192-480: U.S estimate: 100,000+ killed 250–700 tanks and APCs destroyed American intervention 1965 1966 1967 Tet Offensive and aftermath Vietnamization 1969–1971 1972 Post- Paris Peace Accords (1973–1974) Spring 1975 Air operations Naval operations Lists of allied operations The Easter Offensive , also known as the 1972 spring–summer offensive ( Vietnamese : Chiến dịch Xuân–Hè 1972 ) by North Vietnam, or
384-572: A National Party Congress. According to David Koh, the Politburo ranking from the first plenum of the 10th Central Committee onwards is based upon the number of approval votes by the Central Committee. Lê Hồng Anh , the Minister of Public Security , was ranked second in the 10th Politburo because he received the second-highest number of approval votes. Tô Huy Rứa was ranked lowest because he received
576-481: A PAVN offensive briefly when the crucial Highway QL-1 bridge over the Cửa Việt River at Đông Hà was blown up by Capt. John Ripley , adviser to the 3rd Vietnamese Marine Battalion . The initial PAVN units were then joined by the 320B and 325C Divisions. Simultaneously, the 324B Division moved out of the A Sầu Valley and advanced directly eastward toward Fire Bases Bastogne and Checkmate , which protected
768-552: A better bargaining position at the peace negotiations being conducted in Paris. In the wake of the failed South Vietnamese Operation Lam Son 719 , the Hanoi leadership began discussing a possible offensive during the 19th Plenum of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Workers' Party in early 1971. Convinced that they had destroyed South Vietnam's best units during Lam Son 719, by December,
960-543: A blatant North Vietnamese violation of the Geneva Accord was unlikely. When the weekend of Easter 1972 arrived, General Giai had planned to rotate the operational areas of his 56th Regiment (along the central DMZ) with the 2nd Regiment (around the artillery base at Camp Carroll in the west). Because of a truck shortage, the units were moved simultaneously and became hopelessly intermixed and disorganized. At 11:30 on 30 March, both unit headquarters shut down their radios, for
1152-461: A cease-fire being brokered by President Lyndon Johnson. This action violated the Logan Act , banning private citizens from intruding into official government negotiations with a foreign nation, and thus constituted treason. While the discussion following splits into military and political/civil strategies, that is a Western perspective. North Vietnamese forces took a more grand strategic view than did
1344-776: A centre of gravity built around gradual and small-scale erosion of US capabilities, closing the enormous technological disadvantage with surprise attacks and strategies, while building and consolidating political control over the rural areas of South Vietnam. See the protracted warfare model . Despite differences in were both sides believe their centres of gravity were, the NVA and Viet Cong would retain strategic initiative throughout this period, choosing when and were to attack, and being capable of controlling their losses quite widely. They were estimated to have initiated 90% of all contacts and engagement firefights, in which 46% of all engagements were NVA/VC ambushes against US forces. A different study by
1536-554: A conventional, combined-arms conquest against the Army of the Republic of Vietnam , and taking and holding land permanently. Military developments in this period should be considered in several broad phases that do not fit neatly into a single year: Some fundamental decisions about U.S. strategy, which would last for the next several years, took place in 1965. Essentially, there were three alternatives: Even with these three approaches, there
1728-488: A figurehead. COL Bùi Tín led a reconnaissance mission of specialists reporting directly to the Politburo, who said, in a 1981 interview with Stanley Karnow, that he saw the only choice was escalation including the use of conventional troops, capitalizing on the unrest and inefficiency from the series of coups in the South. The Politburo ordered infrastructure improvements to start in 1964. In February and March 1964, confirming
1920-462: A graduated scale of intensity, ranging from reconnaissance, threats, cross-border operations, and limited strikes on logistical targets supporting DRV operations against South Vietnam and Laos, to strikes (if necessary) on a growing number of DRV military and economic targets. In the absence of all-out strikes by the DRV or Communist China, the measures foreseen would not include attacks on population centers or
2112-592: A guerilla in Asia during the Second World War, was forced out of office on 24 February. MG Jack Singlaub, to become the third commander of SOG, argued that special operators needed to form their own identity; while today's United States Special Operations Command has components from all the services, there is a regional Special Operations Component, alongside Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Components, in every geographic Unified Combatant Command . Today, officers from
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#17328561206782304-523: A land war in Asia, and that the U.S. was too concerned with Chinese intervention to use airpower outside South Vietnam. Once the elections were over, North Vietnam developed a new plan to move from the Ho Chi Minh trail in Cambodia, in central Vietnam (i.e., ARVN II Corps Tactical Zone ), with a goal of driving through to the seacoast over Highway 19 , splitting South Vietnam in half. For this large operation,
2496-584: A large-scale PAVN offensive was considered highly unlikely. A PAVN thrust across the DMZ was also considered unlikely. Past infiltration and offensive operations had been conducted through and from Laotian and Cambodian territory and a DMZ offensive would be a blatant violation of the Geneva Agreement, which North Vietnam was adamant in defending. In December, intelligence became conclusive that PAVN units supporting Khmer Rouge operations in Cambodia began returning to
2688-672: A later conference, per the request of the Comintern, the party changed its name to the Indochinese Communist Party ( Đảng Cộng sản Đông Dương ), often abbreviated as ICP. During its first five years of existence, the ICP attained a membership of about 1,500 and had a large contingent of sympathizers. Despite the group's small size, it exerted an influence in a turbulent Vietnamese social climate. Poor harvests in 1929 and 1930 and an onerous burden of debt served to radicalize many peasants. In
2880-662: A left-inclined government in France. Hồ Chí Minh was also removed from the party leadership in the early 1930s. The French colonial apparatus in Vietnam was disrupted during World War II . The fall of France to Nazi Germany in June 1940 and the subsequent collaboration of Vichy France with the Axis powers of Germany and Japan served to delegitimize French claims of sovereignty. The European war made colonial governance from France impossible and Indochina
3072-543: A matter of establishing a viable, sustainable political structure for South Vietnam, rather than radically improving the short-term security situation. It saw the Minh-Tho government as enjoying an initial period of popular support as it removed some of the most disliked aspects of the Diem government. During this time, the increase in VC attacks was largely coincidental; they were resulting from
3264-547: A maximum effort of American power could salvage the situation. Two days later, the Minh Tho government was overthrown. Col. Don Si Nguyen brought in battalions of engineers to improve the Trail, principally in Laos, with up-to-date Soviet and Chinese construction equipment, with a goal, over several years, of building a supply route that could pass 10 to 20,000 soldiers per month. At this time,
3456-406: A not too long a period of time...There is no contradiction in the concept of a protracted war and the concept of taking opportunities to gain victories in a short time." Protracted war theory, however, does not urge rapid conclusion. Palmer suggests that there might be at least two reasons beyond a simple speedup: They may also have believed the long-trumpeted U.S. maxim of never getting involved in
3648-528: A number of Central Committee members were arrested or killed. Lê Hồng Phong was assigned by the Comintern to restore the movement. The party was restored in 1935, and Lê Hồng Phong was elected its general secretary. In 1936, Hà Huy Tập was appointed general secretary instead of Lê Hồng Phong, who returned to the country to restore the Central Committee. In the mid 1930s the party was forced publicly to abandon much of its opposition to French colonialism as Soviet leader Joseph Stalin cared more about strengthening
3840-417: A perceived lack of stature among the generals who rose up to lead it after the original government of Diem was deposed. Coups in 1963 , January 1964 , September 1964 , December 1964 , and 1965 all shook faith in the government and reduced the trust of civilians. According to General Trần Văn Trà , the [North Vietnamese] Party concluded, the "United States was forced to introduce its own troops because it
4032-564: A political dau tranh argument: the U.S. was faced with two unacceptable alternatives: invading the North or continue a stalemate. Invasion of "a member country of the Socialist camp" would enlarge the war, which Giap said would cause the "U. S. imperialists...incalculable serious consequences." As for reinforcements, "Even if they increase their troops by another 50,000, 100,000 or more, they cannot extricate themselves from their comprehensive stalemate in
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#17328561206784224-662: A principle conceived by Russian Marxist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin . The highest institution of the CPV is the party's National Congress , which elects the Central Committee . The Central Committee is the supreme organ on party affairs in between party congresses. After a party congress, the Central Committee elects the Politburo and Secretariat , and appoints the General Secretary , the highest party office. In between sessions of
4416-516: A provincial background increased from 15.6 per cent in 1982 to 41 per cent in 2001. Because of the devolution of power, the powers of the Central Committee have increased substantially; for example, when a two-thirds majority of the Politburo voted in favour of retaining Lê Khả Phiêu as General Secretary, the Central Committee voted against the Politburo's motion and voted unanimously in favour of removing him from his post of General Secretary. The Central Committee did this because most of its members had
4608-586: A provincial background, or were working in the provinces. These members were the first to be affected when the economy began to stagnate during Lê Khả Phiêu's rule. The Central Committee elects the Politburo in the aftermath of the Party Congress. The General Secretary of the Central Committee is the highest office within the Communist Party, is elected by the Central Committee, and can remain in post for two five-year terms. The general secretary presides over
4800-587: A report on 2 January 1964, for the first operational phase to begin on 1 February. INR determined that the North Vietnamese had, in December, adopted a more aggressive stance toward the South, which was in keeping with Chinese policy. This tended to be confirmed with more military action and less desire to negotiate in February and March 1964 Duiker saw the political dynamics putting Lê Duẩn in charge and Ho becoming
4992-463: A result, Vietnam's most pressing needs, such as the rebuilding of a shattered economy and the establishment of long-term economic development, had largely gone unfulfilled. The Communist Party's personnel lacked the skills to tackle these issues, and the Communists' monopolization of power made it impossible for those who did have the skills to put them to use in the decade following the war's end. Vietnam
5184-414: A revolutionary civil war." To be more specific, the people's democratic regime is a substage in capitalist development. While Hồ Chí Minh supported the position that Vietnam had entered the stage of transition to socialism in 1954, he held the belief that Vietnam was still "a democratic regime in which people are the masters" and not socialist. To reach the socialist stage of development, the development of
5376-413: A socialist orientation". According to Nguyễn Phú Trọng, "[i]t is a new type of market economy in the history of the market economy's development. It is a kind of economic organization which abides by market economy rules but is based on, led by, and governed by the principles and nature of socialism reflected in its three aspects – ownership, organization, and distribution – for
5568-399: A socialist society, communists have to imagine, outline and study society. The party believes that socialism leads to human liberation from every oppressive situation, exploitation and injustice. While the founders of Marxism–Leninism forecasted the main characteristics of a socialist society, the founders are not considered by the party to hold the whole truth. The main outline of this ideology
5760-688: A staged withdrawal from the city to consolidate south of the Thạch Hãn, but bewildered by conflicting orders from Lãm and Giai, most ARVN formations splintered and then collapsed, conceding most of the province north of the city. On 29 April, Giai ordered a general retreat to the Mỹ Chánh River , thirteen kilometers to the south. U.S. military advisors in Quảng Trị called for emergency helicopter extraction and, on 1 May 132 survivors were evacuated from Quảng Trị, including 80 U.S. soldiers. The exodus of ARVN forces
5952-434: A theory that not only aims at 'understanding the world, but also changing it'. ... Capitalism will certainly be replaced by socialism, because that is the law of human history, which no one can deny. The Communist Party believes that socialism is superior to other ideologies and state systems. According to Marxism–Leninism, socialism is the second-to-last stage of socio-economic development before pure communism. To build
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6144-630: A unified leadership over the next four decades. Hồ Chí Minh returned to Vietnam in February 1941 and established a military-political front known as the League for the Independence of Vietnam ( Việt Nam Độc Lập Đồng Minh Hội ), commonly known as the Viet Minh ( Việt Minh ). The Viet Minh was a broad organization that included many political parties, military groups, religious organizations and other factions who sought independence for Vietnam. The Viet Minh
6336-590: A unique pact with the Trotskyists for four years in the mid-1930s. The two groups published a common paper, La Lutte ("The Struggle"), and presented joint "workers' lists" for Saigon municipal and colonial-council elections. After they rallied in August 1945 with other non-Communist forces demanding arms against the French, the Trotskyists were systematically hunted down and eliminated by their former party collaborators under
6528-621: A worker-peasant alliance". The fourth party congress comprised 1,008 delegates who represented 1,553,500 party members, an estimated three per cent of the Vietnamese population. A new line for socialist construction was approved at the congress, the Second Five-Year Plan (1976–1980) was approved and several amendments were made to the party's constitution. The party's new line emphasized building socialism domestically and supported socialist expansion internationally. The party's economic goal
6720-457: A year. The Politburo can implement policies which have been approved by either the previous Party Congress or the Central Committee. It is the duty of the Politburo to ensure that resolutions of the Party Congress and the Central Committee are implemented nationally. It is also responsible for matters related to organization and personnel, and has the right to prepare and convene a Central Committee plenary session . The Politburo can be overruled by
6912-470: Is a process of constantly consolidating and strengthening socialist factors to make them more dominant and irreversible. Success will depend on correct policies, political spirit, leadership capacity, and the fighting strength of the Party". There has never been a scientific and revolutionary theory like Marxism–Leninism. It is a 'comprehensively and logically tight theory which gives people a total world view' and
7104-444: Is an objective necessity in the development course of Vietnamese society". A people's democratic regime, however, is not a socialist regime. For instance, in a people's democratic regime private ownership still exists, while in a communist or socialist stage of development, ownership does not exist. Vietnamese communists consider the distribution of land during Hồ Chí Minh's early rule as an example of people's democracy. However, this
7296-490: Is constantly consolidated and developed; the private economy is one of the driving forces of the collective economy; multiple ownership, especially joint-stock enterprises, is encouraged; the state and collective economies provide a firm foundation for the national economy. The relations of distribution ensure fairness, create momentum for growth, and operate a distribution mechanism based on work results, economic efficiency, contributions by other resources, and distribution through
7488-433: Is much more complicated. The thing is, we received Marxism in a theoretical sense, not in a full sense, and the information was not very precise. Marxism came to Vietnam through the interpretation of Stalin and Mao . It was simplified to a great extent. And now we read the classic works of Marx and other founders, and we find that things were not so simple. Though the social conditions under which Marx wrote his works are not
7680-408: Is not that it can provide answers to present revolutionary problems, but the way it explains the gradual liberation of the working class and labourers. It functions as a basis for the most basic theoretical beliefs upheld by the party. According to Tô Huy Rứa , currently a member of the 11th Politburo : "By participating in the process of globalization complete with its opportunities and challenges, as
7872-433: Is not the only difference. The logic is that difference in the ownership of productions lead to different modes of production. Hồ Chí Minh said that the basic economic tenets of a people's democratic regime was state ownership of certain segments of production—considered socialist since the state belongs to the people, cooperatives, which were half-socialist in nature but would develop into fully socialist economic entities, and
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8064-468: Is responsible for solving organizational problems and implementing the demands of the Central Committee. The Secretariat oversees the work of the Departments of the Central Committee . It is also responsible for inspecting and supervising the implementation of resolutions and directives on fields regarding the party on economic, social, defence, security and foreign affairs, and it is directly responsible for
8256-454: Is responsible for studying topics put forth by the Politburo and the Secretariat, and topics set forth by its own members. Vietnam is a socialist republic with a one-party system led by the Communist Party. The CPV espouses Marxism–Leninism and Hồ Chí Minh Thought , the ideologies of Hồ Chí Minh. The two ideologies serve as guidance for the activities of the party and state. According to
8448-399: Is the only organ within the party which can sentence or condemn party members. The Commission, and its chairman and deputy chairmen, are elected by the first plenum of the Central Committee after a National Party Congress. Due to the party's policy of democratic centralism, a local inspection commission can only investigate a case if the inspection commission directly superior to it consents to
8640-523: Is the party's highest organ, and is held once every five years. Delegates decide the direction of the party and the Government at the National Congress. The Central Committee is elected, delegates vote on policies and candidates are elected to posts within the central party leadership. After decisions taken at the National Congress are ratified, the congress is dissolved. The Central Committee implements
8832-431: Is to introduce non-socialist ideas and policies without challenging socialist legality. Marxism–Leninism has lost its ideological stronghold in Vietnamese politics since the introduction of a mixed economy in the late 1980s and 1990s. Because of the Đổi Mới reforms, the party could not base its rule on defending only the workers and the peasants, which was officially referred to as the "working class-peasant alliance". In
9024-463: Is upheld by the party—that is, a social mode superior and more advanced: Proponents of the socialist-oriented market economy claim that the system is neither socialist nor capitalist, but that it is "socialist-oriented". The Communist Party rejects the view that a market economy has to be capitalist. According to the party, "a socialist market-oriented economy is a multi-sectoral commodity economy, which operates in accordance with market mechanisms and
9216-632: The American and French Revolutions, along with Hồ Chí Minh's personal beliefs. The CPV participates in the annual International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties . The Communist Party of Vietnam traces its history back to 1925, when Hồ Chí Minh established the Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth League ( Hội Việt Nam Cách mạng Thanh niên ), commonly shortened to the Youth League ( Hội Thanh niên ). The Youth League's goal
9408-557: The Cam Lộ bridge, 11 kilometers to the west of Đông Hà. PAVN then had almost unrestricted access to western Quảng Trị Province north of the Thạch Hãn River . On 21 April, Abrams notified the U.S. Secretary of Defense that In summary...the pressure is mounting and the battle has become brutal...the senior military leadership has begun to bend and in some cases to break. In adversity, it is losing its will and cannot be depended upon to take
9600-517: The Central Highlands , to cut the country in two and another eastwards from Cambodia to threaten Saigon . The offensive was given a title steeped in Vietnamese history. In 1773, the three Tây Sơn brothers (so-called because of the place of their origin) united a Vietnam divided by civil war and social unrest. The youngest brother, Nguyễn Huệ, then defeated an invading Chinese army on the outskirts of Hanoi in 1788. The campaign eventually employed
9792-675: The Cold War in the 1960s, the United States and South Vietnam began a period of gradual escalation and direct intervention referred to as the " Americanization " of joint warfare in South Vietnam during the Vietnam War . At the start of the decade, United States aid to South Vietnam consisted largely of supplies with approximately 900 military observers and trainers. After the assassination of both Ngo Dinh Diem and John F. Kennedy close to
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#17328561206789984-561: The I Corps Tactical Zone , North Vietnamese forces overran the ARVN’s defensive positions in a month-long battle and captured Quảng Trị city, before moving south in an attempt to seize Huế . The PAVN similarly eliminated frontier defense forces in the II Corps Tactical Zone and advanced towards the provincial capital of Kon Tum , threatening to open a way to the sea, which would have split South Vietnam in two. Northeast of Saigon , in
10176-662: The III Corps Tactical Zone , PAVN forces overran Lộc Ninh and advanced to assault the capital of Bình Long Province at An Lộc . The campaign can be divided into three phases: April was a month of PAVN advances; May became a period of equilibrium; in June and July the South Vietnamese forces counter-attacked, culminating in the recapture of Quảng Trị City in September. On all three fronts, initial North Vietnamese successes were hampered by high casualties, lack of fuel and
10368-537: The People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union . The war lasted from 1960 to 1975 and spilled over into Laos and Cambodia. The Cambodian Civil War broke out between the communist Khmer Rouge and GRUNK , and the pro-American Khmer Republic . The Laotian Civil War broke out between the communist Pathet Lao and the pro-American Kingdom of Laos . The Cambodian and Laotian communists received training and support from
10560-429: The Politburo had decided to launch a major offensive early in the following year. 1972 would be a U.S. presidential election year, and the possibility of affecting the outcome was enticing and there was increasing anti-war sentiment among the population and government of the U.S. With American troop withdrawals, South Vietnamese forces were stretched to breaking point along a border of more than 600 miles (966 km) and
10752-597: The Red Fiery Summer ( Mùa hè đỏ lửa ) as romanticized in South Vietnamese literature, was a military campaign conducted by the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN, the regular army of North Vietnam ) against the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN, the regular army of South Vietnam ) and the United States military between 30 March and 22 October 1972, during the Vietnam War . This conventional invasion (the largest invasion since 300,000 Chinese troops had crossed
10944-562: The Soviet model of big offensives). The failure of the Tet Offensive of 1968 had led to a downgrading of Giáp's influence, but the victory achieved over South Vietnamese forces during the Laotian incursion brought Giáp's strategy back into the ascendant. Lê Duẩn was given responsibility for planning the operation but Giáp never rose to his former prominence, dealing chiefly with logistical matters and
11136-620: The Tet Mau Than or Tong Kong Kich/Tong Kong Ngia (TCK/TCN, General Offensive-General Uprising ) One of the great remaining questions is if this was a larger plan into which the Battle of Khe Sanh and Tet Offensive were to fit. If there was a larger plan, to what extent were North Vietnamese actions in the period of this article a part of it? Douglas Pike believed the TCK/TCN was to have three main parts: Pike used Dien Bien Phu as an analogy for
11328-468: The Vietnamese Fatherland Front , it maintains a unitary government and has centralized control over the state, military , and media. The supremacy of the CPV is guaranteed by Article 4 of the national constitution . The Vietnamese public generally refer to the CPV as simply "the Party" ( Đảng ) or "our Party" ( Đảng ta ). The CPV is organized on the basis of democratic centralism ,
11520-564: The Yalu River into North Korea during the Korean War ) was a radical departure from previous North Vietnamese offensives. The offensive was designed to achieve a decisive victory, which even if it did not lead to the collapse of South Vietnam, would greatly improve the North's negotiating position at the Paris Peace Accords . The U.S. high command had been expecting an attack in 1972 but
11712-470: The armed struggle ( dau trinh ) theory espoused by Võ Nguyên Giáp but opposed by the politically oriented Trường Chinh . Pike said he could almost hear Trường Chinh saying, "You see, it's what I mean. You're not going to win militarily on the ground in the South. You've just proven what we've said; the way to win is in Washington." Alternatively, Giáp, in September 1967, had written what might well have been
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#173285612067811904-465: The center of gravity of the opposition. Lyndon Johnson and Robert McNamara , in selecting a strategy in 1965, had assumed the enemy forces were assumed that much as the defeat of the Axis military had won the Second World War, the Communist military was the center of gravity of the opposition, rather than the political opposition or the security of the populace. In contrast, the North Vietnamese took
12096-664: The "Vietnamese party reserves the right to supervise the activities of its brother parties in Cambodia and Laos". The Khmer People's Revolutionary Party was established in April 1951 and the Lao People's Party was formed four years later on 22 March 1955. The third party congress, held in Hanoi in 1960, formalized the tasks of constructing socialism in what was by then North Vietnam , or the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV), and committed
12288-400: The 1st Cav, so BG Man revised a plan to bring to try to fight the helicopter-mobile forces on terms favorable to the North Vietnamese. They fully expected to incur heavy casualties, but it would be worth it if they could learn to counter the new U.S. techniques, inflict significant casualties on the U.S. Army, and, if very lucky, still cut II CTZ in half. That planned movement was very similar to
12480-590: The 1st and Marine Divisions were reinforced by the 2nd and 3rd Brigades of the Airborne Division (which now totaled three brigades), and the reorganized 1st Ranger Group, raising the ARVN manpower total to 35,000. Also fortuitous was a one-week clearing of the weather, which allowed the application of massive U.S. bombing. Joint warfare in South Vietnam, 1963%E2%80%931969 Anti-Communist forces: Communist forces: United States : 409,111 (1969) During
12672-401: The 56th and 57th were made up of recaptured deserters, men released from jail, and regional and provincial forces. It was led by cast-off officers and sergeants from other units. Like other ARVN units at this stage of the conflict, the division suffered from a dearth of American advisors, who then served only at regimental, brigade, and divisional headquarters. Because of the general belief that
12864-537: The Annamite Independence Party ( Đảng Việt Nam Độc Lập ). Rejecting (in the wake of the Shanghai massacre ) the Comintern's "Kuomintang line", Thâu argued against a nationalist accommodation with the indigenous bourgeoisie and for immediate "proletarian socialist revolution". Recognizing the Trotskyists' relative strength in organizing Saigon's factories and waterfront, the ICP cells in the city maintained
13056-518: The CPV to increase in the 1990s. The CPV lost its power to appoint or dismiss provincial-level officials in the 1990s; Võ Văn Kiệt tried to wrestle this power back to the centre during the 1990s without success. These developments led to the provincialization of the Central Committee; for example, increasing numbers of Central Committee members have a background in provincial party work. Because of these changes, power in Vietnam has become increasingly devolved. The number of Central Committee members with
13248-412: The Central Committee, as happened in 2001 when the Politburo voted in favour of retaining Lê Khả Phiêu as general secretary; the Central Committee overturned the Politburo's decision, dismissed Lê from politics, and forced the Politburo to elect a new general secretary after the ninth National Congress. The members of the Politburo are elected and given a ranking by the Central Committee immediately after
13440-420: The Central Committee, the Politburo is the supreme organ on party affairs. However, it can only implement decisions based on the policies which have been approved in advance by either the Central Committee or the party's National Congress. As of 2017 , the 12th Politburo has 19 members. The party is known for its advocacy of what it calls a " socialist-oriented market economy " and Hồ Chí Minh Thought . The CPV
13632-506: The Central Committee. Nông Đức Mạnh succeeded Lê Khả Phiêu in 2001 as general secretary. Nông Đức Mạnh held the top spot until the 11th National Congress in 2011, when he was succeeded by Nguyễn Phú Trọng . Trong is seen as a conservative and closer to China. In 2021, General Secretary of the Communist Party, Nguyen Phu Trong, was re-elected for his third term in office, meaning he is Vietnam's most powerful leader in decades. [REDACTED] Vietnam portal The National Congress
13824-741: The Communist League ( Liên Minh Cộng Sản Đoàn ), the French section of the International Left Opposition , in Paris in July 1930. Once considered "the theoretician of the Vietnamese contingent in Moscow", Tường was calling for a new "mass-based" party arising directly "out of the struggle of the real struggle of the proletariat of the cities and countryside". Tường was joined in endorsing Leon Trotsky 's doctrines of " proletarian internationalism " and of " permanent revolution " by Tạ Thu Thâu of
14016-519: The Constitution, Vietnam is in a period of transition to socialism. Marxism–Leninism was introduced to Vietnam in the 1920s and 1930s, and Vietnamese culture has been led under the banners of patriotism and Marxism–Leninism. Hồ Chí Minh's beliefs were not systematized during his life, nor did this occur quickly following his death. Trường Chinh 's 1973 biography of Hồ emphasized his revolutionary policies. The thoughts of Hồ were systematized in 1989 under
14208-549: The DRV and NLF. During the war the Worker's Party of Vietnam also established its sub-branch in the south called the People's Revolutionary Party of South Vietnam ( Đảng Nhân dân Cách mạng Miền Nam Việt Nam ), which aimed to lead the NLF. After the withdrawal of American troops from Indochina and the collapse of the RVN on 30 April 1975, Vietnam was unified under the leadership of the communists. At
14400-452: The December decision, there was more emphasis on military action and less attention to negotiation. As opposed to many analysts who believed the North was simply unaware of McNamara's "signaling"; INR thought that the North was concerned of undefined U.S. action on the North and sought Chinese support. If INR's analysis is correct, the very signals mentioned in the March 1965 McNaughton memo, which
14592-576: The Demilitarized Zone to attack I Corps, the five northernmost provinces of South Vietnam. The North Vietnamese 308th Division and two independent regiments assaulted the "ring of steel", the arc of ARVN firebases just south of the DMZ. From the west, the 312th , including an armoured regiment, moved out of Laos along Route 9 , past Khe Sanh , and into the Quảng Trị River Valley. Significantly, allied intelligence had failed to predict both
14784-561: The Easter holiday with his family. The ARVN units upon which the initial North Vietnamese attack was to fall included the 1st and 3rd Divisions in Quảng Trị and Thừa Thiên Provinces and the 2nd Division , further south. The force was supplemented by two brigades of Marines (the 147th and 258th), the 51st Infantry Regiment, the 1st Ranger Group and Regional and Popular Forces , approximately 30,000 men. The units were in static defensive positions and lacked adequate mobile reserves. Bearing
14976-641: The General Secretary, President, Prime Minister, the Chairman of the National Assembly and the Permanent member of the Secretariat have been specified separately. The Secretariat is headed by the general secretary and decisions within it are made through collective decision-making. The Secretariat is elected and the membership size is decided by the Central Committee immediately after the National Congress. It
15168-551: The Grail in the West), anti-tank missiles, including the wire-guided AT-3 Sagger and heavy-caliber, long-range artillery. To man the new equipment, 25,000 North Vietnamese troops received specialized training abroad, 80 percent of them in the Soviet Union or Eastern Europe. A contingent of high-level Soviet military personnel also arrived in Vietnam and stayed until March 1972 in preparation for
15360-529: The June 1997 Central Committee meeting, both Lê Đức Anh and Võ Văn Kiệt confirmed their resignations to the ninth National Assembly, which was dissolved in September. Phan Văn Khải was approved as Võ Văn Kiệt's successor, and the relatively unknown Trần Đức Lương succeeded Lê Đức Anh as president. At the fourth Central Committee plenum of the eighth party congress, Lê Khả Phiêu was elected general secretary and Đỗ Mười, Lê Đức Anh and Võ Văn Kiệt officially resigned from politics and were elected Advisory Council of
15552-460: The Laotian border and the coast, was the linchpin of the South Vietnamese northern and western defense line and was the strongest obstacle to the North Vietnamese before Quảng Trị City. The camp was cut off and surrounded. On 2 April, Colonel Pham Van Dinh , commander of the 56th ARVN Regiment, surrendered the camp and his 1,500 troops. Later in the day, ARVN troops abandoned Mai Loc , the last western base. This allowed North Vietnamese forces to cross
15744-510: The Maoist doctrine of Protracted War, which itself assumed it would attrit the counterinsurgents . An alternative view, considering overall security as the center of gravity, was shared by the Marine leadership and some other U.S. government centers of opinion, including Central Intelligence Agency , Agency for International Development , and United States Army Special Forces . Roughly until mid-1965,
15936-575: The NLF as the Viet Cong ( Việt Cộng ) or VC for short. The Vietnam War (or Second Indochina War) broke out between the communists which included the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) and the National Liberation Front (Viet Cong), and the anti-communists which included the United States, the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) and their allies, such as Australia , South Korea , and Thailand . The communists received support from
16128-420: The North Vietnamese were preparing for an offensive in the central highlands and the northern provinces of South Vietnam. The brunt of an attack would be borne by South Vietnamese forces since the U.S. strength had been reduced to 69,000 troops, most of whom were in support roles and the number was to be reduced to 27,000 by 30 November. The U.S. commander, General Creighton W. Abrams , was convinced an offensive
16320-614: The North Vietnamese would not violate the sacrosanct boundary, the unit was stationed in the relatively "safe" area directly below the DMZ. The division was commanded by newly promoted Brigadier General Vũ Văn Giai , the former deputy commander of the 1st Division. The I Corps commander, Lieutenant General Hoàng Xuân Lãm , was an officer who epitomized the indecision and the ineffectiveness of Saigon's command structure, as had been discovered all too blatantly during Operation Lam Son 719 . Lãm concentrated on administrative matters and left tactical decisions to his subordinate commanders. Considering
16512-544: The PAVN created its first division headquarters, under then-brigadier general Chu Huy Man . This goal at first seemed straightforward, but was reevaluated when major U.S. ground units entered the area, first the United States Marine Corps at Da Nang , and then the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) , the "First Cav". In particular, the PAVN were not sure of the best tactics to use against the air assault capability of
16704-468: The PAVN to retreat onto very reasonable paths to break away from the Americans – but different Americans had silently set ambushes, earlier, across those escape routes. By late 1966, however, North Vietnam began a buildup in the northwest area of the theater, in Laos, the southernmost part of the DRV, the DMZ, and in the northern part of the RVN. It is known that the North Vietnamese planned something called
16896-499: The Republic of [South] Vietnam by destroying the VC—his forces, organization, terrorists, agents, and propagandists—while at the same time reestablishing the government apparatus, strengthening GVN military forces, rebuilding the administrative machinery, and re-instituting the services of the Government. During this process security must be provided to all of the people on a progressive basis. Westmoreland complained that, "we are not engaging
17088-453: The SVN-US strategy still focused around pacification in South Vietnam , but it was increasingly irrelevant in the face of larger and larger VC conventional attacks. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam began to refer to the "two wars", one against conventional forces, and the other of pacification . The former was the priority for U.S. forces, as of 1965, assuming the South Vietnamese had to take
17280-420: The South Vietnamese state. This phase of the war lasted until the election of Richard Nixon and the change of U.S. policy to Vietnamization , or ending the direct involvement and phased withdrawal of U.S. combat troops and giving the main combat role back to the South Vietnamese military. One of the main problems that the joint forces faced was continuing weakness in the South Vietnamese government, along with
17472-463: The South. The U.S. would avoid further Geneva talks until it was established that they would not improve the Communist position. It was estimated that while there would be a strong diplomatic and propaganda response, the DRV and its allies would "refrain from dramatic new attacks, and refrain from raising the level of insurrection for the moment." The U.S/RVN and North Vietnam had strategic goals, with very different, and often inaccurate, definitions of
17664-512: The Third Five-Year Plan had failed miserably. Attacks against the interests of the well-to-do were part of the Communist ideas of class struggle. The majority of the educated came from well-off families, and the middle and upper classes held education and abilities that were critical to the country's prosperity, but the Communist Party's attitude toward those groups has frequently hampered their effective use of their education and skills. As
17856-421: The U.S. and South Vietnam with a protracted warfare model , in their concept of dau tranh , or "struggle", where the goal coupling military and political initiatives alongside each-other; there are both military and organisational measures that support the political goal. Following the Tet Offensive and with US Withdrawal, once the United States was no longer likely to intervene, the North Vietnamese changed to
18048-475: The U.S. had little intelligence collection capability to detect the start of this project. Specifically, MACV-SOG , under Russell, was prohibited from any operations in Laos, although SOG was eventually authorized to make cross-border operations. Before the operations scheduled by the Krulak committee could be attempted, there had to be an organization to carry them out. An obscure group called MACV-SOG appeared on
18240-571: The U.S. may have only reinforced in the minds of many Vietnamese that his government drew its support not from the people, but from the United States. The situation in South Vietnam continued to deteriorate with corruption rife throughout the Diem government and the ARVN unable to effectively combat the Viet Cong. In 1961, the newly elected Kennedy Administration promised more aid and additional money, weapons, and supplies were sent with little effect. Some policy-makers in Washington began to believe that Diem
18432-595: The VC having reached a level of offensive capability rather than capitalizing on the overthrow of Diem. During this period, INR observed, in a 23 December paper, the U.S. needed to reexamine its strategy focused on the Strategic Hamlet Program, since it was getting much more accurate – if pessimistic – from the new government than it had from Diem. Secretary McNamara, however, testified to the House Armed Service Committee, on 27 December, that only
18624-415: The VC with sufficient frequency or effectiveness to win the war in Vietnam." He said that American troops had shown themselves to be superb soldiers, adept at carrying out attacks against base areas and mounting sustained operations in populated areas. Yet, the operational initiative— decisions to engage and disengage—continued to be with the enemy. In December 1963, the Politburo apparently decided that it
18816-478: The Viet Minh became the leading force in the struggle for Vietnamese independence. The ICP was ostensibly dissolved, but its core was still functioning. According to the United States' Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), membership in the Viet Minh grew to about 400,000 members by 1950. In 1951, during the war for independence, the officially dissolved Indochinese Communist Party was officially re-established and renamed
19008-418: The Vietnamese leadership, led by Lê Duẩn , began to centralize power. This policy continued until the sixth National Congress , when Nguyễn Văn Linh took power. Linh pursued a policy of economic and political decentralization. The party and state bureaucracy opposed Linh's reform initiatives; because of this, Linh tried to win the support of provincial leaders, causing the powers of the provincial chapters of
19200-518: The Worker's Party of Vietnam ( Đảng lao động Việt Nam ), often abbreviated as the WPV. The Indochinese War against French forces lasted until the Vietnamese victory at the Battle of Điện Biên Phủ in 1954. Vietnam was partitioned following the 1954 Geneva Conference , with the communists ruling the northern half of the country. Almost immediately, the party's Marxist ideologues believed that their party had lost sight of its real Marxist purpose of guiding
19392-559: The Youth League, and saw itself as a rival to the latter. The Communist Party of Indochina and Communist Party of Annam, together with individual members of the Communist League of Indochina, merged to form a united communist organization called the Communist Party of Vietnam ( Đảng Cộng sản Việt Nam ), founded by Hồ Chí Minh at a "Unification Conference" held in Wah Yan College in Kowloon , British Hong Kong , from 3–7 February 1930. At
19584-412: The allied Viet Cong fought back, keeping to countryside strongholds while the anti-communist allied forces tended to control the cities. The most notable conflict of this era was the 1968 Tet Offensive , a widespread campaign by the communist forces to attack across all of South Vietnam; while the offensive was largely repelled, it was a strategic success in seeding doubt as to the long-term viability of
19776-431: The approval of operational planning. The officer entrusted with the conduct of the offensive was the PAVN chief of staff, General Văn Tiến Dũng . The central questions then became where and with what forces the offensive would be launched and what its goals were to be. North Vietnam had used the border regions of Laos and Cambodia as supply and manpower conduits for a decade and a demilitarized zone (DMZ) that separated
19968-495: The border areas. In Laos and Cambodia, there was also an unusual expansion of infiltration. In North Vietnam, there was a noticeable increase in military recruitment. In January, Defense Intelligence Agency officers briefed Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird to state that PAVN would attack after the Tết holidays and that the offensive would involve the widespread use of armored forces. Laird
20160-461: The circumstances, that was a workable solution only as long as his division commanders encountered no major difficulties. U.S. intelligence had been squabbling over a possible PAVN attack across the DMZ attack during the months preceding the offensive. DIA analysts "cautiously" predicted such a contingency, but the CIA downplayed the possibility. General Lãm's American advisors agreed with his assessment that
20352-472: The constitution introduced in 1992, the State represented the "workers, peasants and intellectuals". In recent years, the party has stopped representing a specific class, but instead the "interests of the entire people", which includes entrepreneurs. The final class barrier was removed in 2006, when party members were allowed to engage in private activities. In the face of de-emphasising the role of Marxism–Leninism,
20544-415: The construction of a people's democratic regime. While national liberation is the means of taking power, the establishment of a people's democratic regime requires the total destruction of the feudalist , colonialist and imperialist society. Only through this destruction can Vietnam transit to socialism. Lai Quoc Khanh, a journalist in the theoretical Tạp chí Cộng Sản wrote: "The people's democratic regime
20736-504: The coordination of a number of party bodies. The Secretariat supervises the preparation for issues raised at Politburo meetings. The Central Military Commission is appointed by the Politburo and includes members from the military. The commission is responsible to the Central Committee and between meetings, the Politburo and the Secretariat. The Secretary of the Central Military Commission is the party's general secretary while
20928-438: The crowds, killing dozens and enraging the population. In response, councils were organized in villages in an effort to govern themselves locally. Repression by the colonial authorities began in the autumn of 1931; around 1,300 people were eventually killed by the French and many more were imprisoned or deported as government authority was reasserted and the ICP was effectively wiped out in the region. General Secretary Tran Phu and
21120-432: The current state ideology is Hồ Chí Minh Thought, with Marxism–Leninism playing a secondary role. Some claim that Hồ Chí Minh Thought is used as a veil for a party leadership that has stopped believing in communism, but others rule this out on the basis that Hồ Chí Minh was an avid supporter of Lenin and the dictatorship of the proletariat. Still others see Hồ Chí Minh Thought as a political umbrella term whose main function
21312-454: The decisions of the National Congress during the five-year period between congresses. When the Central Committee is not in session, the Politburo implements the policies of the National Congress. The Central Committee is the CPV's most powerful institution. It delegates some of its powers to the Secretariat and the Politburo when it is not in session. When the Vietnam War ended in 1975,
21504-512: The deficiencies in central planning, improve economic trade relations with the COMECON countries, Laos and Kampuchea . While Lê Duẩn continued to believe in the goals set in the Third Five-Year Plan, leading members within the Communist Party were losing their trust in the system. It was in this mood that the 1985 price reform was introduced—market prices were introduced, which led to a sudden increase in inflation. By 1985, it became apparent that
21696-488: The department of defence breaks down the types of engagements from a periodic study here. William Westmoreland , and to a lesser extent Maxwell Taylor , rejected, if they seriously considered, the protracted war doctrine stated by Mao and restated by the DRV leadership, mirror-imaging that they would be reasonable by American standards, and see that they could not prevail against steady escalation. They proposed to defeat an enemy, through attrition of his forces, who guided by
21888-613: The direction of Tran Van Giau, a fate shared by large numbers of Caodaists , independent nationalists and their families. Following the August Revolution, Hồ Chí Minh became Chairman of the Provisional Government (Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam ) and issued a Proclamation of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam . Although he convinced Emperor Bảo Đại to abdicate, his government
22080-559: The dissolution of Youth League and the establishment of a new organization called the Communist Party of Indochina ( Đông Dương Cộng sản Đảng ). The other faction of the Youth League, based in the Cochinchina (southern) region of the country, held a conference in Saigon and declared themselves the Communist Party of Annam ( An Nam Cộng sản Đảng ) in late 1929. The two parties spent
22272-452: The early 2000s. At the seventh party congress in which Nguyễn Văn Linh retired from politics, he reaffirmed the party's and country's commitment to socialism. Đỗ Mười succeeded Nguyễn Văn Linh as general secretary, Võ Văn Kiệt , the leading reformist communist, was appointed prime minister and Lê Đức Anh , was appointed president . In 1994, four new members were appointed to the seventh Politburo , all of whom opposed radical reform. At
22464-561: The end of 1963 and Gulf of Tonkin incident in 1964 and amid continuing political instability in the South, the Lyndon Johnson Administration made a policy commitment to safeguard the South Vietnamese regime directly. The American military forces and other anti-communist SEATO countries increased their support, sending large scale combat forces into South Vietnam; at its height in 1969, slightly more than 400,000 American troops were deployed. The People's Army of Vietnam and
22656-423: The equivalent of 14 divisions. There was the distinct possibility of destroying or at least crippling large elements of the ARVN; possibly deposing of South Vietnamese President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu ; convincing the U.S. as to the hopelessness of continued support to the South and demonstrating the failure of Vietnamization . The prospect of seizing a South Vietnamese provincial capital, which could then be proclaimed as
22848-585: The exchange of operational areas. With communications fragmented, its units entangled, and the weather bad enough to prevent aerial operations, the 3rd Division offered the massed PAVN forces to the north an irresistible target. The offensive began at noon on 30 March 1972, when an intense artillery barrage rained down on the northernmost ARVN outposts in Quảng Trị Province. Two PAVN divisions (the 304th and 308th – approximately 30,000 troops) supported by more than 100 tanks (in 2 Regiments) then rolled over
23040-485: The face of the enemy", and sentenced to five years in prison. Hoping to break the stalemate that was developing on the northern front, Lieutenant General Trần Văn Quang , commander of the B-4 Front , attacked on 1 April west from the A Shau Valley toward Huế with the 324B Division. Spoiling attacks by the ARVN 1st Division, however, threw off the timetable. On 28 April 29 and 803rd PAVN Regiments seized Firebase Bastogne,
23232-514: The fourth party congress in 1976, the Workers' Party of Vietnam merged with the People's Revolutionary Party of South Vietnam to create the Communist Party of Vietnam ( Đảng Cộng sản Việt Nam ), commonly abbreviated as CPV. The party explained that the merger and name change was made in light of the "strengthened proletariat dictatorship , the development of the leadership of the working class ...
23424-430: The fourth party congress which lasted from 9 October to 3 November 1981. The plenum adopted a reformist line but was forced to moderate its position when several grassroot party chapters rebelled against its resolution. At the fifth party congress, held in March 1982, General Secretary Lê Duẩn said the party had to strive to reach two goals; to construct socialism and to protect Vietnam from Chinese aggression, but priority
23616-421: The goal of a prosperous people in a strong nation characterized by democracy, fairness, and civilization". There are multiple forms of ownership in a socialist-oriented market economy. Economic sectors operate in accordance with the law and are equal under the law in the interest of co-existence, cooperation and healthy competition. Nguyễn Phú Trọng said: The state economy plays a key role; the collective economy
23808-567: The headquarters of the Youth League in Canton (present-day Guangdong ), China, were destroyed by the Kuomintang (Chinese Nationalist Party) and the group was forced underground. This led to a national breakdown within the Youth League, which indirectly led to a split. On 17 June 1929, more than 20 delegates from cells throughout the Tonkin (northern) region held a conference in Hanoi , where they declared
24000-666: The incident, and at least some North Vietnamese naval patrols were deployed against these. Possible consequences of such actions, although not explicitly addressing the OPPLAN34A operations, were assessed by the United States Intelligence Community in late May, on the assumption The actions to be taken, primarily air and naval, with the GVN (US-assisted) operations against the DRV and Communist-held Laos, and might subsequently include overt US military actions. They would be on
24192-549: The increasing application of U.S. and South Vietnamese air power. One result of the offensive was the launching of Operation Linebacker , the first sustained bombing of North Vietnam by the U.S. since November 1968. Although South Vietnamese forces withstood their greatest trial thus far in the conflict, as well as thwarting North Vietnam's goal of large territorial gains, the North Vietnamese accomplished two important goals: they had gained valuable territory within South Vietnam from which to launch future offensives and they had obtained
24384-444: The industrial city of Vinh , May Day demonstrations were organized by ICP activists, which gained critical mass when the families of the semi-peasant workers joined the demonstrations to express their dissatisfaction with the economic circumstances they faced. As three May Day marches grew into mass rallies, French colonial authorities moved in to quash what they perceived to be dangerous peasant revolts. Government forces fired upon
24576-521: The initial brunt of the attack would be the 3rd Division, which had been created in October 1971 and was located in an arc of outposts near the DMZ, to replace departing American troops. To create the new unit, the 1st Division (arguably ARVN's best unit) was stripped of its 2nd Regiment and the 11th Armored Cavalry was brought up from the I Corps reserve. Both units were experienced, well-trained, well-equipped, and well-led. The 3rd Division's other two regiments,
24768-420: The investigation. The Central Theoretical Council was established on 22 October 1996 by a decision of the Central Committee. The 4th Central Theoretical Council was formed on 7 September 2016, and is currently headed by Politburo member Đinh Thế Huynh . It functions as an advisory body to the Central Committee, the Politburo and the Secretariat on conceiving and developing party theory in line with Marxism. It
24960-415: The late 1980s and 1990s. In recent years, the party has stopped representing a specific class, but instead the "interests of the entire people", which includes entrepreneurs. The final class barrier was removed in 2006, when party members were allowed to engage in private activities. De-emphasising Marxism–Leninism, the party has placed emphasis on Vietnamese nationalism , developmentalism , and ideas from
25152-496: The lead in pacification. Arguably, however, there were three wars: There were, however, changes in the overall situation from early 1964 to the winter of 1965–1966, from 1966 to late 1967, and from late 1968 until the U.S. policy changes with the Nixon Administration. Nixon's papers show that in 1968, as a presidential candidate, he ordered Anna Chennault, his liaison to the South Vietnam government, to persuade them to refuse
25344-399: The leadership of Nguyễn Văn Linh . Hồ Chí Minh Thought and Marxism–Leninism became the official ideologies of the CPV and the state in 1991. The CPV's claim to legitimacy was retained after the collapse of communism elsewhere in 1989 and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 by its commitment to the thoughts of Hồ Chí Minh, according to Sophie Quinn-Judge. According to Pierre Brocheux,
25536-407: The lowest approval vote of the 10th Central Committee when he stood for election to the Politburo. The 11th Politburo was elected by the Central Committee after the 11th National Congress and consists of 16 members. Decisions within the Politburo are made through collective decision-making. Since 10th Central Committee, the duties and responsibilities of the members of the Politburo and those of
25728-399: The measures necessary to stand and fight. The PAVN advance was slowed by delaying actions for three weeks, and the South Vietnamese launched several counterattacks, but on the morning of 27 April, the North Vietnamese came on again, launching multi-pronged attacks against Đông Hà (which fell on the following day) and advancing to within 1.5 kilometers of Quảng Trị City. General Giai had planned
25920-427: The method of transforming features of old regime into its contrary facets. It was the dialectical thinking method . According to this method, the process of formulating the people's democratic regime in reality was considered the process of wiping out comprehensively fundamental features of colonial-feudal regime. According to Hồ Chí Minh, before it becomes socialist, a society must evolve through national liberation and
26112-640: The next two days, the ARVN would succeed with Operation Thang Lang-Hai Yen 79 on the Dinh Tuong–Kien Phuong Sector border, killing 99 VC, followed the next day by an attack on a training camp in Quảng Ngãi, killing 50. These successes, however, must be balanced by the Buddhist crisis and the increased instability of Diem. After Diem's fall in November 1963 , INR saw the priority during this period as more
26304-461: The offensive. During late 1971, U.S. and South Vietnamese intelligence estimates of communist intentions were mixed. An offensive was expected, but intelligence as to its timing, location, and size were confusing. The communists had mounted the Tet Offensive in 1968, but it had been conducted mainly by Vietcong (VC) in the initial phase, which had been destroyed in the process. Without VC support,
26496-476: The old imperial capital of Huế from the west. The North Vietnamese advance had been timed to coincide with the seasonal monsoon , whose 500 feet (152 m) cloud ceilings negated many U.S. airstrikes. PAVN advance elements were soon followed by anti-aircraft units armed with new ZSU-57-2 tracked weapon platforms and man-portable, shoulder-fired Grail missiles , which made low-level bombing attacks hazardous. Camp Carroll , an artillery firebase halfway between
26688-547: The organization charts. Its overt name was "MACV Studies and Operations Group". In reality, it was the Special Operations Group, with CIA agent programs for the North gradually moving under MACV control – although SOG almost always had a CIA officer in its third-ranking position, the second-in-command being an Air Force officer. The U.S. had a shortage of covert operators with Asian experience in general. Ironically, Assistant Secretary of State Roger Hilsman , who had been
26880-519: The party has acquired a broader ideology, laying more emphasis on nationalism, developmentalism and becoming the protector of tradition. Minh himself stated that what originally attracted him to Communism was not its doctrines, which he did not at that time understand, but the simple fact that the Communists supported the independence of countries like Vietnam. Characters of a new social regime were formed in Hồ Chí Minh's thoughts through, first of all,
27072-520: The party to the "liberation" of South Vietnam. In the south, the United States helped establish an anti-communist state, the Republic of Vietnam (RVN), in 1955. In 1960 the DRV established a military-political front in the south called the National Liberation Front of Southern Vietnam ( Mặt trận Dân tộc Giải phóng Miền Nam Việt Nam ) or NLF for short. American soldiers commonly referred to
27264-456: The party's General Secretary Nguyễn Phú Trọng, during the transition to socialism, socialist factors of development compete with non-socialist factors, which include capitalist factors. Nguyễn said: "Along with positive aspects, there will always be negative aspects and challenges that need to be considered wisely and dealt with timely and effectively. It is a difficult struggle that requires spirit, fresh vision, and creativity. The path to socialism
27456-425: The personal economics of individual handicraft and peasantry, which would later develop into cooperatives, private capitalism and state capitalism, where the state shares capital with capitalists to develop the country further. Since these economic basics relied on different types of ownership, the economy of the people's democratic regime cannot be considered socialist, hence the regime is not socialist. For example, in
27648-602: The poor performance of ARVN troops in the offensive into Laos promised an easy victory. This decision marked the end of three years of political infighting between two factions within the Politburo: those members grouped around Trường Chinh , who favored following the Chinese model of continued low-intensity guerrilla warfare and rebuilding the north, and the "southern firsters" around Defense Minister Võ Nguyên Giáp , supported by First Party Secretary Lê Duẩn (both of whom supported
27840-410: The post of deputy secretary is held by the Minister of National Defence . The commission can issue guidelines on military and defence policies, and has leadership in all aspects of the military. The General Political Department is subordinate to the commission. The Central Inspection Commission is the party organ responsible for combating corruption, disciplining members and wrongdoing in general. It
28032-411: The pursuit of mere economic growth". Policies are enacted for the sole purpose of improving the people's standard of living. Classical Marxist texts still play a prominent role in the Communist Party's ideological development. The Communist Manifesto , written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels , is considered an "immortal work". According to the party, the real value of The Communist Manifesto
28224-605: The rest of 1929 engaged in polemics against one another in an attempt to gain a position of hegemony over the radical Vietnamese liberation movement. A third Vietnamese communist group which did not originate from the Youth League emerged around this time in the Annam (central) region, calling itself the Communist League of Indochina ( Đông Dương Cộng sản Liên Đoàn ). The Communist League of Indochina had its roots in another national liberation group which had existed in parallel with
28416-482: The rift by also agreeing to "additional aid without reimbursement", for North Vietnam's military forces. These agreements led to a flood of equipment and supplies necessary for a modern, conventional army. This included 400 T-34 , T-54 and Type 59 (a Chinese version of the T-54) medium and 200 PT-76 light amphibious tanks, hundreds of anti-aircraft missiles, including the shoulder-fired, heat-seeking SA-7 Strela (called
28608-428: The same as now, the principles are the same. Yet those principles were not interpreted precisely correctly. The CPV's ideology has been criticized from the left for its supposed departure from communist principles. Critics have argued that the socialist-oriented market economy is a re-capitalized system which allows massive capitalist markets , enriches the bourgeoisie , and increases foreign direct investment , at
28800-483: The scale of the offensive and the method of attack, giving PAVN "the inestimable benefit of shock effect, a crucial psychological edge over defenders who had expected something quite different." On 1 April, South Vietnamese General Giai, ordered a withdrawal of the 3rd Division south of the Cửa Việt/ Thach Han River in order for his troops to reorganize. The following morning, ARVN armoured elements held off
28992-477: The seat of the Provisional Revolutionary Government , was also enticing. The attitude of the North Vietnamese leadership was illustrated in an article in a 1972 party journal: "It doesn't matter whether the war is promptly ended or prolonged...Both are opportunities to sow the seeds; all we have to do is to wait for the time to harvest the crop." The northern leadership was taken aback during
29184-424: The size and ferocity of the assault caught the defenders off balance, because the attackers struck on three fronts simultaneously, with the bulk of the PAVN. This first attempt by North Vietnam to invade the south since the Tet Offensive of 1968, became characterized by conventional infantry–armor assaults backed by heavy artillery, with both sides fielding the latest in technological advances in weapons systems. In
29376-425: The social security and welfare system. The State manages the economy through laws, strategies, plans, policies, and mechanisms to steer, regulate, and stimulate socio-economic development. Unlike in capitalist countries, a socialist-oriented market economy does not "wait for the economy to reach a high level of development before implementing social progress and fairness, nor 'sacrifice' social progress and fairness to
29568-455: The socialist-oriented market economy, the state-owned sector will be the dominant sector, hence the socialist character of the economy dominates. The political platform of the second party congress held in 1951 stated: "The people's democratic revolution is neither an old-type capitalist democratic revolution nor socialist revolution, it is a new-type capitalist democratic revolution which will evolve into socialist revolution without experiencing
29760-500: The south but died, possibly of natural causes, in 1967; Thanh may very well have been among those couple of dozen. Thanh was replaced by Trần Văn Trà . Trà's analysis (see above) was that while the concept of the General Offensive-General Uprising was drawn up by the Politburo in 1965, the orders to implement it did not reach the operational headquarters until late October 1967. Pike described it as consistent with
29952-489: The south, was rivalled by other nationalist and left-wing groups, notably Trotskyist organisations . In November 1931, dissidents emerging from within the party formed the October Left Opposition ( Tả Đối Lập Tháng Mười ) around the clandestine journal Tháng Mười (October). These included Hồ Hữu Tường and Phan Văn Hùm who, protesting a leadership of "Moscow trainees", had formed an Indochinese group within
30144-468: The south. In response to French attempts to sow disunity within the Viet Minh, the ICP was officially dissolved and was downgraded to the "Institute for Studying Marxism in Indochina" ( Hội Nghiên cứu Chủ nghĩa Marx tại Đông Dương ). This symbolic gesture was intended to encourage unity between Vietnamese communists and non-communists in their struggle against the French and their sympathizers. In practice,
30336-610: The southern part of our country." Vietnam Workers%27 Party The Communist Party of Vietnam ( CPV ) is the founding and sole legal party of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam . Founded in 1930 by Hồ Chí Minh , the CPV became the ruling party of North Vietnam in 1954 and then all of Vietnam after the collapse of the South Vietnamese government following the Fall of Saigon in 1975. Although it nominally exists alongside
30528-552: The southern region of Cochinchina , where the previously strong organization was wiped out by arrests and killings. After an uprising in Cochinchina in 1940, most of the Central Committee, including Nguyễn Văn Cừ (general secretary) and Hà Huy Tập, were arrested and killed, and Lê Hồng Phong was deported to Côn Đảo and later died. A new party leadership, which included Trường Chinh , Phạm Văn Đồng , and Võ Nguyên Giáp emerged. Together with Hồ Chí Minh, these individuals would provide
30720-578: The special operations community have risen to four-star rank, including Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff , but special operators were regarded as outcasts, unlikely to rise high in rank, during the Vietnam War. To understand factors that contributed to the heightened readiness in the Gulf, it must be understood that MACV-SOG OPPLAN 34A naval operations had been striking the coast in the days immediately before
30912-553: The state sector was of utmost importance—the lack of which according to Hồ Chí Minh would lead to failure. The platform of the 11th National Congress held in January 2011 stated: "This is a profound and thorough revolutionary process and a complicated struggle between the old and the new for qualitative changes in all aspects of social life. It is essential to undergo a long period of transition with several steps of development and several mixed social and economic structures". According to
31104-474: The strongest anchor on Huế's western flank. This made Firebase Checkmate untenable, and it too was evacuated that night. This exposed Huế to a direct thrust along Route 547. On 2 May PAVN forces south of Huế tried to surround the city. The PAVN also attempted to press their attack southward down Highway 1 and across the Mỹ Chánh River to Huế, but, fortunately for the South Vietnamese, after Trưởng took command,
31296-429: The successful PAVN maneuver in 1975. The resulting campaign is called the Battle of Ia Drang , with a followup at the Battle of Bong Son , but Ia Drang actually had three major phases: In the larger Battle of Bong Son approximately a month later, which extended into 1966, 1st Cav drew their own lessons from what they believed the PAVN developed as countertactics to air assault , and used obvious helicopters to cause
31488-437: The summer of 1971, when an announcement was made that U.S. President Richard Nixon would visit the People's Republic of China, on a diplomatic mission before May 1972. The Chinese placated the suspicions of their ally, by reassuring North Vietnam that even more military and economic aid would be forthcoming in 1972. The Soviet Union, perceiving the growing antagonism between the People's Republic and North Vietnam, sought to widen
31680-441: The third phase, although Dien Bien Phu was an isolated, not urban, target. Losing elite troops during the Tet Offensive never let them develop the "second wave" or "third phase" "We don't ever know what the second wave was; we have never been able to find out because probably only a couple of dozen people knew it." The description of the three fighting methods is consistent with the work of Nguyễn Chí Thanh , who commanded forces in
31872-434: The two Vietnams. There, the line of communication would be shortest and forces could be concentrated where "the enemy is weakest...violent attacks will disintegrate enemy forces...making it impossible for him to have enough troops to deploy elsewhere." This was an important consideration, since the northern thrust would serve to divert South Vietnamese attention and resources, while two other attacks were to be launched: one into
32064-473: The use of nuclear weapons. Further assumptions is that the U.S. would inform the DRV, China, and the Soviet Union that these attacks were of limited purpose, but show serious intent by additional measures including sending a new 5,000 troops and air elements to Thailand; deploying strong air, naval, and ground strike forces to the Western Pacific and South China Sea; and providing substantial reinforcement to
32256-486: The west, Fire Support Bases Bastogne and Checkmate had fallen after staunch ARVN defense and massive B-52 bomber strikes, which inflicted heavy casualties. Giai evacuated the last of his forces from Quảng Trị City, which fell to PAVN forces on 2 May. That same day General Lam was summoned to Saigon for a meeting with President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu . He was relieved of command of I Corps and replaced by Lieutenant General Ngô Quang Trưởng , commander of IV Corps. Trưởng's mission
32448-503: The work of the Central Committee, the Politburo, the Secretariat, is responsible for issues such as defence, security and foreign affairs, and chairs meetings with important leaders. The general secretary holds the post of Secretary of the Central Military Commission , the party's highest military affairs organ. The Politburo is the highest organ of the Communist Party between Central Committee meetings, which are held twice
32640-516: The working class in a struggle against the bourgeoisie in its efforts of national independence. By 1955, they had launched a significant campaign to promote personnel with a background in class struggle, at the cost of communists whose claims to authority were based on their leadership in the resistance against the French. At the second party congress it was decided that the Communist Party would be split into three; one party for each of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. However, in an official note it said that
32832-617: Was a grinding war of attrition, with no decision, as death and destruction ground along. For example, on 23 March 1964, ARVN forces in Operation Phuong Hoang 13-14/10, Dien Phong Sector, raids a VC battalion in a fortified village, killing 126. On 13 April, however, the VC overran Kien Long (near U Minh Forest ), killing 300 ARVN and 200 civilians. On 25 April, GEN Westmoreland was named to replace GEN Harkins; an ARVN ambush near Plei Ta Nag killed 84 VC. Ambassador Lodge resigned on 23 June, with General Taylor named to replace him. In
33024-460: Was a victory for the party's old guard reformist wing. The new leadership elected at the Congress would later launch Đổi Mới and establish the framework for the socialist-oriented market economy . The economic reforms were initiated alongside a relaxation of state censorship and freedom of expression. The Chinese Communist Party praised the CPV's economic and political reforms, which continued into
33216-401: Was aligned with the Soviet Union and its allies during the Cold War , and implemented a command economy in Vietnam, before introducing economic reforms, known as Đổi Mới , in 1986. While continuing to nominally hold to Marxism–Leninism , most independent sources have argued that it has lost its monopolistic ideological and moral legitimacy since the introduction of a mixed economy in
33408-457: Was finalized around 20 December, under joint MACV-CIA leadership; the subsequent MACV-SOG organization had not yet been created. There were five broad categories, to be planned in three periods of 4 months each, over a year: Lyndon Johnson agreed with the idea, but was cautious. He created an interdepartmental review committee, under Major General Victor Krulak , on 21 December, to select the least risky operations on 21 December, which delivered
33600-499: Was given to socialist construction. The party leadership acknowledged the failures of the Second Five-Year Plan, claiming that their failure to grasp the economic and social conditions aggravated the country's economic problems. The Third Five-Year Plan (1981–1985) emphasized the need to improve living conditions and the need for more industrial construction, but agriculture was given top priority. Other points were to improve
33792-478: Was heavily influenced by the leadership of the ICP. It was the most uncompromising fighting force against the Japanese occupation and gained popular recognition and legitimacy in an environment that would become a political vacuum. Despite its position as the core of the Viet Minh, the ICP remained very small throughout the war, with an estimated membership of between 2,000 and 3,000 in 1944. The party, particularly in
33984-487: Was incapable of defeating the communists, and some even feared that he might make a deal with Ho Chi Minh. Discussions then began in Washington regarding the need to force a regime change in Saigon . This was accomplished on 2 November 1963, when the CIA allegedly aided a group of ARVN officers to overthrow Diem. To help deal with the post-coup chaos, Kennedy increased the number of US advisors in South Vietnam to 16,000. OPPLAN 34A
34176-409: Was joined by tens of thousands of South Vietnamese civilians fleeing from the fighting. As the mass of humanity jostled and shoved its way south on Highway 1, it presented an inviting target for North Vietnamese artillerists. They were soon joined by PAVN infantry, who moved by the flank to attack the column. ARVN units, with no leadership and all unit cohesion gone, could muster no defense. Meanwhile, to
34368-545: Was likely but was also convinced that the attack would begin during or near the Tết holidays, at the beginning of the year. He notified Admiral Thomas Moorer , the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff , that the North Vietnamese might attempt to "duplicate the effects of the 1968 offensive, perhaps by a limited operation aimed less at inflicting defeat on the battlefield than in influencing American public opinion." The consensus at MACV
34560-413: Was losing the war. It had lost the political game in Vietnam." Robert McNamara suggests that the overthrow of Dương Văn Minh by Nguyễn Khánh , in January 1964, reflected differing U.S. and Vietnamese priorities. And since we still did not recognize the North Vietnamese and Vietcong and North Vietnamese as nationalist in nature, we never realized that encouraging public identification between Khanh and
34752-401: Was not recognized by any country. He repeatedly petitioned American President Harry S. Truman for support for Vietnamese independence, citing the Atlantic Charter , but Truman did not respond. After the successful establishment of an independent Democratic Republic of Vietnam in Hanoi , Vietnam was taken over by Chinese nationalist forces in the north and the French-British joint forces in
34944-414: Was occupied by Japanese forces. As a result, the communists also sought the opportunity to establish a grassroots organization throughout most of the country. At the beginning of the war, the ICP instructed its members to go into hiding in the countryside. Despite this, more than 2,000 party members, including many of its leaders, were rounded up and arrested. Party activists were particularly hard hit in
35136-403: Was one of the poorest countries in the world during Lê Duẩn's rule. Lê Duẩn died on 10 July 1986, a few months before the sixth party congress. A Politburo meeting held between 25 and 30 August 1986, paved the way for more radical reforms; the new reform movement was led by Trường Chinh . At the sixth party congress, Nguyễn Văn Linh was elected the new general secretary – this
35328-415: Was possible to strike for victory in 1965. Theoretician Trường Chinh stated the conflict as less the classic, protracted war of Maoist doctrine, and the destabilization of doctrine under Khrushchev, than a decision that it was possible to accelerate. "on the one hand we must thoroughly understand the guideline for a protracted struggle, but on the other hand we must seize the opportunities to win victories in
35520-435: Was predicted by Marx and Engels in the Manifesto , the Vietnamese Communist Party and people will further find guidelines for a precious world outlook and methodologies. Sustainable values of this immortal theoretical work and political platform will remain forever". Trần Bạch Đằng wrote: The reality of Vietnam after the revolution is different from what I imagined when I joined the party ... Life has shown us that it
35712-484: Was still significant doubt, in the U.S. government, that the war could be ended with a military solution that would place South Vietnam in a strongly anticommunist position. In July, two senior U.S. Department of State officials formally recommended withdrawal to President Lyndon B. Johnson ; Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara , at the same time, saw the situation as bad but potentially retrievable with major escalation. Westmoreland's "ultimate aim", was: To pacify
35904-449: Was that such an offensive would be launched against II Corps, in the Central Highlands. When the offensive did not occur, he and his headquarters were ridiculed in the American press for crying wolf . The moment of crisis seemed to have passed, and by the end of March, allied forces that had been standing by had returned to pacification efforts. U.S. Ambassador Ellsworth Bunker left for Nepal , and General Abrams went to Thailand to spend
36096-424: Was to build a strong and prosperous socialist country in 20 years. The economic goals set for the Second Five-Year Plan failed to be implemented, and a heated debate about economic reform took place between the fourth and fifth party congresses. The first was at the sixth Central Committee plenum of the fourth party congress in September 1979, but the most revealing one occurred at the tenth Central Committee plenum of
36288-403: Was to defend Huế, minimize further losses, and retake captured territory. Although saddled with raw troops and constantly countermanded by his superiors, General Giai had conducted a reasonably good defense. Even Trưởng pleaded his case with Thiệu, wanting to keep Giai in command of the 3rd Division. It was in vain. Giai, who was to be made the scapegoat for the collapse, was tried for "desertion in
36480-409: Was to end the colonial occupation of Vietnam by France. The group sought political and social objectives—national independence and the redistribution of land to working peasants. The Youth League's purpose was to prepare the masses for a revolutionary armed struggle against the French occupation. His efforts in laying the groundwork for the party was financially supported by the Comintern . In 1928
36672-447: Was unconvinced and told the U.S. Congress in late January that a large communist offensive "was not a serious possibility" U.S. and South Vietnamese intelligence services had no consensus as to communist intentions, but Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV), was suspicious and sent several reconnaissance teams into the Mụ Giạ and Ban Karai Pass areas and discovered a buildup of PAVN forces and equipment. MACV then decided that
36864-425: Was very much concerned with Chinese involvement, may have brought it closer. There were numerous ARVN and VC raids, of battalion size, for which only RVN losses or body count is available. They took place roughly monthly. In the great casualty lists of a war, 100–300 casualties may not seem an immense number, but these have to be considered as happening at least once a month, with a population of perhaps 10 million. It
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