Paris Peace Talks
1. Talks began May 1968 after Tet Offensive,
• but both sides used them as propaganda, ≠ real negotiations.
2. ∴ Henry Kissinger (Nixon’s National Security Adviser) began to-and-fro ‘SHUTTLE DIPLOMACY’
• met secretly w. LE DUC THO (DRV politburo member) 68 times over 27 rounds.
3. For 3 yrs, DRV insisted on:
• full US withdrawal
• removal of Thieu govt
• rejected Kissinger’s offer of mutual withdrawal + elections.
4. In Mar 1972 DRV launched Easter Offensive:
• defeated by US ‘Operation Linebacker’ bombing
→ DRV realised they could not win the war while the US WAS IN VIETNAM.
• The Easter Offensive also convinced US war was unending and UNWINNABLE:
→ Kissinger offered major concessions: CEASEFIRE (i.o. PAVN withdrawal) + full US exit
• DRV conceded to RECOGISE of South Vietnamese govt
• Oct 1972: Kissinger said ‘peace was at hand’.
5. Talks collapsed:
• S. Vietnamese President NGUYEN THIEU (fearful of US betrayal) refused deal (‘FOUR NOs’: no talks, no shared govt, no reform, no surrender)
• DRV walked out too.
6. Xmas 1972: Nixon used ‘madman’ strategy:
• launched 11-day bombing blitz (heavier than all 1969–71 combined)
• privately told Thieu US would sign w. or w.o. him, but offered $ support if he agreed.
7. Jan 1973: PARIS PEACE Accords agreed:
• ceasefire
• US withdrawal
• POWs exchanged
• future N-S Vietnam talks on a settlement
8. 29 Mar 1973: Last US troops left Vietnam.
Collapse of South Vietnam
1. Thieu broke Accords → launched attacks to expel PAVN.
2. DRV ordered ‘FIVE FORBIDS’: no attack, no defence, no encirclement, no shelling, no fortifying
• but PAVN-VC field commanders ignored it
→ led to 2-year ‘CEASEFIRE War’.
3. US gave $ to ARVN, but w/o US presence, S. Vietnam economy collapsed
• Apr 1974: Thieu begged for more aid – Congress cut it.
4. Mar 1975: full PAVN invasion
• ARVN collapsed – fled faster than PAVN could advance
• Thieu resigned
• 30 Apr 1975: Saigon fell to Communists → renamed HO CHI MINH City
• Last Americans evacuated by helicopter
• President Ford’s request for $722m aid package rejected by Congress → he declared war was over.
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