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They never attacked north Vietnam by land. They bombed it into the dust, but China rebuilt it all. Politically there was no will to occupy North Vietnam and e

They never attacked north Vietnam by land. They bombed it into the dust, but China rebuilt it all. Politically there was no will to occupy North Vietnam and end up facing China directly.

leereeves 4y ago
Thanks for bringing that up. It gives me an opportunity to introduce this statement from the relevant Wikipedia page, which I think sums up the situation pithily: > The limited goals entailed in American foreign policy and the military's goal of total victory were simply not reconcilable. The great conundrum had then become how to defeat North Vietnam without defeating North Vietnam. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Rolling_Thunder https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Rolling_Thunder
w7 4y ago
Did China help Vietnam rebuild before or after China declared war on Vietnam? Relationship was already tense during the US-Vietnam war between China and Vietnam, it only took 4 years after the US-Vietnam war for China to declare war, and from what I understand it was the Soviet Union that helped rebuild after that point. China's support of Vietnam during the US-Vietnam war was mainly to try and reduce US influence. China literally looted and burned parts of Northern Vietnam on their way out. Interestingly it has some analogs to the current Russian invasion of Ukraine https://time.com/100417/china-vietnam-sino-vietnamese-war-south-china-sea/ https://time.com/100417/china-vietnam-sino-vietnamese-war-so... China believed it would be a quick and easy conflict where they would blitz Hanoi. Instead they fought with outdated and ineffective tactics, failed to use their air forces properly, and could not make it that deep into north Vietnam before being stonewalled by the more experienced Vietnamese. In response China began brutalizing the countryside out of spite, burning crops, killing civilians on sight, booby-trapping civilian structures, demolishing factories, killing livestock.

They never attacked north Vietnam by land. They bombed it into the dust, but China rebuilt it all. Politically there was no will to occupy North Vietnam and end up facing China directly.

leereeves 4y ago

Thanks for bringing that up. It gives me an opportunity to introduce this statement from the relevant Wikipedia page, which I think sums up the situation pithily: > The limited goals entailed in American foreign policy and the military's goal of total victory were simply not reconcilable. The great conundrum had then become how to defeat North Vietnam without defeating North Vietnam. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Rolling_Thunder https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Rolling_Thunder

w7 4y ago

Did China help Vietnam rebuild before or after China declared war on Vietnam? Relationship was already tense during the US-Vietnam war between China and Vietnam, it only took 4 years after the US-Vietnam war for China to declare war, and from what I understand it was the Soviet Union that helped rebuild after that point. China's support of Vietnam during the US-Vietnam war was mainly to try and reduce US influence. China literally looted and burned parts of Northern Vietnam on their way out. Interestingly it has some analogs to the current Russian invasion of Ukraine https://time.com/100417/china-vietnam-sino-vietnamese-war-south-china-sea/ https://time.com/100417/china-vietnam-sino-vietnamese-war-so... China believed it would be a quick and easy conflict where they would blitz Hanoi. Instead they fought with outdated and ineffective tactics, failed to use their air forces properly, and could not make it that deep into north Vietnam before being stonewalled by the more experienced Vietnamese. In response China began brutalizing the countryside out of spite, burning crops, killing civilians on sight, booby-trapping civilian structures, demolishing factories, killing livestock.