LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Vietnam War: South Vietnam
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The Vietnam War was the legacy of France's failure to suppress nationalist forces in Indochina as it struggled to restore its colonial dominion after World War II. Led by Ho Chi Minh, a Communist-dominated revolutionary movement-the Viet Minh-waged a political and military struggle for Vietnamese independence that frustrated the efforts of the French and resulted ultimately in their ouster from the region. Vietnam had gained its independence from France in 1954. The country was divided into North and South. The North had a communist government led by Ho Chi Minh. The South had an anti-communist government led by Ngo Dinh Diem.
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This book shows why America 's strategy for exiting the Vietnam War failed and left South Vietnam to a dismal fate. Precisely how this strategy was implemented and why it failed so completely are the subjects of this study.
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Unlike conventional wars, the war in Vietnam had no defined front lines. Much of it consisted of hit-and-run attacks, with the guerrillas striking at government outposts and retreating into the jungle. In the early 1960s some North Vietnamese troops... began to infiltrate into South Vietnam to help the Vietcong, and supplies sent to Hanoi from the USSR and China were sent south down the so-called Ho Chi Minh Trail. The war began to escalate in the first week of August 1964, when North Vietnamese torpedo boats were reported to have attacked two U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin. Acting on the resolution passed on August 7 by the U.S. Senate (the so-called Tonkin Gulf Resolution), authorizing increased military involvement, President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered jets to South Vietnam and the retaliatory bombing of military targets in North Vietnam. From 1964 to 1968 Gen. William C. Westmoreland (1914–2005) was commander of U.S. forces in South Vietnam; he was replaced in 1968 by Gen. Creighton Abrams (1914–74).
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Ravaged by war, Vietnam is still in the process of recovery. It remains one of the poorest countries in the world. Remittance from overseas Vietnamese constitute a considerable part of the economy. Vietnamese people often make reference to events as happening "before 1975" or "after 1975", but life in South Vietnam before 1975 is rarely discussed. The large number of people born after 1975 may be indicative of a post-war baby boom. Many people are disabled during war, and continue to be killed and disabled by unexploded ordinance.
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Healing: a journey back to Vietnam [DS559.5 .H435 1995] Documentary chronicling the 1995 visit to Vietnam of a group of one hundred American women who served there in various capacities during the Vietnam war. They include former military nurses and civilian aid, charity and relief workers. The tour begins in Hanoi and proceeds south by bus to Saigon, visiting other Vietnamese cities and former American bases along the way. The film records the women's reminiscences about the war. their service, and their reactions to the Vietnam of today. Intercut with documentary and news footage from the war.
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Before World War Two, Vietnam had been part of the French Empire. During the war, the country had been overrun by the Japanese. When the Japanese retreated, the people of Vietnam took the opportunity to establish their own government lead by Ho Chi Minh. However, after the end of the war, the Allies gave back south Vietnam to the French while the north was left in the hands of the non-communist Chinese. The Chinese treated the north Vietnamese very badly and support for Ho Chi Minh grew. He had been removed form power at the end of the war.
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South Vietnam