The Vietnam War was a bloody dispute that lasted 20 years, from 1955 to 1975. After winning its own independence from France in 1954, the country itself split into two parts, North and South Vietnam. North Vietnam was led by Ho Chi Minh, a communist leader who lead his country into its revolution against the French. The North had a communist style government styled off of the successful Communist revolution in Russia. The South on the other hand, was backed up by the United States and had an anti-communist government led by Ngo Dinh Diem. Diem was a very repressive leader though, and soon enough a guerilla force made up of communists now called the ‘Viet Cong’ started to attack and kill Southern Vietnamese government officials. The Viet Cong …show more content…
North Vietnam seemed to be winning the war, and the Soviet Union and China started to supply and backup the communist north. Then on August 2, 1964, North Vietnamese torpedo boats targeted and attacked a U.S destroyer named the USS Maddox. President Johnson asked congress to pass an authorization for him to do whatever was needed to protect the U.S or it’s Asian allies in the threat of another attack. Johnson did this to allow the United States to send troops into Vietnam without congress officially declaring war. This was a very unpopular war, and by the end of the war the casualties were heavy on both sides. The U.S lost over 58,000 troops, and the winner of such war is one debated even to this day. Many say that since the U.S lost so many troops and failed to stop the spread of communism, we lost. Others debate that because a peace treaty was signed between the U.S and Vietnam, the United States was …show more content…
If the U.S hadn’t participated in the war, then more anti-communist people of South Vietnam would have been killed.
North Vietnam broke the Geneva Agreement by not allowing its citizens to leave under the new rule and start a new life in the south. The U.S then came in to enforce this Geneva rule since it had been broken
The U.S wanted to stop the spread of communism to neighboring
The year was 1955, when the war of Vietnam had started. Only it had begun in early November, the days were cold and crisp. Ho Chi Minh, the communist leader in North Vietnam. Ho’s main goal was to engender all of Vietnam into a single state; which inaugurates the Vietnam War. The New World Encyclopedia explains, “U.S. deployed large numbers of military personnel to south Vietnam. U.S. military advisers first became involved in Vietnam as early as 1950, when they began to assist French colonial forces.” Unfortunately the number of casualties is unknown, but the New World Encyclopedia states that “U.S. military fatalities, including missing in action, 57,690; South Vietnamese military, 243,748; Australia and New Zealand military, 469; The Vietnamese Peoples ' Army and NLF, 666,000; South Vietnamese civilians, 300,000; North Vietnamese civilians, 65,000.” The outcome of the Vietnam War was both north and south Vietnam was unified into one state. The country also became a socialist republic, but that did not last long due to the Khmer Rouge. The Khmer rouge eventually cut ties with their allies, which upset Chinese. With all of that it turned the in the Chinese invasion to North Vietnam.
Part 1: The Vietnam War occurred when conflict between communist North Vietnam and South Vietnam (supported by the United States) arose during the years 1954 and 1975. The Vietnam War created many controversial issues because for one thing, President Lyndon B. Johnson was reluctant to send U.S. to Vietnam, however, he feared that voters wouldn’t forgive him if he lost Vietnam and that this loss will give electoral advantages to Republicans (Foner …). In 1964, an American ship on a mission to spy on North Vietnam was encountered by North Vietnamese boats. This caused the U.S. Congress to immediately pass the Gulf of Tonkin resolution in order for the president to take any necessary measures to defend the U.S troops in Vietnam.
Starting with the division of Vietnam into North and South Vietnam after the battle of Bien Dien Phu. The North, led by Ho Chi Minh and the communist Viet Cong, sought to unify the country under a communist government, whereas the South supported by the U.S. aimed to prevent
The Vietnam War was the longest war in the history of the United States it lasted from 1959-1975. Billions of dollars was spent trying to win and unwinnable war. Countless of lives were lost and America failed to achieve its objective. The origins of the war stem from the Indochina wars that occurred in the late 40s and early 50s. After many years of colonial war, the Viet Minh a communist group led by Ho Chi Minh sought independence for Vietnam. The French were not reluctant to let go of their crowning jewel without a fight. The French were aided militarily by the Unites States who sought the membership of France to the NATO and were willingly to provide as much aid to ensure that they won the war and Vietnam did not fall to communism. This led to an eight year war which culminated with the defeat of the French at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu. A cease fire was issued and peace agreements known as the Geneva Accords where drawn during the 1954 Geneva Conference. The agreement issued a temporary division of Vietnam along the 17th parallel which created a Communist North Vietnam led by Ho Chi Minh and a democratic South Vietnam led by prime minister Ngo Dinh Diem. Vietnam was supposed to unify after the nationwide election of 1956 which Diem refuse to acknowledge.
During the 30 years of XX century Vietnam was at war. It all started in the 1940′s, when the Communists fought against French colonial rule, and was completed in 1975 with the fall of Saigon.
Let’s start from the beginning, the start of the Vietnam War started way before the fighting and war actually happened. The start of the Vietnam War really started at the end of WWII. Tension grew between the United States and the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union were a communist government, and the United States was very firmly against that. The United States had a fear of communism growing and that sparked the urge to get our foot in the door, and stop it. (Vietnam at War, Bradley) Northern Vietnam was also a communist government which of course meant they sided with the Soviet Union, which means we did not agree with North Vietnam. South Vietnam was not a communist government and they did not agree with the rules and the intentions of North Vietnam. This is where problems began.
The United States intervention in Vietnam is seen by the world as America’s greatest loss and longest war. Before the start of the war in Vietnam, the thought of the United States losing this war was unheard of because America was technologically superior, no country in south East Asia could contend with them. Lyndon B. Johnson announced that he would not be the president to allow South East Asia to go Communist . Why the United States lost the war has been a huge debate since the end of the war, because there were so many factors affecting why they lost; the war was a loss politically, after losing support from not only the American public but also the South Vietnamese and losing a political mandate for the war by 1973, when the last
Vietnam was a country divided into two by communism in the North and capitalism in the South. The Vietnam War, fought between the years 1959 and 1975, was, in essence, a struggle by nationalists in the north to unify the nation under a communist government. This was a long standing conflict between the two sides that had been occurring for years. It wasn’t until 1959 when the USA, stepped in, on the side of southern Vietnamese, to stop the spread of communism. It was a war that did not capture the hearts and minds of the American people as it was viewed as a war that the US army couldn’t win and so the government lost the peoples support for the war. This ultimately led to the withdrawal of the US army from Vietnam. Some people, like
The Vietnam War is very well-known as being one of the most controversial wars that the United States of America has ever participated in. The Vietnam War took place in the middle of the Cold War. The Cold War, was a war between the United States and the Soviet Union. It was a war of ideas and culture, the basis of this war was military build-up and the stocking of nuclear warheads. The Soviet UNion had a Communist government and was very secretive during this time. This secrecy worried the United States and increased their fear of Communism. As a result of this fear and the fear of nuclear war, the United States entered multiple “Proxy Wars” and the Vietnam War was one of them. The Vietnam War was
The Vietnam War escalated from a Vietnamese civil war into a limited international conflict, in which the United States was deeply involved. The Vietnam War was fought in South Vietnam between government forces aided by the United States and guerilla forces aided by the North Vietnamese. Despite increased American military involvement and signed peace agreements in 1973, the Vietnam War did not end until North Vietnam's successful invasion of South Vietnam in 1975. The Vietnam War may have been the longest war in American history, but after South Vietnam collapsed, America was left to question their highly controversial involvement in a lost cause.
The Vietnam War was a conflict, which the United States involved itself in unnecessarily and ultimately lost. The basis of the conflict was simple enough: Communism vs. Capitalism, yet the conduct of the Vietnam War was complex and strategic, and brought repercussions which had never been seen before. The struggle between North and South had an almost inevitable outcome, yet the Americans entered the War optimistic that they could aid the falling South and sustain democracy. The American intentions for entering the Vietnam conflict were good, yet when the conflict went horribly wrong, and the resilient North Vietnamese forces, or Viet Cong' as they were known, refused to yield, the United States saw they were fighting a losing battle.
The Vietnam War began in 1954 when Ho Chi Minh and his communist Viet Minh party came into power in North Vietnam. The Vietnam Conflict was one of the most costly and long conflict which was basically between the communist regime of North Vietnam & its southern supporter and South Vietnam and its main supporter United States. There were more than 3 million people that were killed in this war, 58, 000 were the American Soldiers and Vietnamese civilians were also included in the given number. Even more than half of the Vietnamese civilians were killed in this war. United States involved in this war in 1969 and 500,000 U.S. military personnel were involved in this war by the United States in the same year. The withdrawal of U.S force from this war was ordered by President Richard Nixon in 1973 and President had to face criticism for giving this order. (HISTORY.com, 2014)This war was ended in 1975 after forcing a seized control over the Saigon. The country enjoyed the incorporation as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in the same year.
The Vietnam War was Armed Conflict, costly, long, which opposed the communist regime of North Vietnam and the southern allies, known as the Viet Cong against South Vietnam and its main ally, the United States. Controversial war, increasingly unpopular at home, and ended with the withdrawal of US troops in 1973 and the unification of Vietnam under communist control two years later. More than 3 million people, including 58,000 Americans
The Vietnam War (1 Nov 1955 – 30 Apr 1975) was fought between United States soldiers in South Vietnam and the Viet Cong of North Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh was the communist leader of North Vietnam. The Vietnam War spanned over the presidencies of John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Gerald Ford. Despite the French losing their war in Vietnam from 1945-1954, the United States would begin its own war there in 1955. The U.S. got involved in Vietnam mainly because of its Cold War ideas. The U.S. lost because of the self-imposed limitations on war, underestimating the Viet Cong, and the public aspect of the war.
The Vietnam War spanned from 1954 to 1973 and had the name, the Second Indochina War, prior to the United States involvement. The initial cause for the war was a battle between communist North Vietnam and its southern allies, the Viet Cong, against South Vietnam and its allies, the key ally being the United States. Ho Chi Minh, the leader of North Vietnam, was one goal, to unseat the French hold on South Vietnam to reunite the entire country. The resulting war would end up spanning across nearly two decades and would be costly both financially and in the number of lives lost.