I really enjoyed this series, thank you for uploading it. This conflict has always fascinated me and this series has taught me a lot, very informative. I will definitely be revisiting this. So incredibly tragic as all wars are, however whether you’re for or against communism you can’t help but admire the north for fulfilling Ho Chi Minhs vision and unifying the country.
This is the third time I've watched the entire series. I'm definitely anti-communist, but seeing the sheer tenacity and determination of the North and the long and arduous struggle and especially the suicidal last stand of the South Vietnamese 18th Division, and the devastation and desperation upon the fall of Saigon, I can't help but get emotional. This is just raw human conflict, bravery, savagery, ideology and global power struggles that defined alot of the 20th century across the globe, which forced impossible situations on millions of people. I don't know why I'm obsessed with this series, I have no connection with this part of the world or conflict but I feel like I need to visit the battlefield of Bien Dien Phu at the very least one day. Whatever higher power you believe in, bless the people of Vietnam and the world in this strange world of 2020.
The NVA were a tenacious foe. A lesser people would have quit, but they didn't. They wanted it bad enough and got what they paid for. But I'm glad you pointed out the sacrifice of the ARVN. This documentary doesn't give nearly enough time and credit to South Vietnam's armed forces. They were pretty good all things considering. Some of their more elite units were downright warriors. The ARVN shattered the NVA during the Easter Offensive but that always gets played down for some reason. America hung South Vietnam out to dry and there's no getting around that. If we had kept advisors, a couple of combat units, and retained a few air bases like in South Korea, there would still be a South Vietnam today. If we had completely evacuated the Korean Peninsula in '53 the same thing would have happened.
Ho Chi Minh was more a revolutionary/freedom fighter than a COMMUNIST like mao & stalin. Vietnam was never about political ideology - it was about non-stop profits for the military industrial complex.
It is. The only problem is that I bought PBS' DVD collection but it does not include this final episode ("The Fall of Saigon"). It ends for me around March 1972 ("Peace With Honor") and I was confused because I kept thinking, "I think this war goes on for another three years.....hmmmmm." Now that I've looked at my collection and compared it to the series episodes listed as "BATTLEFIELD VIETNAM - PBS - COMPLETE SERIES", I discovered that the good folks at NBC Universal/Timeless Media Group gave me 9/12 episodes and conveniently left out episodes 5 ("Countdown to Tet"), 6 ("The Tet Offensive") and 12 ("The Fall of Saigon"). Really frustrating. :(
I adore Vietnamese people!!! Bravest people in the world!!! They never backed down and they won their freedom back against an empire of Evil!!!! Glory to Vietnam!!!
Thank You for uploading this Excellent Documentary Series. I watched all of it and it helped me to understand modern history , and people , a lot better. Much Appreciated.
Probably the only valid & sincere war for American interest alongside Korea in 125 years of unneeded US wars. At the time the Dominoe theory made sense You guys are absolute warriors, our finest soldiers and bravest men. Glad you atleast got some R&R in because Charlie don't surf!!! God Bless
South Vietnam army is still a legend compared to Afghanistan army ,hat off to south Vietnam army. And this video doesn’t talk about how good they are defense the south when usa left them . We all know the north viet nam army been had 1000+ years experience compared to Taliban army and the south still able to hold for 3 years from 1972 to 1975 .
Great series watch it all the time. Sometimes I use it to fall asleep. Seen all 12 episodes many many times. Love the creepy music and his voice will put you to sleep in 15 minutes. Try it yourself.
fantom jeeze what an ignorant thing to say. These people just wanted to reunite their country which had been occupied by foreign troops for decades if not centuries. The South Vietnamese leader was a brutal dictator who even appalled the Americans with his practice of mass killings of his political opponents and opposition. And before the war even started there was supposed to be an election to decide who would be the leader of a unified Vietnam but the Americans and the South Vietnamese never held one because they knew that the overall majority of Vietnam supported the North Vietnamese. The fact that in the South Vietnamese army desertions outpaced recruitment and hundreds of thousands abandoned the army is all you need to know about what the South Vietnamese thought of their own army and government. Your comment shows how one sided and ignorant of the actual history and facts you are. You probably don’t even know what communism means, you’ve just been conditioned to automatically despise it. Maybe educate yourself huh?
@@blackhawk5903 what you said show how nerd you are, trust what america show to the world is stupif, they finally fucking left my country after more than 20 years boming, make war and show the bad of my people to the world there ! Communist is not bad like cotroling people or no freedom, just because they want to teach their kid it’s bad in school. Then they stuck in iraq war for Oil and Afganistan war after because of what they are theirself created 😂 feel bad for them ! What they want is to rule the world ! You should read more book to understand in more side ! We are not something terrorism, we just want our country free and want these guy fucking leave my country !
i just wanted to say a huge thank you to all of the u.s. Vietnam vets for willing to do far to many ultimate sacrifices you persons are heros in my book and maybe the last gi's that knows how to fight a war right i bow before your greatness coming from a grateful u.s. citizen
Sounds eerily similar what's going to happen to Afghanistan. The U.S. and the Taliban just signed a peace deal for U.S. withdrawal from the country. The Taliban doesn't recognized the current Afghan government as legitimate. Without U.S. aid, the current Afghan government will crumble. There will be civil war. The Taliban will ride high into Kabul when it's said and done.
@@rosielupita5230 ROFL. When you permanently retreat from a war and haven't returned in 50 years, you've lost the war. The US ally capitulated. That's not how wins work.
The Communists didn't seem to have any post war plan. They implemented a stupid Stalin policy which failed and luckily there were some ex-VC who steered it away so it didn't turn into north Korea
North Vietnamese people did not fight for communism. They fought because of nationalism. They feel foreign force trying to occupy their land and they want to rule their own land and set their own politics. Never underestimate the power of nationalism.
Why and how did North Vietnam become so successful and overcome the South is still a bit of a puzzling mystery to me even to this day! 12 episodes well told indeed!!!
fanatic determination backed by ideology and patriotism. Plus this conflict is just one of many showings why democracy cant work, especially american type in societies like was Vietnam (US made the same mistake in Iraq and Afghanistan too and they are gonna keep making them it seems, or they are doing that intentionaly these days than it was in Vietnam time...). You cant showel down the throat one of most "free" types of democracy in a society that by your arivall only knew about apsolutism and thats why they had so many corruption in South administration and military forces. When you add a top of that part where there is no clear plan about unification but everything looks more like Korean scenario you get the easy colapse of South Vietnam and in astonishing speed. And all south presidents were awfully bad, not a single strong person. South military pesonel proved to be the kind of people who waited others to win war for them (US) and you are not fight this kind of war (or majority at least) with such thaughts in your mind, this cost them dramaticaly in the end. Comunism for the time being showed it self as superior ideology to what Americans have to offer to vietnamese people especially it was clear on unification and determined at any cost to do that and ofc regular vietnamese peasnts couldnt know tricky part of communism that their protagonists are liars who are hiding behind the veil of "freedoms" in communist type of rule which actually is cover to never let loose power in country. Hope i answered somewhat to your questioning (sorry english is not my native)
It's complicated. But to sum it up in one idea. It was defenders advantage. Or as sun tzu wrote. "Never put your opponents army on death ground. " The West always knew worst case they could pack up and go home. For the NVA it was win or die.
@@hastalavictoriasiempre2730 This is incorrect. It was never about democracy. It was about empire, resource control and the murder of indigenous people. An army can take whatever it wants by force. Holding it against a unfriendly residents is something else entirely.
ALWAYS FIGHTING FOR SOME WEALTHY MFER MY CHILD IS WORTH AS MUCH AS THEIRS .......AND SO ARE BLOOD LINES.I WANT MY HERITAGE AND BLOODLINES PASSED ON PROPERTY ECT. SO SEND YOUR OWN DAM CHILDREN. WEALTHY MAN .......
Vietnamese people fought out of ideals and desire to unite country. They were proclaimed to comunist to gain support of Russia and China. Usa bassicaly just ran out and that is probably one of key reasons North Vietnam won. Usa will never admit they were beaten there. American soliders in Vietnam did not fought for ideals but because they HAD TO GO. Vietnamese WANTED TO FIGHT. No matter on deserters Usa just said . "Nope I am out" that is their idea of fighting war.
@@Conn30Mtenor Did they? The US objective was to keep China and the Soviets out of Vietnam. Seems like that was accomplished. Sad thing, if not for hardliners in Hanoi and Washington, we could have gotten to this point without the war. Only people that won were the undertakers.
@@zoltancsikos5604 still butthurt that you lost to a bunch of rice farmers? All those flashy plains and choppers to lose to people who laid traps on trees? The most expensive army in the world is worth shit.
Insurrections don't usually gain support out of popular feeling, they use terror tactics to coerce people into supporting them. The Viet Minh were no different. Once people start supporting something, they often forget why they started supporting it in the first place.
That's terrible to hear about the reeducation in South Vietnam. I know it was naive, but I really wanted to believe that North VIetnam will bring, if not peace, than at least order to this poor country
I mean they did bring peace though. And won a war against Pol Pot. What should they have done? You see what happened here in America when we didn't "re-educate" the South after the Civil War. We still have Nazi's and racists running around.
long live ho chi minh n his generals long live vietcong who fought against all odds long live nva troops long live vietnam! those peasants with a bowl of rice, gym shoes and a rifle brought down the might of the usa army with all the highly mechanized instruments of warfare that they had:::: no wonder people look at the usa with contempt and hatred because they couldn't fight like men and still can't fight like men!
@@dalmarraghe2846 your on drugs. The North Vietnamese couldn't ever have defeated the US and only won the war after Vietnam was no longer of any strategic importance to the US. Nixon got everything he wanted after the Christmas bombing.
Solidarity towards the hero’s who liberated the people’s of the South East Asia from imperialism, genocide and western servitude. Long live the legacy of Ho Chi Minh, Socialist Vietnam, the People’s Republic of Kampuchea!
I really enjoyed this series, thank you for uploading it. This conflict has always fascinated me and this series has taught me a lot, very informative. I will definitely be revisiting this.
So incredibly tragic as all wars are, however whether you’re for or against communism you can’t help but admire the north for fulfilling Ho Chi Minhs vision and unifying the country.
It was win at all costs. Losing is not option. If they did not succeed here they would have attacked again at another time
The unbelievable spirit shown by the Vietnamese people against seemingly impossible odds is truly inspiring.
This is the third time I've watched the entire series. I'm definitely anti-communist, but seeing the sheer tenacity and determination of the North and the long and arduous struggle and especially the suicidal last stand of the South Vietnamese 18th Division, and the devastation and desperation upon the fall of Saigon, I can't help but get emotional. This is just raw human conflict, bravery, savagery, ideology and global power struggles that defined alot of the 20th century across the globe, which forced impossible situations on millions of people. I don't know why I'm obsessed with this series, I have no connection with this part of the world or conflict but I feel like I need to visit the battlefield of Bien Dien Phu at the very least one day. Whatever higher power you believe in, bless the people of Vietnam and the world in this strange world of 2020.
Well said
hate communist at the same time hate rich people, you are a deep hypocrate.
Very well said, cannot agree more.
The NVA were a tenacious foe. A lesser people would have quit, but they didn't. They wanted it bad enough and got what they paid for. But I'm glad you pointed out the sacrifice of the ARVN. This documentary doesn't give nearly enough time and credit to South Vietnam's armed forces. They were pretty good all things considering. Some of their more elite units were downright warriors. The ARVN shattered the NVA during the Easter Offensive but that always gets played down for some reason. America hung South Vietnam out to dry and there's no getting around that. If we had kept advisors, a couple of combat units, and retained a few air bases like in South Korea, there would still be a South Vietnam today. If we had completely evacuated the Korean Peninsula in '53 the same thing would have happened.
Ho Chi Minh was more a revolutionary/freedom fighter than a COMMUNIST like mao & stalin. Vietnam was never about political ideology - it was about non-stop profits for the military industrial complex.
damn good series
It is. The only problem is that I bought PBS' DVD collection but it does not include this final episode ("The Fall of Saigon"). It ends for me around March 1972 ("Peace With Honor") and I was confused because I kept thinking, "I think this war goes on for another three years.....hmmmmm." Now that I've looked at my collection and compared it to the series episodes listed as "BATTLEFIELD VIETNAM - PBS - COMPLETE SERIES", I discovered that the good folks at NBC Universal/Timeless Media Group gave me 9/12 episodes and conveniently left out episodes 5 ("Countdown to Tet"), 6 ("The Tet Offensive") and 12 ("The Fall of Saigon"). Really frustrating.
:(
I adore Vietnamese people!!! Bravest people in the world!!! They never backed down and they won their freedom back against an empire of Evil!!!! Glory to Vietnam!!!
Thank You for uploading this Excellent Documentary Series. I watched all of it and it helped me to understand modern history , and people , a lot better. Much Appreciated.
Giap was a great general
For Sure!
US Army 67th Engineer Detachment RSVN 67'-68'. This was a great series.
What is your personal opinion of this war?
@@minhdo1728 - I learned to surf in the South China Sea at Cam Lam and water ski in Cam Ranh Bay. I liked the Vietnamese that people I met.
Probably the only valid & sincere war for American interest alongside Korea in 125 years of unneeded US wars.
At the time the Dominoe theory made sense
You guys are absolute warriors, our finest soldiers and bravest men. Glad you atleast got some R&R in because Charlie don't surf!!!
God Bless
Linebacker two. If brute force didn't work, you weren't using enough.
commies cried for mommy, then when American pilled out, broke the treaty and attacked. Shows us we should have ended the north forever.
South Vietnam fell to millions of soldiers and bloody battles. Afghanistan fell without a fight.
It makes me feel so sad that all of this could have been avoided if the promised election was allowed to take place.
Bit more complicated than that, Dippy-Trippy-Hippie!
South Vietnam army is still a legend compared to Afghanistan army ,hat off to south Vietnam army.
And this video doesn’t talk about how good they are defense the south when usa left them .
We all know the north viet nam army been had 1000+ years experience compared to Taliban army and the south still able to hold for 3 years from 1972 to 1975 .
Which of you sleep when watching this documentary
Here because Saigon 2.0 just happened
Great series watch it all the time. Sometimes I use it to fall asleep. Seen all 12 episodes many many times. Love the creepy music and his voice will put you to sleep in 15 minutes. Try it yourself.
54:15 its like a Uni soviet victory in WW2 .. when they wave the flag on top of reichstag berlin...
Yeah...i thought the same...but there was no honor in it....they are communist....tgey are never good guys do not forget this
fantom jeeze what an ignorant thing to say. These people just wanted to reunite their country which had been occupied by foreign troops for decades if not centuries. The South Vietnamese leader was a brutal dictator who even appalled the Americans with his practice of mass killings of his political opponents and opposition. And before the war even started there was supposed to be an election to decide who would be the leader of a unified Vietnam but the Americans and the South Vietnamese never held one because they knew that the overall majority of Vietnam supported the North Vietnamese. The fact that in the South Vietnamese army desertions outpaced recruitment and hundreds of thousands abandoned the army is all you need to know about what the South Vietnamese thought of their own army and government. Your comment shows how one sided and ignorant of the actual history and facts you are. You probably don’t even know what communism means, you’ve just been conditioned to automatically despise it. Maybe educate yourself huh?
@@alef0811 Well said!
@@blackhawk5903 Read a good book!
@@blackhawk5903 what you said show how nerd you are, trust what america show to the world is stupif, they finally fucking left my country after more than 20 years boming, make war and show the bad of my people to the world there ! Communist is not bad like cotroling people or no freedom, just because they want to teach their kid it’s bad in school. Then they stuck in iraq war for Oil and Afganistan war after because of what they are theirself created 😂 feel bad for them ! What they want is to rule the world ! You should read more book to understand in more side ! We are not something terrorism, we just want our country free and want these guy fucking leave my country !
i just wanted to say a huge thank you to all of the u.s. Vietnam vets for willing to do far to many ultimate sacrifices you persons are heros in my book and maybe the last gi's that knows how to fight a war right i bow before your greatness coming from a grateful u.s. citizen
A great documentary 👍
Americans: "We permanently retreated and our ally was invaded, but we didn't lose the war."
Sounds eerily similar what's going to happen to Afghanistan. The U.S. and the Taliban just signed a peace deal for U.S. withdrawal from the country. The Taliban doesn't recognized the current Afghan government as legitimate. Without U.S. aid, the current Afghan government will crumble. There will be civil war. The Taliban will ride high into Kabul when it's said and done.
@@gemini-mg6sc Yea and Iraq is next, already large parts of the "goverment" being anti-american in some way...
@@KilonBerlin man the future is not light....im ftom IRAN....abd this situiation is ideal fir terroris....so hope for democracy....long will be lost
USA won the war, the NVA and VC lost! Just like in the Korean war, USA won!
@@rosielupita5230 ROFL. When you permanently retreat from a war and haven't returned in 50 years, you've lost the war. The US ally capitulated. That's not how wins work.
All those people died so by 2000 it was basically like a less prosperous version of Thailand where you can get blown by a bar girl for $20.
The Communists didn't seem to have any post war plan. They implemented a stupid Stalin policy which failed and luckily there were some ex-VC who steered it away so it didn't turn into north Korea
You are disgusting
The ARVN and South Vietnamese Rangers showed alot of heart getting screwed over so badly
Fabulous series. Very detailed.
Amazing,thanks!
What is the music played in the intro??
rewatching this every 3 years or so
I love peace
THEY WERE ONLY DOING WHAT WE WILL DO IF SOME ONE COMES HERE.
North Vietnamese people did not fight for communism. They fought because of nationalism. They feel foreign force trying to occupy their land and they want to rule their own land and set their own politics. Never underestimate the power of nationalism.
After we left the final outcome was a forgone conclusion.
You left with the pants on fire, so yeah.
Carpet Climber Good joke.
Why and how did North Vietnam become so successful and overcome the South is still a bit of a puzzling mystery to me even to this day! 12 episodes well told indeed!!!
fanatic determination backed by ideology and patriotism. Plus this conflict is just one of many showings why democracy cant work, especially american type in societies like was Vietnam (US made the same mistake in Iraq and Afghanistan too and they are gonna keep making them it seems, or they are doing that intentionaly these days than it was in Vietnam time...). You cant showel down the throat one of most "free" types of democracy in a society that by your arivall only knew about apsolutism and thats why they had so many corruption in South administration and military forces. When you add a top of that part where there is no clear plan about unification but everything looks more like Korean scenario you get the easy colapse of South Vietnam and in astonishing speed. And all south presidents were awfully bad, not a single strong person. South military pesonel proved to be the kind of people who waited others to win war for them (US) and you are not fight this kind of war (or majority at least) with such thaughts in your mind, this cost them dramaticaly in the end. Comunism for the time being showed it self as superior ideology to what Americans have to offer to vietnamese people especially it was clear on unification and determined at any cost to do that and ofc regular vietnamese peasnts couldnt know tricky part of communism that their protagonists are liars who are hiding behind the veil of "freedoms" in communist type of rule which actually is cover to never let loose power in country. Hope i answered somewhat to your questioning (sorry english is not my native)
It's complicated. But to sum it up in one idea. It was defenders advantage. Or as sun tzu wrote. "Never put your opponents army on death ground. " The West always knew worst case they could pack up and go home. For the NVA it was win or die.
@@hastalavictoriasiempre2730 This is incorrect. It was never about democracy. It was about empire, resource control and the murder of indigenous people. An army can take whatever it wants by force. Holding it against a unfriendly residents is something else entirely.
With the North Vietnamese it was a win at all cost losing is not an option.
Since the US never invaded the North, they could have negotiated an end to the war at any time.
what is the music in the beginning
Bomb em' into the stone age, Son!"
LBJ
Errm, General Curtis LeMay said that.
Is the theme music by david galbraith available on 📀?
Probably
Haven't been able to find it
Im anti-comunist but i have to give respect to Vietcong and Army of North Vietnam ..
I love Vietnam
Saigon's government is really weak
ALWAYS FIGHTING FOR SOME WEALTHY MFER MY CHILD IS WORTH AS MUCH AS THEIRS .......AND SO ARE BLOOD LINES.I WANT MY HERITAGE AND BLOODLINES PASSED ON PROPERTY ECT. SO SEND YOUR OWN DAM CHILDREN. WEALTHY MAN .......
Vietnamese people fought out of ideals and desire to unite country. They were proclaimed to comunist to gain support of Russia and China. Usa bassicaly just ran out and that is probably one of key reasons North Vietnam won. Usa will never admit they were beaten there. American soliders in Vietnam did not fought for ideals but because they HAD TO GO. Vietnamese WANTED TO FIGHT. No matter on deserters Usa just said . "Nope I am out" that is their idea of fighting war.
The US is Vietnam's biggest trade partner currently. So who won the war?
Vietnam, clearly. They are an independant, united country and a strategic partner of the USA against their old enemy, China.
@@Conn30Mtenor Did they? The US objective was to keep China and the Soviets out of Vietnam. Seems like that was accomplished. Sad thing, if not for hardliners in Hanoi and Washington, we could have gotten to this point without the war. Only people that won were the undertakers.
LET THEM BE PLEASE.
WHAT WOULD YOU DO;;;;;
PLEASE DO NOT COME HERE.
Revolutionaries like the VietCong always win against their imperialist rivals. For self-discipline & moral identity for the people.
Victor Uribe Joke of a comment. Thanks for the laugh, dumbass 👏🏻
@@zoltancsikos5604 still butthurt that you lost to a bunch of rice farmers? All those flashy plains and choppers to lose to people who laid traps on trees? The most expensive army in the world is worth shit.
Insurrections don't usually gain support out of popular feeling, they use terror tactics to coerce people into supporting them. The Viet Minh were no different. Once people start supporting something, they often forget why they started supporting it in the first place.
That's terrible to hear about the reeducation in South Vietnam. I know it was naive, but I really wanted to believe that North VIetnam will bring, if not peace, than at least order to this poor country
I mean they did bring peace though. And won a war against Pol Pot. What should they have done? You see what happened here in America when we didn't "re-educate" the South after the Civil War. We still have Nazi's and racists running around.
long live ho chi minh n his generals long live vietcong who fought against all odds long live nva troops long live vietnam! those peasants with a bowl of rice, gym shoes and a rifle brought down the might of the usa army with all the highly mechanized instruments of warfare that they had:::: no wonder people look at the usa with contempt and hatred because they couldn't fight like men and still can't fight like men!
i think you have a serious inferiority complex
@@zmajodnocaja5088 no I think ur the one with a guilt complex bcoz u knoe it’s true n cnt face facts!
@@dalmarraghe2846 your on drugs. The North Vietnamese couldn't ever have defeated the US and only won the war after Vietnam was no longer of any strategic importance to the US. Nixon got everything he wanted after the Christmas bombing.
JUST KEEP BULDING WEAPONS F ANY PLOW SHARES JUST BUILD WEAPONS ;;;;
My respect and admiration for Vietnam people that fought bravely against imperialism and for your nation ! 🇻🇳 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
They fought for authoritarianism
More of refugees run to Indonesian islands.... So this id new job for our government
Solidarity towards the hero’s who liberated the people’s of the South East Asia from imperialism, genocide and western servitude. Long live the legacy of Ho Chi Minh, Socialist Vietnam, the People’s Republic of Kampuchea!
@Greyfox 99 fuck off.
@@josecipriano3048 fuck you communist piece of shit
@@BurntPlaydoh What a load of shit lmao.