Vietnam research project.

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Vietnam research project

1. Vietnam was a conflict that was originally fought by the French. They acted this way to follow the ‘Truman doctrine’ but by 1950, war had flared up again and America joined. In ’54 Eisenhower had come up with the ‘domino theory’ as a justification for the involvement. This theory stated, “If South Vietnam falls to the Communist, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Burma, India and Pakistan would also fall like dominos. The Pacific Islands and even Australia could be at risk.” After the French were defeated in 1954, Vietnam was split in two; the north was Communist, led by Ho Chi Minh, and the south was Capitalist under Ngo Dinh Diem. Diem's regime got billions of dollars from the US but remained very unpopular with most Vietnamese people. The US prevented the elections that were promised under the Geneva conference because it knew that the Communists would win. Vietnamese Buddhist monks protested against American involvement by suicide, mainly by burning themselves. Operation Phoenix was organised by the CIA. This led to the arrest and murder of thousands of Communists in the south. First the US sent in military advisers, and then President Johnson sent in troops in huge numbers. This shows that America had one main reason for getting involved in Vietnam; to stop the spread of communism. They didn’t want to get involved in this conflict, so they let the French try to resolve it, helping them with a donation of $15 million, including a military mission and military advisors. American involvement officially began in 1950 when the US government recognized the Bao Dai government and began sending the French aid to fight off the communist backed Viet Minh led by Ho Chi Minh, and also when Communist forces from North Korea invade the Republic of South Korea on June 25. In response top this President Truman appealed to the United Nations to take action. The UN quickly labelled North Korea the aggressor, and Truman followed up by immediately sending US air and naval support to Korea. America got involved in this war in stages, they first were only slightly involved, and not publicly by giving the French a military package, including funds, a mission and advisors. Then later in the same year, Truman commits the American troops to Korea. In 1956 the French leave the war and America are fully in charge, it is also their duty to train the South Vietnamese.

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2. The Vietnam War was a whole new experience for the US soldiers, they went in not knowing what to expect, and certainly not creaming of what was to come. Massacre is a word that comes to mind when you read about some of the stories that emerged from Vietnam. The tactics used by both sides were very different, and the Americans were certainly not prepared for the Vietnamese tactics. They used guerrilla war tactics, and the Americans couldn’t easily defend or counter these attacks. They used booby traps, ambushes, and close combat weapons; they were highly trained and ...

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