Vietnam was once a vassal state of the Central Plains Dynasty, but in the mid-19th century, under the oppression of Western powers, the mainland was forced to cede a large amount of land, and the clan system could not be maintained, and eventually broke down. After that, Vietnam became independent. Now, with the reform of various parties in the country, Vietnam is beginning to move closer to the Western world. But who would have thought that during the Cold War, he was a hardcore ally of the Soviet Union?
Moreover, this alliance is not a superficial pretense. The Soviet Union has been really assisting Vietnam for 20 years, whether it is materials or armaments, it is never stingy. Of course, there is no free lunch in the world, and the Soviet Union did this, indicating that Vietnam must have a use value, which goes back to the Cold War period, the relationship between various countries.
Using aid as a starting point, Vietnam was used to contain the United States
In March 1947, with the rise of the Truman Doctrine in the United States, the Cold War began. As the world's two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, neither of whom obeyed anyone, fought for world hegemony for decades together with their respective allies. Over the years, the wind and waves seem to be calm on the surface, but the dark tide is turbulent behind the ground, and the differences and conflicts between the two opposing factions have never been broken.
In the 1940s and 1950s, because of the heavy losses of World War II, the Soviet Union suffered a great loss in national strength, and it was unable to compete with the booming United States. At this time, Vietnam, in order to fight against the colonizers, was still fighting a war against France. The connection between the two was limited to the Soviet Union's assistance to Vietnam with a batch of German-style weapons (captured on the battlefields of World War II), and there was no other substantial exchange.
By the 1960s, as its national power gradually recovered, the Soviet Union looked at the United States more and more unfavorably. In 1962, when the Cuban Missile Crisis broke out, the United States was also involved in the Vietnam War. The Soviet Union was agitated and believed that it could use the Vietnam War to deplete the national strength of the United States, so as to gain an advantage for its own game in the European region.
So from 1965 onwards, the Soviet Union began to provide large-scale assistance to Vietnam, basically what to give, and quickly became Vietnam's first donor. This touched Vietnam badly, and relations between the two countries quickly heated up, and the Vietnamese people even called the Soviet Union their "second home.". In the event of conflict with other allies, it was natural that Vietnam was clearly biased toward the Soviet Union.
Due to the assistance, the United States could not smoothly control Vietnam, and the United States side also provided a lot of vacancies for the Soviet Union because of the long-term war, which was considered to have achieved its original goal.
Using Vietnam as a foothold is conducive to launching military operations
In 1973, in desperation, the United States withdrew its troops from Vietnam in an all-round way, and the South Vietnamese regime that it had originally supported had no backing, and its troops were defeated and did not last long. Two years later, Vietnam finally completed the reunification of the North and the South. After that, the Soviet Union not only did not stop aiding, but became larger and larger.
In 1978, the Soviet Union and Vietnam signed the Treaty of Friendship and Mutual Assistance between the Soviet Union and Vietnam. The content is that once one of the two countries is attacked by a third country, the other party must do its best to rescue it. People who understand it can see that this treaty is plain, that is, "big brother and little brother". The Soviet Union was not idle and looked for its brother to suffer, and the purpose of containing the United States was achieved, and it was certainly profitable to do so.
We all know that the territory of the Soviet Union was once the largest in the world, but unfortunately the home area is large, but the sea outlet is really small. If you don't have one at home, you can only look for it outside, and the countries along the Indian Ocean coast are basically allies of the old United States. Unable to choose here, the Soviet Union set its sights on Southeast Asia, Vietnam's port of Cam Ranh Bay, which clearly met this condition.
After negotiations with the Vietnamese government, the Soviet Union leased the port of Cam Ranh Bay, and the treaty was signed for 25 years. This is good, after renting the local area, the Soviet Union's Pacific Fleet has a place to play. On the one hand, the Soviet fleet was able to blockade the Strait of Malacca and act quickly in the event of a conflict with the United States. On the other hand, such a huge deployment of force is also a deterrent to the countries around the local area and eliminate potential wars.
"Silly white sweet" Vietnam, after losing aid fell into an embarrassing situation
In 1975, with the help of the Soviet Union, vietnam had a strength of 1.5 million. Unfortunately, under the interference of the United States, although the relations between the two countries have always been friendly, the relations between the Soviet Union and other allies have become worse and worse. Forced by the international situation, the Soviet Union could not directly suppress it, and could only let Vietnam send troops to contain troops.
To say that this Vietnam is really a bit "silly white sweet", the reason why it got soviet assistance must be because it has use value. Whether it's the port of Cam Ranh Bay or the vietnamese government on call, how can the authorities not be at all clear. But even if the situation in the Soviet Union was not optimistic, Vietnam did not turn its backs, and looking for another way, it still obeyed the Soviet Union.
After that, the staunch Vietnamese Front was attacked by other countries and finally could not be supported. Originally, I thought that this time, their "second hometown" the Soviet Union would be like a bodhisattva to save the people, but the Soviet Union was also deeply mired in the quagmire and could not get out.
After the war, the Soviet Union abandoned aid to Vietnam because of economic problems. Without $2 billion a year in aid funding, the country's development has stalled, and Vietnam has fallen into an embarrassing situation.
In 1986, in order to change relations with neighboring countries, Vietnam launched reform and opening up, and this reform achieved remarkable results, and by the late 1990s, the country's economy began to grow upwards, and the living standards of the people gradually improved. Therefore, it is best to fall against the wall and rely on everyone to run, or rely on yourself.