United States' Involvement in Vietnam
After W.W.II the USA was concerned about the spread of communism, and
its effect on world economics and politics. This and the threat of
invasion from the powerful USSR, who were trying to spread communism .
The USA believed in the “domino theory” (once one country fell to
communism the surrounding ones would follow It).
Vietnam was part of French Indo-China where there was serious
problems. The Vietminh were a communist group fighting for
independence. The USA desperately wanted the French to keep control ,
If Vietnam became communist then according to the domino theory all
the countries around it would too. The USA gave large amounts of money
and aid to the French. Despite this the French were loosing and in the
battle of Dien Bien Phu were finally defeated and pulled their troops
out of Vietnam.
As a result, the Geneva agreement was set up to try and keep order in
Vietnam, the north would be ruled by communist Ho Chi Minh and the
south by Ngo Dinh Diem. This was temporary, Ngo was meant to hold
elections to unite Vietnam, but he never did and the Americans, scared
that Ho would win, didn’t force him to. His Tyrannical policies made
him very unpopular and the communists in South Vietnam rebelled and
formed a guerrilla group, the NLF(Vietcong) to overthrow him. The
Americans pumped in more money, this time into the South Vietnam army
(A.R.V.N) to combat the Vietcong.
Ngo’s worsening, corrupt regime caused the growth of the Vietcong and
president Eisenhower, noticing this, sent in advisors. They helped the
A.R.V.N to organize themselves providing training. America sent in
1000s of advisors to try and counteract the 1000s of people joining
the Vietcong. During Kennedy’s term in office he increased the number
of advisors from 685 to 16000 and introduced strategic hamlets due to
the unstable situation, trying to prevent the Vietcong from attacking
villages. However, these failed, as many of the Vietcong were inside
the protected villages and the people were unhappy about being moved
Why the United States Became Increasingly Involved in the War in Vietnam In the years after the Second World War, it became necessary for the Allies to decide the future of the French colony, Indochina, when the Japanese who had been occupying the country, surrendered. Prior to the Second World War, the French had ruled over the regions of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. The French ruling was unpopular, forcing ideas of democracy upon the Vietnamese people and the French overthrew any efforts of resistance. When the Japanese invaded the French colony, to resist the Japanese rule, an organisation was founded, the Vietminh, led by Ho Chi Minh. In order to defeat the Japanese, it was essential for the Vietminh to co-operate with the Allies and at the end of the war, Vietnam was declared independent.
The Differing Reactions to United States' Involvement in Vietnam Everyone in America had a different reaction to the Vietnam War. Some people supported the war because they feared Communism. They were afraid that if they did not stop the Communism in Vietnam, that type of government would affect all other countries. This was according to the Domino Theory. They thought that stopping the Vietnamese would be the correct and easy thing to do, but they were wrong.
Reasons for United States' Involvement in Vietnam In this essay I will be writing about why America got involved in the Vietnam War, between the 1950s to the 1960s. This was a steady and slow process with many deaths all because of communism. It was very costly and bloody. This essay will focus on political reasons, military reasons and economy reasons.
This was also a military treaty in which the Communist countries of Eastern Europe (and later China) all. agreed to help each other and the Soviet Union in the event of armed attack from the West. Later, in 1954, the West formed the South East Asia Treaty. Organisation (S.E.A.T.O.) - S.E.A which was aimed at preventing attacks by communists, and also in 1959, they formed the Central Treaty. Organisation (C.E.N.T.O.) -.
...work with other nations to keep the peace. It is still in effect today. The UN was not based on or limited to a peace treaty but instead was separate. That helped Roosevelt get support for U.S. membership.
...was not to preserve peace, but to preserve the sovereignty and independence of the states of Europe against potential aggressors. The basic rule was to ally against any state threatening domination. The weaker countries would seek alliance with the other weaker states. They would thus create a balance or counterweight against the state whose ascendancy they feared.
Throughout the 1960’s and 1970’s Vietnam was in the midst of a Civil war. The North and South were divided amongst themselves. The North wanted a communist based county while the South wanted an anti- communist based country. This caused the two to go to war with each other. Eventually the United States got involved in the war and supported South Vietnam simply because they were anti- communist and they wanted to prevent the Domino Theory. The Vietnam War cost a lot of money, and put America into even more debt. In addition, a lot of soldiers lost their lives serving. This caused for many riots, and protests back in America. Eventually a credibility gap grew between the citizens and the government which led to distrust. Lastly, the fact that it was a Civil War between a divided country across the world, made matters worse. For these reasons, America’s involvement was unjust.
As many as two million Vietnamese civilians were killed during the Vietnam War(Spector). Would this number have been different if certain things off the battlefield in the United States did not occur. The Vietnam War was a war between the communist regime of North Vietnam leaded by Ho Chi Minh, and the non-Communist South Vietnam. The United States fought with the south in fear that if all of Vietnam became communist then the domino effect would occur and all of Asia would turn to communism(“Vietnam, War”). The war began in 1954 and ended in 1975 when communist forces took over the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon(“Vietnam”). This was two years after President Nixon, the thirty seventh President of the United States ordered the withdrawal
Nationalists, in general, were split in terms of favoring or being against the Vietnam war. For the most part, the idea of stopping the spread of communism was the main reason many of them stood for the war. Although some of them also believed the idea that “if the American government felt it necessary to attack, then we must support it! What’s best for America is what is best for us!” At the same time, however, many nationalist Americans struggled with the idea of whether the war itself was worth the US being involved. Many believed that America should address other areas of foreign policy, as well as China and the USSR directly. A direct challenge of those two communist nations would be most beneficial for their country. Many nationalists
France had control of Indochina which later became the countries Laos, Cambodia, North Vietnam and South Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh, who was communist, and his followers, who were called Viet Minh entered into war with the French from 1946 to 1954. There was a conference to decide the fate of Indochina, which was determined in the Geneva Accord. The Geneva Accord divided Indochina into 4 different regions which were Laos, Cambodia, North Vietnam, and South Vietnam. Laos and Cambodia were both meant to be neutral. An election was planned for 1956 to reunite North and South Vietnam under the same leader.
Since Clinton normalized relations in 1995, restoring full diplomatic ties between the United States and Vietnam, the two countries have been working towards a trade agreement for over four years. Finally July 13th of this year, the two finally signed a Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) would open up Vietnam's growing economy, and increase trade between the two former enemies.
After the Fall of Saigon, many Vietnamese refugees had left Vietnam in the hope of moving to another democratic country that would accept them. This resulted in the Indochina refugee crisis, in which a large outflow of people from the former French colonies of Indochina, comprising the countries of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, after communist governments were established in 1975. Most of these refugees were thus taken in by other countries and were resettled, mostly in North America and Europe. At least twenty Western countries, led by France, Canada, Australia, and the United States, the very nation that tried but failed to help prevent their country of South Vietnam from falling to Communism. The total number of Vietnamese evacuated by the
It has been almost a century since the first Paris Peace Conference was hold, but even until now, it is a popular yet also controversial event in the history of the world. The Paris Peace Conference took place in 1919 involving more than 1,000 representatives from over 30 nations. The results of the Conference are five treaties regarding terms that, according to the Conference, shall prevent any upcoming conflicts among nations. Although World War II started only after 15 years, nonetheless, the treaties did function as a buffer between countries. Although many resolutions were discussed, the negotiation of the Conference revolves around four main topics, reparation from the previous war losses or limitations on the main Central Power, Germany, self-recognition, President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points, and the annexation of land.
The Geneva Accords in 1954 was known as an agreement that designed to secure peace in Vietnam, and it was also contributed to the war as well. Naturally, when they agreed to sign, it meant the southern and northern regions would be divided by the 17th parallel, French would withdraw its troops from Indochina. Besides, in 1956, the plans for elections would be held for the Vietnamese people to choose a unified government.
The Vietnam War took action after the First Indochina War, in fact the Vietnam War is also known as the Second Indochina War. This war included the communist North Vietnam and its allies of the Viet Cong, the Soviet Union, China and other communist allies going against South Vietnam and its allies, the Unites States, Philippines and other anti-communist allies. It was a very long and conflicting war that actually started in 1954 and ended in 1975. The war began after the rise to power of Ho Chi Minh and his communist party in North Vietnam. More than three million people were killed during the war, this included approximately 58,000 Americans and more than half of the killed were actually Vietnamese civilians. The Vietnam War ended by the communist forces giving up control of Saigon and the next year the country was then unified as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Many people, including both men and women were directly and indirectly involved within the war itself. Women worked many different roles in the Vietnam War, and they are most definitely not credited enough for all that they actually did.