Research Project: Alliances (posted by Annie)

I feel like the main factor that helped the North Vietnamese win the French and American Wars is that they were allies with the Soviet Union and The People's Republic of China (PRC). The Soviets and the PRC gave them weapons. That led to the Ho Chi Minh Trail on which soldiers moved those weapons. The alliance led to the Tet Offensive and the Easter Offensive, for which they used Soviet and PRC weapons and advice. Finally, that led the Americans finally leaving Vietnam in 1975.

Ho Chi Minh was the main reason why the Viet Minh had an alliance with the Soviets and the People's Republic of China. In 1923, when he was thirty-three he went to Moscow. He made an alliance with them so they could help him defeat the French. In October 1949, Mao Zedong took control of China. This helped the Viet Minh transport those weapons because they share a border with China. In 1950, Ho met with Mao and Stalin in Moscow and deepened the alliance. The Soviets gave him Sa2 rockets to shoot down planes. The main gun used by the NVA was the Soviet-made AK-47. I saw many AK-47's in museums. They also provided advisors to help teach how to use the equipment. From 1965 to 1968 there were about 310,000 Chinese troops in Vietnam, to help build railways, and provide logistical support. I went to the place where you can see Ho Chi Minh's mummified body. Our tour guide in Saigon said Ho was a good diplomat. That is the most important thing that matters about Ho. This shows that he is an important figure because he made alliances with the Soviets and PRC.

The alliance led to the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The Ho Chi Minh Trail played a significant role in transporting the weapons that the Soviets and the Chinese gave. The Ho Chi Minh trail was a series of dangerous foot trails going from North Vietnam, through Laos and Cambodia, and finally into South Vietnam. In the South Vietnamese presidential palace, the president even had a map of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, because he needed to know where to bomb. President Nixon of the United States had "Operation Menu" as if he could open a menu, pick a place on the trail, and then bomb it. For school, I read a realistic fiction book about the Vietnamese perspective of the war by Nguyen Phan Que, called The Mountains Sing. It said the soldiers on the trail got food from the Chinese. This is a quote from the book: "Together with the Russians, the Chinese Communists supported our fight against the Americans, so we also got food from the Chinese." If it weren't for the PRC, the soldiers would have starved. I went to see tunnels in the Iron Triangle that funnel into the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

The alliance gave the North Vietnamese the food, supplies, and artillery to use for the Tet Offensive. The Tet Offensive were series of attacks on hundreds of places in South Vietnam led by the North Vietnamese. They planned for there to be an uprising, but it never happened. Ultimately, it was militarily a failure, but politically a win. The U.S.'s top general, Westmoreland, got fired, there were many anti-war pictures published in the United States, and Walter Cronkite said the U.S.A. couldn't win. President Lyndon Baines Johnson did not seek re-election because of the Tet Offensive. He started pulling out soldiers and draftees, and he was discussing peace talks. This would not have happened if the Viet Minh did not have the guns and artillery provided by the Soviets. In the build up to the Tet Offensive, the PRC gave them 366,499 firearms, and 450000 tons of food. Also for the Tet Offensive, the Soviets gave them $400 million in weapons, 90% of the gasoline came from the Soviets, and 20,000 Soviet trucks were given. In museums, I saw soviet trucks and tanks that were used in the Tet Offensive and the Easter Offensive.

In conclusion, I feel like to win a war, you need to have good allies that are willing to give you artillery and advice. For example, the U.S. might not have gained their independence without French help. That is how the Vietnamese, in my opinion, won the war.