Paris Peace Conference and US Withdrawal, 1973-1975
Peace agreement included
US Armed forces
completely
withdraw from
Vietnam
US Prisoners
of War
released
N Vietnam
recognised the
government of
S Vietnam
Elections would be held
in the future to see if
Vietnam could be
reunited again
The NVA could
stay in areas of S
Vietnam that it
occupied at the
time of the
ceasefire
More successful for N Vietnam as they
managed to remove the US, and the
ceasefire gave them time to rebuild their
army and prepare to take back the South in
the future
To the US and Henry
Kissinger (Secretary of
State), the war over and
ther ewas just urgency to
bring the troops home
By April 1973 all US
troops had left and only a
small number of advisers
remained - 600 prisoners
had been released
US Believed there was more POWs than this
In 1974 the fighting between N & S
restarted but the S was not helped
by the US - Congress passed law
preventing the bombing of targets
by the US, the amount of financial
support was also limited
The N was able to
take advanatage of
this almost complete
withdrawal
Fall of Saigon, 1975
North Vietnam
continued its offensive
into S Vietnam; and
attacked from the North,
Cambodia and Laos,
even though this was
against the 1973
agreement
Major cities fell with little resistance, with the three
pronged attacked splitting ARVN forces - peopel fled
south to Saigon thinking it was safer; this was known as
the 'convoy of tears' and further demoralised the
Vietnamese
By the end of 1975
Saigon fell to the
communists, some
stayed to greet the
NVA but most fled by
road, sea and air if
they were rich
The remaining US
officials were air
lifted by helicopters
from the roof of the
US Embassy
The Vietnam War today
57,000 troops died and
300,000 were injured
Men who fought feel they
haven't got enough
recognition for fighting for
their country
Almost 4 million
Vietnamese
people were
killed or injured
during the war
Much of Vietnam's
resources and terrain were
lost due to the bombing
and chemical warfare
There are clear signs
of recovery, with
Vietnam being
popular with tourist
destination for
westerners, despite it
being communist