Why didn't the USA invade North Vietnam? (Short Animated Documentary)

During the Vietnam War, with the exception of air strikes, the US kept its military operations to the South. Given that attacking the north would have placed the momentum with the US and allowed it to remove important North Vietnamese infrastructure, it seems weird that the Americans didn't. So why not? To find out watch this short and simple animated history documentary.

Lukáš Houdek
thypthon
Jens Koch-Nommensen
Øystein Alsaker
Sergio M. Vela
Emil Świderek
Eclipse
Armaan Bath
Gin Aldeguer
Dennis Vandeban
robert lalonde
Brendan W
Mathias.C
Michael Kram
Hasmuffin
CharÉTS
Franco La Bruna
Don Bonnigan
Southside Mitch
Justin Kubusch
Adam Barrett
John
Bradley chaulk
JakeBak0905
Heath Robertson
Ethan
Person
Leonard Frank
His Empyreal Illuminance The Supreme High Priest Kalynx
DVoid
sharpie660
Paul Munro
Martha Grondin
Sean D.
Nuukov
Nathan Mendelsohn
Emperor Kane
Mario Peshev
Brooks Woolson
Harley Raptopoulos
Jane Sumpter
Piotr Wojnowski
Christopher Godfrey
Aaron Conaway
Shauna K
Korix Riylo
Philip Yip
Mario Mejia
Andreas Mosand
Alex Teplyakov
Steven Gibson
Roman Kynčl
Manny F
Nolan Peale
Phillip Gathright
Erik Hare
Tony Belmonte
Jack Nelson
Joshua Schneider
Sean Uzar
Phoenix Fats
Andrew F
John Orr
Vance Christiaanse
Evan Ellingson
Jamie van Brewen
D. Mahlik
Travis Mount
tegsirat
Contdoko12
Nicholas Menghini
Katie Flinn
Ron Johnson
Jacob Zachs
Dr. Schtnizel
zockotron
Michael Galloway
Nick Macarius
GrokThis
Jose Recinto
Bernardo Cavalcanti
Arthur Hosey Jr.
Angel Aguiñaga
Tactical_Jackal
Duke
Thomas McGraw
Sahni
Peter Marino
ein-veh
Matthew Toles
Konstantin Bredyuk
Serius_Loyola
Allen Rines
John Garcia
MGS2600
Alan Romero
khaki enthusiast
Sebastian Mayor
Leena Al-Souki
HelloAgain
Dullis
Chase Labiste
Zachary Pascalar
Joe DeVito
Ciege Engine
Andrew Patane
blaZzinG_FurY
Bradley Backoff
Vilena5
Justin Short
Tim Stone
Tino
Jason Vandeventer
Florian Mäder
george tyler
Joseph Hutchins
Duane Bridges
Aaron Larrow
Anthony McCann
Liquid Chief
Chris Weisel
William Adderholdt
Ben Drums 24
Spencer DeRosier
Clayton Schuman
KNSTRKTVST
Patrick Crowne
ThePalestRose
Windischgraetz
No way
Patty Culp
Nathan Ngumi
Curt Helmerich
C. C. C.
Joel Wasserman
ZCoupon
bas mensink
SketerK
Tim Sweeney
Andrew Niedbala
Tim Stumbaugh
Logical Insanity
Hexapuma
Tyler Jenkins
Warren Rudkin
ARandomPaperClip
Burt Clothier
James
Andrei Listochkin
Bren Ehnebuske
Jeff Sharon
Oliver Jenner
alexccg
Perry Gagne
Vegard Tønnessen
Ethan Harlow
Joseph Reinsch
Matt Reed
Bodo Nuber
Chach
Jason Gould
Bartosz Zasada
Matt Busch
Matthew Ward
Ahmed Roshdi
Ned Burke
Tall Jeff
Yared Cristiano
Colm Byrne
Cade Summers
Romney Manassa
Juan Castillo
Valentyn
kevinh
Alen
Magdalena Reinberg-Leibel
Mars Project
BattleGoat Studios
Geoffrey Sparrow
Stefan Møller
SirAlpaka
Emily Glover-Wilson
Clay Carroll
Franklin
Azul Bravestrong
Rob Rollins
Steve Bonds
Robin!
Melissa Prober
Mark Littlehale
nullptr
Richard Wolfe
Harrison Wiener
Anthony Uk
Brian Giordano
Jonny Minogue
Jeffrey Schneider
Carl Blanton
William Clark
Moraxian
Mik Scheper
Juan Benet
Colonel Oneill
Hiro P
David Spellmeyer
Yuichiro Kakutani
JT96
YugiJitsu Games
pdswanfleet
Sethars
Igor Stavchanskiy
Joseph Kerckhoff
I'm Not In The Description
Alex G.
George Buce
Donald Weaver
Ryan Haber
Mark Ploegstra
Charles Doolittle
Hunter Bayliss
Tristan Kreller
Aeryn and Lisa Toland
T. c. north
Dr. Howard Dr. Fine Dr. Howard
Wolf
James R DeVries
Isabel Harrison
Dustin Koellhoffer
Oriki
Heytun
Thomas Wang
Tom Ebert
Roko Lisica
Eric Askins
LambOfLeg
Kishan Nair
Doug MacLean
Sean Long
John Gross-Whitaker
Zachary Oertel
Kevin Phoenix
Sara Birnbaum
Dan W
Dutchball Animations
Kirk Hoffman
Tranier Bocaj
Robert Brockway
Shakira Graham
Lech Duraj
Seth Reeves
Peter Konieczny
Colm Boyle
0_DannyBoy
George Caponera
biohazardgamer
Nathan Snyder
Will Sullivan
AltHistoryConjectures
Dan Reiher
Ian M
Dr. Sarno
Kinfe85
Miky Hidalgo Morriss
Ali Sadighian
Matthew O'Connor
Dexter_McAaron
Andrew Sever
Adrian Marine
Christopher S Nelson
Jonah Baloney
Lindorien
Paul McGee
João Santos
Abdallah Al-Ammari
Daniel O'Reilly
Typhoon2401
blei95
Markus Lindström
M Scho
Jan Bart Verbist
Ploshtinska polyudnica
Robin_Col
Kasi
Schwarzer Hai
Tarsirrus
Rhys Little
James
Ben L
Ash Elford
Jackarice26
Gina Service
Twinny Hill
zemnmez
Phil Johnston
Roberticus1992
KingKyumber
Rhys Jackson

[Sheyl]

One small correction: Ho Chi Minh is no longer alive by 1973, thus unable to stand in front of a chalkboard outlining the agreements.

[Zeruel]

There was a suggestion in Washington during the last days of the First Indochina War to utilize Ho Chi Minh as an 'asian Tito', a counterbalance to China the way Tito was to the USSR in Europe. Ho himself was apparently open to the idea of working with the USA (at the time the USA was relatively well liked in Vietnam compared to the French) but the USA didn't go for it, would have saved a lot of trouble if they had

[dimsum]

Video Idea: What happened to Vietnam after 1975. The Vietnam War always gets the most attention (and, to a lesser extent, the First Indochina War), but few talk about what happened to Vietnam after 1975. From the re-education (labour) camps, the Vietnamese refugee crisis, Khmer Rouge border raids, Cambodian-Vietnamese War, Sino-Vietnamese War, and border clashes with China during the 80s. It wasn't like Vietnam reunified and it was all rainbows and sunshine.

[Jimbob]

James Bissonette was able to escape the fall of Saigon by spinning three plates to generate lift.

[AreaEightyNine]

It's so amazing just how much history I've learned from this channel. Especially on topics & questions that would have never crossed my mind.

[AverytheCubanAmerican]

A few mistakes I noticed:
1. The country you called Cambodia is Laos. And the country you called Laos is Cambodia
2. Ho Chi Minh was already dead by 1973 (he passed in 1969).
3. The island of Phú Quốc off the southern coast should be Vietnamese, not Cambodian
4. Although China helped them during the Indochina Wars, North Vietnam was aligned with the Soviets during the Sino-Soviet split and remained suspicious of China's true motives. China would end up attacking them at the border as the result of Vietnam going after the Khmer Rouge (which was pro-China).
5. North Vietnam did not agree to stay out completely during the 1973 thing. Just for two years! That's why Saigon fell in 1975. They also let the Viet Cong form their own government in 1969 called the PRG/Provisional Revolutionary Government (and later the Republic of South Vietnam). When Saigon fell, this became the government. Vietnam wouldn't reunify officially until 1976
6. South Vietnamese-controlled Paracel Islands should be there. China invaded the whole of the Paracel Islands in 1974, but since it was under the South's control and China was helping the North, North Vietnam couldn't even protest until the relationship fell out 5 years later.

[spacemanspud]

3:03 Ho Chi Minh (pictured here at the Paris peace talks) actually famously refused to attend the Paris peace talks in 1973 because he didn't want to set a precedent for other communist leaders to leave their mausoleum. (i.e. lenin) He firmly believed that a good communist should stay quietly embalmed in his glass case after he or she died

[SergioMach]

North Vietnam was indeed bombed a lot. If you wander around Hanoi's Thanh Niên road between Tay Ho and Truc Bach lake, you will see a memorial for John McCain, who was shot down over the lake. There is also the debris of a B52 still in Ba Dinh. It was fascinating to see these little historical details while working in Vietnam.

[ScorpoYT]

America: The NVA promised us they won't invade the south after we leave.
The NVA: I'm Gonna Do What's Called a Pro Gamer Move.

[Newdivide]

North Vietnam reunited with South Vietnam caught the attention of Kim Il-sung. After North Vietnam's success in reuniting with its southern counterpart, he believes they too can reunite with South Korea

He went to China to discuss plans to invade south Korea but China isn't interested. So it never happened

[DarkshadowXD]

It's ironic the U.S feared China would get involved if they invaded the North, but China ended up invading anyway in the late 70s. For different reasons, but still funny in a historical sense

[DecadeMinato]

Another small correction: North Vietnam loves USA first but when Rooservelt died and Truman replaced him, Truman heel face turn and renounce North Vietnam as enemy that need to be eradicated even at the cost of supportng France's colonize regime.
So Vietnam, currently under threat of getting invaded by France again turned to USSR and China for help. The rest was hstory.

[MTTT]

'They bombed the North...a lot'

*uses more explosives in South-East-Asia than all warring nations during WW 2 combined*

[coolawesomeepicman]

Ironic enough Ho Chi Minh was actually present at the Treaty of Versailles to try and represent Vietnamese independence. He was denied entry via Woodrow Wilson and left by train back to Vietnam, which took him through the Soviet Union where he read the manifesto and met Vladimir Lenin. What’s even more crazy is Ho Chi Minh lived in Harlem New York for a short time and attended UNIA meetings, A Pan-African movement. This dude also did all of this in his mid 20s and 30s.

[Jonesdude]

Am I the only one that got the Star Trek reference at 2:00 ?
First Contact FTW! You guys are epic indeed.

[dimensional_fusion]

Loving the Star Trek First Contact reference at 2:01

[mitchjervis]

Actually, Vietnam was aligned with the Soviets in the Sino-Soviet Split and had poor relations with China(Mao was ambivalent in interviews over supporting North Vietnam in case of an US invasion), China even abandoning support for it in 1968. Post-war, China even fought a short war with Communist Vietnam in 1979 over Vietnam's toppling of the pro-Chinese Khmer Rouge.

[VoidHalo]

These videos are great, but too short. I'm just left wanting more more MOAR!!1

[lorenwyman]

Great video as usual, but just wanted to note that you accidentally mixed up Cambodia and Laos on the map ^^

[florinivan]

To be fair the early days of the Korean war were far bloodier than the peak of Vietnam. Vietnam cost the US more but it lasted a lot longer. Korea on an average day was bloodier. For american planners preventing a rerun of Korea was paramount. Its just that Vietnam lasted for a lot more and casualties ended up higher. But to be fair since Korea no single day of combat for the US has exceeded 250 dead.