How America Became Increasingly Involved in Vietnam

How America Became Increasingly Involved in Vietnam

America - The major world power in the 1940’s, unrivalled by nothing

other than the expanding fog of Communism. The fog that had started in

the USSR and had expanded across the world. America had devised a

theory, ‘The Domino Effect’ this will be explained in detail later,

but quite simply the Americans thought that if one country was to fall

to communism then the adjoining countries will also turn communist,

like dominos falling under the weight of each other. America believed

in ’containing’ communism and not letting it spread across the

continents. They aimed to do this by effectively controlling a country

with a steadfast democracy to stop the next ‘domino’ fall. Eastern

Europe had come under the veil of Communism and was effectively under

Russian rule. Communism was beginning to pressurize the Indo-Chinese

country’s into submission, the first country which was leaning towards

Communist ways was that of Vietnam, the first domino. Internal

parties, primarily the Vietminh who was under the control of Ho Chi

Minh a Communist believer and a inspirational and influential person,

were bringing pressure to the people of the country as well as outside

pressure from the hulking Communist countries that were China and

Russia, ‘The Red Giants’. This relatively small country hadn’t been

independent since 1859, since the French captured Saigon after years

of relentless fighting. Then, hope came through at a time of darkness,

The Second World War was raging across Europe, France was falling

underneath the waves of oppression from Germany. The French troops

stationed in Vietnam were instantly ...

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... with ‘advisors’ and equipment to the South Vietnamese army. Two

aircraft carriers are then reportedly attacked which then gives the

‘green light’ for bombing in North Vietnam. This triggered attacks

from the NVA (North Vietnamese Army) all across the country of South

Vietnam which leads the US to deploy the marines in South Vietnam.

Simple logic would presume that the way to stop the spread of

communism in South Vietnam was to ‘cut the head off the beast’ and

land troops in North Vietnam. But the political implications would be

enormous, as North Vietnam had Chinese and Russian backing, ‘The Red

Giants‘. US money and men began to spill into the country, Which never

came to no overall effect.

The statistics of the ‘body-count’ would show the US and South

Vietnamese to be winning. Nothing was further from the truth …