15th September 2010
Why did the United States become more heavily involved in Vietnam in the 1950’s
The Vietnam War was a Cold War military crisis which occurred primarily in Vietnam, but also directly involved neighbouring nations such as Laos and Cambodia which were bombarded. The crisis occurred as a result of mounting tension between the South and North and as a result the Americans began to steadily increase their involvement throughout the late 1940’s and 1950’s. After the defeat of France in June of 1940, her empire was effectively rendered useless and this made Japanese invasion of French Indochina in September of 1940 easy. The defeat also provoked much anticipation by the Vietnamese, that they main have the opportunity to gain independence in light of French defeat. The Vietminh, a guerrilla force set up against the Japanese invaders were supplied with weapons by the Americans and Chinese, because they hoped it would weaken Japanese influence. By the summer of 1945 with the Japanese unconditionally surrendering to the allies, creating a power vacuum because the French had been interned and the Japanese army had laid down its weapons. Despite Viet Minh’s desire for an independent Vietnam, it was decided by the major victors that power should be returned to the French and the British would occupy the south and the Chinese the North. The French then moved 50,000 troops to re-occupy Indo-China and hoped the rebuilding of the empire would go some way to fixing the bleak and dismal moral in the homeland. The United States did show sympathy to the Vietnamese at first because they too did not want to see imperialist, colonial control restored. However, Communist China supported Minh and America switched its support to the French imperialists. It sent billions of dollars of aid to the French concerned about the rapidly growing support for communism. The Vietminh used guerrilla tactics obtained in the Second World War and the campaign lasted for years in the North Vietnamese jungles. However, at the battle of Dien Bien Phu the French took a terrible defeat and were forced from the country. With Minh’s support at an all time high, America felt more and more compelled to take over the struggle against the communists.
