The Civil War in Vietnam

• The Civil War in Vietnam

One of the bloodiest wars of the last century was the war in Vietnam. It ended about 40 years ago, the complete victory of North Vietnamese troops, when the communists took Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) and have raised the flag over the Palace of Independence. Let's try to remember the background and causes of the conflict years 1957-1975. in Southeast Asia.

When in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), I visited the Museum of the Vietnam War, pictures of which I would like to illustrate this post.

The prerequisites of the conflict between North and South Vietnam were the events that took place long before the official turning full-scale hostilities. Since the nineteenth century, Vietnam was part of the French colonial empire. After the First World War, with the growth of national consciousness of the colonial administration were opponents. They were supporters of the communist views, led by Ho Chi Minh. Of course, France is not going to give the independence of one of its colonies and the Communists refused. conflict was formed on this basis. In 1945, Ho Chi Minh proclaimed the establishment of the independent Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) throughout the country. The French army alone could not cope with the guerrilla movement DRV military aid it began to put the Americans. However, the Communists, supported by China, were ultimately stronger. In 1954, the Geneva Accords were signed, to end the conflict and formally recognized Vietnam as an independent state.

I will not dwell on the chronology of events and further into the details, but after France, the United States expressed their ambitions. In the fear that Vietnam will be another socialist countries of Asia, the United States has risen to support the South Vietnamese government, who did not want to fulfill the Geneva agreements. In 1957, civil war broke out between the North - the Communists and the South - a counterweight to communist forces in Indochina.

On the side of South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) were the United States, South Korea, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, the Khmer Republic, the Kingdom of Laos. On the side of the North (the Democratic Republic of Vietnam) - China, the Vietcong, the Soviet Union, North Korea, the Pathet Lao.

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At the height of the war in 1968 the number of US troops in Vietnam was about 540 thousand people. To understand the figure of half a million people, you can try to imagine the soldiers, holding hands and standing along the road for a five-hour car route between Berlin and Frankfurt.

As Soviet military specialists to Vietnam a little more than 10 thousand troops were sent in the period from 1965 to 1974.

The number of casualties in the Vietnam War on the rough estimates of several million people (military and civilians).

The consequences of the use of chemical weapons by the Americans.

More photos from the museum.

Trophy American technology.