1975: North Vietnam defeats South Vietnam which falls to Communist forces

DATE: April 17, 1975

DESCRIPTION: Even after the US had withdrawn all its troops from Vietnam, the fighting still continued. In early 1975, North Vietnam made another big push south that ended up defeating the South Vietnamese government. South Vietnam officially surrendered to the North on April 30, 1975.

BLAME: The most obvious country to blame for this would be North Vietnam, as they were the primary aggressors in this conflict and the ones that attacked South Vietnam first. However, in a way, this event can also be seen as the USA’s fault. The USA knew full well that when they withdrew their troops from Vietnam, they were leaving the South weak and susceptible to attacks from the much stronger and organized North.

TENSION INCREASE: Tension increased in the world, especially from America, because Vietnam fell to communism; this is what the US was trying to prevent when they intervened due to the domino theory. They were upset due to their belief that the fall of Vietnam to communism would cause Laos and Cambodia to fall as well via the domino theory. However, many of the countries in Europe, such as France were relieved instead of angry that the war was over because it would mean that the US could finally do things that were more important than being preoccupied with Vietnam, such as dealing with relations between the US and Europe. Also, it’s worth mentioning that there was very little gloating about this victory for Communism in the USSR even though their ally pretty much humiliated the US during the Vietnam War; the officials in Soviet commented on how it seemed like the US was trying to defend a country that would not defend itself regarding Vietnam.+1.5

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