Vietnam War

===Easter Offensive and Paris Peace Accords, 1972===
[[File:СВС у обломков сбитого Б-52 в окрестностях Ханоя 23.12.1972 (1).jpg|thumb|Soviet advisers inspecting the debris of a B-52 downed in the vicinity of Hanoi]]

Vietnamization was again tested by the [[Easter Offensive]] of 1972, a massive conventional PAVN invasion of South Vietnam. The PAVN quickly overran the northern provinces and in coordination with other forces attacked from Cambodia, threatening to cut the country in half. U.S. troop withdrawals continued, but American airpower responded, beginning [[Operation Linebacker]], and the offensive was halted.<ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|606–637}}

The war was central to the [[1972 United States presidential election|1972 U.S. presidential election]] as Nixon's opponent, [[George McGovern]], campaigned on immediate withdrawal. Nixon's National Security Advisor, [[Henry Kissinger]], had continued secret negotiations with North Vietnam's [[Lê Đức Thọ]] and in October 1972 reached an agreement. President Thieu demanded changes to the peace accord upon its discovery, and when North Vietnam went public with the agreement's details, the Nixon administration claimed they were attempting to embarrass the president. The negotiations became deadlocked when Hanoi demanded new changes. To show his support for South Vietnam and force Hanoi back to the negotiating table, Nixon ordered [[Operation Linebacker II]], a massive bombing of Hanoi and Haiphong 18–29 December 1972.<ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|649–663}} Nixon pressured Thieu to accept the terms of the agreement or else face retaliatory military action from the U.S.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Beschloss |first=Michael |title=Presidents of War: The Epic Story, from 1807 to Modern Times |date=2018 |publisher=Crown |isbn=978-0-307-40960-7 |location=New York |page=579}}</ref>

On 15 January 1973, all U.S. combat activities were suspended. Lê Đức Thọ and Henry Kissinger, along with the PRG Foreign Minister [[Nguyễn Thị Bình]] and a reluctant President Thiệu, signed the Paris Peace Accords on 27 January 1973.<ref name=Ward/>{{Rp|508–513}} This officially ended direct U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, created a ceasefire between North Vietnam/PRG and South Vietnam, guaranteed the territorial integrity of Vietnam under the Geneva Conference of 1954, called for elections or a political settlement between the PRG and South Vietnam, allowed 200,000 communist troops to remain in the south, and agreed to a POW exchange. There was a sixty-day period for the total withdrawal of U.S. forces. "This article", noted Peter Church, "proved{{Nbsp}}... to be the only one of the Paris Agreements which was fully carried out."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Church |first=Peter |title=A Short History of South-East Asia |date=2006 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-0-470-82181-7 |pages=193–194}}</ref> All U.S. forces personnel were completely withdrawn by March 1973.<ref name=Herring/>{{Rp|260}}