Causes Of Vietnamese Refugees

Vietnam got their independence in 1954. Vietnam divided the nation until they could hold an election to have a united Vietnam. A problem then arose, the north wanted a communist government and the south wanted a democratic government. China’s communist government influenced the north. South Vietnam was influenced by the United States to the East. The elections were canceled and North Vietnam attacks the south. The United States was funding and training south Vietnam until 1957. In 1957, an American ship was attacked. That was the point when the United States sent in soldiers and started bombing runs on the North(Cole).

The Vietnam War began soon after World War II. At first , in 1946, the war was between the Vietnamese and the French. The government was French, but many Vietnamese people did not want a French government. They wanted the French to leave so they could have their own government. The Vietnamese fought hard, and slowly they won more and more land. By 1953. The French army was in trouble. They were not winning the war. French soldiers were dying and the war was costing a lot of money. So, in 1954, the French army stopped fighting and left Vietnam.

Vietnamese did not magically appear in the United States, the Vietnam War sparked the immigration of Vietnamese to America. Vietnamese did not virtually exist in the United States until 1975 when the war forced Vietnamese to evacuate (Povell). The war began after Vietminh defeated France and split into North and South Vietnam (O’Connel). In 1956 communist Ho Chi Minh ruled the North Vietnam, and Bao Dai ruled the South, who the United States supported and backed up (O’Connel). The Vietnam War consisted of the North and South Vietnam, fighting against eachother in order to stay two separate countries. The North tried to overtake the South, and the United States sent in troops to

The Vietnam war did not officially start until the 1950's. This is when the U.S. started sending in troops. Before then the French had been trying to conquer what was then called Indochina. They began their conquest in 1859, by 1888 they had turned the area that is now called Vietnam and Cambodia into the Colony of French Indochina. This was challenged many times by different uprisings but none worked as well as the Viet Minh common front( this was controlled by the Vietnamese communist party). During WWII the French were defeated by the Germans. This severely weakened their authority in Vietnam. In 1940 the Japanese invaded and

“It was the last time I would see them for 14 years.” Uong, who is a Vietnamese refugee, fled his home at the age of 10—being separated from his family for 14 years (Uong). Being a refugee is rough as it requires one to leave his home country and to start a new life in a completely different world. According to Yen Le Espiritu, a "refugee" is described as a person who harbors "a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion" (Espiritu 209). There are many variations of refugee groups as countless minority groups have left their homeland due to reasons such as persecution. Cambodian Refugees and Vietnamese Refugees are both minority groups in the United States today whom have fled their homeland to escape communism and persecution. These groups have suffered many conflicts and overcome many obstacles in order to rid themselves of persecution and in order to gain the freedom that all humans should possess. Although Cambodian Refugees and Vietnamese Refugees are two different groups, they possess both similarities and differences. Cambodian Refugees and Vietnamese Refugees share differences when it pertains to the topic of war, when it pertains to the topic of hardships faced while fleeing one’s homeland and to the topic of adjusting to life in America—while also sharing similarities when it pertains to adjusting to life in America.

Before the 1900th century, various countries such as China and France dominated the country currently known today as Vietnam. Throughout the countries history the Vietnamese people were often times mistreated. The Vietnamese people had a strong craving for independence. In the early 20th century one man united the liberation cause; that man was named Ho Chi Minh.

Vietnam was a French colony dating back to mid 1800s. Vietnam was meant as a farming colony where they would grow things such as tobacco, tea, and coffee. The French treated their colony poorly by denying civil

The beginning of the war started during World War Two, when Japanese forces invaded Vietnam forcing out the French influence. After the war Japanese forces refused to vacate Vietnam, therefore causing Vietnam’s future leader Ho Chi Mien to request foreign help. Ho Chi Mien requested help from both the US and China, and was successfully able to expel all

In this essay I will be providing a summary and overview the Vietnam war. The Vietnam war changed America forever. The war damaged America's self image by becoming the first time in history that the U.S. failed to accomplish its "stated war aims". The Vietnam war was also the first war ever broadcasted on television. The war is a significant part of US history and influenced a generation.

Even years before the war, Vietnam was a hotly disputed territory. Many countries had taken Vietnam over, and after World War II, Vietnam was in the hands of France. Obviously, the Vietnamese wanted their own country, and their long history of being a colony prompted the oppressed people to fight for

Fighting in Vietnam started well before the actual “Vietnam War”. The Vietnamese people had been under French rule for several decades until Japan invaded in 1940. In 1941, when Ho Chi Minh came back from his travels there were two foreign powers occupying the Vietnam territory, the French and Japanese. Ho Chi Minh established the Viet Minh in hopes to rid Vietnam of these two powers. On September 2, 1945 the Viet Minh established the Democratic Republic of China after getting support in northern Vietnam. This action spawned the French to fight back to keep control of their colony. Ho Chi Minh wanted support from the United States against the French; he went as far as to supply the United States with information about the Japanese during WWII. The United States kept with their Cold War foreign policy of containment as to prevent the spread of Communism, fearing the “Domino Theory” that said “if one country in Asia fell to Communism then surrounding countries would soon fall”.

Vietnam has a very rich history that often goes unnoticed and unaccounted for, this is most likely due to the war being such a big landmark in the history of Vietnam. Before the war many events transpired that would eventually lead up to the war. In the late 19th century Vietnam was considered to be a French colony. The French built their own standing infrastructure, they began to build railways and roads and bridges. All of this building meant heavy taxation on the Vietnamese. This was all good and progressive for vietnam however “Naturally the Vietnamese wanted independence.” (http://www.localhistories.org/viethist.html) From there Ho Chi Minh founded a revolution and within 20 years Vietnam came under Ho Chi Minh rule.

How were incoming Laotian and Vietnamese immigrants, who were arriving in the U.S. due to the Vietnam War, adapting into American society during the 1970s to present day? The first source, “From Refugees to Americans”, is relevant to my question as it provides not only statistics, but also detailed accounts of refugee life from the transition from the Asia to the United States. The source provides statistics on the Vietnamese population during and after immigration, with some accounts of refugees from today. The second source is an interview and provides information about how life was during the Vietnam War, and a first-hand account of immigration life in America during the Vietnam War.

A leader emerged, HoChi Minh, who organized a group to fight back against the Japanese. Members of the group became known as the Viet Minh. HoChi Minh wanted support from America to help Vietnam become independent. France wouldn’t leave their hold in the country. An agreement was made between HoChi Minh and the French. The northern part of Vietnam went to the

The Vietnam War began in the year 1954, after the ascension to power of Ho Chi Minh, who was a communist leader in North Vietnam. The leader was spreading communism, and because the United States wanted to stop the spread, it sent military troops to aid South Vietnamese to stop this vice. The war saw about 3million people die with the inclusion of 58,000 American soldiers. About 150,000 people were wounded during the war. In 1975, South Vietnamese government surrendered the war after the communist forces forced them to surrender. Vietnam unified communism and became a Socialist Republic. Although decades have passed since the occurrence of the Vietnam war, the American culture, which was partly born as a result of this war, is celebrated