Why the United States Became Increasingly Involved in the War in Vietnam

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. Unfortunately, the French

returned and responded to Ho Chi Minh's declaration of the Vietnamese

independence by enlisting British help in order to expel the Vietminh

from the south of the country, resulting in a division between Ho Chi

Minh's North Vietnam and the French's South Vietnam.

This division was followed by futile attempts to negotiate between the

French and the Vietnamese, which lasted a year. For the Vietminh, it

was vital that the country reunited as the majority of the food

production was in the south, but the French refused and so the Vietnam

war began in 1946, when the French killed over 5,000 civilians.

The American President, Roosevelt, disliked the French method of

colonialism but conceded to pressure to conform in order to respect

the United State's Ally Britain. When Truman came into power in 1945,

he favoured the French ...

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armed forces would have been present means that although the statement

could be warning that televising the war is a mistake, but also

anticipating the rise of anti-war movements.

In conclusion, I can say that there is sufficient evidence in the

sources that explain the anti-war movements of the time. I believe

that it was the televising of the war that prompted the initial

anti-war schemes, but nevertheless, even if this had not been the

case, I still believe that these movements would have existed. This is

because of the fact that the American people did not want their

soldiers fighting a war against a country of which they had no real

dealings with. Even if the war had not been televised, it would still

have been exposed in newspapers, magazines and cartoons, although

understandably not to the same extent.