Critically analyse the Vietnam War in 1963

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Critically analyse the Vietnam War in 1963

        The Vietnam War which started in 1963 lasted for 10 years. The origin of this  place went back to the early 19th century when it was a colony of the French. The French rule in Vietnam was extremely harsh and unpopular. During the Second World War, when the French lost to the Germans, Vietnam became a colony of the Japanese. They were never allowed to form their own government, have their own leaders or any say in political decisions. Japanese rule for about 5 years was also harsh and cruel. For decades Vietnamese were suppressed under foreign rule. During the Japanese rule, a secret guerilla organization called the Vietminh had started forming under Ho Chi Minh. This communist organization started resisting the Japanese government in Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh was an intelligent, educated, traveled man who followed the communist ideology. He had effectively used the help of the Western Allies to get rid of the Japanese. They harassed the Japanese so successfully, that after the War they felt strong enough to create the Democratic Republic of North Vietnam. However with the defeat of Germany and Japan after the second World War, the French returned to their former colony but this time they were resisted. This was not planned before hand, but after the civil war in Chin with Mao as their leader, Hi Cho Minh and his organization were boosted and encouraged to do the same in Vietnam. With Mao as the new leader brought hope to Vietnamese and a civil war in 1949. The French fought a fruitless war with the guerillas for eight years. The Americas, keeping in with their Domino Theory helped the French but despite that they were defeated at Dien Bien Phu.

                

        A conference followed at Geneva in the summer of 1954, dividing the whole country into new states: Laos and Cambodia were to be neutralized, and Vietnam was to be sub-divided into North and South, their boundary a demilitarized zone along the 17th parallel.  They decided to hold elections to finalize the government in Vietnam in two years to reunite the country. In the meantime Ho and his followers along with the Soviets and China had a stronghold in the North and former Emperor Bai Dai in the South.

        

        From here onwards the role of the Americans became increasingly important. To Eisenhower, and later Kennedy, Vietnam, a border between the communist and the non-communist spheres of influence, a a bastion of the “free world”. Both presidents recognized the relevance of the “domino principal” to the situation there. They realized if Vietnam was allowed to be a communist country, then soon this might influence the other South East Asian countries to be communist too. The newly-established Republic of Vietnam, set up in the South under the Catholic aristocrat Ngo Dinh Diem, was increasingly supported by United States money and expertise. Ngo Dihn was a rich aristocrat who hated communism; he was harsh, corrupt and extremely unpopular with the people. The Americans recognized him as the perfect puppet to rule Vietnam. So they started pouring in funds ($ 1 million) into South Vietnam and made every effort to stop the free elections that were going to be held.

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        The reason why the Americans wanted to stop the elections was clear. For decades the Vietnamese hated the French and Japan, capitalist rule which treated them unfairly and in an unjust manner. The Americans knew that in the elections, Ho Chi Minh and his communist government would win easily and Vietnam would become a communist state. As described above, the other countries around it would also be influenced to adopt a communist government. They were aware of the fact that like in Vietnam, the conditions in the other South East countries were poor and any reform in some country ...

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