The Paris Accords ultimately did little more than facilitate the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Vietnam. With the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) permitted to remain in the South, it became increasingly clear that renewed hostilities were inevitable. The Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN), now boasting a million troops and strengthened by newly acquired U.S.-financed equipment, began efforts to reclaim territory lost to the North during the Easter Offensive. However, the Communist forces were still reeling from the significant losses suffered in that campaign.

By 1974, the situation in South Vietnam had begun to deteriorate. An economy already weakened by severe inflation was further impacted by rising unemployment due to the U.S. withdrawal. Corruption within the military was rampant, and the combination of unpaid wages and growing disillusionment led to a surge in desertions. By the end of that year, the South was increasingly vulnerable to a renewed offensive.

During the Christmas season of 1974, an NVA campaign led by General Tran successfully overran territories north of Saigon, now known as Song Be Province. Encouraged by this progress, Hanoi intensified its military operations, and towns in the South began to fall rapidly during the Ho Chi Minh Campaign. Within two months, Communist troops captured Buon Ma Thuot, achieving what they believed would take a week in just 24 hours. Following this victory, cities such as Hue and Da Nang also fell, and by April 21, Xuan Loc, the last significant line of defense before Saigon, had succumbed.

The ARVN’s resistance crumbled under the North’s relentless advance, vividly illustrated by a haunting image of a highway littered with the discarded boots of fleeing Southern soldiers. President Nguyen Van Thieu escaped by helicopter to Taiwan, leaving General Duong Van Minh—known as “Big Minh”—to assume control of the Saigon government. However, Minh’s leadership lasted only two days before NVA tanks breached the gates of the Presidential Palace, marking the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975.

Just hours prior to the city’s capture, the last remaining Americans and other Westerners were evacuated in a frantic helicopter operation dubbed “Frequent Wind,” a harrowing conclusion to a tumultuous chapter in Vietnam’s history. The fall of Saigon not only signified the end of the Vietnam War but also marked a pivotal moment in the geopolitical landscape of Southeast Asia, reshaping the region for years to come.