The 1970s

Cambodia Invasion: It was April 30th 1970 when president Richard Nixon announced on national television that The United States Armed Forces and South Vietnamese units had invaded Cambodia in the intent to destroy military bases that that provided aid to the North Vietnamese military. Many demonstrations and public protest were made and organized because of this invasion. Fear and disbelief struck every American as well as the sense that all of the remaining soldiers that were still fighting in Vietnam would not come home anytime soon. Violence started to erupt across the country with the demonstrations getting bigger and worse as everyday went by. This was very important and significant because it created a huge problem between Nixon’s Armed forces and the citizens of The United States of America. People just wanted the war to end and the troops to come back without them being in a body bag. ("Invasion of Cambodia." Invasion of Cambodia - The Vietnam War. Weebly)                                      

 

Demilitarization: This is a term given to an act of a country reducing its weapons, army or military to an agreed upon number peacefully. This term is normally used when two countries reach a peace treaty or when a major conflict or war has ended. This is what happened in Vietnam, when Nixon saw that the people of The United States were becoming desperate about the troops abroad and that the war was stupid and childish. The Americans had been fighting for a long time and they did not see any prosperity in the near future because many soldiers were coming back in body bags, due to the new warfare style that no American soldier had faced before. Nixon decided to look towards a solution of bringing back troops in a slow but steady manner so that the conflict with Vietnam would not become bigger and to stop putting American life’s at risk. So in January 1971 the House of Representatives and the Senate vote to have all troops stationed in Vietnam withdrawn and returned to The U.S. This was very important because it gave people hope and prosperity and it was a huge step in ending the conflict in Vietnam that the people did not want to be in. ("The Vietnam War." The History Place)                          

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The End: The war in Vietnam came to an end around April 1975 when all American troops had been removed form Vietnam and the South surrendered to the North. Before the South surrendered to the North all American troops had been taken back to The United States either in a body bag or on a plane and nothing was left behind. President Richard Nixon had resigned from office on August 9th 1784 where his vice president Gerald Ford takes office. When this happens hopes and moral went up for the people of The United States. They could see that the end of the war was just in the horizon and that their sons and husbands would soon be back home. When North Vietnam takes the city of Saigon the war finally ends. Just after this happens the ruler of the North Ho Chi Minh is declared the victor and Vietnam turns to communism. This is a major turning point for the American army because they realize that they had been beaten and it was better that they had been for if they would have won maybe WW3 could have began and that would have been a totally different story that would have caused chaos through out the world. (Shmoop Editorial Team. "The Vietnam War Timeline of Important Dates.")