Why did the USA send troops into Vietnam

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Why did the USA send combat troops into Vietnam?

In this coursework assignment I will attempt to discover why the USA sent so many ‘advisors’ into Vietnam. The answer to the beginning of this question lies in the 17th century when French missionaries arrived in Vietnam. The Catholic priests were converting many Vietnamese people to follow God instead of their Emperor. These actions angered many people throughout Vietnam which resulted in several priests being murdered. The French retaliated by sending in French troops to protect the Catholic community, after many months the French realised that Vietnam would be a good addition to the French Empire as it was rich in natural resources including coal, tin, zinc, rubber and rice. Vietnam soon proved its worth as much of the countries produce went to France; soon enough the amount of produce was so great a new transport system was built. This included roads, canals and railways. Whoever resisted helping complete these projects were severely punished. These new roads and railways had an enormous affect on the Vietnamese people.

The worth of Vietnam soon became apparent to many countries and during September 1940 Japanese troops invaded Indochina (the French Empire). The Japanese had realised that the French would not have fought for long as German troops already occupied Paris. This led to Japan seizing all of Vietnams resources and France losing their Empire.

Japanese resistance soon began to arise; a strong movement led by Ho Chi Minh was set up. This was known as the Vietnam Revolutionary League (Vietminh). Ho Chi Minh had studied Communism in the USSR. In 1930 he founded the Indochinese Communist Party to fight for an independent Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh had successfully started a guerrilla war campaign against the Japanese.

 

The Vietminh began to receive weapons and ammunition from the Soviet Union, the United States also supplied arms as they were to support anyone fighting against the Japanese. The Japanese were responsible for the attack on Pearl Harbour, Hawaii.

When atom bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki the Japanese surrendered. Ho Chi Minh had seen the defeat as the perfect opportunity to seize power as they already controlled much of the North. In September, 1945, Ho Chi Minh had announced the formation of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. France did not acknowledge the announcement and chose to fight the Vietminh. Then a full scale war erupted one year later as France were desperate to get their Empire back, the fighting occurred for 8 more years. Ho Chi Minh had kept a vital secret from the USA, he planned to make Vietnam communist. The communists had now taken control of China, they were beginning to supply the arms and money needed to the Vietminh. The Americans now saw that there was a strong possibility that another Cold war could occur so the Americans began to publicly support the French war effort. Firstly by injecting $500million a year, this soon payed off as the French were able to set up a non-communist government in the South. By 1953, the French and the Vietminh had gained no extra ground as both the North and South were fiercely defended.

Following the defeat the French suffered at Diem Bien Phu in 1954 by the Vietnamese the Geneva conference was called.

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The foreign ministers were called to the Geneva Convention to solve this on-going problem, after much negotiation they came to a conclusion that 1) Vietnam would be divided at the 17th parallel; 2) North Vietnam would be ruled by Ho Chi Minh; 3) South Vietnam was to be ruled by Ngo Dinh Diem, a strong opponent of Communism; 4) French troops would withdraw from Vietnam; 5) the Vietminh would withdraw from South Vietnam; 6) the Vietnamese could freely choose to live in the North or South of the country; 7) A general election would be held for the whole of ...

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