Operation Linebacker II

Uncommon card · No. 140161

Operation Linebacker II, sometimes referred to as the Christmas bombing and, in Vietnam, the Twelve days and nights, or Điện Biên Phủ of the Sky, was a strategic bombing campaign conducted by the United States against military and industrial areas of North Vietnam from 18 December to 29 December 1972, during the Vietnam War. More than 20,000 tons of ordnance was dropped, primarily targeting Hanoi and Haiphong, and at least 1,624 civilians were killed. Because of Nixon's diplomatic groundwork, neither Moscow nor Beijing intervened in the campaign. They offered verbal protests but prioritized their new relationships with Washington over their alliance with Hanoi. This isolated North Vietnam and forced them back to the negotiating table within 11 days. Many historians argue that the shifting dynamics of the strategic triangular diplomacy, which led to the Christmas bombing, played a critical role in changing the North Vietnamese's negotiating strategy and ultimately led to the signing of the...

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