The Vietnam War was almost avoided

[Cornfed]

This is an interesting piece of history I was unaware of that came up in my Youtube feed. At the end of WWII the commies tried to take over Vietnam and almost succeeded. The British Army and Japanese units under their control, easily the most skilled jungle fighters in the world at the time, engaged them and kicked ass. The commies were on the point of total annihilation but then Vietnam reverted to French control with British and Japanese troops being replaced with new French recruits who sucked. Had the British remained in control a little longer, the whole Vietnam War might not have happened. What a tragedy.

[onethousandknives]

One other fun bit of history. After World War II the USA offered Chiang Kai Shek administration of Vietnam under the Republic of China, and he said "no under any circumstances" I guess figuring it was too much of a headache. Interestingly there were Vietnamese Nationalist groups that used the KMT style sun logo as well, so this wasn't an impossibility. Ironically as well if CKS took administration of Vietnam, there'd be very high odds he could have taken the mainland back or kept the entirety of the mainland, or administered Southern China and kept the Communists up North.

Really a lot about that war was avoidable/could have been done better. I think the best US plan would have been the original Kennedy plan, of just send arms and advisers to South Vietnam. The biggest problem (I can find an NY Times article admitting this fact) is USA coming in on South Vietnam's behalf made the Vietcong look correct on South Vietnam's illegitimacy and puppet state status.

Having gone to Vietnam the South is still a million times better even with the damage done by the Communists. It's also almost at the point of it being "One country, two systems." It's all water under the bridge now, but I think South Vietnam really likely would be near Taiwan or South Korea in economic development and civil liberties if the war and takeover hadn't occurred. That being said, the government in Hanoi does seem to be taking steps in improving things for the whole country, and things economically improved a lot in just a two years from 2016 when I first came and 2018 when I most recently was there. Still, I couldn't help but feel... something, when I visited the old Presidential Palace in South Vietnam, there's a lot of feeling there of "what could have been."

[HappyGuy]

The Strange Ambush of Team Rock Mat, Vietnam 1970



Part 1 Wings Over Vietnam - The FACs



Part 2 Wings Over Vietnam - Dust Off



Part 3 Wings Over Vietnam "Rolling Thunder" (Bombing raids)


Interviews with shot down POWs and songbird John Mccain

Part 4 Wings Over Vietnam The Jolly Greens



Part 5 Wings Over Vietnam Spookies, Spectres and Shadows



Part 6 Wings Over Vietnam MiG Killers Documentary



Part 7 Wings Over Vietnam - Wild Weasels Documentary Vietnam



Part 8 of 8 Wings Over Vietnam - Operation Linebacker 2

[josephty2]

God apparently commanded the British leave Vietnam.

Had the Vietnam War not happened, idk, thats some difficult historical fiction.

[HappyGuy]

Jun 30, 2019
Al White: The Story of a Marine Grunt in the First Battle of Khe Sanh (April 1967)