On January 15, 1973, the US Army and its allies stopped conducting military operations in Vietnam. The peaceful nature of the American military was explained by the fact that after four years of negotiations in Paris, the participants in the armed conflict reached a certain agreement. A few days later, on January 27, a peace treaty was signed. According to the agreements reached, American troops, having lost 58 thousand people since 1965, left South Vietnam. Until now, historians, military and politicians cannot unequivocally answer the question: "How did the Americans lose the war if they did not lose a single battle?" "RG" has collected several expert opinions on this matter.

1. Hell disco in the jungle. So American soldiers and officers called the Vietnam War. Despite the overwhelming superiority in weapons and forces (the number of the US military contingent in Vietnam in 1968 was 540 thousand people), they failed to defeat the partisans. Even carpet bombing, during which American aircraft dropped 6.7 million tons of bombs on Vietnam, could not "drive the Vietnamese into the Stone Age." At the same time, the losses of the US army and their allies were constantly growing. During the years of the war, the Americans lost 58,000 people in the jungle killed, 2,300 missing and over 150,000 wounded. At the same time, the list of official losses did not include Puerto Ricans who were recruited into the US army in order to obtain United States citizenship. Despite occasional successful military operations, President Richard Nixon realized that final victory could not be achieved.

2. Demoralization of the US Army. Desertion during the Vietnam campaign was a fairly widespread phenomenon. Suffice it to recall that the famous American heavyweight boxer Cassius Clay converted to Islam at the peak of his career and took the name Muhammad Ali so as not to serve in the American army. For this act, he was stripped of all titles and suspended from competition for more than three years. After the war, President Gerald Ford in 1974 offered pardons to all draft evaders and deserters. More than 27,000 people came to confession. Later, in 1977, the next head of the White House, Jimmy Carter, pardoned those who fled the United States so as not to be drafted.

4. People's War. Most of the Vietnamese were on the side of the partisans. They provided them with food, intelligence information, recruits and labor. In his writings, David Hackworth quotes Mao Zedong's saying that "the people are to the guerrillas what water is to fish: remove the water and the fish will die." “The factor that soldered and cemented the communists from the very beginning was their strategy of a revolutionary liberation war. Without this strategy, the victory of the communists would have been impossible. things are irrelevant to the problem," wrote another American historian, Philip Davidson.

5. Professionals versus amateurs. The soldiers and officers of the Vietnamese army were much better prepared than the Americans for the war in the jungle, as they had fought for the liberation of Indochina since the Second World War. First their opponent was Japan, then France, then the USA. “While in Mai Hiep, I also met with Colonels Lee La-m and Dang Wiet Mei. They served as battalion commanders for almost 15 years,” recalls David Hackworth. “The average American battalion or brigade commander served in Vietnam for one six-month term. Lama and May could be compared to the coaches of professional football teams who play every season in the finals for the super prize, while the American commanders were like rosy-cheeked math teachers, put in place of our professional coaches, sacrificed to careerism.To become generals, our "players" risked their lives commanding battalions in Vietnam for six months and America lost."

6. Anti-war protests and the mood of the American society. America was rocked by thousands of protesters against the Vietnam War. A new movement, the hippies, emerged from the youth protesting against this war. The movement culminated in the so-called "Pentagon March", when up to 100,000 young people gathered in Washington in October 1967 to protest against the war, as well as protests during the US Democratic Party Convention in Chicago in August 1968. Suffice it to recall that John Lennon, who opposed the war, wrote the song "Give Peace a Chance". Drug addiction, suicide, desertion spread among the military. Veterans were pursued by the "Vietnamese Syndrome", because of which thousands of former soldiers and officers took their own lives. Under such conditions, it was pointless to continue the war.

7. Help from China and the USSR. Moreover, if the comrades from the Celestial Empire provided mainly economic assistance and manpower, then the Soviet Union provided Vietnam with its most advanced weapons. So, according to rough estimates, assistance to the USSR is estimated at 8-15 billion dollars, and the financial costs of the United States, based on modern estimates, exceeded a trillion US dollars. In addition to weapons, the Soviet Union sent military specialists to Vietnam. From July 1965 to the end of 1974, about 6.5 thousand officers and generals, as well as more than 4.5 thousand soldiers and sergeants of the Soviet Armed Forces, took part in the hostilities. In addition, the training of Vietnamese military personnel was started in military schools and academies of the USSR - this is more than 10 thousand people.

This topic is quite extensive and philosophical. Many works have been written and many opinions expressed on this subject. It will take a long time to retell and list the essence of each of them, therefore this article objectively describes the reasons for the Vietnam War briefly.

Now no one doubts that this war was unleashed by America. Its imperialistic habits with the desire to subjugate the whole world have caused tragedies and unleashing wars in many countries, not only in Vietnam. But it was in the latter that a total of 14 million tons of explosives were blown up, which is more than in two world wars combined!

Today we can safely say that there were two main reasons for the Vietnam War unleashed by the United States:

1. prevention of spread geographical map"communist plague" (under the guise of North Vietnam, which was supported by the USSR);
2. the desire to get rich of large American corporations, the elite of the "black" business specializing in the sale of weapons.

To mere mortal Americans, the reason for the war between the United States and Vietnam was presented in a very corrected form: according to the official version, it was the need to establish world democracy.

In fact, everything was much more prosaic: the politicians wanted to subjugate communist Vietnam and thereby show the unviability of the communist states, and the business elite to increase their already considerable fortunes several times over.

It's no secret that in the United States these economic and political elites closely interact, with the former having a greater influence on the latter. Together, they only won, and the start of the Vietnam War was not long in coming.

From the USA, a puppet government headed by Ngo Dinh Diem was represented in South Vietnam, through which they tried to dictate their terms. But that didn't work out for long either. Large-scale open war began in 1964. North Vietnam fought as best it could, and partisan detachments operated on the territory controlled by the Americans, which brought a lot of trouble to the Yankees. But despite all the efforts of the Vietnamese, the war did not end as soon as they wanted - only in 1975. And yet ... This war was marked by the victory of Vietnam, which dealt an irreparable blow to the authority of the United States in the world.

But Vietnam suffered no less from it ... The figures on the actual destruction, losses, and murders were simply staggering. But having gone through all the trials, Vietnam managed to defend its right to self-determination, to independent solution internal issues, to choose one's own state structure, but in the end - on sovereignty.

What did America get in the end? Tens of thousands of dead, hundreds of wounded, shame on the whole world, but all this did not concern those who were sitting "on top". “There” everything was justified, since war is always a way to make money, and someone took advantage of it very well.

Ordinary American soldiers were simply hostages of the situation - cut off thousands of kilometers from home, tired and demoralized - they had only one dream: to return home as soon as possible.

AT The war in Vietnam began with the shelling of the USS Maddox. This happened on August 2, 1964.
The destroyer was in the Gulf of Tonkin (Vietnamese territorial waters where no one called the US) and was allegedly attacked by Vietnamese torpedo boats. All torpedoes missed, but one boat was sunk by the Americans. The Maddox fired first, explaining it as a warning fire. The event was called the "Tonkin Incident" and was the reason for the outbreak of the Vietnam War. Further, by order of US President Lyndon Johnson, the US Air Force attacked the naval facilities of North Vietnam. It is clear for whom the war was beneficial, he is a provocateur.

The confrontation between Vietnam and the United States began with the recognition of Vietnam independent state in 1954. Vietnam was divided into two parts. The South remained under the control of France (Vietnam had been its colony since the 19th century) and the United States, while the North was dominated by the Communists with the support of China and the USSR. The country was supposed to unite after democratic elections, but the elections did not take place, and in South Vietnam began Civil War.

The US feared that communism could spread throughout Asia in a domino fashion.

Representatives of the communist camp waged a guerrilla war on enemy territory, and its hottest focus was the so-called Iron Triangle, an area of ​​310 square kilometers northwest of Saigon. Despite this proximity to the strategic locality South, it was actually controlled by communist partisans, and their base was a significantly expanded by that time underground complex near the village of Kuti.

The United States supported the South Vietnamese government, fearing the further expansion of the Communists in Southeast Asia.

The Soviet leadership at the beginning of 1965 decided to provide the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) with large-scale military-technical assistance. According to the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR Alexei Kosygin, assistance to Vietnam during the war cost Soviet Union 1.5 million rubles a day.

To eliminate the partisan zone in January 1966, the United States decided to conduct Operation Crimp, for which 8,000 US and Australian troops were allocated. Once in the jungle of the Iron Triangle, the allies faced an unexpected surprise: in fact, there was no one to fight with. Snipers, stretch marks on the trails, unexpected ambushes, attacks from behind, from territories that, it would seem, had already (just!) been cleared: something incomprehensible was happening around, and the number of victims was growing.

The Vietnamese sat underground and after the attacks again went underground. In the underground cities, the halls were without additional supports and they were designed for the miniature constitution of the Vietnamese. Below is a plan-scheme of a real underground city explored by the Americans.

Much larger Americans could hardly squeeze through the passages, the height of which was usually in the range of 0.8-1.6 meters, and the width was 0.6-1.2 meters. There was no obvious logic in the organization of the tunnels, they were deliberately built as a chaotic labyrinth, equipped with a large number of false dead-end branches that complicated orientation.

Viet Cong guerrillas throughout the war were supplied through the so-called "Ho Chi Minh trail", which ran through neighboring Laos. The Americans and the army of South Vietnam tried several times to cut the "path", but it did not work out.

In addition to fire and traps of "tunnel rats", snakes and scorpions, which the partisans specially set on, could also wait. Such methods led to the fact that among the "tunnel rats" there was a very high mortality rate.

Only half of the personnel returned from the holes. They were even armed with special pistols with silencers, gas masks and other things.

The Iron Triangle, the area where the catacombs were discovered, was eventually simply destroyed by the Americans with B-52 bombing.

The fighting took place not only underground, but also in the air. The first battle between anti-aircraft gunners of the USSR and American aircraft took place on July 24, 1965. The Soviet MiGs, which the Vietnamese flew, have proven themselves well.

During the years of the war, the Americans lost 58,000 people in the jungle killed, 2,300 went missing and over 150,000 were wounded. At the same time, the list of official losses did not include Puerto Ricans who were recruited into the US army in order to obtain United States citizenship. North Vietnamese losses amounted to over a million killed military personnel and over three million civilians.

The Paris ceasefire agreements were signed only in January 1973. It took a few more years to withdraw the troops.

Carpet bombing of cities in North Vietnam, carried out by order of US President Nixon. On December 13, 1972, a North Vietnamese delegation left Paris, where peace talks were being held. In order to force them to return back, it was decided to launch massive bombing attacks on Hanoi and Haiphong.

A South Vietnamese Marine wearing a special bandage among the decomposing corpses of American and Vietnamese soldiers who died during the fighting on a rubber plantation 70 km northeast of Saigon, November 27, 1965.

According to the Soviet side, 34 B-52s were lost during Operation Linebacker II. In addition, 11 aircraft of other types were shot down. North Vietnamese losses were about 1,624 civilians, military casualties are unknown. Aviation losses - 6 MiG 21 aircraft.

"Christmas bombing" is the official title.

During Operation Linebacker II, 100,000 tons were dropped on Vietnam! bombs.

The most famous case of the use of the latter is Operation Popeye, when US transport workers sprayed silver iodite over the strategic territories of Vietnam. From this, the amount of precipitation increased three times, roads were washed away, fields and villages were flooded, communications were destroyed. With the jungle, the US military also acted radically. Bulldozers uprooted trees and topsoil, and herbicides and defoliants (Agent Orange) were sprayed on the rebel stronghold from above. This seriously disrupted the ecosystem, and in the long run led to mass diseases and infant mortality.

The Americans poisoned Vietnam with everything they could. They even used a mixture of defoliants and herbicides. From what freaks are still born there already at the genetic level. This is a crime against humanity.

The USSR sent to Vietnam about 2,000 tanks, 700 light and maneuverable aircraft, 7,000 mortars and guns, more than a hundred helicopters, and much more. Almost the entire air defense system of the country, impeccable and impenetrable for fighters, was built by Soviet specialists at Soviet funds. There were also "exit training". Military schools and academies of the USSR trained Vietnamese military personnel.

Vietnamese women and children hide from artillery fire in an overgrown canal 30 km west of Saigon on January 1, 1966.

On March 16, 1968, American soldiers completely destroyed a Vietnamese village, killing 504 innocent men, women, and children. For this war crime, only one person was convicted, who three days later was "pardoned" by the personal decree of Richard Nixon.

The Vietnam War also became a drug war. Drug addiction in the troops has become another factor that crippled the combat capability of the United States.

On average, an American soldier in Vietnam fought 240 days a year! For comparison, an American soldier during the Second World War in the Pacific fought an average of 40 days in 4 years. Helicopters performed well in this war. Which the Americans lost about 3500 pieces.

From 1957 to 1973, about 37,000 South Vietnamese were shot by Viet Cong guerrillas for collaborating with the Americans, most of whom were petty civil servants.

Losses civilian population unknown to date - about 5 million are believed to have died, with more in the North than in the South. In addition, the losses of the civilian population of Cambodia and Laos are not taken into account anywhere - apparently, here they also number in the thousands.

The average age of a dead American soldier was 23 years 11 months. 11,465 dead were under the age of 20, and 5 died before reaching the age of 16! The oldest person to die in the war was a 62-year-old American.

The Vietnam War was the longest military confrontation in modern military history. The conflict lasted about 20 years: from November 1, 1955 to the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975.

But Vietnam won...

Our crimson flag proudly flies,
And on it - the stars of the victory sign.
Like the surf
Thunderstorm -
The power of friendship is fighting,
To new dawns we go step by step.

This is Lao Dong, our party
Us forward from year to year
Leads!
— Do Ming, "Lao Dong Party Song"

Soviet tanks in Saigon ... this is the end ... The Yankees do not want to remember this war, they no longer openly fight with the radicals and generally revised their methods of fighting the "red plague".

The basis of information and photos (C) is the Internet. Main sources:

Dmitry Boyko

How did little Vietnam defeat the United States of America?

Exactly 35 years ago, on March 29, 1973, the Vietnam War ended for the US Army. This military campaign became the most bloody for the United States in the second half of the twentieth century - according to approximate estimates, since 1964, the occupying forces have lost 60 thousand killed and 300 thousand wounded, about 2 thousand people are still considered missing. The American Air Force in Indochina lost about 9 thousand aircraft shot down, and a little less than a thousand people, mostly pilots, were captured. On the part of the army of South Vietnam, allied with the United States, about 250 thousand people were killed, about 1 million were injured.

The losses of North Vietnam and the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam (Viet Cong) amounted to a little more than 1 million killed and about 600 thousand wounded. Among the civilian population, the losses are truly colossal - exact data are not available, but according to rough estimates, they amount to about 4 million people. Such huge losses among civilians speak of the nature of the war - war crimes (violation of the rules of hostilities established by international law) by the occupiers were commonplace.

In this conflict, military-technical support for North Vietnam was provided by the USSR (according to conservative estimates, this war cost the Soviet Union about 1.5 million rubles a day), and Soviet military specialists also trained the Vietnamese to use modern weapons. China sent engineering units to rebuild infrastructure destroyed by US air raids.

This war began in South Vietnam as a civil war. The prerequisites for this were the actions of the pro-American Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem, who, after holding fraudulent elections, removed the legitimate emperor Bao Dai from leadership of the country, proclaimed the creation of the sovereign Republic of Vietnam and canceled the national referendum on the country's unification.

Such actions of the prime minister were in line with foreign policy the Eisenhower administration, which was afraid of the "domino effect" (if one state in the region becomes communist, then its neighbors follow it). It was obvious that after the unification of Vietnam, the communist North would absorb the South, since the USSR and China stood behind it. At the same time, Ngo Dinh Diem's ​​government attempted an unpopular land reform, and crackdowns on communists and religious figures intensified. All this led to the fact that, with the support of North Vietnam, in December 1960, all underground groups united in the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam (NLF), also known as the Viet Cong.

The Viet Cong sought the unification of Vietnam on the basis of the Geneva Accords, the overthrow of the government of Ngo Dinh Diem and the agrarian reform. Also, the conflict between the people and the government undermined the difference on religious grounds. The majority of the population were Buddhists, and Ngo Dinh Diem and his entourage professed Christianity. The strengthening of dictatorial methods and the lack of results in the fight against the rebels discredited the prime minister in the eyes of the Americans, and led to the fact that on November 1, 1963, Ngo Dinh Diem was removed from his post and killed by a junta of army generals, by prior agreement with the United States. It was the first of a string of military coups in South Vietnam.

According to the US Navy, on August 2, 1964, the American destroyer Maddox was attacked by North Vietnamese boats under unclear circumstances, which served as a formal reason for the start of the active phase of hostilities, and by the end of 1965 the number of American soldiers in Vietnam was 185 thousand people. But the strategy of warfare - "search and destroy", developed by the American General William Westmoreland, did not bring tangible results, as it was focused on a war between two specific opponents with a real front line. The Vietnam War, on the other hand, was characterized primarily by guerrilla war where the locals behaved like peasants during the day and like resistance fighters at night.

From his impotence in the current situation american army resorted to carpet bombing, weapons of mass destruction were used, and villages in which Viet Cong fighters were seen were mercilessly burned with napalm. In an attempt to cut off the supply of NLF along the Ho Chi Minh trail, the US Air Force began to strike at the territory of neighboring Laos and Cambodia. Military operations were also carried out on the territory of these countries.

The turning point in the Vietnam War was the joint offensive of the NLF and the North Vietnamese army in late January 1968. This offensive was called "Tet" - in honor of the Vietnamese New Year, which is celebrated in Vietnam on lunar calendar. For this period, during the whole war, a truce was usually declared. So it was this time, but the Northerners violated it in order to achieve the effect of surprise. Although the offensive ended in the defeat of the communist forces, and the losses of the Viet Cong were huge, but psychologically it had very serious consequences. American troops did not expect such a strong attack on their positions, and the losses they suffered tipped the scales of the US political elite towards a gradual reduction in their participation in the conflict, and General Westmoreland's request for reinforcements of 206 thousand people in order to "finish off the enemy was never satisfied by Congress.

Among the war crimes of the American army, one cannot fail to note the raid of infantrymen in the Vietnamese village community of Song My. March 16, 1968 In the villages of Mi-Lai and Mykhe, a total of 504 people aged from 2 months to 82 years were killed, including 173 children, 182 women (17 of them pregnant), 60 men over 60 years old. The assessment of the success of hostilities due to the lack of a front line was based on the number of Viet Cong killed. And for reporting, the corpse of a civilian is no different from a resistance fighter, because many crimes of ordinary military officers looked through their fingers.

The events that took place in Song My drew sharp criticism, both from the leading world powers and within America itself, where anti-war voices sounded louder and louder. The war did not bring any visible results, and the increase in the area of ​​​​Arlington Cemetery caused a sharp condemnation of US foreign policy at home. But American troops could not so easily leave the territory of Vietnam, and therefore, since 1969, the process of gradually transferring responsibility for control over the territory of the South Vietnamese army began, but this process was inefficient.

As a result, since 1972, National Security Adviser G. Kissinger and the representative of North Vietnam Le Duc Tho began to conduct peace negotiations, and on January 27, 1973, an agreement was signed to resolve the conflict, according to which the US army had to leave the territory of Indochina, which happened in late March 1973. The war between the North and the South continued further, but without the support of the American army, the Southerners could not resist for a long time and on April 30, 1975 they laid down their arms.

Thus, history “dotted all the i’s”, proving once again that the aggression of even a very strong enemy will never be able to win over the National Liberation Struggle of a small, but very brave and selfless people. The Vietnam War is one of brightest examples, and the current rulers would do well to once again turn over the pages of their own history, so as not to repeat the mistakes made in the past.

The Vietnam War or the Vietnam War is the largest military conflict of the second half of the twentieth century, between North and South Vietnam, which also involved the USSR, USA, China and a number of other states. The Vietnam War began in 1957 and ended only in 1975.

Causes and background of the Vietnam War

After World War II, in 1954, Vietnam was divided along the 17th parallel. North Vietnam was under the control of the Viet Minh, while South Vietnam was ruled by the French administration.
After the communists won in China, the US began to interfere in the affairs of Vietnam, helping the southern part. The United States regarded the PRC as a threat and, in their opinion, it will soon cast its eyes on Vietnam, and this cannot be allowed.
In 1956, Vietnam was supposed to unite into one state. But South Vietnam refused to fall under the control of the communists and abandoned the treaty, declaring itself a republic.

The beginning of the war

North Vietnam saw no other way to unify the state other than the conquest of South Vietnam. The Vietnam War began with systematic terror against South Vietnamese officials. In 1960, the Viet Cong or NLF organization was created, which included all the factions fighting against South Vietnam.
The success of the Viet Cong worried the United States, and they transferred the first regular units of their army in 1961. But while the US Army is not yet involved in combat clashes. The American military and officers only train the South Vietnamese army and help plan attacks.
The first major collision occurred in 1963. Then the partisans of North Vietnam defeated the South Vietnamese army at the Battle of Apbak. This defeat undermined the position of Diem - the ruler of South Vietnam, which soon led to a coup, and Diem was killed. And North Vietnam, meanwhile, strengthened its positions, and also transferred its partisan detachments to the territory of South Vietnam, by 1964 their number was at least 8 thousand fighters.
The number of American soldiers grew rapidly, if in 1959 their number was no more than 800 fighters, then in 1964 their number increased to 25 thousand.

Full-scale intervention of the American army

In February 1965, Vietnamese guerrillas attacked military installations of the American army. US President Lyndon Johnson announced that the US would soon be ready to strike back at North Vietnam. American aviation begins the bombing of the territory of Vietnam - Operation "Flaming Spear".
In March 1965, the bombardment began again - Operation Thunder. This bombing was the largest since World War II. The number of American soldiers from 1964 to 1965 increased from 24,000 to 180,000. In the next three years, the number of American soldiers increases to about 500,000.
For the first time the American army entered the battle in August 1965. The operation was called "Starlight", where the American army won, destroying about 600 Viet Cong fighters.
The US military began to resort to a "search and destroy" strategy. Its goal is to detect North Vietnamese partisan detachments and their subsequent destruction.
The North Vietnamese army and guerrillas began to penetrate the territory of South Vietnam, and the American army tried to stop them in the mountainous regions. In 1967, the guerrillas became especially active in the mountainous regions, the US Marine Corps was forced to join the battle. At the Battle of Dakto, the United States managed to hold the enemy, but the Marines also suffered heavy losses.

North Vietnamese Tet offensive

Until 1967, the US military had significant success in the war against North Vietnam. And then the government of North Vietnam begins to develop a plan for a full-scale invasion of South Vietnam in order to turn the tide of the war. The United States knew that North Vietnam was preparing for an offensive, but they were not even aware of its scale.
The offensive begins with an unexpected date - with the Vietnamese new year, Tet day. These days there should be no hostilities, but in 1968 this treaty was violated.
On January 30-31, the North Vietnamese army inflicts massive strikes on the entire territory of South Vietnam, including big cities. In most directions, the offensive was successfully repulsed, but the city of Hue was still lost.
The offensive of the North Vietnamese army was stopped only in March. Then the American and South Vietnamese army launches a counterattack where they want to take back the city of Hue. The Battle of Hue is considered the bloodiest battle in the history of the Vietnam War. US and South Vietnamese army lost a large number of fighters, but the losses of the Viet Cong were catastrophic, its military potential was seriously undermined.
After the Tet Offensive, a note of protest swept through the US population, as many began to believe that the Vietnam War could not be won, the forces of North Vietnam were still not depleted and there was no point in losing American soldiers anymore. Everyone was concerned about the fact that North Vietnam was able to pull off a military operation of this magnitude.

Final stages of the Vietnam War

After Richard Nixon became president of the United States in 1968, he announced that the number of American soldiers in Vietnam would decrease. But aid to South Vietnam will not stop. Instead of using its own army, the US will intensively train the army of South Vietnam, as well as supply it with supplies and equipment.
In 1971, the South Vietnamese army undertakes the military operation "Lam Son 719", the purpose of which was to stop the supply of weapons to North Vietnam. The operation ended in failure. The US military already in 1971 stopped military operations with the search for Viet Cong guerrillas in South Vietnam.
In 1972, the Vietnamese army makes another attempt at a full-scale offensive. It was called the "Easter Offensive". The North Vietnamese army was reinforced with several hundred tanks. The army of South Vietnam managed to stop the offensive only thanks to American aircraft. Despite the fact that the offensive was stopped, South Vietnam lost significant territories.
At the end of 1972, the United States begins large-scale bombing of North Vietnam - the most in the history of the Vietnam War. Huge losses forced the North Vietnamese government to start negotiations with the United States.
In January 1973, a peace agreement was signed between North Vietnam and the United States, and the American military began to rapidly leave Vietnam. In May of that year, the entire American army returned to the United States.
Despite the fact that the United States withdrew its army, the position of North Vietnam was disastrous. The forces of South Vietnam numbered about 1 million soldiers, while its opponents had no more than 200-300 thousand fighters. However combat effectiveness the South Vietnamese army fell due to the absence of the American military, in addition, a deep economic crisis began, and South Vietnam began to lose its territories in favor of North Vietnam.
North Vietnamese forces launched several strikes into South Vietnamese territory to test the US response. Seeing that the Americans will no longer take part in the war, the government plots another full-scale offensive against
South Vietnam.
In May, an offensive began, which a few months later ended in a complete victory for North Vietnam. The South Vietnamese army was unable to adequately respond to the offensive, and was completely defeated.

Aftermath of the Vietnam War

Both sides suffered colossal casualties. The United States lost almost 60,000 soldiers killed and the number of wounded reached 300,000. South Vietnam lost about 300,000 killed and about 1 million were wounded, and this is not counting the civilian population. The number of North Vietnamese killed reached 1 million, in addition, about 2 million civilians died.
The Vietnamese economy has suffered such catastrophic losses that it is impossible to give an exact figure. Many towns and villages were simply razed to the ground.
North Vietnam completely conquered the South and united the whole country under a single communist flag.
The US population negatively assessed the military intervention in fighting in Vietnam. This sparked a movement of hippies who chanted that they didn't want this to happen again.