Why Did the Usa Become Increasingly Involved In the Vietnam War?
Why Did The USA Become Increasingly Involved In The Vietnam War?
The Vietnam War was a prolonged and unsuccessful attempt by South Vietnam and the United States to prevent the Communists of North Vietnam from uniting South Vietnam with North Vietnam under their leadership. The Vietnam War was probably the longest war in which the Americans fought in and the only war in which they were defeated. This essay will discover the facts and reasons for why America became involved in the Vietnam War from the Second World War up to sending the first troops up to Vietnam in 1965.
At the end of the Second World War Americans were still concerned about the spread of Communism and were still offering military aid and economic aid to any country requiring defense for themselves over Communist countries. The USA was still a great believer in the Domino Theory. This was the belief that if one country fell to Communism the rest would follow. America had also been so concerned about communism due to the fact that countries such as Poland, Czechoslovakia and Romania had communist governments. Following the surrender of Nazi Germany in May 1945 near the close of World War II, the uneasy wartime alliance between the United States and Great Britain on the one hand and the Soviet Union on the other began to unravel. By 1948 the Soviets had installed left-wing governments in the countries of Eastern Europe that had been liberated by the Red Army. The Americans and the British feared the permanent Soviet domination of Eastern Europe and the threat of Soviet-influenced communist parties coming to power in the democracies of Western Europe. The Soviets, on the other hand, were determined to maintain control of Eastern Europe in order to defend against any possible new threat from Germany, and they were intent on spreading communism worldwide, largely for ideological reasons. The Cold War had solidified by 1947-48, when U.S. aid provided under the Marshall Plan to Western Europe had brought those countries under American influence and the Soviets had installed openly communist regimes in Eastern Europe.
From 1885 to 1953 Vietnam had been part of the French empire and this had permitted the French to use Vietnam as a source of raw materials. The French built roads and railways but taxed the peasants heavily so that they were able to pay for it, this obviously made the French very unpopular. A League for the Independence Of Vietnam, generally known as the Vietminh, was organized in 1941 as a nationalistic party seeking Vietnamese independence from France. The Vietminh became openly Communist in the mid 1950's. In September in 1945the leader of the Vietminh, 'Ho Chi ...
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From 1885 to 1953 Vietnam had been part of the French empire and this had permitted the French to use Vietnam as a source of raw materials. The French built roads and railways but taxed the peasants heavily so that they were able to pay for it, this obviously made the French very unpopular. A League for the Independence Of Vietnam, generally known as the Vietminh, was organized in 1941 as a nationalistic party seeking Vietnamese independence from France. The Vietminh became openly Communist in the mid 1950's. In September in 1945the leader of the Vietminh, 'Ho Chi Minh' formally declared Vietnam's independence. However, the French wanted to reassert control in Indochina, and would strictly recognize Vietnam only as a free state within the French Union. Fighting between the French and the Viet Minh broke out in 1946 and continued until 1954, when the French were badly defeated in the Battle Of Dien Bien Phu. An international conference in Geneva in 1954 agreed to a cease-fire. To separate the warring forces, the decision made at the conference was that the French and the Vietnamese fighting under French command would move south of the 17th parallel and the Vietminh would go north. This was recognized as a military separation line surrounded by a demilitarized zone. Thousands of people moved away from their homes and the French began their final departure from Vietnam. This left the Communist-led Vietminh in control of the northern half of Vietnam, which came to be known as North Vietnam, while the Noncommunist southern half became South Vietnam. Ngo Dinh Diem became South Vietnam's prime minister during the armistice negotiations.
The Geneva accords specified that free elections had to be held throughout Vietnam in 1965 under the supervision of an International Control Committee with the aim of reunifying North and South Vietnam under a single elected government. North Vietnam expected to win this election thanks due to the broad political organization that it had built up in both parts of Vietnam. But President Diem, who had set his control over South Vietnam, refused in 1956 to hold the scheduled elections. The United States supported his position as South Vietnam was a Non-communist country and they feared that if the elections were held and North Vietnam won, then the whole of Vietnam and quite possibly the whole of Asia was certain to become Communist. In response, the North Vietnamese decided to unify south with North Vietnam through military force rather than by political means.
The US secretary of State 'John Foster Dulles', fearing the spread of communism in Asia, persuaded the US government to provide economic and military assistance to the Diem regime. However Diem became increasingly unpopular with the people of Vietnam as he aroused the anger of the Buddhists by selecting fellow Roman Catholics (most of whom had moved from North to south Vietnam) for top government positions.
Guerilla warfare spread as Vietminh soldiers who were trained and armed in the North, returned to their homes in the South to assassinate, ambush, sabotage and proselytize. The Diem government asked for and received more American military advisors and materiel to build up the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) and the police force, but it could not halt the growing presence of the Viet Cong (previously the Vietminh). US President John F. Kennedy (who quoted the famous speech 'Pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure their survival and success of liberty'), sent more non-combat military personnel after the North Vietnamese communist insurgents in an organization called the National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam (NLF) in December 1960. America gave out air crafts, money and weapons however he was still losing the war against the Vietcong because they had came up with another way of fighting, they started to use strategic hamlets. The strategic Hamlets policy made things worse because it was suppose to reduce the support for the Vietcong, in fact membership of the NLF increased to over 17,000 and they now controlled over a fifth of the villages of South Vietnam. By the end of 1962 the number of US military advisors in South Vietnam had increased from 900 (in 1960) to 11,000, and Kennedy authorized them to fight if they were fired upon. Sadly, popular dissatisfaction with Diem continued to grow, even within his army, and Diem was assassinated during a military coup on Nov 1 1963 followed by President Kennedy who was killed 3 weeks later.
North Vietnamese patrol boats fired on the US destroyer "Maddox" in the Gulf Of Tonkin on August 2nd 1964, and after President Lyndon B. Johnson asserted that there had been a second attack on August 4th, a claim later shown to be false- the US Congress almost unanimously endorsed the Gulf Of Tonkin Resolution authorizing the President to take "all necessary measures to repel attacks... and prevent further aggression." The Gulf Of Tonkin Resolution in effect gave the president the formal authority for full-scale US involvement in the Vietnam War. Johnson retaliated for the attack by ordering US naval planes to bomb North Vietnam. After 1965 US involvement in the war escalated rapidly in response both to the growing strength of the Viet Cong (who had 35,000 troops in South Vietnam by 1964) and to the failure of the ARVN to restrain the Viet Cong on its own, even with a total force of 400,000 men. The United States became more involved in the war not only to maintain the independence of South Vietnam but also to retain the United States' credibility with other allied nations who depended on its help to resist communist aggression or subversion. The Viet Cong attacked the US base at Pleiku, killing 8 soldiers and wounding 126 more on the night of February 7th. Johnson in response ordered another payback bombing of North Vietnam. Three days later the Viet Cong raided another US military installation at Qui Neon, and Johnson ordered more aerial attacks against Hanoi.
In my conclusion I believe that the Presidents of the USA during that time were most responsible for the attacks, and the great outbreaks of war. The main idea behind America's involvement in the war was mainly to try and contain the spread of Communism. Although historians say that it was also an act to protect the independence of Vietnam I believe it was a selfish pretense used as an excuse to destroy more Communists. I think the whole war could have just been avoided if countries just stuck to their own leaders and ideologies. That way there would be no arguments over who owned who etc. I think that the main turning points in the war was when Kennedy and Diem were assassinated, because that is the point where people could have stood up and said "That's it, it's over".
Why Did The USA Become Increasingly Involved In The Vietnam War?
Samantha McKendrey 10 Fleming History- Mrs Beanland 24/06/01