Did we really have to go back a second time?
Veterans of the Vietnam war got the short end of the stick. People in the states reading news updates formed opinions and met the soldiers with ridicule when they returned. Many soldiers knew the war was absurd, but what could they do? They signed up because they thought they were serving their country (or had no choice and were drafted), then two years later found themselves in a rice patty watching their friends die for no reason.There was a point in the war where the only thing they were fighting for was the person beside them. They deserved better when they got home.
I agree that too many lives were lost during this time. I believe that our involvement with this war could have been avoided.
My own father is a Vietnam vet, he is actually fairly normal and unhinged from this war. He has only struggled with drug addiction from the opium that was introduced to these vets while oversees.
That treaty was reached just one week after Nixon was sworn in for a second term as president, after winning 1972 general election in a landslide.
Vietnam seems to be one of the most disheartening wars of United States history. It seems the amount of blood shed, the amount of money spent, supplies used, everything and everyone we lost, was senseless. That war long before we called it over.
Having read about this unpopular war and the casualties that lost their lives because of it, it is interesting to learn about what happened as it came to a close for American soldiers. It seems as though 1972 was a very contentious, confusing time in American history due to Nixon’s re-election and involvement in the Watergate scandal.
Thank God it ended. Wish I could have my uncle back.
Agreeing with Jacob on how interesting it was to learn about what I had happened as this is a war that not many know many details about. Nevertheless, I am so thankful it had ended.