Explain why America became increasingly involved in the affairs of Vietnam

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Explain why America became increasingly involved in the affairs of Vietnam

Before the Second World War Vietnam had been a French colony. Vietnam consisted of mainly thick jungle and most of the people who lived their were farmers growing rice on the flat, fertile land by the coast.

        The Japanese during the war occupied Vietnam. A strong resistance movement, Vietminh (anti-Japanese resistance movement) emerged with a communist leader, Ho Chi Minh. Ho Chi Minh inspired the Vietnamese people to fight for an independent Vietnam. When the war ended the Vietminh controlled the north of Vietnam and were ready to take control of the rest of the country.

        The French wanted to regain control of Vietnam again. The Vietnamese people had not fought the Japanese only then to hand over power to the French. In 1946 war broke out between the French and the Vietminh. Ho Chi Minh cleverly did not mention that he was communist so that countries such as the USA would not get involved. The French asked President Eisenhower of the United States to send American troops to help. There was even mention of using nuclear weapons. Eisenhower said ‘No’ to both of these requests. The United States had just ended the war in Korea in which over 40,000 American’s had died. They were in no mood to see anymore Americans die in Vietnam.

        In 1949, Ho Chi Minh declared himself communist. This date was cleverly chosen as it coincided with the fact that communists took over China. Ho Chi Minh now has help from the Chinese. The Americans now see that the Vietminh are just ‘Puppets’ of Mao Tse-tung and the Chinese communists. This is the start of American becoming increasingly involved with Vietnam, as they are afraid of a communist plan to dominate all of Southeast Asia. The USA poured $500 million a year into the French war effort and helped the French set up a non-communist government in the south of the country. The war between France and the Vietminh dragged on for eight years and the Vietminh used the guerrilla tactics against the French. The guerrilla tactics were very effective, as the terrain was suitable. The Vietminh would hide in the thick jungle and sniper off the French soldiers. The Vietminh eventually defeated the French at Dien Bien Phu in 1954. Britain, France, China the Soviet Union, the United States, and Vietnam had already arranged to meet in May 1954 in Geneva, Switzerland. They met the day after Dien Bien Phu fell. Eisenhower wanted the French to continue fighting but they had enough. The Vietminh wanted early elections so the people could elect a government for the whole of Vietnam. They were confident of winning. The western powers (Britain, France and the United States) wanted along delay before elections. They were worried by Ho Chi Minh’s popularity throughout Vietnam, if they delayed it long enough then many people wouldn’t vote for him. Vietnam would be divided into two along the 17th parallel; the North would be under Ho Chi Minh and the South under Ngo Dinh Diem. The Vietminh forces would withdraw from the South and the French would pull out of the North. The plan was to hold national elections in both North and South. The Americans in 1954, prevented elections taking place because they feared the communists would win. A fixed date for the elections was July 1956. In eight years of fighting, 400,00 soldiers and civilians died. But few at the time believed that the Geneva agreement really would end the conflict. For one thing, the leader of the South, Ngo Dinh Diem, refused to accept the agreement. The Americans made it clear that they would support Diem because he was a strong enemy of communism. Looking back on the events mentioned, from 1949-1954, America started to increase in the affairs of Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh delayed his announcements of being communist, so that, America and other western powers wouldn’t get involved as they feared and hated communism. When Ho Chi Minh did announce that he was communist, America feared that the whole of, South East Asia would turn to communism as china had recently did and Ho Chi Minh would get support from them. So America poured money into France for them to fight against the Vietminh. This is the start of America becoming involved in Vietnam.

        Eisenhower’s foreign policy followed what was called the domino theory. This was the idea that the countries of South East Asia (and other places as well) were closely linked together. This meant that if one of them fell to communism then a ‘chain reaction’ would take place and the surrounding countries will also turn to communism. This chain reaction can also be described, as a row of dominoes if one fell then the rest will follow. China had turned towards communism in 1949. North Korea and North Vietnam also had communist governments. If the South Vietnamese ‘domino’ followed, then the next country which is likely to fall is Malaya or Burma. Eisenhower was determined that communism would stop at the 17th parallel. Diem was elected President of South Vietnam in October 1955. To prevent Vietnam turning to communism, the United States would therefore have to supply Diem’s government with money, supplies and military equipment. Eisenhower knew that Diem’s government would have to win the support of the people of South Vietnam. The fact that Diem was a catholic while most Vietnamese were Buddhists wouldn’t make this any easier. Diem’s first acts was to announce that his government would refuse to hold reunification elections, on the grounds that people of North Vietnam would not be free to express there will and because of the probability of falsified votes. (Although Diem and other South Vietnamese officials were also accused of fraudulent election practices). The statistics for Diem’s election in 1955 tell a great deal about the kind of government Diem planned and the kind of man the United States was backing. Diem won with 98.2% of the votes. The Americans had wisely advised him to claim only 60 or 70% of the vote in his support. In Saigon there were 450,000 people entitled to vote. Somehow, 605,000 people voted for Diem! Clearly Diem had cheated in the elections.

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        Eisenhower hoped Diem would carry out land reforms to help the peasants of the South get land of their own. But Diem was not interested in land reform. The minister in charge of the land reform wasn’t interested either. He was a big landowner. Land abandoned by its owners during the war was taken from the peasants who were now farming it. Those peasants who did get land had to pay for it in instalments. However, when the Vietminh distributed land, they gave it to the peasants.

        Diem was only interested in hunting down supporters of the Vietminh and ‘re-educating’ ...

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The author demonstrates impressive subject knowledge throughout this essay, with excellent detail and use of statistics to add factual depth. There are some astute evaluative comments but these regularly get lost in a narrative explanation of what happened, rather than why. To improve, a clear analytical point should be made at the start of each paragraph to demonstrate the link to the question. The conclusion is weak and should be used to clearly set out the author's key points. 3 stars.