The Cause Of The Vietnam War

During the 1940’s Vietnam was trying to break free of French reign over their country. During this time period Vietnam was split into two parts, north and south. The Japanese had decided to take over Vietnam in 1942. They couldn’t capture all of Vietnam, so they decided to retreat. North Vietnam proclaimed independence on September 2, 1945 as the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. The State of Vietnam declared independence on June 14, 1949, but remained under French rule until August 1, 1954. South Vietnam was the successor state to the State of Vietnam under the name of Republic of Vietnam. Both parts of Vietnam merged into the Socialist Republic of Vietnam on April 30, 1975, after the Vietnam War. During the Cold War, the US and Russia could never risk an all out war against each other, so instead, they decided to proxy war Vietnam. This left Vietnam in shambles after the war.

Vietnam War’s leading cause was the Indochina War. Many countries tried to seize control of Vietnam, leading to many conflicts. For a long period of time Indochina was overrun by the French, which was a region of Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. They continued to have power over the country until the World War 2. Japan invaded but their power was short-lived due to the defeat of the war. Emperor Bao who was a French leader then took control of Indochina. The communist political leader named Ho Chi Minh decided it was time to take action and sent his army known as the Viet Minh to attack a northern city called Hanoi. Winning the battle in 1945 Ho Chi Minh became president, created Hanoi as capital and announced the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

In the later months of 1967 500,000 America troops were on the ground in Vietnam. Morale was low when the troops began to realize just how much control the Viet Cong had over the small country of Vietnam. Any success against the Viet Cong was purely body count. Politicians claimed the would break the Viet Cong with war, they were mistaken. Back home the media pushed an antiwar movement. The media continuously told the people the war was being won, yet there was no end in sight. The war to break down the Viet Cong broke the troops and civilian support

During 1968, the Vietnam War was a major moment in American history. The Vietnam War was the most publicized war during its era; moreover, this was the most unpopular war to hit the United States. All over the country, riots began to raise, anti-war movement spread all over the states begging to stop the war and chaos overseas. During this time, fear and doubt were widespread due to the decisions of the government, and battles occurring in Vietnam.

During the summer of 1964, President Johnson received reports of that North Vietnamese torpedo boats had fired on the U.S. destroyer Maddox in the Gulf of Tonkin. In the first attack, on August 2, the damage inflicted was limited to a single bullet hole, and on August 4, proved to be only misread radar sightings. To Johnson this didn't seem to matter if the attack was real or fantasy, the president made a call for arms because he saw this as the beginning of a wider war. In the entire Congress, only two senators voted against his request for the power to "Take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression." The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, as it came to be known, gave the President the freedom to conduct the operations in Vietnam as he saw fit.

was also known as the Second Indochina War and began in 1954. One of the most

“There was a time when liberalism was identified with anti-Communism. But the Vietnam War led liberals into the arms of the Left, which had been morally confused about Communism since its inception and had become essentially pacifist following the carnage of World War I. During this time of war many people were confused; what was the purpose behind the war, why is we losing our possession, where all of the food is going? These questions couldn’t be answered through 1914-1918. The public did know the 4 main causes of the Great War. The main cause were Militarism, Alliances, Imperialism, and Nationalism. Each one of these parts were able to bring together and break a part a

The main cause of the Vietnam War revolved around the simple belief held by America that communism was threatening to expand all over south-east Asia. Neither the Soviet Union or the United States could risk an all-out War against each other. Even though the Soviet Union and the USA could not risk an all-out War, they still fought against each other in the Vietnam War.

Before America’s involvement, Vietnam was under French control until Nationalist Leader Ho Chi Minh proclaimed independence in 1945, starting the Indochina War. After a Vietnamese victory in 1954, through the use of guerrilla warfare, France established an agreement to temporarily divide the country between a communist dominated north and an anti-communist south. Four years after the start, America joined the Vietnam War in 1959 in order to prevent the spread of communism. America feared the domino theory would cause the rest of Indochina to become Communist. At first America’s force was limited to bombings, but by the end of 1965 there were 185,000 troops sent to Vietnam, which later increased to over 500,00 by the end of 1968.

Ha Chan, my grandfather, was drafted into the Vietnam war in 1971 to fight against North Vietnamese communists and Viet Cong.

The Vietnam War was perhaps one of the most patriotic wars in American history but many people question whether or not it was a war. Vietnam could be considered a war due to the level of casualties and its length, but there are more reasons, saying it is in all actuality not a full fledged war, for example: initially war had never been formally declared, not only that, but the war was still too contained in one area and could have been considered a part of any war going on at the same time.

While I was writing my essay, The Causes and Effects of the Vietnam War, I encountered two obstacles. For example, I had difficulty finding websites that spoke about what caused the Vietnam War. There would be approximately three reliable websites that discussed this topic, while the remaining websites would speak about the Vietnam War itself. However, when I typed in “the effects of the Vietnam War” there would be many more sources discussing the impact it had on various countries, which made it easier to write

The Vietnam war was a long and catastrophic war. Among the American people, the war caused divisive conflict between the state and those who opposed. The main reason why The United States took action was: fear of communism spreading and loss of an ally if Soviet Russia took control of Vietnam. It pitted North Vietnam against South Vietnam and the United States, its ally. Regardless of U.S Military strength, the Americans lost the war and withdrew forces under the order of President Richard Nixon in 1973. Economic, social, and cultural reforms occurred due to the conflict in the United States. The Vietnam War, in the minds of opposing Americans, has been a tragic mistake brought by an exaggerated approach to communism and an underestimated approach to nationalism. Seeing the war from the perspective of veterans of the Vietnam war showcases the opinions of soldiers who were drafted into the foreign country. The many oppositions of the Vietnam War can be remembered when listening to resistance songs such as, “For What It’s Worth” by Buffalo Springfield or multiple other musical references to the war. The Things They Carried written by Tim O’Brien in 2008 travels back in time to the Vietnam war when he was drafted and became part of the U.S Army. Pieces of writing at this time also allowed anti-war protesters to express their feelings in a way that could show American leaders the people’s opinions on the war.

Communist is an organization that want to control or have ownership on a community. Some example of Communist that started such as Hitler the leader of the Nazi, Korean war, China, and Cuba. Communist being in the late 19th century rule by Bolsheviks in Russia in the October Revolution. All these wars were taken places where communist is either one side and the other side trying to stop it from spreading even farther out or reaching to them. The of the Vietnam War was the symptoms and consequences of the Cold War. The cause of it was the belief that in America thought communism was threating to expand all over South East Asia and well eventually spread into America.

"The Vietnam War was a long, costly armed conflict that pitted the communist regime of North Vietnam and its southern allies, known as the Viet Cong, against South Vietnam and its principle ally, the United States." (History Vietnam War) The cause of the Vietnam War came from the outcomes of the Cold War. Also, America believed that communism was on the path of destruction to conquer all of south-east Asia. This war was completely devastating to both sides. In this particular war, we killed four times more North Vietnamese than they killed of the United States forces, and yet we still lost. The reason being, is that the vast majority of these casualties were regular civilians that suffered for no reason. The United States troops went into Vietnam with a mentality to kill anything that moves which was a despicable idea. Through all of the disastrous battles being upheld in Vietnam, what was the president of the United States, Lyndon B. Johnson, doing during his term to help the efforts in the war? Also, what was the medias reaction to the Johnson's decisions to help the efforts?