Fighting in Vietnam before the Vietnam War

The beginning of the war started during World War Two, when Japanese forces invaded Vietnam forcing out the French influence. After the war Japanese forces refused to vacate Vietnam, therefore causing Vietnam’s future leader Ho Chi Mien to request foreign help. Ho Chi Mien requested help from both the US and China, and was successfully able to expel all

There had been fighting in Vietnam decades before the Vietnam War began. Vietnam had been occupied by the French until their defeat at Dien Bien Phu in 1954 and the Japanese from 1941 until 1945. After the Geneva agreement in 1954 Vietnam was divided along the 17th parallel into North and South Vietnam. Diem became president in the South in 1955 which is when it is considered America really got involved, because they now had to support Diem’s government with supplies, military equipment and money. The reason America got involved was because of

The true history of the Vietnam War does not appear to be widely know, and did not begin with the Eisenhower Administration, but in fact actually dates back to 1945 and the end of WWII. The issues first began when the Japanese recognized their lost efforts during WWII and surrendered. This is now as the First Indochina War, which took place between 1946 and continued until 1954. Their surrender left Vietnam vulnerable as they were now any formal national government. An aspiring communist organizer/ leader, Ho Chi Minh, tried to promote independence for Vietnam in the fall of 1945 and took advantage of the lack of leadership in Vietnam at the national level in an attempt to make this a reality. However, this was unsuccessful as what ensued was a highly contested battle for control of the country between the French colonial forces and the Viet Minh. Eventually, both British and Chinese officials arrived in Vietnam to monitor and facilitate the withdrawal of Japanese troops from the region. Politically and ideologically, this was motivated by anti-communist sentiments, as a result, the British and the Chinese both permitted French colonial rule to prevail as they preferred this over allowing communists to control the country. During the war the French described Viet Minh solders as “elusive”, and an unknown French soldier was quoted as saying: “The enemy melted into the jungle.” This would serve to be a foretelling of what

Vietnam War began in 1955 due to Communism vs anti-Communism in Vietnam. Vietnam after World War 2 was split into two, North and South Vietnam. South Vietnam was occupied by France, and North Vietnam wanted to to spread communism which were backed up by the USSR (Russia) and Communist China. South Vietnam was anti-communist, so there was conflict, and the Americans supported them because they were also anti-communist.

Vietnam War’s leading cause was the Indochina War. Many countries tried to seize control of Vietnam, leading to many conflicts. For a long period of time Indochina was overrun by the French, which was a region of Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. They continued to have power over the country until the World War 2. Japan invaded but their power was short-lived due to the defeat of the war. Emperor Bao who was a French leader then took control of Indochina. The communist political leader named Ho Chi Minh decided it was time to take action and sent his army known as the Viet Minh to attack a northern city called Hanoi. Winning the battle in 1945 Ho Chi Minh became president, created Hanoi as capital and announced the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

The United States got involved in Vietnamese affairs after World War II. Weakened by the war, the French were no longer able to keep their colony in Indochina, while Communist ideas and desire for independence from colonialism inspired Indochinese to take up arms against French colonial masters. The United States partly wanted to support the French as America's ally, but mostly wanted to prevent the spread of Communism in Southeast Asia, assuming that the fall of one country into Communist hands would lead to the fall of the entire region in a "domino theory." Americans also thought that the Vietnamese communists were part of the international communist movement. These assumptions

The Vietnam War was fought from November 1955 to April 1975. The French, who had regained control of the Southeast Asian country from Japan after World War II, faced a guerrilla-style fight in the form of the North Vietnamese faction known as the Viet Cong, known by the acronym VC in the latter part of the war. The Viet Cong viewed themselves as freedom fighters who wanted to be free from foreign influences. However, in order to achieve economic and political freedom for their country, they received assistance from Chinese and Russian Communist military and economic advisors. This group was led by Ho Chi Minh, a Communist-trained leader who led subversive campaigns into South Vietnam, which was ruled by a leader named Ngo Dinh Diem. Ho Chi Minh operated from his capital city of Hanoi, while Ngo Dinh Diem's base of operation was Saigon. With the country divided, yet liberated from the French, both sides became embroiled in a proxy war between the Soviet Union, who supported Ho Chi Minh's government, and eventually, the United States, who saw the expansion of Communism into Southeast Asia as a threat to the international security of the citizens of the affected countries.

To understand the origins of the Vietnam War we must go back to the period prior to 1954 which was when Vietnam was a French colony. The French had colonized the South Asia areas of Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam in the late 1880’s as part of their vast colonization movement. The French had justified this colonization movement by creating an ideology to support their expansion goals. This ideology was called “mission civilisatrice” which means civilizing mission in English. They felt that certain areas of the world were undeveloped and uncivilized and as such they required the oversight and management of France to help bring them modern ideas and social reforms. As a result of this expansion by France the country of Vietnam became a colony of France along with other locations. The area eventually controlled by the French was referred to as French Indochina.

The Vietnam War truly began when France attempted to control Vietnam. The leader at the time was Ho Chi Minh, a well known communist, but a nationalist first. Minh fought for independence for his country, and eventually reached out to the United States for help resolving the conflict. He sent Truman eight letters asking for support; instead of helping the Vietnamese, Truman instead sent military support, in the form of money, to France. In this instance, Truman was being irrational, because he openly stated he did not support colonization. Yet, he supported the French in their conquest to colonize Vietnam? “Between 1950 and 1954, the United States contributed $2.6 billion to France’s war efforts,” simply because Truman was scared of the spread of communism. Truman believed that Vietnam becoming a communist power would trigger the transformation of other nations too. Although, he did not spend enough time thinking about Minh. Minh was a nationalist first and a communist second. Vietnam was not really a threat and neither was the form of communism Minh was enforcing. Instead of analyzing his options, Truman rushed into a war that fought against what the United States believed in, because he allowed his fear of communism to guide his decision making, rather than his logical rational. The Vietnamese ended up winning their war for independence after France surrendered. Only a day after an international peace conference was held in

As a result of the Geneva Conference, French influence started to go away in Indochina and two new nations were born. After the French had left Vietnam and the rest of Indochina, the U.S. willingly took responsibility of South Vietnam. North Vietnam, on the other hand, fully established itself as a communist country under Ho Chi Minh’s leadership.

The Vietnam war started way before America became involved (1955–1975). Indochina, which included Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam, were all under French colonial rule. The Vietnam communist-nationalist, Vietminh, fought for freedom from the French. The United States sent resources to France to help them defeat the communist risk.

After World War II, The United States played a detrimental role in recognizing France’s right to colonial rule in Vietnam. As a result, the French instituted repressive control, and an estimated 600,000 to 2,000,000 Vietnamese were starved to death while Vietnamese rice was exported to France (Gunn). Oppressed and furious, the Vietnamese, led by Ho Chi Minh, a communist who had pursued Vietnamese autonomy all of his life, declared their independence in 1945 and overthrew the French five years later. However, France and the United States continued to instill their influence in South Vietnam by inserting their own democratic puppets (“The American Involvement…”). In essence, the United States, under the pretense of combating an oncoming “plague” of Communism, instigated a war in 1965 against North Vietnam with the intention to prevent the southern and northern portions of Vietnam from uniting and achieving sovereignty under one government. Kerry perceived the war as an illegitimate act against a people who have longed to be free from foreign intervention and thus, wants to end the war by calling on the Senate to begin withdrawing troops.

It wasn 't long for before bloodshed and war returned to Vietnam. After the end of World War 2, the French sought to regain dominance over their old colony. The Viet Minh resisted heavily and the fighting continued from 1946-1954. Along the way, the North received a lot of help from its Communist friends. With Communism winning in China, the Chinese could now focus on sending troops and supplies to fuel the fight against France. Their other ally, Russia, “also sent aid and arms” to help the effort5. The French-Indochina War officially ended with the signing of the Geneva Agreements6. The agreements stated there would be a two-year protected period where there would be no foreign troops allowed in the

Vietnam was originally a part of the French Empire. The French colonization of Vietnam made Vietnam want to become an independent country. Ho Chi Minh, the Vietnamese Communist leader, created a provisional government on August 1, 1945 which was an emergency or interim government set up when a political void has been created by the collapse of a very large government. The early provisional governments were created to prepare for the return of royal rule. Independence in Vietnam was then declared September 2, 1945. China then became a communist country in 1949 after the Chinese communist rebels, led by Mao Zedong, won the civil war. Starting in 1950 the United States began to support South Korea in the Korean War against the Chinese communist rebels.Vietnam was no longer a French colony in 1954 when they signed a treaty at the Geneva Conference, which stated that the North Communists would be separated from the South

The Vietnam war started as a U.S. strategy of authority in times of the cold war, which was directed to prevent the advancement of communism in the world. The War had begun in 1954, after the rise of power with Ho Chi Minh and his communist Viet Minh party in North Vietnam, and continued against the backdrop of an intense Cold War against the United States and the Soviet Union. More than 3 million people were killed, including 58,000 Americans. In 1975, communist forces took control of Saigon, ending the Vietnam War, and the Country was combined as the Socialist Republican of Vietnam the following year. The Vietnamese wanted the desire to have a national government that was truly independent. While the Americans were afraid of communist expansion. Ho Chi Minh who had led a party about communism had great power and because of that Americans were scared that he would spread Communism throughout the world. To prevent from communism affecting the world using the Domino Theory, so America went to War.