Vietnam: 50 Years Remembered

After the occupation of France by Nazi Germany left the French colonies in Indochina vulnerable, Japanese forces moved in. The subsequent defeat of the Japanese left the region open to conflict.

When it was clear that the South Vietnamese security forces would not supply proper security for the US Air Forces bases in South East Asia, President Lyndon Johnson permitted the start of the ground war.

In response to declining morale, US generals decide to back a more aggressive strategy to take the war to the National Liberation Front, moving away from the idea that South Vietnam would be able to take back the north without help.

A truce usually marked the Lunar New Year, but in 1968, the National Liberation Front broke the truce in order to begin the largest battle of the war.

Many of the US soldiers who were captured by the National Liberation Front were never recovered. Nixon used this fact to justify continuing the war.

The Nixon Doctrine called for the strengthening of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam so that they could take over the defence of South Vietnam.