The Vietnam war was between North Vietnamese versus the United States and the South Vietnamese army. The United States became involved in the Vietnam war because it believed that if all the country fell under the Communist government, Communism would spread throughout Southeast Asia and beyond. This belief was known as the “domino theory” . The US therefore supported the South Vietnamese because there beliefs where non-communism. The government they set up was failing so in 1965 the United States send in troops to prevent collapse of it.
The United States involvement in Vietnam started when the Vietnamese were fighting the French for independence. From the year 1945 up until 1975 the United States had a role in lives of many Vietnamese and Americans. This war was consisted North Vietnam, South Vietnam and the Americans after the French decided to give up to Vietnam. According to the United States we decided to go to war to stop communism from taking over Asia, also known as the "Domino Theory" and its freedom from attack. The Vietnamese had another reason to continue fighting the United States.
-The Vietminh fought back against the French-dominated regime and slowly increased their control over large areas of the countryside. -As fighting between the two sides escalated, France appealed to the U.S. for help. -The U.S. opposed colonialism, but the independence movement in Vietnam had become entangled with the Communist movement. -American officials did not think France should control Vietnam, but they did not want Vietnam to be Communist either. -Two events convinced the Truman administration to help France—the fall of China to communism, and the outbreak of the Korean War.
The Cold War and Vietnam Vietnam was a tumultuous point of conflict for more than 100 years of the 19th and 20th centuries. In the 1860s, France had completely taken over Vietnam. French colonization inevitably led to conflict between the native people and their imperial rulers. Communism now seemed like a good idea to the poor, starving, angry masses. As the communist party gained influence in Vietnam during the late forties and early fifties, at the beginning of the Cold War, the people of the United States were extremely worried about the threat of communism spreading to Southeast Asia.
Then there were the Viet Cong, insurgents who were aided by the North Vietnamese. Finally, there was the United States who sent troops to prevent the South Vietnamese government from collapsing. North Vietnam was run by communist Ho Chi Minh. The communists were trying to force South Vietnam into communism and anyone who disagreed was killed. People in South Vietnam were the enemy of North Vietnam because they were
Thomas Poozhikala D period 3/26/12 Vietnam and Johnson 1. Why did President Johnson increase America’s military presence in Vietnam? What was the Gulf of Tonkin resolution? Johnson increased America’s military presence in Vietnam because he and his advisers believed that an excalation of American force would drive the enemy to defeat with a minum loss on both sides. Therfreo he ordered immediatiely to have bombing raids agisnt military installations in North Vietnam and ordered his troops to land.
During this difficult period, the communists returned to protracted guerrilla warfare and political struggle. Morale declined among communist sympathizers and Saigon government supporters alike. In elections held in South Vietnam in September 1967, former generals Nguyen Van Thieu and Nguyen Cao Ky were elected president and vice president, respectively. Kennedy’s successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, pledged to honor Kennedy’s commitments but hoped to keep U.S. involvement in Vietnam to a minimum. After North Vietnamese forces allegedly attacked U.S. Navy ships in the Gulf of Tonkin in 1964, however, Johnson was given carte blanche in the form of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and began to send U.S. troops to Vietnam.
Why did America get involved in the Vietnam War? The surrender of the French: The surrender of the French in Vietnam had important repercussions for US policy in Asia. For the USA, it was another example of the spread of communism and brought their involvement in the conflict in Vietnam. The French defeat at Dien Bien Phu, due to the lack of plans to combat the guerrilla tactics of the Vietminh, provided a reason as to why the US increased its involvement. USA’s involvement is highlighted through the extensive aid to the French as they transported ships crammed with military hardware.
The Indochina War (France-Vietnam) began after negotiations were suspended between the Viet-Minh and the French Republic in 1946. United States involvement only began in 1954 because the US wanted to stop the expansion of communism, and inevitably lead to its demise. Because of this, the US backed the South Vietnamese government to ignore the results of the independency negotiations of Geneva in 1954. These treaties specified a general election had to be organized in 1955; however, given the Viet-Minh methods, this election was likely to result in a crushing victory for the Viet-Minh in the North if any other party had been allowed to take part. During the late 1950s, the southern government, which had never been elected, became more and more unpopular.
Cara War is something that you never want to experience, especially the war in Vietnam. Vietnam was an absolute mess because at no point was the United States as a whole on the same page about the war in general. Some believed that it was an important war that we needed to win and others believed that we had absolutely no business in Vietnam. As General Sherman said, “War is Hell,” but most vets would say that Vietnam was far worse than hell. They were placed into a war that from the start was impossible to win due to many circumstances and situations starting with the rules of war.