Editing Võ Nguyên Giáp (section)

==== Vietnam War ====
{{more citations needed section|date=December 2018}}
{{main|Vietnam War}}
[[File:Hanoi Citadel 0361.JPG|thumb|D67 in [[Hanoi Citadel]] was the military headquarters of General Giáp during the war]]
Giáp remained commander in chief of the PAVN throughout the war against [[South Vietnam]] and its allies, the [[United States in the Vietnam War|United States]], [[South Korea in the Vietnam War|South Korea]], [[Australia in the Vietnam War|Australia]], [[Thailand in the Vietnam War|Thailand]], [[New Zealand in the Vietnam War|New Zealand]] and [[Philippines–South Vietnam relations|the Philippines]]. He oversaw the expansion of the PAVN from a small self-defense force into a large conventional army, equipped by its communist allies with considerable amounts of relatively sophisticated weaponry, although that did not usually match the weaponry of the Americans.

Giáp opposed the implementation of the [[Tet Offensive|Tết Offensive]] of 1968, considering focus on guerrilla tactics in the south to be more effective.<ref>{{Cite web |last=History |first=Alpha |date=2019-06-23 |title=The Tet Offensive |url=https://alphahistory.com/vietnamwar/tet-offensive/ |access-date=2023-05-01 |website=Vietnam War |language=en-US}}</ref> The best evidence suggests that when it became obvious that [[Lê Duẩn]] and [[Văn Tiến Dũng]] were going to conduct it anyway, he left North Vietnam for medical treatment in Hungary and did not return until after the offensive had begun.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Merle |last=Pribbenow |title=General Võ Nguyên Giáp and the Mysterious Evolution of the Plan for the 1968 Tết Offensive |journal=[[Journal of Vietnamese Studies]] |volume=3 |issue=2 |year=2008 |pages=1–33 |doi=10.1525/vs.2008.3.2.1 }}</ref> Although their attempt to spark a general uprising against the southern government failed disastrously, it was a significant political victory through convincing American politicians and the public that their commitment to South Vietnam could not be open-ended. Giáp later argued that the Tết Offensive was not a "purely military strategy" but part of a "general strategy, an integrated one, at once military, political and diplomatic."<ref>[https://archive.today/20120803092320/http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/org.wgbh.mla:d74c9d76509b9c17809ac0eceff1d072cab1661a?x=0&y=0 "Interview with Vo Nguyen Giap."] 1982. WGBH Media Library & Archives. Retrieved 9 November 2010.</ref>

Peace negotiations between representatives from the United States, South Vietnam, North Vietnam and the VC began in Paris in January 1969. President [[Richard Nixon]], like President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] before him, was convinced that a U.S. withdrawal was necessary, but four years passed before the last American troops departed.

In October 1972, the negotiators came close to agreeing to a formula to end the conflict. The proposal was that the remaining U.S. troops would withdraw from South Vietnam in exchange for a cease-fire and the return of American prisoners held by North Vietnam. It was also agreed that the governments in North and South Vietnam would remain in power, and reunification would be "carried out step by step through peaceful means". Although the North's [[Easter Offensive]] of 1972 was beaten back with high casualties, the proposal did not require them to leave the South. PAVN would thus be able to maintain a foothold in South Vietnam from which to launch future offensives.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Andradé |first=Dale |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u2_xAAAAMAAJ |title=Trial by Fire: The 1972 Easter Offensive, America's Last Vietnam Battle |date=1995 |publisher=Hippocrene Books |isbn=978-0-7818-0286-4 |language=en}}</ref>

In an effort to put pressure on both North and South Vietnam during the negotiations, Nixon ordered a series of air raids on Hanoi and Haiphong, codenamed [[Operation Linebacker II]]. The operation ended on 29 December 1972, after 12 days with 42 U.S. casualties and over 1,600 North Vietnamese killed. North Vietnam then agreed to sign the [[Paris Peace Accords]] that had been proposed in October, although with added conditions favorable to both the U.S. and to North Vietnam.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Paris Peace Talks and the Release of POWs {{!}} American Experience {{!}} PBS |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/honor-paris-peace-talks-and-release-pows/ |access-date=2024-01-27 |website=www.pbs.org |language=en}}</ref> South Vietnam objected, but had little choice but to accept it.

The last U.S. military personnel (except for the staff of the [[Defense Attaché Office, Saigon (1973–1975)|Defense Attache's Office]] and the [[Embassy of the United States, Saigon|US Embassy]]'s [[Marine Security Guard]]s) completed their withdrawal in March 1973. Despite the agreement, there was no end in fighting. South Vietnamese attempts to regain communist-controlled territory inspired their opponents to change strategy. Communist leaders met in Hanoi in March for a series of meetings to plan for a massive offensive against the South. In June 1973, the U.S. Congress passed the [[Case–Church Amendment]], which prohibited any further U.S. military involvement, and the PAVN supply routes could operate normally without any fear of U.S. bombing.