The Cold War Times : A Theory Of Containment

To a large extent, the Viet Cong tunnel system did contribute to the defeat of the Americans during the Vietnam War between 1965 and 1969. This was so because of the many problems that were facing the US forces when fighting the war in Vietnam. It could be possible that one of the problems was the fact that the Viet Cong were fighting using guerilla tactics. However, it led to a great lack of trust among the Vietnamese and the Americans as it was difficult to distinguish between the real Vietnamese civilians and the Viet Cong soldiers in disguise. This essay will aim to discuss the Viet Cong tunnel system and how they contributed to the Americans defeat and we will have close reference to this essay.

A small country such as North Vietnam was able to win a war against a superpower like the United States of America, through, namely, tactics – such as Guerrilla Warfare -, the ignorance of their enemy, the attitude of the South Vietnamese, as well as a strong leader such as Ho Chi Minh. The Vietnam War was a major conflict (of the Cold War) which lasted from 1959 to 1975 , with US involvement from 1964 to 1973 . US reasons for their involvement in the war was their fear of “The Domino Effect” - or – the US fear that communism would spread to Vietnam and Southeast Asia, making them a major threat to national security. The Fall of Saigon marked the end of the war in 1975.

United State’s Cold War policy was beginning to come into play by this time. The U.S. was concerned with the domino theory, which believed that the communist overtake of North Vietnam would cause other countries in surrounding regions to adopt the ideology. In the interest of the U.S. to support South Vietnam, they back an anti-communist politician named Ngo Dinh Diem. In 1955, Diem took control of the South Vietnamese government with the support of the U. S. Later in

The Viet Cong were also known as the national liberation front , the Vietcong fought while supported by the North against anti-communists in the south. These Vietcong were one of the largest groups of impact on America during this war. The

The Vietnam War was a protracted conflict between the Unites States and the communist forces in Vietnam. The US with the aid of the South Vietnamese Government wanted to prevent the spread of communism. In opposition, the communist government of North Vietnam and its allies in the South known as the Vietcong wanted to unify Vietnam under one communist government. The war lasted from 1945 to 1975 and was not one that the US was destined to win. Despite its huge wealth and power the US was unable to defeat the Vietnamese people. The following reasons are the causes for their defeat in the Vietnam war. The first reason is that America’s tactics were a failure in contrast to the Vietcong’s successful tactics. The second reason is that the public in America opposed the war and showed no support and the final reason is that US soldier morale was extremely low, compared to the Vietnamese communist forces who were dedicated to their cause.

For centuries Vietnam had been under Chinese rule. The Vietnamese people were an oppressed society and were exploited by the Chinese. Forced labour was brought upon the Vietnamese people, and there were many tyrannical Chinese governers along with constant demands of tribute for the Chinese rulers. There had been many revolts by

Chapter 18 portrayed the gruesome Vietnam War as the greatest antiwar movement the nation has faced. North Vietnam, led by Communist Ho Chi Minh, fought against South Vietnam, a democratic nation, for the expansion of land. Ho Chi Minh took control of Indochina from Japan. England occupied the southern part of Indochina and gave it to the French. Nationalist China controlled northern part of Indochina and neglected to return the land to the French due to its immense wealth in rubber and coal. As a result, the United States was involved in the Vietnam War and paid $1 billion to safeguard the French from China. Ultimately, the Unites States desired to prevent the domino theory, the spreading of Communism in Asia. Even with the immense support from the United States, the French were unable to win the Vietnamese popular support. Therefore, the United Sates supported the leader, Ngo Dinh Diem, the leader of South Vietnam, against the Communist nation. The United States involvement was a turning point in history and had a huge impact on society.

Although the Vietminh had distinguished itself in fighting against Japanese occupation during the Second World War, it was evident that the movement was being affected by factionalism and ideological distinctions. The Vietminh consisted of both communist and anti-communist members. Despite vivid mistrust and suspicion between both sides, the only mutual objective that all Vietminh members shared was the defeat of France. It was this objective that maintained the fragile unity amongst the Vietminh. Many non-communist Vietminh leaders planned to collaborate continuously with their communist counterparts for the duration of the war, and when the opportunity presented itself, purge the Vietminh of any communist influences. Interestingly enough, this plan was reminiscent of those devised by European resistance movements during the Second World

During the Cold War, communism was spreading.  The three presidents Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy needed a way to stop it from spreading.  All Three turned to the idea of containment.  Ayers, et al. defines containment as a Policy by George F. Kennan, that started in the late 1940’s and was created to stop the spread of communism by providing economic aid, and military aid to countries opposing the Soviets.  All three cold war presidents had similarities and differences in the way they dealt with stopping the spread of communism.  All of them used the idea of containment, but Truman focused more on economic aid,

I will start off with the year 1945; In 1945 Mr. Ho Chi Mihn a revolutionary Communist leader declares Vietnam’s independence from France. Ho Chi Minh forms the Viet Minh to arrange a rebellion in Vietnam. The Viet Ming seized major cities across Vietnam and blatant Vietnam

During 1954 the Vietnamese government was struggling. The country needed a new leader so Ngo Dinh Diem filled that spot for them becoming the Prime Minister of South Vietnam. During his struggle to fight off communism he had to battle warlords and eventually the Vietcong. By 1956 The United States had stepped in to back Diem’s rule.

In this war, South Vietnam wanted communist rule to stop but North Vietnam wanted there to be communist rule. North Vietnam controlled South Vietnam for many years. North Vietnam drained their resources, they demanded that South Vietnam did most of the fighting, and pay most of the expenses. South Vietnam was more interested in political games but their political leadership and military leadership were both corrupt. In 1955, American President Dwight D. Eisenhower had pledged his support to Ngo Dinh Diem (South Vietnam’s leader) and South Vietnam. With training and equipment from American military and police, Diem’s security forces cracked down on Viet Minh’s supporters. By 1957, the Vietnamese

The Viet Minh were such a successful movement because they knew how to win the support of the people. The Viet Minh would raid French occupied areas, stealing food and distributing it to starving Vietnamese people. Because of many showings of loyalty to the Vietnamese people, you would have to be stupid to not support the people giving you food when you are starving as a Vietnamese citizen. The Viet Minh used their tried and true Guerilla warfare tactics against the French. They used these same tactics to kill American soldiers later on.

The US policy of containment and the idea of “us vs them” guided our decisions through the Cold War. The US wanted to stop the spread of communism throughout the world and would do anything to stop it. The tension between the US and the Soviet Union was growing because of the idea of “us vs them”. During the Cold War there was a sense that at any moment there could be nuclear war and there was a heightened fear of communism.

Ho Chi Minh, who was the North Vietnamese leader in the Vietnam War, explored the communist world in the early to mid twentieth century. Venturing throughout Asia and Europe, Ho Chi Minh faced obstacles in China where he established the Communist Party of Vietnam, but later he named it the Indochinese Communist Party. Being the founder of the party in 1930, was an early date prior to the 1954 Vietnam War which in the mean time he had imagined his home country to be communist and had set out to do so. With the mind set of communism, for the first time since 1911, Ho Chi Minh decided to head back to his homeland and got to work. “There he founded the Viet Nam Doc Lap Dong Minh ('League for the independence of Vietnam”), later known as simply