The Vietnam War

With all that in mind, the American government had to re-think where this war was taking us. In previous years both sides had made several attempts to explore a basis on which to negotiate a peace settlement. Following the year's Tet Offensive both sides reassessed their positions. For a little while, it seemed the end was in sight, with the United States scaling back its bombings of North Vietnam, and North Vietnam agreeing to meet with the United States in Paris to discuss peace negotiations, but the battle was far from over.
             Although there was a lull in the intensity of the fighting, it did continue all throughout the spring of 1968, and into 1969, when another Tet Offensive was launched by the Communist regime. By July of 1969, President Nixon announced a phased withdrawal of United States troops, gradually turning the burden of the war over to South Vietnam, in a policy that became known as "vietnamization".
             In 1970, despite the continued withdrawal of American troops, and a lessening of hostilities, the war appeared to take on larger dimensions. In both Laos and Cambodia, United States forces tried to blunt Communist offensives and to eliminate the Vietcong forces from their Cambodian sanctuaries. These actions set off major protests on American College campuses. In 1971, the South Vietnamese forces tried to stop the North Vietnamese infiltration into the south along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Their efforts, however, were thwarted within a matter of weeks. In March of 1972, the North Vietnamese launched a full-scale offensive into the south and occupied much of the territory. By the end of 1972, both the United States and South Korea had ended their ground combat role in South Vietnam and a peace agreement was signed. The treaty stated that the United States would withdraw from the conflict, and all United States prisoners of war held by the North Vietnamese would be released. .
             During the course of this war, which spanned more than a decade, and four presidential administrations over 2,200,000 United States soldiers served in Vietnam.