The United States Involvement In The War In Vietnam There were many reasons why the US became increasingly involved in the Vietnam War, and when all linked together they explain why. In this essay I will explain all aspects of why the US got involved and then I will summarise all the points at the end. Since the 1880’s, France had controlled an area of eastern Asia called Indo-China, which consisted of Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam. In 1940, France was at war with Germany and was losing disastrously. This meant that Vietnam was left vulnerable as France was given funding by America to protect Vietnam. Japan, who were Germany’s allies, then took over. They established control over Vietnam with a resistance to make North Vietnam independent, lead by Ho Chi Minh (a communist). He formed a resistance organisation called the Vietminh. In 1946, the Vietminh started a Guerrilla War against the French, who were trying to regain control of Vietnam. The US first got concerned when its national interest was strongly threatened by the countries around Vietnam, a country albeit 9000 miles away from them, and so they felt they had to be involved in a war there. The reason why was the Government’s fear of the spread of communism at the time. China becoming communist in 1949; after the US had spent $2 billion supporting anti-communists, the Korean War and the communist victory over the French in Vietnam all lead Americans to believe that communism was taking over the world and feared that they would indeed be next. The US Government thought that by funding the South Vietnamese Government resist the attacks of the communist North Vietnamese,... ... middle of paper ... ... not have been elected at that time, but he might still have been elected later on in the future. There’s no way of telling what might have happened, because you can’t tell what might have. You can say maybe troops wouldn’t have been sent over, maybe “Operation Rolling Thunder” and the “Tet Offensive” wouldn’t have happened, but it still might have. Kennedy may have, if he hadn’t been killed, reconsidered his views on what to do. He might have sent over troops and everything would happen like it did anyway. Therefore, considering all this, I don’t believe that there was any one most important reason for America becoming more increasingly involved in the war, as they are all linked to one another. When one event happened, so did another few events that were related to it. This in itself is like a Domino reaction.
As a result, the Geneva agreement was set up to try and keep order in
Reasons for United States' Involvement in Vietnam In this essay I will be writing about why America got involved in the Vietnam War, between the 1950s to the 1960s. This was a steady and slow process with many deaths all because of communism. It was very costly and bloody. This essay will focus on political reasons, military reasons and economy reasons.
Vietnam is a time in American history that most of us would like to forget, but really, we must learn from it. Vietnam is a time where we didn't look at the whole picture, it was 'perceived through the lens of Cold War politics.' (MP:420) With the new ?domino theory,? Americans feared for their safety and the safety of the 'free world.' If they didn't step in, they would inevitably lose the world to communism.
During the war in Vietnam, Americans growing opposition towards the war increased especially in 1967. By 1967 close to nineteen thousand soldiers had died so far and each month, another thirty thousand were drafted into the military. Also, Americans were once again agitated when, in order to meet the costly war expenses, President Johnson requested the creation of new taxes (Keene 792). The Americans who opposed the war included working- and middle-class people, college students, working-class women, and African Americans and they were all apart of the antiwar movement. These college students, African Americans, and middle class members recognized the problems with the war, were affected socially and culturally by the war, and helped shape the general response to the war by the American public.
The Vietnam war brought about multiple uses for the military police. These men had a wide spectrum of jobs, which could range from fighting in the front line all the way to traffic control. They also fought in many battles, raided towns, guarded important cargo and areas, training dogs, digging out tunnel rats, and catching Vietcong members.
Throughout the 1960’s and 1970’s Vietnam was in the midst of a Civil war. The North and South were divided amongst themselves. The North wanted a communist based county while the South wanted an anti- communist based country. This caused the two to go to war with each other. Eventually the United States got involved in the war and supported South Vietnam simply because they were anti- communist and they wanted to prevent the Domino Theory. The Vietnam War cost a lot of money, and put America into even more debt. In addition, a lot of soldiers lost their lives serving. This caused for many riots, and protests back in America. Eventually a credibility gap grew between the citizens and the government which led to distrust. Lastly, the fact that it was a Civil War between a divided country across the world, made matters worse. For these reasons, America’s involvement was unjust.
The Vietnam War would end up splitting the United States in half. The tension between anti-war groups and the people for the war were building more and more each day because this war was dragging on. Many people thought that the war was only going to take less than a year. However, what we didn’t know is that we were fighting a war that could not be acquired. The Vietnam War events from 1964 to 1975 created tensions in politics, economics, and social aspects of American life.
The Vietnam War was a long war fought from 1954-1975. It was a war whether Vietnam was going to be communist ruled by the North Vietnam or was it going to be “democratic” by the South Vietnamese. The United States gave aid with supplies and military to the South Vietnamese. At the end, communism was spread through Vietnam.
As many as two million Vietnamese civilians were killed during the Vietnam War(Spector). Would this number have been different if certain things off the battlefield in the United States did not occur. The Vietnam War was a war between the communist regime of North Vietnam leaded by Ho Chi Minh, and the non-Communist South Vietnam. The United States fought with the south in fear that if all of Vietnam became communist then the domino effect would occur and all of Asia would turn to communism(“Vietnam, War”). The war began in 1954 and ended in 1975 when communist forces took over the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon(“Vietnam”). This was two years after President Nixon, the thirty seventh President of the United States ordered the withdrawal
At the end of World War Two (WW2) in 1945, it became necessary for the
Nationalists, in general, were split in terms of favoring or being against the Vietnam war. For the most part, the idea of stopping the spread of communism was the main reason many of them stood for the war. Although some of them also believed the idea that “if the American government felt it necessary to attack, then we must support it! What’s best for America is what is best for us!” At the same time, however, many nationalist Americans struggled with the idea of whether the war itself was worth the US being involved. Many believed that America should address other areas of foreign policy, as well as China and the USSR directly. A direct challenge of those two communist nations would be most beneficial for their country. Many nationalists
France had control of Indochina which later became the countries Laos, Cambodia, North Vietnam and South Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh, who was communist, and his followers, who were called Viet Minh entered into war with the French from 1946 to 1954. There was a conference to decide the fate of Indochina, which was determined in the Geneva Accord. The Geneva Accord divided Indochina into 4 different regions which were Laos, Cambodia, North Vietnam, and South Vietnam. Laos and Cambodia were both meant to be neutral. An election was planned for 1956 to reunite North and South Vietnam under the same leader.
The political instability in Vietnam from 1950 to 1975 between the communist North Vietnam and anti-communist South Vietnam during the Cold War era has led to the United States’ inevitable intervention in Vietnam. The main motivators for the United States’ incremental decision to intervene and commitment in Vietnam can be viewed as an accumulation of socio-political, political and economic catalysts. In recognition that there were many other factors that may have contributed to the U.S’s involvement in the conflict in Vietnam, this essay will largely focus on these three factors. As the cold war resonates, the American’s crusade was propelled by the fears of the domino theory and perception of Communist threat and expansion affected the views of the public on a socio-political level. The American’s renege of 1954 Geneva Accords about Vietnam and its desire to further improve relations with the French acted as a political stimulant for US involvement. Finally, the likely presence of a military-industrial complex in Vietnam suggests an explanation of the American’s attempt to upload its economic dominance over the third world and explains their increased military commitment in Vietnam as the war progressed.
The Vietnam War is also known as Second Indochina War or the Resistance War Against America. It is one of the only major wars that has ended in American defeat. The Vietnam War was a series of battles between North Vietnam, their allies, South Vietnam, and their allies. I chose to research this event because I had very little prior knowledge about the war and I wanted to learn about it.
The Vietnam War took action after the First Indochina War, in fact the Vietnam War is also known as the Second Indochina War. This war included the communist North Vietnam and its allies of the Viet Cong, the Soviet Union, China and other communist allies going against South Vietnam and its allies, the Unites States, Philippines and other anti-communist allies. It was a very long and conflicting war that actually started in 1954 and ended in 1975. The war began after the rise to power of Ho Chi Minh and his communist party in North Vietnam. More than three million people were killed during the war, this included approximately 58,000 Americans and more than half of the killed were actually Vietnamese civilians. The Vietnam War ended by the communist forces giving up control of Saigon and the next year the country was then unified as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Many people, including both men and women were directly and indirectly involved within the war itself. Women worked many different roles in the Vietnam War, and they are most definitely not credited enough for all that they actually did.