In 1953, General Henri Navarre decided to pick a fight with the Vietminh, a predominantly communist group from North Vietnam, led by communist leader Ho Chi Minh. General Navarre believed the French’s superior firepower would lead to a victory over Vietnam, and in late 1953, French paratroopers took control of Diem Bien Phu, and built a fortified garrison.
The war took place in 1954, when Vietnam attacked the French, and after fifty five days, France shamefully surrendered. Although Vietnam lost
History GCSE Coursework
Candidate Name: Anthony Skeete
Candidate Number: 7104
Vietnam Post 1939
Assignment 2
Why did America become increasingly involved in the affairs of Vietnam.
200,000 men to France’s 90,000, it had put their name on the map. This result was bad news for America, and to add to that, Vietnam split again. This left the north prone to communism. From here it was inevitable America would get involved.
On the same day, both North and South Vietnamese representatives met with representatives of France, Great Britain, the Russia, America, China, and the neighbouring states, Laos and Cambodia, in Geneva, to discuss the future of Indo-China. At this conference, it was agreed to divide Vietnam along the 17th parallel. This meant giving the north to the communists, and the south to the Saigon government.
On October 24th 1954, the American president, Dwight Eisenhower, backed South Vietnam against the north, in an attempt to shut out the communism. In 1955, South Vietnam was made a republic, with anti communist leader Ngo Dihn Diem, as president. Ngo Dihn Diem’s appointment was seen by many as a fix. After this and with John F. Kennedy taking over as American president in 1961, America continued their support to the south, with the treaty of amity and economic relations. This increased American involvement as they were supplying army aid to the south.
In 1963, Kennedy was assassinated, and Vice President Lyndon Baines Johnson (aka LBJ) took over. LBJ claimed to be a man of peace, and just wanted to get ‘the bitch of a war’ out of the way, so he could concentrate his efforts on improving America. LBJ sent in Intelligence ships to the gulf of Tonkin, and they were torpedoed by the North Vietnamese, deepening American involvement in Vietnam. LBJ was issued a ‘blank cheque’ on August 7 1964 by the U.S Senate regards the war. Now he could go in and do what he wanted, and he did.
History GCSE Coursework
Candidate Name: Anthony Skeete
Candidate Number: 7104
Vietnam Post 1939
Assignment 2
Why did America become increasingly involved in the affairs of Vietnam.
Firstly, he sent B-52s to bomb military points in North Vietnam, and in retaliation, the Viet Cong attacked American bases at Pleiku. This led to LBJ launching ‘Operation Rolling Thunder’, a bombing raid meant to last eight weeks, but it lasted three and a half years, in which more bombs were dropped by America than in the whole of the Second World War.
In 1968, America stepped up their interest further. ‘Operation Phoenix’, by the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency), stated that America had to arrest at least 3,000 Viet Cong a month. In the same year, the ‘Tet Offensive’ was launched by the North Vietnamese General Vo Nguyen Giap. It was a series of attacks on American targets. In this attack, The Viet Cong loose 85,000 troops but it is seen to the world as a home win. That same year, America conducted ‘My Lai’, a search and destroy scheme, kept low key by America.
In all of the information I have reviewed, the bottom line of the question ‘Why did America become increasingly involved in the affairs of Vietnam’, is that they were trying to impede a communist revolution talking place in Vietnam. America had previously tried to bully countries into being anti communist (Russia, China) and were doing it again. 1963 was a key year in the war, as Kennedy is assassinated and LBJ takes over. I believe that if Kennedy would have stayed in charge, American involvement would have been minimal, as I don’t believe he would have capitalised on the ‘blank cheque’ as LBJ did.