美国真正输掉越南战争的惊人原因:日本 [美国媒体]

The Shocking Reason AmericaReally Lost the War in Vietnam: Japan

美国真正输掉越南战争的惊人原因:日本



Yet the question remains:what would have happened if Japan had never occupied French Indochina in 1940?The best answer is that Japan only accelerated a process that was probablyinevitable. By 1939, European colonialism was already fraying, as independencemovements like the Viet Minh and Gandhi in India sprang up. The two biggerquestions are: What if France hadn't been conquered and devastated by theNazis, which weakened French prestige and military might? And what if Chinahadn't gone Communist, and not become a source of weapons, advisers andsanctuary for the Viet Minh?

如今，这个问题依旧困扰着大家:如果日本在1940年没有入侵当时属于法国殖民地的印度支那，那将会发生什么?最好的答案是，日本只是加快了进程，而这个进程很可能不可避免。1939年时，欧洲的殖民主义土崩瓦解的迹象已经开始，就像越南独立运动和印度甘地崛起一样。两个更大的问题是，如果法国没有被纳粹征服和摧毁，法国的威望和军事实力会削弱吗?如果中国没有成为共产主义者，也没成为越南的武器来源、军事顾问和避难所，那又会变成怎样呢?

In March of 1945, and just five months before surrendering to theAllies, Japan did something with profound consequences: it conquered Vietnam-andultimately embroiled the United States in its first lost war.

1945年3月，日本向同盟国投降的5个月前，做出了一些具有深远影响的事情:它征服了越南，并最终在第一次战败中卷入美国。

To be accurate, Japan did not seize Vietnam as we conceive ofVietnam today. It seized French Indochina, that region of Southeast Asiacomprising Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, which France had conquered in the nameof the French Empire.

准确地说，日本并没有像我们今天所想象的那样占领越南。日本占领了法属印度支那，这个东南亚地区包括越南、柬埔寨和老挝。法属印度支那的由来是，法国以法兰西帝国的名义占领了这个地区。

The story really begins in the summer of 1940, after Francesurrendered to Germany. But while metropolitan France lay prostrate under theNazi jackboot, France's empire in Africa and Asia remained intact under theVichy French collaborationist government, shielded from Hitler by the oceansand the British Royal Navy that patrolled them.

故事发生在1940年的夏天，即法国向德国投降之后。尽管法国的首都在纳粹的“长靴”下倒下了，但是，法国在非洲和亚洲的殖民帝国仍然完好地保存在法国维希卖国政府下，这些法国殖民地被海洋以及在他们面前巡逻的英国皇家海军保护着。

Nonetheless, France had another enemy: the Japanese Empire. Justdays after the French surrender, Indochina's colonial government received ademand from Japan: shut down the rail line running from the port of Haiphong tosouthern China, over which American supplies flowed to the Chinese armiesbattling Japanese invaders.

尽管如此，法国还有另一个敌人:日本帝国。法国投降几天后，印度支那的殖民地政府收到了来自日本“关闭从海防港到中国南方的铁路线”的要求。美国通过这条铁路线向中国军队供应物资，以抗击日本侵略者。

With just seventy thousand troops, fifteen modern fighter planesand a handful of tanks, French Indochina was in no position to refuse. But witha resolve that would have better employed fighting the Germans, the Frenchrefused to comply. Japan responded with a quick but violent amphibiousinvasion, backed by warships and aircraft that cost the French army a thousanddead. By the end of September, France had agreed to allow Japan station severalthousand troops and deploy aircraft on Indochinese airfields (it was from theseairfields that Japanese torpedo bombers sunk the British battleships Prince ofWales and Repulse on December 10, 1941).

法属印度支那有7万名士兵，15架现代战斗机和几辆坦克这样的军事力量，对它而言，无法拒绝日本的要求。但是，如果有一个更好的办法来对付德国人，那就是法国拒绝服从。日本以一种快速又剧烈的两栖入侵行动作为回应，这一行动得到了军舰和飞机的支持，法国军队因此损失了上千人。到9月底，法国已经同意允许日本在印度支那机场部署数千名士兵以及飞机(1941年12月10日，日本的鱼雷轰炸机从这些机场起飞，击沉了英国的战列舰“威尔士亲王号”和“击退号”)。

In July 1941, Japan occupied the rest of Indochina, a fatal mistakethat precipitated the U.S. oil embargo, which led to the Japanese attack onPearl Harbor. What ensued was an ironic case of imperialists rulingimperialists, as the Japanese effectively controlled Indochina while allowingthe French authorities to control the Vietnamese.

1941年7月，日本占领了印度支那的其他地区，这是导致美国石油禁运的一个致命错误，也导致日本偷袭珍珠港。随后发生的是帝国主义者统治帝国主义的讽刺事件，因为日本实际上控制了印度支那，同时允许法国当局控制越南人。

Enter a name that Americans would soon either jeer or cheer. Ho ChiMinh left his Chinese Communist hosts in 1941, to lead the Viet Minh, anindependence movement of which the Communists were only one part. Japaneseoccupation sparked popular support for the Viet Minh, who opposed both the Frenchand the Japanese. In 1945, the Office of Strategic Services-America's pre-CIA-evensent a team into Indochina to work with the Viet Minh, and Ho Chi Minh offeredto provide intelligence to the Americans.

输入一个名字，美国人很快会嘲笑或欢呼。在1941年，胡志明离开了中国共产党这个东道主，领导了共产党只是其中一部分的越南独立运动。日本的占领激起了民众对越共的支持，他们反对法国人和日本人。1945年，战略情报局（OSS），即美国中央情报局的前身，甚至派了一个团队到印度支那去与越盟合作，胡志明提出为美国人提供情报。

Indochina remained a backwater to the Pacific War until March 1945,when Japan put an end to the French puppet regime. Their empire crumbling, and fearingthat the French might backstab them, the Japanese mounted a vicious surpriseattack that wiped out the French garrison.

直到1945年3月日本结束了法国傀儡政权前，印度支那都一直是太平洋战争的一潭死水。日本人的帝国摇摇欲坠，他们担心法国人可能会在背后捅他们一刀，所以发动了一场摧毁法国驻军的可怕突袭。

For Japan, the attack accomplished nothing. The Rising Sun wouldset just five months later in the glare of atomic flash. But as one Frenchdiplomat later put it, Japan “wrecked a colonial enterprise that had been inexistence for eighty years.”

对日本来说，这次袭击一无所成。升起的太阳将在5个月后在原子闪光的强光下凝固。但正如一位法国外交官后来说的那样，日本“摧毁了一个已经存在了80年的殖民企业”。

When Japan surrendered in August 1945, into the vacuum stepped theViet Minh. Ho Chi Minh's guerrillas hadn't accomplished much, according toBernard Fall, the most famous historian of the Indochina war:

当日本在1945年8月投降时，越南进入了真空阶段。根据最着名的印度支那战争历史学家伯纳德·法尔的说法，胡志明的游击队并没有取得多少成就。

Soon, posing as “nationalistguerrillas” only interested in evicting both the Japanese and Frenchimperialists from their native country, these “Viet-Minh” acquired a reputationfar in excess of their military accomplishments. Those, according to Alliedsources, were limited to the attack of a small Japanese gendarmerie post at theTam-Dao mountain resort. But the fact remains that, after the collapse of theFrench, the Viet-Minh were the only pro-Allied movement of any consequence inthe country. . . . When V-J Day dawned, the Viet-Minh were the only group ofany size in Viet Nam to exploit the power vacuum existing in the area. TheirCommunist training gave them an unbeatable head-start over the small idealisticnationalist groups which now began to squabble over details while theCommunists were taking over the country under their very noses.

很快，假以“民族主义游击队”的名义以及只对将日本和法国帝国主义驱逐出他们祖国的兴趣，这些“越南战争”的名声远远超过了他们的军事成就。根据盟军的消息，这些人受到仅限于在坦岛山度假胜地的一个小日本宪兵队的袭击。但事实仍然是，在法国崩溃之后，越南的“越南战争”是唯一一个在该国产生结果的亲联盟运动。当二战结束的时候，越南独立同盟会是唯一利用该地区真空形势的组织。他们的共产主义训练给了他们一种不可战胜的领先优势——从那些小的理想主义的民族主义团体开始，他们开始为细节争论不休，而共产主义者则在他们的鼻子底下接管国家。

While the Viet Minh and other revolutionaries occupied key citieslike Saigon, British troops landed in Indochina in September 1945. The Britisharmed some French soldiers captured by the Japanese-and even retained armedJapanese soldiers to keep the natives under control. Sporadic clashes eruptedbetween the British and Viet Minh, with the Viet Minh losing badly, while Frenchforces reasserted the colonial regime. By March 1946, the British were gone andthe French were in open warfare against the Communists.

1945年9月，当越南独立同盟会和其他革命者占领西贡等重要城市时，英国军队在印度支那登陆。英国武装了一些被日军俘虏的法国士兵，甚至还保留了日本士兵，以控制当地人。英国和越南独立同盟会之间爆发了零星的冲突，越南独立同盟会损失惨重，而法国军队重新确立了殖民统治。到了1946年3月，英国人离开，法国人开始了对共产党的公开战争。

For the next twenty years, Southeast Asia would be embroiled inwar. France waged a long and bloody campaign against the Viet Minh that endedin May 1954 with the French surrender at Dien Bien Phu. In 1965, U.S. Marineslanded in South Vietnam, the first chapter in America's most painful war.

在接下来的20年里，东南亚卷入战争。法国发动了一场漫长而血腥的反越盟运动，以1954年5月法国在奠边府投降标志战争结束。1965年，美国海军陆战队登陆南越，这是美国最痛苦的战争的第一章。

Yet the question remains: what would have happened if Japan hadnever occupied French Indochina in 1940? The best answer is that Japan onlyaccelerated a process that was probably inevitable. By 1939, Europeancolonialism was already fraying, as independence movements like the Viet Minhand Gandhi in India sprang up. The two bigger questions are: What if Francehadn't been conquered and devastated by the Nazis, which weakened Frenchprestige and military might? And what if China hadn't gone Communist, and notbecome a source of weapons, advisers and sanctuary for the Viet Minh?

如今，这个问题依旧困扰着大家:如果日本在1940年没有入侵当时属于法国殖民地的印度支那，那将会发生什么?最好的答案是，日本只是加快了进程，而这个进程很可能不可避免。1939年时，欧洲的殖民主义土崩瓦解的迹象已经开始，就像越南独立运动和印度甘地崛起一样。两个更大的问题是，如果法国没有被纳粹征服和摧毁，法国的威望和军事实力会削弱吗?如果中国没有成为共产主义者，也没成为越南的武器来源、军事顾问和避难所，那又会变成怎样呢?

On the other hand, the United States did manage to stay out of theFirst Indochina War between France and the Viet Minh. What ultimately led toU.S. troops hacking through the humid jungle was the fact that France withdrewand South Vietnam couldn't survive alone against the Communists. If French colonialauthority hadn't been humbled by Japan, and if metropolitan France had beenable to commit more resources to Southeast Asia, then perhaps Viet Minh victorymight have been delayed or even stopped (or perhaps a non-Communistindependence movement could have taken power).

另一方面，美国确实设法避开了法国和越南之间的第一次印度支那战争。最终导致美国军队在潮湿的丛林中入侵的原因是，法国撤退了，而南越无法独自抵抗共产党。如果法国殖民当局没有受到日本的羞辱，或者法国本土能够向东南亚投入更多的资源，那么也许越南的胜利可能会被推迟甚至停止(或者可能是一个非共产主义的独立运动夺取政权)。

Then America might not have felt a need to fight in Vietnam at all.

那么，美国可能觉得，根本没有必要在越南打仗。

Michael Peck is a contributing writer for the National Interest. Hecan be found on Twitter and Facebook.

迈克尔·派克是国家利益的特约撰稿人，可以在Twitter和Facebook上找到他的相关东西。


amoose1959
America's most painful war was the civil war. Nearly a millionAmerican soldiers , both north and south, lost their lives. The next mostpainful war was WWII, nearly 400,000 soldiers were killed. In the Vietnam warwe lost 57, 000 men - Nowhere close to the most painful war.
Secondly we did not lose the war. We never lost a set-piece battlein the war. The VC got decimated in the Tet offensive . The NV and VC lost overa million lives!!!.
I am begining to think that this website is trying to rewrite thehistory of the vietnam war. Shame .

美国最痛苦的战争是内战，将近一百万的美国士兵失去了生命，无论是北方的还是南方的。第二痛苦的战争是二战，将近40万士兵阵亡。在越南战争中，我们失去了57000名士兵——远不及最痛苦的战争。
其次，我们没有输掉这场战争，我们在这场战争中从未输过定局战。在春节攻势中，越共遭到惨败。北越和越共损失了超过一百万的生命!!!
我开始认为这个网站正在试图改写越南战争的历史，耻辱。