The Vietnam War was fought to protect democracy and prevent Asia from falling into communist control. It started when France lost control of Vietnam during World War II. When the Viet-Minh led by communist leader Ho Chi-Minh took Hanoi the capitol of Vietnam. Ho Chi-Minh then declared Vietnam an independent country, but France refused to recognize Ho Chi-Minh’s declaration and returned to Vietnam. This caused Ho Chi-Minh’s forces to attack French forces starting the First Indochina War. In 1954 the French sought a peace treaty known as the Geneva accords which declared a cease fire and officially split Vietnam in two. The North under Ho Chi-Minh and his communist forces and the South under a French supported emperor. The United States became involved in Vietnam after the Geneva accords separated Vietnam into North and South. America believed that the fall of North Vietnam to communism might ignite the fall of all of Southeast Asia, known as the domino theory. This caused the United States to back Ngo Dinh Diem, who assumed control of South Vietnam in 1955. He renamed South Vietnam the Republic of Vietnam, but soon Diem’s regime proved to be corrupt. In 1962 fearful of increased communist activity in South Vietnam, President John F. Kennedy sent U.S. military advisors to Vietnam to train the South Vietnam army or ARVN. Soon the U.S. removed Diem and put in a new leader who turned out to be just as corrupt and unpopular. On November 22, 1962 President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. His successor Lyndon B. Johnson attempted to keep American forces in Vietnam to a minimum. In 1964 two U.S. Navy destroyers were attacked by North Vietnamese boats in the Gulf of Tonkin. Following the attack President Johnson asked Congress to pass the Gulf of Tonkin resolution. This resolution gave President Johnson the ability to escalate the war in Vietnam. He began by ordering Operation Rolling Thunder in which U.S. bombers heavily bombed the North Vietnamese for almost two years. These attacks failed and as a result President Johnson increased American forces in Vietnam from 200,000 to over 500,000 by the end of 1968. In order to keep up with the demand for soldiers the United States enacted the draft. The draft randomly selected young men to serve in the U.S. military.
In order to combat the North Vietnamese Army the United States attempted to inflict heavy casualties on the enemy, but the North Vietnamese Army liked to use hit and run tactics. They would move in, attack and be gone before the Americans could organize a defense. These tactics frustrated and confused American forces and left them with few visible enemy targets. In response American forces began using weapons such as napalm and Agent Orange to destroy the vegetation in an attempt to expose the enemy, but it hurt more than it helped. The Viet-Cong another communist force used guerrilla tactics by hiding in the thick jungles of Vietnam and ambushing unsuspecting soldiers. The tactics used by North Vietnamese forces frustrated American forces and lowered morale to an all-time low. The North Vietnamese also didn’t want to play fair; one example of this was the Tet offensive where the NVA attacked American bases like Khe Sanh. The Tet offensive violated a seven day truce in place for the Vietnamese holiday of Tet. The offensive caught American forces off guard and caused almost 5,000 American casualties. This only added to the total loss of over 58,000 American troops in Vietnam. The NVA tactics were very different from those used by U.S. forces, which preferred to use artillery and airpower to weaken the enemy before attacking this was in part because the American soldiers were not accustomed to the terrain in Vietnam. While U.S. troops fought for democracy in Vietnam, citizens in the United States fought against the drafting of young men to serve in the military. They also fought the fact that we were at war and due to that fact they hated the
themselves. During World War 2 the French were invaded by Germany and they lost their control of Vietnam. Soon the Japanese would seek control of Vietnam and occupied them until 1945. They pulled out after World War 2, probably because they were crippled after the war. The United States defeated the Japanese in World War 2 and soon enough we saw North Vietnam a threat. Ho Chi Minh occupied North Vietnam and influenced by the ideology of communism. France went back to Vietnam because they disagreed…
Introduction……………………………………………………………………………… 2 Causes of the war…………………...…………………………………………………… 3 United States Involvement in the war………………………………………………….. 4 The Vietcong……………………………………………………………………………. 5 Australia Involvement in war…………………………………………………………… 7 The Vietnam War Timeline……………………………………………………………. 9 The War Aftermath…………………………………………………………………….. 10 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………. 11 Works Cited…………………………………………………………………………….. 13 Vietnam War Introduction The Vietnam War took place between 1955…
Vietnam War J.Gibbon CHA3U T.Rotskas 30/05/14 By far one of the most significant war and one of the most controversial wars in American History is the Vietnam War. Considerably the most unsuccessful war, although it was extremely influential impact to America. The Vietnam War was a controversial event across the United States in the late 60’s up to the early 70’s. Not because of the fact that the US was losing the war, but for every other aspect as well. What was it really worth? Was…
The Vietnam War The Vietnam War was a brutal and very costly war. The U.S.A got in a fight to try and resist the spreading of communism. I believe the war was costly but the U.S.A did have good reasons for getting involved. Chapter 51 The decisive battle of the First Indochina War began in March 1954, when Viet Minh launched a surprise attack on a large French military base at Dien Bien Phu, in the mountains of northern Vietnam. They soon had the base surrounded. They soon had the base surrounded…
The Vietnam War After World War II ended, the world was polarized. The Communist World, was composed of the Soviet Union and its satellites and allies, and the powers of the Western world, was composed of the United States and its allies. They have different political systems and opposite ideologies. Both of them want to expand their influence in the world. So, they clashed with each other. Since World War II just ended, both of their powers greatly weakened by the war, so they did…
December 3, 2014 Vietnam War The United States got involved in Vietnam was to stop the “Domino Theory.” The domino theory is when a country becomes Communist then another becomes Communist. We got involved to help the French, who were trying to fight them before we even got involved. In July of 1950 The United States Pledged fifteen million worth of military aid to help France fight Vietnam. In the 50s Eisenhower sent advisors to help train French to retaliate against Vietnam and in the 60s JFK…
have included a list of movies that are set during the Vietnam War. I feel that each movie showed a different and emotionally raw part of what war truly looks like on the front line. First Full Metal Jacket is a movie that follows soldier from two different views the first is boot camp and later when they are shipped off to fight during the war. I think it would be beneficial for students to see this movie because it shows our approach as a military at that time to break down our soldiers to find…
1975, The United States was involved in The Vietnam War, the longest ever fought by the United States. This war was a struggle of power between North Vietnam, which was supported by its communist allies, and South Vietnam, which was backed by the United States. To this day, the involvement of the United States in Vietnam remains a topic of great debate. It is difficult to pinpoint the exact origin and reason for the US intervention in Vietnam. Vietnam was previously a French Colony. However, France…
Failure in Vietnam The Vietnam War was one of the most controversial and bloodiest wars in United States history. This war was unique, because it was the first war that media outlets covered it to an extreme, bringing graphic images of the war to homes across the country. The question many historians will ask about this war is how could the U.S, the most powerful military in the world, lose despite winning every major battle? That is where this essay will go into how a defeat in Vietnam started all…
The Vietnam War was from 1959 to 1975. Vietnam was fighting even before the war began. It was said to be the greatest generation of fighters. The French ruled Vietnam, it has five colonies that were smaller, Tonkin (North Vietnam), Cochin-China (South Vietnam), Annam (mainly in the mountains) and Loas and Cambodia. In December 1941, Japanese attacked the colonies of Singapore and Malaya. President Roosevelt didn’t like the Indochina government because they were with Japan during the war. They…