However, the USA in the 1950s believed that if South Vietnam (which was not controlled by Ho) fell to Ho, this would mean communist expansion. This was because the American administration believed in the domino theory, i.e. once a country falls to communism, this will mean that Cambodia, Thailand, Burma, etc will start to fall to communism. In turn, the USA under Eisenhower drew a line in Vietnam to stop Ho reunification attempt. At the same time they tried to create a strong non-communist South Vietnam under the leadership of Diem.
After that, nation after nation might fall to Communism. Communism is a political and economic system that the United States strongly opposed. Vietnam had been split in half in 1954, after fighting a war to gain independence from France. When French forces withdrew the US felt they needed to take matters into their own hands but the Vietnamese Communists gained control of North Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh was the leader of the North Vietnamese Communists.
Why Did LBJ Continue U.S. Involvement in South Vietnam? Cold War Considerations: China & South East Asia The rise of China as a superpower had made the world appear an even more threatening place to the USA in terms of the spread of communism. After the Americans had fought the Chinese in Korea and South East Asia seemed to offer ample opportunities for the spread of Communism in what was known as “The Domino Effect”. When Vietnam appeared to be on the verge of collapse. Laos was threatened by Communist insurgents and Prince Sihanouk of Cambodia had renounced aid from the US and demanded neutrality in any further conflicts.
Jozeph Kaddissi EN 102 Composition 2 (1:15-2:30) 21 February 2011 Vietnam War: The Fight against Social Injustice The war in Vietnam occurred at a period when the United States perceived communism as a serious threat to democracy, capitalism, American peace of society, and the civilized world. During this period, the USSR and the United States were deeply engrossed in the cold war. The war in Vietnam is only one among the many proxy wars between the communist countries led by the USSR and the capitalistic countries led by the United States. The communist North Vietnam had embarked on a war campaign against the south. Motivated by the need to deter the spread of communist ideology, America felt obligated to intervene to preserve the sovereignty of South Vietnam and possibly to end any further communist incursions in the north.
The U.S provided military advisors and support and the first U.S troops entered Vietnam in March 1965. They sent in 2,000 military advisors, a number that grew to 16,300 in 1963. The military condition started to deteriorate and by 1963 South Vietnam had lost the fertile Mekong Delta to the Viet Cong. Convinced that the communists where escalating the War, Johnson began the bombing campaign against North Vietnam. Air strikes commenced and he sent the first U.S ground combat troops to
Before we begin our review and analysis of Exactly where the Domino Fell, it's important first to take into account the developments ahead of the war, during the war, and after the war. Within the early 20th century, Vietnam, in addition to Laos and Cambodia had been under French control. In the Second World War, the Japanese took control of Vietnam until it surrendered in 1945. The same year, the Alliance for your Independence of Vietnam (a communist-controlled alliance) obtained control of North Vietnam under Ho Chi Minh, forming the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. In spite if the colossal military assist provided by america military for the French forces, France was eventually beaten by the Vietminh in 1954.
To help counter that threat Truman started secretly sending money as well as supplies to help back the French forces against Ho Chi Minh's forces (Schomp The Vietnam War 5). This led Ho to seek help from China and the Soviet Union, which made Ho favorable towards communism (Schomp The Vietnam War 5). Although the United States was not directly involved in the war until 1955, they did still indirectly play a role in the move against Ho Chi Minh's forces. In an attempt to regain control, France left the French educated, strongly anti-communist Bao Dai in control of the region ("Vietnam War"). This enraged Ho Chi Minh, and his forces immediately rose up seizing the northern city of Hanoi, creating the Democratic Republic of Vietnam ("Vietnam War").
At the end of World War 2 Stalin and his army had driven the Nazis out of many countries in Eastern Europe but he told his armies to stay in these countries and set up communist governments. As capitalists the Americans were scared of communism and the fact that it was spreading throughout Eastern Europe so rapidly. As a result of this expansion America felt they
The US intervened because of this as there was a great fear of communism around at the time. McCarthyism had just become a major issue, with many government officials being accused of being communist and as Truman had lost China, Eisenhower knew that if he ‘lost’ Vietnam, then his popularity would suffer greatly as the US public would think he was soft on communism. As a result, he would not be re-elected. The domino theory was significant because if Indochina fell to communism then there was a risk of the US losing Japan, after the effort the US put into restoring Japan after WW2 and all the trade that came from Japan, the US couldn’t afford for Japan to be threatened. Another significant reason why the US intervened in South East Asia was the power vacuum after Dien Bien Phu.
Japan were on their way to victory so France decided they had no chance of winning and decided to think about surrendering. Japan, being communist, were trying to make Indo-China communist and due to the American