The Forgotten War

The wise people have ironically defined history as a story of wars written by victor. Therefore, history is not written whenever peace is prevailing in the world. In other words, war is the permanent reality of the human race. This may be the reason we forget many important wars or they go behind in our memory. The Vietnam war is such a war. We do know it, but we are in the process of forgetting it. I say that the Vietnam War is the mother of all current conflicts in the world.

The objective of this blog is not to write on the history of the Vietnam war but its ecological, economical, civilizational damage on the world. However, it is important to share a brief history of the Vietnam war for proper correlation between the war and its damage. The period is very long. It starts from 1920 to 1990. Therefore, putting this history in a couple of pages is highly impossible. If you are really interested, then watch “The War in Vietnam” by Ken Burn and Lynn Novick on CBS TV. There were three Indochina wars during this period. But I will briefly cover only the first and second Indochina war because the objective of this blog links to those wars.

Immediately after World War I, Vietnam started requesting USA, France and UK for self-rule. The USA was then openly favoring demolition of European colonies and self-rule. Ho Chi Minh wrote a memorandum to the President of USA for self-rule. But the USA didn’t want to annoy their friend France and did not respond to his memorandum. Ho Chi Minh visited various European countries to garner support for independence of Vietnam during that period. But to his disappointment, he soon realized that self-determination, human dignity, human rights, human liberty of western world is just hypocrisy. Ho Chi Minh, a strong nationalist, realized that armed revolution is the only solution for the independence of Vietnam. He was then attracted towards communism and went to Russia for training.

During World War II, the Japanese army defeated French colonial power in Vietnam and ruled Vietnam for a short period. Meanwhile, Ho Chi Minh had already returned to Vietnam. He saw an opportunity for the independence of Vietnam. He garnered support from locals and started a guerilla war against Japanese forces. They defeated Japan on 2-Sep-1945. He declared independence and named it the ‘Democratic Republic of Vietnam’. But this independence was short lived. France once again attacked Vietnam, overthrew DRV govt and restored French authority just after 20 days (22-Sep-45).

The first Indochina war was fought between Dec-1946 to Jul-1954. Ho Chi Minh’s communist guerilla defeated the French army on 7-May-1954. The USSR and China actively supported them. Vietnam and France held Geneva conference for peaceful resolution during Apr to July 1954. France was determined to divide Vietnam after their humiliating defeat. They forced Vietnam to accept partition of Vietnam at 17^th parallel on 21-Jul-1954. The agreement had a reunification election after 2 years. Therefore, Ho Chi Minh accepted the agreement. But France, USA had different plans in their mind. Ho Chi Minh and his communist party controlled North Vietnam. USA and France installed puppet President Ngo Dinh Diem who was Catholic Christian in South Vietnam. Diem was a devout Christian. He treated the majority Buddhist very badly. He did not agree for 1956 reunification election. This is what European power wanted.

From 1954 to 1964, the USA had presence in South Vietnam. But their role was limited to advisor and no participation in direct fight. They had deployed thousands of military advisors to South Vietnam. During these ten years, communist guerillas in South Vietnam (Viet Cong) organized guerilla war against the South Vietnam army. Viet Cong was actively supported by the North Vietnam army. South Vietnam witnessed many coups during this period and there was no visible progress on the defeat of the North Vietnamese communist government. Americans were so convinced of the Domino Effect (if one country fell to communism, then all the surrounding countries would fall to communism) that they felt it is their moral responsibility to support South Vietnam and defeat communist North Vietnam. Now, American wanted to take a direct part in the action. They wanted a reason for it. It is alleged that North Vietnamese boats attacked American ships in the Gulf of Tonkin on 2-Aug-1964. A 2005 American document shows that it was constructed reason. American engagement in actual action started from here. US President Lyndon B Johnson assured Americans that defeat of North Vietnam is imminent. American had a lot of overconfidence in their military power/capability and refused to understand with whom they were fighting. Ho Chi Minh’s men had already defeated the Japanese and French army recently.

Viet Cong had already penetrated every city/town/village of South Vietnam. American fascination for Catholic Christian ruler in South Vietnam alienated the Buddhist majority. Viet Cong already had dominations from North Vietnamese by now. They planned a major offensive on the US and South Vietnamese army. They were secretly planning it for months together. On 30-Jan-1968, they orchestrated simultaneous and surprise attacks (Tet Offensive) on 100 cities of South Vietnam. 85,000 Viet Cong guerillas and North Vietnamese regular army took part in it. Ho Chi Minh and his men were ready to sacrifice 10 Vietnamese for 1 American. They were determined for independence of their mother land. Whereas American soldiers were completely clueless. They did not know why they were fighting in Vietnam. The Tet offensive completely demoralized the South Vietnamese and US army. Frustrated US army entered in Son Tinh district of South Vietnam on 16-Mar-1968 and raped and killed thousands of unarmed civilians and women. This unfamous My Lai massacre turned common American’s opinion against their government. Antiwar sentiments increased in America. Lots of protests started across America for opposing US presence in Vietnam.

Richard Nixon won the Presidential election in Jan-1969 on antiwar sentiment. Meanwhile Ho Chi Minh died in Sep-1969 at the age of 79. Americans slowly started troops withdrawal in 1969. Meanwhile, the Paris Peace Accord was signed on 27-Jan-1973. This ended US involvement in Vietnam officially. Ironically, Henry Kissinger received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973 for the Paris Peace Accord. Who and how and why people get the Nobel Peace Prize is an independent subject of investigation. However, the US took almost 2 years to evacuate Vietnam. The US Ambassador ran away from their embassy rooftop on 30-Apr-1975. The USA left Vietnam with a lot of humiliation. History repeats! The USA ran away from Afghanistan in similar fashion! Agony of Vietnam did not stop here. It continued till 1990 although it was merged in 1975.

As I said earlier, the objective of this blog is not the history of the Vietnam war but what catastrophe it had inflicted on Vietnam. The key strength of Viet Cong guerilla tactics was underground tunnels. The Vietnamese were convinced that they can’t defeat superpower France and the USA in face-to-face combat. Therefore, hit and run was the best suited guerilla tactic they first used against France in 1940. They used the same tactic against the USA. Estimated 200 KM of underground tunnels were built till 1960. These tunnels were well equipped with ammunition storage, kitchen and hospitals. They were sometimes 3 tiers in the ground. They were suited for the size of Vietnamese. But bigger sized westerners could not dare to enter it. These tunnels proved decisive in the Vietnam war. The American army was not trained in guerilla warfare. Therefore, the US Army used their muscle power to crush the Vietnamese. Vietnam had thick forest and Viet Cong (and North Vietnamese regular army) were hidden in the tunnel network. The US army sprayed 45 million liters of Agent Orange across Vietnam. Agent Orange destroys vegetation on spraying. The US sprayed 28 million liters of Napalm for burning vegetation. As if it was not sufficient, the US army deployed 150 Rome Plow tractors which destroyed approximately 1000 acres of agricultural land and forest. It not only killed Vietnamese but killed a large number of wildlife (tiger, elephant, bears, leopard etc) and extinct many species of animal and vegetation. 50% mangroves were destroyed during this war resulting in typhoons and tsunamis for many years. Rice production reduced dramatically during American occupation to create artificial famine. Toxic chemicals (Dioxin) entered the food chain resulted in a high rate of cancer. Thousands of birth defects such as Spina Bifida, cerebral palsy, physical and intellectual disability, missing or deformed limbs were observed up to the next 4 generations of Vietnamese. When I was reading this, I immediately remembered Saddam Hussein. He was hanged as he used Mustard gas against his own people (Kurds). Who was punished for America’s war crime? Agent Orange and Napalm not only affected Vietnamese but also Americans. American soldiers used empty barrels of Agent Orange and Napalm for bathing, storing and cooking. Affected soldiers filed a case against Monsanto and Dow Chemicals (suppliers of these chemicals) in US courts and received huge compensation. But Vietnamese did not get any compensation from these companies till date.

Similar to these tunnels, Viet Cong and North Vietnamese army had a unique supply system which is called as Ho Chi Minh Trails (see above map). These supply lines were passing through Laos and Cambodia. The US army conducted massive bombardment on North Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia to destroy Ho Chi Minh trails and tunnels. Estimated 16 million ton of ammunition used in the Vietnam war as compared to 2.1 million in WWII in Europe and Asia by the US army. This is 8 times of WWII in a much smaller area! 2 million tons of bombs were dropped on Laos alone which is 1 ton of bomb per person! 0.5 million ton of bombs were dropped on Cambodia and remaining mostly on North Vietnam. Today Vietnam has 30 million bomb craters with 3 meter diameter. They are infertile now. Vietnam still does not have resources to clear these bomb craters.  Toxic chemicals and bombardment destroyed 4.5 million acres of forest and agricultural land which is almost 5% of the total land of Vietnam. Over 2 million Vietnamese took refuge within the country and an equal number of people became homeless.

The peak size of the US army was 500,000 in Vietnam. But over 1.5 million Americans took part in this war over 20 years. Total 3 million Vietnamese killed with millions wounded in this war. 58,000 US soldiers killed, 150K were wounded and 21K were permanently disabled. The US spent 168 Billion Dollar in the Vietnam war which is 1.4 trillion today. The USA inflicted such an unprecedented destruction not only on Vietnam but also on their own people.

America’s humiliated defeat in Vietnam did not bring any wisdom to American policy makers. They wanted to take revenge on the Soviets who helped the Vietnamese. The US got that opportunity in Afghanistan. Many people believe that Islamic terrorism started because of Afghanistan war. If that is true, then the first terrorist organization should have been born in Vietnam. The hidden war between the US and Russia started from the Vietnam war is continuing till date.

But what do we Indians take lessons from war in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Libya, Sahel?

·         Violent minorities can create a civil war situation in the country if the majority is silent spectators.

·         Every citizen must strongly believe in Nation First. If the small section of society invites foreign power to solve their internal domestic problems, then this is the beginning of destruction of the country. See where Syria, Libya, Iraq are today? They were prosperous and rich countries a few years back.

·         External power will never solve internal domestic problems. They will first destroy infrastructure, industry, agricultural land and forest. Vietnam could not reach their potential till now. Syria, Iraq, Libya will take another 50 years to achieve their earlier state if war is stopped today.

We have recently seen that the govt of India had to bend and agree to unrealistic demands of miniscule minority because the majority were silent. See anti farm bill or anti CAA/NRC protests. The protestors are putting all the efforts to attract international support. We have seen how international wasted interest groups supported these agitations. It is just one instance of foreign intervention in India’s internal matters and our Shining India, Make in India, World Pharmacy, Superpower India will go to dust.

 

Satish Gundawar

25-Nov-21