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• USA began secretly bombing the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Cambodia


  1969
• Pro-American General Lon Nol took over in Cambodia and told the North Vietnamese to leave


  March 1970
• North Vietnamese supported Cambodian guerrillas (Khmer Rouge)

  Attacked the Nol government
• US generals urged Nixon to invade Cambodia to support Nol and save Cambodia from communism
• 50,000 ARVN and 30,000 US troops invaded Cambodia
• Nixon knew invading Cambodia would create public outrage in the USA
• Nixon said US troops could only go 19 miles across the border and had to be out by 30 June
• Nixon went on television to explain why troops were going into Cambodia
• Results of the invasion of Cambodia

  • Significant damage to the Ho Chi Minh Trail
  • Weapons and supplies captured
  • About 11,000 communists killed
  • Nol's government kept in power
  • Communist bases and supply networks destroyed
• ARVN were limited to 19 miles inside Cambodia, they could not invade too far
• Damage to the Ho Chi Minh Trail did not stop the North Vietnamese getting into South Vietnam
• There was huge public outcry in the USA
• Congress was furious and cancelled the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
• ARVN invasion of Laos with US air support

  1971
• The ARVN took the city of Tchepone, with US air support, but then communist troops attacked
• The fighting was bloody and the ARVN fled, leaving weapons and equipment behind
• Despite US air cover, they had high casualties. The invasion raised doubts about Vietnamisation
• The Trail and North Vietnamese bases remained secure, but a struggle for political power in Laos
• 120,000 North Vietnamese troops crossed the border into South Vietnam


  30 March 1972
• ARVN, with US air support, eventually pushed the North Vietnamese back
• USA launched Operation Linebacker, heavy bombing of North Vietnam


  6 April 1972
• Results of Operation Linebacker

  • Almost wiped out the N. Vietnamese war industry
  • Severely disrupted supplies from the USSR and China
  • Destroyed radio stations and other communication networks
  • Led to China and the USSR urging the North Vietnamese to reach a peace settlement
• Knowing they would soon be going home, US troops no longer saw themselves as fighting to win
• Cases of fragging (soldiers killing their own officers) rose from 96 in 1969 to 209 in 1970
• Cases of drug use rose, with about 35,000 soldiers being heroin addicts
• The ARVN did not have enough soldiers, despite conscription
• Desertion was common, with 123,000 men deserting in 1969 and 150,500 in 1971
• Corruption was widespread in the ARVN, with appointments and pay being manipulated
• Over time, Congress restricted funding for training and equipment of the ARVN
• The USA withdrew troops despite knowing the ARVN could not protect South Vietnam
• The departure of US personnel set off an economic crisis in South Vietnam
• The South Vietnamese government was weak, politically and militarily
• South Vietnamese hated the government as they saw it as a puppet of the US
• The Paris Agreement was signed, setting up a ceasefire and timetable for reunification

  27 January 1973
• The South Vietnamese government refused to negotiate with the communists
• North Vietnamese Army swept through South Vietnam

  March 1975
• Congress refused to provide more aid to the South
• The last Americans in Saigon left in a hasty scramble, and their final departure was anything but honourable
• With the fall of Saigon, Vietnam became a united, communist, country