Final Phase (196875)

In previous years both sides had made numerous attempts without success to find a basis on which to negotiate a peace settlement. Following the Tet offensive, both sides reassessed their positions. As a result the United States scaled down its bombing of North Vietnam beginning in April, 1968. North Vietnam, in return, agreed to meet with the United States in Paris in May, to begin discussing peace possibilities. In November all bombing of North Vietnam was halted. In early 1969 representatives of South Vietnam's government and of the National Liberation Front joined the peace talks.

Meanwhile, heavy fighting continued throughout South Vietnam during the spring of 1968, especially around the Marine base of Khe Sanh. A lull in the fighting followed until the 1969 Tet holidays, when the Communists launched another offensive.

In July President Nixon announced that the United States would begin a phased withdrawal of its troops to gradually transfer the entire burden of the war to the South Vietnamese. This policy became known as "vietnamization."

Extended War In Indochina

During 1970, despite continued withdrawals of American troops and a lessening of hostilities, the war appeared to take on larger dimensions. In Laos United States bombers tried to blunt a Pathet Lao (Communist) offensive supported by NVA regulars. In Cambodia the neutralist Norodom Sihanouk was deposed by pro-Western government officials, who began a campaign to eliminate the Vietcong from their Cambodian sanctuaries. Their troops, however, were no match for the seasoned Vietcong, who soon penetrated deep into the country. Coming to Cambodia's aid, American and South Vietnamese troops crossed the border to attack the enemy sanctuaries. This action caused massive protest demonstrations on American college campuses.

In 1971, South Vietnamese forces invaded Laos to try to cut off North Vietnamese infiltration into the south along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The enemy forced them to retreat within a few weeks.

In March, 1972, the North Vietnamese launched a large-scale offensive into the south, and occupied much territory. A total rout of ARVN forces was prevented only by heavy American bombing attacks on NVA positions. Also, President Nixon ordered the resumption of massive bombing of the north and the mining and blockade of North Vietnam's harbors to cut off foreign aid. The fighting was soon stalemated.

North Vietnamese Victory

By 1972 the United States and South Korea had ended their ground combat role in South Vietnam. In 1973 a peace agreement was signed, under which the United States withdrew from the conflict and American prisoners of war held by the North Vietnamese were released. During the war, some 2,200,000 Americans had served in Vietnam. Of that number, more than 58,000 died there.

Also in 1973 a truce was called between the South Vietnamese forces and the Communist forces. Both sides, however, resumed hostilities soon thereafter. In March, 1975, the NVA and Vietcong launched attacks on ARVN positions. Although no different in scale from earlier offensives, the attacks resulted in a massive collapse of ARVN armies in the northern provinces because of the failure of leadership by the South Vietnamese general staff and the lack of United States air support. Within weeks the country was overrun by enemy armies, and in April the government in Saigon capitulated. In the last days of the war, the United States helped more than 100,000 Vietnamese flee the country.

The Communists soon placed the country under military rule. Formal unification occurred in 1976.

In a related development of 1975, Cambodian and Laotian regimes backed by the United States fell as a result of insurgencies supported by North Vietnam All the former colonies of French Indochina came under Communist rule.