Third Indochina War

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Third Indochina War
Part of the Indochina Wars, the Cold War, and the Sino-Soviet split
Indochina 1979 map de.svg
Date1 May 1975 –23 October 1991
(16 years, 5 months, 3 weeks and 1 day) Still continuing as Low Intensity Conflict in Laos from 2007
Location
Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, China
Result

1991 Paris Peace Accords [1] [2]

Belligerents

Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China
Flag of Democratic Kampuchea.svg Democratic Kampuchea (until 1979/82)
Flag of Democratic Kampuchea.svg CGDK (after 1982)

Contents

Flag of Laos (1952-1975).svg Lao royalists
Hmong Flag (UNPO).svg Hmong insurgents
Flag of FULRO.svg FULRO
Flag of Thailand.svg  Thailand

Supported by:
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom
Flag of the United States.svg  United States

Flag of Vietnam.svg  Vietnam
Flag of Laos.svg  Laos
Flag of the People's Republic of Kampuchea.svg  People's Republic of Kampuchea (until 1989)
Flag of the State of Cambodia (1989-1992).svg  State of Cambodia (from 1989)

Supported by:
Flag of Albania (1946-1992).svg  Albania [3]
Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Czechoslovakia
Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union
Flag of Cuba.svg  Cuba

Flag of the Communist Party of Thailand.svg Communist Party of Thailand

Supported by:
Flag of the Communist Party of Malaya.svg Malayan Communist Party
Commanders and leaders
 Unknown
Strength
~800,000 military ~430,000 military Unknown
Casualties and losses
~310,000 military deathsVietnam:
105,627 military deaths [4] 		Unknown

The Third Indochina War was a series of interconnected armed conflicts, mainly among the various communist factions over strategic influence in Indochina after Communist victory in South Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia in 1975. [5] [6] The conflict primarily started due to continued raids and incursions by the Khmer Rouge into Vietnamese territory that they sought to retake. These incursions would result in the Cambodian–Vietnamese War in which the newly unified Vietnam overthrew the Pol Pot regime and the Khmer Rouge, in turn ending the Cambodian genocide. Vietnam had installed a government led by many opponents of Pol Pot, most notably Hun Sen, a former Khmer Rouge commander. This led to Vietnam's occupation of Cambodia for over a decade. The Vietnamese push to completely destroy the Khmer Rouge led to them conducting border raids in Thailand against those who had provided sanctuary. [7] [8]

China strongly objected to the invasion of Cambodia. Chinese armed forces launched a punitive operation (Sino-Vietnamese War) in February 1979 and attacked Vietnam's northern provinces, determined to contain Soviet/Vietnamese influence and prevent territorial gains in the region. [9] [10]

In order to acquire full control over Cambodia the People's Army of Vietnam needed to dislodge the remaining Khmer Rouge leaders and units, which had retreated to the remote areas along the Thai-Cambodian border. [11] After the Paris Peace Conference in 1989, the PAVN withdrew from Cambodian territory. Finally regular troop engagements in the region ended after the conclusion of the 1991 Paris Peace Accords. [1] [2]

In Laos, an insurgency is still ongoing, though to a lesser extent since 2007, with the government being supported by both China and Vietnam.

Background

Soviet-Chinese discord

After Joseph Stalin's death in 1953, [12] Nikita Khrushchev became leader of the Soviet Union. His denouncement of Stalin and his purges, the introduction of more moderate communist policies and foreign policy of peaceful coexistence with the West angered China's leadership. Mao Zedong had been following a strict Stalinistic course, that insisted on the cult of personality as a unifying force of the nation. [13] Disagreements over technical assistance for developing China's nuclear weapons and basic economic policies further alienated the Soviets and the Chinese as opposing forces of communist influence across the globe. As decolonization movements began to pick up speed in the 1960s and many such countries descended into violence, both of the communist powers competed for political control of the various nations or competing factions in ongoing civil war fights. [14] Ever more diverging Chinese and Soviet strategic and political doctrines had increased the Sino-Soviet split of the mid-1950s.

Political developments during the Vietnam War

The Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam), which had chosen to ally with the USSR, justified incursions into neighbouring Laos and Cambodia during the Second Indochinese War by reference to the international nature of communist revolution, where "Indochina is a single strategic unit, a single battlefield" and the Vietnam People's Army's pivotal role in bringing this about. [15] However, this internationalism was obstructed by complicated regional historical realities, such as the "timeless oppositions between the Chinese and the Vietnamese on the one hand and the Vietnamese and the Khmers on the other". [16] North Vietnam intervened in the civil war between the Royal Lao Army and the communist Pathet Lao until the establishment of the Lao People's Democratic Republic and the "Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation" signed in July 1977. Permanently stationed North Vietnamese troops secured and maintained vital supply routes and strategic staging sites (Ho Chi Minh trail). [15] From 1958 on, Northern and Southern Vietnamese combat troops also began to infiltrate the remote jungles of eastern Cambodia where they continued the Ho Chi Minh trail. The Cambodian communist insurgents had joined these sanctuaries during the late 1960s. Although co-operation took place, the Khmer communists did not adopt modern socialist doctrines and eventually allied with China. [17] [18]

The complete American withdrawal instantaneously eliminated the principal and common adversary of all the communist powers. [19] The communist regimes of Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos pledged allegiance with one of these two opposing factions.

Cambodian-Vietnamese war

The Khmer Rouge killed between 1.6 and 1.8 million Cambodians during the Cambodian Genocide. The Khmer Rouge also invaded Ba Chuc, Vietnam and massacred 3,157 Vietnamese civilians, which prompted Vietnam to invade Cambodia and overthrow the regime. Cheung Ek - Killing Fields Site - Cambodia - 01.JPG
The Khmer Rouge killed between 1.6 and 1.8 million Cambodians during the Cambodian Genocide. The Khmer Rouge also invaded Ba Chúc, Vietnam and massacred 3,157 Vietnamese civilians, which prompted Vietnam to invade Cambodia and overthrow the regime.

After the Fall of Saigon and Phnom Penh in April and May 1975 and the subsequent communist takeover in Laos five months later, Indochina was dominated by communist regimes. Armed border clashes between Cambodia and Vietnam soon flared up and escalated as Khmer Rouge forces advanced deep into Vietnamese territory and raided villages, killing hundreds of civilians. Vietnam counterattacked and in December 1978, NVA troops invaded Cambodia, reaching Phnom Penh in January 1979 and arriving at the Thai border in spring 1979. [20] [5]

However, as China, the U.S. and the majority of the international community opposed the Vietnamese campaign, the remaining Khmer Rouge managed to permanently settle in the Thai-Cambodian border region. In a United Nations Security Council meeting, seven non-aligned members drafted a resolution for a ceasefire and Vietnamese withdrawal which failed due to opposition from the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia. [21] [22] Thailand tolerated the presence of the Khmer Rouge on its soil as they helped to contain the Vietnamese and Thai domestic guerillas. Over the course of the following decade, the Khmer Rouge received considerable support from Vietnam's enemies and served as a bargaining tool in the Realpolitik of Thailand, China, the ASEAN and the U.S. [23] [1]

Vietnamese-Thailand conflict

Khmer Rouge forces operated from inside Thai territory attacking the pro-Hanoi People's Republic of Kampuchea's government. Similarly Vietnamese forces frequently attacked the Khmer Rouge bases inside Thailand. Eventually Thai and Vietnamese regular troops clashed on several occasions during the following decade. [24] The situation escalated as Thailand's territorial sovereignty was violated on numerous occasions. Heavy fighting with many casualties resulted from direct confrontations between Vietnamese and Thai troops. Thailand increased troop strength, purchased new equipment and built a diplomatic front against Vietnam. [19]

Sino-Vietnamese conflicts

China attacked Vietnam in response to Vietnam's occupation of Cambodia, entered northern Vietnam and captured several cities near the border. On March 6, 1979, China declared that their punitive mission had been successful and withdrew from Vietnam. However, both China and Vietnam claimed victory. The fact that Vietnamese forces continued to stay in Cambodia for another decade implies that China's campaign was a strategic failure. On the other hand, the conflict had proven that China had succeeded in preventing effective Soviet support for its Vietnamese ally. [25] [26]

As forces remained mobilized, the Vietnamese Army and the Chinese People's Liberation Army engaged in another decade-long series of border disputes and naval clashes that lasted until 1990. These mostly local engagements usually wore out in prolonged stand-offs, as neither side achieved any long-term military gains. By the late 1980s the Vietnamese Communist Party's (VCP) began to adopt its Doi Moi (renovation) policy and reconsider its China policy in particular. Prolonged hostile relations with China had been recognized as to be detrimental to economic reforms, national security and the regime's survival. A number of political concessions opened the way for the normalization process of 1991. [27]

Regional conflicts

See also

Related Research Articles

The history of Cambodia, a country in mainland Southeast Asia, can be traced back to Indian civilization. Detailed records of a political structure on the territory of what is now Cambodia first appear in Chinese annals in reference to Funan, a polity that encompassed the southernmost part of the Indochinese peninsula during the 1st to 6th centuries. Centered at the lower Mekong, Funan is noted as the oldest regional Hindu culture, which suggests prolonged socio-economic interaction with maritime trading partners of the Indosphere in the west. By the 6th century a civilization, called Chenla or Zhenla in Chinese annals, firmly replaced Funan, as it controlled larger, more undulating areas of Indochina and maintained more than a singular centre of power.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Khmer Rouge</span> Members of the Communist Party of Kampuchea

The Khmer Rouge is the name that was popularly given to members of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK) and by extension to the Democratic Kampuchea through which the CPK ruled Cambodia between 1975 and 1979. The name was coined in the 1960s by Norodom Sihanouk to describe his country's heterogeneous, communist-led dissidents, with whom he allied after the 1970 Cambodian coup d'état.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">People's Army of Vietnam</span> Combined military forces of Vietnam

The People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN), officially the Vietnam People's Army, also recognized as the Vietnamese Army, the People's Army or colloquially the Troops, is the national military force of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the armed wing of the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV). The PAVN is the backbone component of the Vietnam People's Armed Forces and includes: Ground Force, Navy, Air Force, Border Guard and Coast Guard. Vietnam does not have a separate and formally-structured Ground Force or Army service. Instead, all ground troops, army corps, military districts and special forces are designated under the umbrella term combined arms and are belonged to the Ministry of National Defence, directly under the command of the CPV Central Military Commission, the Minister of National Defence, and the General Staff of the Vietnam People's Army. The military flag of the PAVN is the National flag of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam defaced with the motto Quyết thắng added in yellow at the top left.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kingdom of Cambodia (1953–1970)</span> Kingdom in Southeast Asia (1953–1970)

The Kingdom of Cambodia, also known as the First Kingdom of Cambodia, and commonly referred to as the Sangkum period, refers to Norodom Sihanouk's first administration of Cambodia, lasting from the country's independence from France in 1953 to a military coup d'état in 1970. Sihanouk continues to be one of the most controversial figures in Southeast Asia's turbulent and often tragic postwar history. From 1955 until 1970, Sihanouk's Sangkum was the sole legal party in Cambodia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cambodian Civil War</span> 1970–1975 conflict

The Cambodian Civil War was a civil war in Cambodia fought between the forces of the Communist Party of Kampuchea against the government forces of the Kingdom of Cambodia and, after October 1970, the Khmer Republic, which had succeeded the kingdom after a coup.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kriangsak Chamanan</span> Prime Minister of Thailand from 1977 to 1980

Kriangsak Chamanan served as prime minister of Thailand from 1977 to 1980. After staging a successful coup, he was asked to become Prime Minister in 1977. He ruled till 1980 and is credited with "steering Thailand to democracy" in a time where communist insurgents were rampant internally and neighbouring countries turned to communist rule following the communist takeover of Vietnam: South Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sino-Vietnamese War</span> War between China and Vietnam in 1979

The Sino-Vietnamese War was a brief conflict that occurred in early 1979 between China and Vietnam. China launched an offensive ostensibly in response to Vietnam's invasion and occupation of Cambodia in 1978, which ended the rule of the Chinese-backed Khmer Rouge. The conflict lasted for about a month, with China withdrawing its troops in March 1979.

During the Cold War, the Indochina Wars were a series of wars which were waged in Indochina from 1946 to 1991, by communist forces against the opponents. The term "Indochina" referred to former French Indochina, which included the current states of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. In current usage, it applies largely to a geographic region, rather than to a political area. The wars included:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cambodian–Vietnamese War</span> 1977–1991 conflict

The Cambodian–Vietnamese War was an armed conflict between Democratic Kampuchea, controlled by Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge, and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The war began with repeated attacks by the Kampuchea Revolutionary Army on the southwestern border of Vietnam, particularly the Ba Chúc massacre which resulted in the deaths of over 3,000 Vietnamese civilians. On 23 December 1978, 10 out of 19 of the Khmer Rouge's military divisions opened fire along the border with Vietnam with the goal of invading the Vietnamese provinces of Đồng Tháp, An Giang and Kiên Giang. On 25 December 1978, Vietnam launched a full-scale invasion of Kampuchea, occupying the country in two weeks and removing the government of the Communist Party of Kampuchea from power. In doing so, Vietnam put an ultimate stop to the Cambodian genocide, which had most likely killed between 1.2 million and 2.8 million people — or between 13 and 30 percent of the country’s population. On 7 January 1979, the Vietnamese captured Phnom Penh, which forced Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge to retreat back into the jungle near the border with Thailand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Military history of Vietnam</span>

Army and warfare made their first appearance in Vietnamese history during the 3rd millennium BC. Throughout thousands of years, wars played a great role in shaping the identity and culture of people inhabited the land which is modern day Vietnam. Vietnam is considered one of the most peace-loving countries in Southeast Asia, and there is even greater belief that Vietnam can be the most peace-loving country in Southeast Asia and one of the most peaceful countries in Asia and the world.

The insurgency in Laos is a low-intensity conflict between the Laotian government on one side and former members of the Secret Army, Laotian royalists, and rebels from the Hmong and lowland Lao ethnic minorities on the other. These groups have faced reprisals from the Lao People's Army and Vietnam People's Army for their support of the United States-led, anti-communist military campaigns in Laos during the Laotian Civil War, which the insurgency is an extension of itself. The North Vietnamese invaded Laos in 1958 and supported the communist Pathet Lao. The Vietnamese communists continued to support the Pathet Lao after the end of the Laotian Civil War and the establishment of the Lao People's Democratic Republic. At least 100,000 Hmong civilians were killed as the result of Laotian governmental policies, in what has sometimes been referred to as the Hmong genocide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Democratic Kampuchea</span> 1975–1979 state in Southeast Asia

Democratic Kampuchea was the official name of the Cambodian state from 1976 to 1979, under the totalitarian dictatorship of Pol Pot and the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), commonly known as the Khmer Rouge. The Khmer Rouge's capture of the capital Phnom Penh in 1975 effectively ended the United States-backed Khmer Republic of Lon Nol.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sihanouk Trail</span> Military supply route in Cambodia

The Sihanouk Trail was a logistical supply system in Cambodia used by the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) and its Viet Cong (VC) guerrillas during the Vietnam War (1960–1975). Between 1966 and 1970, this system operated in the same manner and served the same purposes as the much better known Ho Chi Minh trail which ran through the southeastern portion of the Kingdom of Laos. The name is of American derivation, since the North Vietnamese considered the system integral to the supply route mentioned above. U.S. attempts to interdict this system began in 1969.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">People's Republic of Kampuchea</span> Cambodian communist regime (1979–1989)

The People's Republic of Kampuchea (PRK) was a partially recognised state in Southeast Asia which existed from 1979 to 1989. It was a satellite state of Vietnam, founded in Cambodia by the Vietnamese-backed Kampuchean United Front for National Salvation, a group of Cambodian communists who were dissatisfied with the Khmer Rouge due to its oppressive rule and defected from it after the overthrow of Democratic Kampuchea, Pol Pot's government. Brought about by an invasion from Vietnam, which routed the Khmer Rouge armies, it had Vietnam and the Soviet Union as its main allies.

The earliest traces of armed conflict in the territory that constitutes modern Cambodia date to the Iron Age settlement of Phum Snay in north-western Cambodia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sino-Vietnamese conflicts (1979–1991)</span> Series of border and naval clashes between China and Vietnam

The Sino-Vietnamese conflicts of 1979–1991 were a series of border and naval clashes between the People's Republic of China and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam following the Sino-Vietnamese War in 1979. These clashes lasted from the end of the Sino-Vietnamese War until the normalization of ties in 1991.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Communist Party of Kampuchea</span> Ruling party of Cambodia from 1975 to 1979

The Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), also known as the Khmer Communist Party, was a communist party in Cambodia. Its leader was Pol Pot, and its members were generally known as the Khmer Rouge. Originally founded in 1951, the party was split into pro-Chinese and pro-Soviet factions as a result of the Sino–Soviet split with the former being the Pol Pot faction, and the latter adopting a more revisionist approach to Marxism. As such, it claimed that 30 September 1960 was its founding date; it was named the Workers' Party of Kampuchea before it was renamed the Communist Party in 1966.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indochina refugee crisis</span> Outflow of 3 million refugees from communism in the late 20th century

The Indochina refugee crisis was the large outflow of people from the former French colonies of Indochina, comprising the countries of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, after communist governments were established in 1975. Over the next 25 years and out of a total Indochinese population in 1975 of 56 million, more than 3 million people would undertake the dangerous journey to become refugees in other countries of Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, or China. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 250,000 Vietnamese refugees had perished at sea by July 1986. More than 2.5 million Indochinese were resettled, mostly in North America, Australia, and Europe. More than 525,000 were repatriated, either voluntarily or involuntarily, mainly from Cambodia.

Vietnamese irredentism, also known as Ideology of Greater Vietnam, sometimes may be referred to as Baiyue Nationalism is an irredentist and nationalist claim concerning redemption of former territories of Vietnam and territories outside Vietnam that the Vietnamese have inhabited for centuries. Notable claims are usually made concerning territories of Laos, Cambodia, and Liangguang of China.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cambodia–Vietnam border</span> International border

The Cambodia–Vietnam border is the international border between the territory of Cambodia and Vietnam. The border is 1,158 km in length and runs from the tripoint with Laos in the north to Gulf of Thailand in the south.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Lucy Keller. "UNTAC in Cambodia – from Occupation, Civil War and Genocide to Peace - The Paris Peace Conference in 1989" (PDF). Max-Planck-Institut für ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht. Retrieved March 31, 2018.
  2. 1 2 "Cambodia - 20 years on from the Paris Peace Agreements". OHCHR. October 21, 2011. Retrieved March 31, 2018.
  3. ↑ "Outside Interference in Vietnamese Affairs Condemned" (PDF). www.cambodiatokampuchea.wordpress.com. July 20, 1978.
  4. ↑ Chuyên đề 4 CÔNG TÁC TÌM KIẾM, QUY TẬP HÀI CỐT LIỆT SĨ TỪ NAY ĐẾN NĂM 2020 VÀ NHỮNG NĂM TIẾP THEO, datafile.chinhsachquandoi.gov.vn/Quản%20lý%20chỉ%20đạo/Chuyên%20đề%204.doc
  5. 1 2 "Vietnam War - Facts, information and articles about The Vietnam War". HistoryNet. Retrieved March 31, 2018.
  6. ↑ Ang, Cheng Guan (2024). The Third Indochina War: An International History. Cambridge University Press. ISBN   978-1-009-56007-8.
  7. ↑ Kelvin Rowley. "Second Life, Second Death: The Khmer Rouge After 1978" (PDF). Swinburne University of Technology. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 16, 2016. Retrieved March 11, 2018.
  8. ↑ "1978-1979 - Vietnamese Invasion of Cambodia". GlobalSecurity. Retrieved March 11, 2018.
  9. ↑ Bernard K. Gordon (September 1986). "The Third Indochina Conflict". Foreign Affairs. 65 (Fall 1986). Retrieved March 11, 2018.
  10. ↑ "The 1979 campaign" (PDF). All Partners Access Network. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 6, 2020. Retrieved March 31, 2018.
  11. ↑ "Viets shell Cambodian positions..." January 2, 1985. Retrieved March 11, 2018.
  12. ↑ "Joseph Stalin dies - Mar 05, 1953". HISTORY.com. Retrieved April 24, 2017.
  13. ↑ Clines, Francis X. (April 6, 1989). "Soviets, After 33 Years, Publish Khrushchev's Anti-Stalin Speech". The New York Times . Retrieved February 29, 2016.
  14. ↑ Harry Powell. "Chinese Communist Critiques of Soviet Society". Encyclopedia of Anti-Revisionism. Retrieved March 11, 2018.
  15. 1 2 Carlyle A. Thayer. "SECURITY ISSUES IN SOUTHEAST ASIA: THE THIRD INDOCHINA WAR". SCRIBD. Retrieved March 31, 2018.
  16. ↑ Christopher E. Goscha. "Vietnam, the Third Indochina War and the meltdown of Asian internationalism, p. 161" (PDF). UQAM - Université du Québec à Montréal. Retrieved March 31, 2018.
  17. ↑ William S. Turley (October 17, 2008). The Second Indochina War: A Concise Political and Military History. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. ISBN   9780742557451 . Retrieved March 31, 2018.
  18. ↑ "America's Vietnam War in Indochina War in Cambodia". US History. Retrieved March 31, 2018.
  19. 1 2 William S. Turley, Jeffrey Race (1980). "The Third Indochina War". Foreign Policy (38): 92–116. doi:10.2307/1148297. JSTOR   1148297. S2CID   158492536.
  20. ↑ Kevin Doyle (September 14, 2014). "Vietnam's forgotten Cambodian war". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved March 31, 2018.
  21. ↑ "Bangladesh, Bolivia, Gabon, Jamaica, Kuwait, Nigeria and Zambia: draft resolution". United Nations Digital Library . January 15, 1979. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 25, 2023.
  22. ↑ "United Nations Security Council Official Records: Thirty-Fourth Year — 2112th Meeting: January 15, 1979" (PDF). United Nations Document System. May 4, 1982. p. 3. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 1, 2024.
  23. ↑ Ted Galen Carpenter. "U.S. Aid to Anti-Communist Rebels: The "Reagan Doctrine" and Its Pitfalls" (PDF). Cato Institute. Retrieved March 31, 2018.
  24. ↑ "Vietnam, Thai clash continues". Star News. June 25, 1980. Archived from the original on March 8, 2021. Retrieved March 31, 2018.
  25. ↑ "The Third Indochina War". Global Security. Retrieved March 11, 2018.
  26. ↑ Elleman, Bruce A. (2001). Modern Chinese Warfare, 1795-1989 . Routledge. p.  297. ISBN   978-0415214742.
  27. ↑ Le Hong Hiep (June 26, 2013). "Vietnam's Domestic–Foreign Policy Nexus: Doi Moi, Foreign Policy Reform, and Sino Vietnamese Normalization". Asian Politics & Policy. 5 (3): 387–406. doi:10.1111/aspp.12035.
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