Why Vietnam Was Desirable and How the War Began

Vietnam in South East Asia had always been a desirable country. Since

the 19th century, it was ruled by France and called Indo China. Apart

form one rebellion in 1930, France had total control of the country

until they surrendered to Germany in the Second World War in 1940.

Japan, Germany's ally, took control of Vietnam and the resources in

it, such as coal, rice, rubber, railways and roads. An anti-Japanese

resistance organization, which was called the Viet Minh and led by Ho

Chi Minh, a communist, was formed. At the end of the war, the Viet

Minh controlled the North Vietnam and had ambitions to control the

rest. Japan had gone when they entered Hanoi in 1945 and declared

Vietnamese independence. When war broke out between France and Vietnam

in 1946 because the French wanted to regain control of Vietnam, the

Viet Cong, which was a communist-supporting group against the

Americans set up in the South of Vietnam, used guerrilla tactics

against the French. These involved hit and run raids and other tactics

that the French hadn't experienced before and made them almost

impossible to beat.

To begin with, the USA was sympathetic towards the Viet Minh because

they viewed the situation as Vietnam wanting to have independence and

they did not agree with countries having colonies anyway. However in

1949, when communists took over China and began to give help to Ho Chi

Minh, the USA became afraid that the Viet Minh were the puppets of

China. The Americans then became increasingly involved in Vietnam

because they hated communism and were very much afraid of a communist

spread. They feared the Domino effect, which meant that if Vietnam

fell to communism, they expected nearby countries such as...

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...d, and this

makes it less useful. None of the sources mention anything about the

Truman Doctrine or the policy of containment, which makes them less

useful because no opinions about these can be gathered, although all

the sources give opinions on the reasons for America getting involved,

which can be useful to historians when trying to figure out the real

reasons for America's increasing involvement in Vietnam. The sources

give the views of the President in the 1960s and of an anti-war

campaigner, but not the views of the Congress or U.S. people and they

do not mention why President Kennedy became involved in Vietnam in the

first place. Consequently, the sources cannot be used to gather

information about these issues. All of the sources give historians an

idea as to what the reasons were, but do not provide historians with

the full picture.