During theaftermath of World War II and theCold War, theIndochina wars (Vietnamese:Chiến tranh Đông Dương) were a series of wars which were waged inIndochina from 1945 to 1991, bycommunist forces (mainly ones led byVietnamese communists) against the opponents (mainly theVietnamese nationalists,Trotskyists, theState of Vietnam, theRepublic of Vietnam, the French, American, Laotian royalist, Cambodian and Chinese communist forces). The term "Indochina" referred to formerFrench Indochina, which included the current states ofVietnam,Laos, andCambodia. In current usage, it applies largely to a geographic region, rather than to a political area. The wars included:
The French colonization and occupation of Vietnam were a result of secularimperialism, driven by economic interests and strategic considerations. In addition to exploiting Vietnam's resources, the French saw the region as a strategic buffer to facilitate access to resources in China. France, however, used the pretext of protecting Christians, who were persecuted by the Nguyen, as a justification for their invasion of Vietnam. WhileGia Long tolerated Catholicism, his successorsMinh Mạng andThiệu Trị were orthodox, fundamentalistConfucians, admiring ancient Chinese culture. They forbade Catholic proselytism and resisted European and American attempts to establish colonial trade posts, which France tried to impose. This was seen by colonial powers as "provocative".
Isolationist and chauvinist policy led the Vietnamese to refuseindustrial modernization, so that they were not able to resist military power of a French invasion. In August 1858,Napoleon III ordered the landing of French forces at Tourane, (present-dayDa Nang), beginning a colonial occupation that was to last almost a century. By 1884, the French had complete control over the country, which now formed the largest part of French Indochina. It took the Vietnamese people almost a century to expel the last colonial influence in their country.
Vietnamese independence movements were suppressed, and the French refused to honor what they had committed to in the protectorate treaty.Nguyen Sinh Cung established theIndochinese Communist Party (ICP) in 1930; theMarxist–Leninist party aimed to overthrow French rule and establish a communist state.[1] Vietnam’s struggle for independence was also shaped by nationalist movements in two main strands: reformist and revolutionary, both embracedrepublicanism andanticommunist nationalism.[2] Nationalist groups included theVietnamese Nationalist Party,Vietnamese Revolutionary League,Đại Việt Nationalist Party, and religious communities such asBuddhist,Hòa Hảo,Cao Đài, andCatholic.[3]
Fractures between nationalists and communists emerged in the late 1920s.[4] Revolutionary nationalists accused communists of being factional and subservient to foreign influence, while communists contended nationalism was too narrow and republicanism not radical enough.[5]: 10 Vietnamese communists envisioned their revolution asproletarian and an integral part ofworld revolution, rather than solely a national movement. They believed class struggle and purges were essential to dismantle older social structures and pave the way for socialism.[6] The Vietnamese communist revolution’s pursuit of centralized control fueled a protracted civil conflict, characterized by violence, ideological purges, and the suppression of competing nationalist movements.[7] The Indochinese Communist Party was primarily responsible for starting widespread Vietnamese-on-Vietnamese violence.[8]: 515
Governor-generalJean Decoux, under theVichy regime, allowed Japanese troops into northern Indochina in 1940. By 1941, Japan gained full military access across Indochina and established a fragile dual colonial rule that maintained French administration while facilitating Japanese preparations for Southeast Asian operations.[9]
Ho Chi Minh, returning to Vietnam from France, helped create theViet Minh front in 1941, advocating for independence. Meanwhile, Vichy French and Japanese authorities encouraged nationalism in Indochina for their own purposes. Disillusioned Vietnamese nationalists redirected this sentiment toward self-determination. Despite Japanese and French efforts to manipulate identities, profound societal changes occurred in the early 1940s, and Vietnam’s right-wing nationalist groups, particularly theĐại Việt parties, promoted a strong national identity.[9]
In March 1945, Japan, losing the war, overthrew the French government in Indochina, established theEmpire of Vietnam. TheVietnamese famine that broke out in 1944–1945 caused about 2 million deaths. With the end of the war, the Viet Minh launched theAugust Revolution to seek control in Vietnam. Emperor Bảo Đại abdicated power to the Viet Minh, on August 25. In a popular move, Ho Chi Minh made Bảo Đại "supreme advisor" to the Viet Minh-led government inHanoi, whichclaimed its independence on September 2 as theDemocratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV). The16th parallel was established by the Allies on August 2, 1945, following thePotsdam Conference, dividing Vietnam intotwo military zones: Chinese Nationalist forces occupied the north, and British forces the south, to disarm Japanese troops.[10]
Beginning in August 1945, the Viet Minh sought to consolidate power by terrorizing and purging rival Vietnamesenationalist groups andTrotskyist activists.[11][12][13][14] On September 23, the British supported a Frenchcoup de force that overthrew the DRV government inSaigon and attempted to reinstate French control over southern Indochina.[15] In 1946, the Franco-Chinese andHo–Sainteny Agreements enabled French forces to replace the Chinese north of the 16th parallel and facilitated a coexistence between the DRV and the French that strengthened the Viet Minh while undermining the nationalists.[16][17] That summer, the Viet Minh colluded with French forces to eliminate nationalists, targeted for their ardent anti-colonialism.[18][11]: 205–207 [19]: 175–177 [20]: 699–700
With most of the nationalist partisans defeated,[21][22] and negotiations broken down, tensions between the Viet Minh and French authorities erupted intofull-scale war in December 1946,[23] a conflict which became entwined with theCold War. Surviving nationalist partisans and politico-religious groups rallied behind the exiledBảo Đại to reopen negotiations withFrance in opposition to communist domination.[24][19]: 187–188 While theState of Vietnam, under Bảo Đại as Chief of State, aligned with the anticommunistWestern Bloc, the French exploited it to extend their neo-colonial presence and to bolster their standing withinNATO.[25] By aligning with Marxist-Leninist principles, Vietnamese communists suppressed dissent and monopolized power through radical campaigns such asland reform, class struggle, ideological rectification, the eradication ofjudicial independence, and the suppression of theNhân Văn–Giai Phẩm movement.[26][27][28]
The anticommunistTruman Doctrine pledgedUnited States support to nations resisting communism. After communistChina and theSoviet Union recognized theDemocratic Republic of Vietnam, the US recognized theState of Vietnam, based in Saigon, as the legitimate government in February 1950. The US provided substantial aid to the SVN through France,[29] while China[30] and, to a lesser extent, the Soviet Union[31] aided the DRV. The war ended with the French defeat at theBattle of Dien Bien Phu and French withdrawal from North Vietnam after theGeneva Accords, signed between the Viet Minh and France. After the accords, Vietnam was partitioned into North Vietnam and South Vietnam.
The Second Indochina War, commonly known as theVietnam War, was an armed conflict fought betweenNorth Vietnam, along with theViet Cong, andSouth Vietnam and their allies. On the whole, the Vietnam War was a postcolonialwar of national liberation, atheater of the global Cold War, and acivil war, in which civil warfare was a defining feature from the outset.[32]
During the War, the North Vietnamese transported most of their supplies via theHo Chi Minh Trail (known to the Vietnamese as the Truong Son Trail, after the Truong Son mountains), which ran through Laos and Cambodia. As a result, the areas of these nations bordering Vietnam would see heavy combat during the war.
For the United States, the political and combat goals were ambiguous: success and progress were ill-defined and, along with the large numbers of casualties, the Vietnam War raised moral issues that made the war increasingly unpopular at home. U.S. news reports of the 1968Tet Offensive, especially from CBS, were unfavorable in regard to the lack of progress in ending the war. Although the 1968Tet Offensive resulted in a military victory for South Vietnam and the United States, with virtually complete destruction of the NLF forces combat capability, it was, by the intensity of the combats, the contradiction it implied with recent reports of withdrawals of US troops and status of the war,[33] also a turning point in American voter opposition to U.S. support for theirCold War Vietnamese allies. TheBattle of Khe Sanh lasted 77 days during that period, making it one of the biggest single battles at that point in the war.
The United States began withdrawing troops from Vietnam in 1970, with the last troops returning in January, 1973. TheParis Peace Accords called for acease-fire, and prohibited the North Vietnamese from sending more troops intoSouth Vietnam - although the North Vietnamese were permitted to continue to occupy those regions of South Vietnam they had conquered in the 1972Easter Offensive.
The North Vietnamese never intended to abide by the agreement. Fighting continued sporadically through 1973 and 1974, while the North Vietnamese planned a major offensive, tentatively scheduled for 1976. The North Vietnamese Army in South Vietnam had been ravaged during the Easter offensive in 1973, and it was projected that it would take until 1976 to rebuild their logistical capabilities.
The withdrawal had catastrophic effects on the South Vietnamese Army (ARVN). Shortly after the Paris Peace Accords, theUnited States Congress made major budget cuts in military aid to the South Vietnamese. The ARVN, which had been trained by American troops to use American tactics, quickly fell into disarray. Although it remained an effective fighting force throughout 1973 and 1974, by January 1975 it had disintegrated.[citation needed] The North Vietnamese hurriedly attacked the much weakened South, and were met with little resistance.
Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, was taken by the PAVN on April 30, 1975, and the Second Indochina War ended.
The fighting that took place between North and South Vietnam following United States withdrawal is sometimes called the Third Indochina War; this term usually refers to a later 1979 conflict, however (see below).
TheThird Indochina War, commonly known as theCambodian–Vietnamese War, started on 1 May 1975 when the Kampuchean Revolutionary Army invaded the Vietnamese island ofPhu Quoc. Vietnamese forces quickly counter-attacked, regaining their territory and invading the Kampuchean island ofKoh Wai.
In August 1975, Vietnam returned the island of Koh Wai to Kampuchea and both governments started making peaceful noises, but behind the scenes tensions were mounting.[citation needed] On 30 April 1977, Kampuchea started attacking Vietnamese villages. In September, six divisions crossed the border, advancing 10 kilometers (6.2 mi) into Tay Ninh Province. Angered by the scale of the attacks, the Vietnam People's Army assembled eight divisions to launch a retaliatory strike against Kampuchea.
In December, in an effort to force the Kampuchean government to negotiate, the Vietnamese forces invaded Kampuchea, easily defeating the Kampuchean army. On 6 January 1978, Vietnamese forces were only 38 kilometers (24 mi) fromPhnom Penh; however, the Kampuchean government remained defiant and the Vietnamese leadership realised they would not secure their political objective and decided to withdraw their troops.
As Kampuchean forces soon resumed their attacks across the border, the Vietnamese launched another limited counter-attack in June, forcing the Kampucheans to retreat. Again the Vietnamese withdrew and the Kampucheans resumed their attacks. The Vietnamese had had enough; in December 1978, Vietnam launched a full-scale invasion. Phnom Penh was captured in January 1979, the rulingKhmer Rouge were driven from power and a pro-Vietnamese government was installed.
In 1984, Vietnam unveiled a plan for the disengagement of its army from Kampuchea. In 1988, the Vietnamese Government began withdrawing forces in earnest; the last men left in September 1989.
The Third Indochina War also refers to theSino-Vietnamese War, which was fought in February–March 1979 between thePeople's Republic of China and theSocialist Republic of Vietnam. Shortly after the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia, thePeople's Republic of China, who were the Khmer Rouge's political ally, launched a punitive invasion of Vietnam. Fighting was short but intense. The Chinese advanced about forty kilometers into Vietnam, occupying the city of Lang Son on 6 March. There, they claimed the gate to Hanoi was open, declared their punitive mission achieved, and withdrew.
On 23 October 1991, the Cambodian-Vietnamese War was officially declared over as a result of negotiations and the signing of1991 Paris Peace Agreements.