The United States During World War II

In the 1950’s, 1960’s, and 1970’s, many things changed in Vietnam. In 1946, the first Indochina War began, over 600,00 soldiers died in battle (French imperialism in Indochina (Vietnam) – Infogram, charts & infographics). In 1959, the second Indochina War (Vietnam War) began (French imperialism in Indochina (Vietnam) – Infogram, charts & infographics). In 1954, a cease-fire was agreed upon at the 17th parallel between the French and Vietnamese regions of Vietnam (French imperialism in Indochina (Vietnam) – Infogram, charts & infographics). Finally, in 1975, the French surrendered and gave South Vietnam back to the North – Vietnam became a truly independent country (French imperialism in Indochina (Vietnam) – Infogram, charts & infographics).

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”.

The Vietnam conflict began long before the U.S. became directly involved. Indochina, which includes Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, was under French colonial rule. The Vietnam communist-nationalist, also known as the Vietminh, fought for their freedom from the French. The French were being slaughtered, and were doing little to keep the communist North Vietnamese out of South Vietnam. The U.S. sent financial aid to France to help them eliminate the communist threat. At the Geneva Conference in 1954, the major powers tried to come to an agreement on Indochina. There would be a temporary division on the 17th parallel in Vietnam. The Vietminh would control North Vietnam, and South Vietnam would be ruled under the emperor Bao Dai. There was to be an election held in two years to set up the permanent

Beginning in the late Eighteenth Century, the French established colonies at key ports in Vietnam (American Academic Encyclopedia 1980b, 583). The French maintained their imperialist grip over Vietnam until 1940, where as part of their World War II stratagem, the Japanese invaded and subsequently occupied the region (Polansky 2013, 12-13). The Vietnamese multitude had long been primed for a national liberation movement, and the environs of political and societal turbulence concurrent with the Japanese advent in Vietnam fomented the burgeoning of nationalistic fervor. The

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.

David Mar in the, Vietnam 1945 The Quest for Power, explained how significant this year was for the Vietnamese, while the French, Japanese, Chinese, British, and Americans fought for control over Indochina. The Vietnamese quickly discovered they could publish, organize, and demonstrate in favor of a national independence, as long as they did not hinder Japanese defense preparations. As a result of the multiple countries trying to gain control of Vietnam, Vietnam went from a colonial state, a royal government to a democratic republic. By the end of 1945, these political convolutions finally became things of the past. For eighty years, the French worked to seemingly transform Vietnam into a Paris-replica, calling it Indochina and taking advantage of all its peoples and resources. Ho Chi Minh declared himself president on September 2 and announced the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (Marr, 1997). Once Ho Chi Minh proclaimed Vietnam’s Declaration of Independence, he called on the allies to recognize the Vietnamese people’s rights to independence and to be a liberated country. However, not long after Vietnam gained their independence did the United States declare war.

It wasn 't long for before bloodshed and war returned to Vietnam. After the end of World War 2, the French sought to regain dominance over their old colony. The Viet Minh resisted heavily and the fighting continued from 1946-1954. Along the way, the North received a lot of help from its Communist friends. With Communism winning in China, the Chinese could now focus on sending troops and supplies to fuel the fight against France. Their other ally, Russia, “also sent aid and arms” to help the effort5. The French-Indochina War officially ended with the signing of the Geneva Agreements6. The agreements stated there would be a two-year protected period where there would be no foreign troops allowed in the

became directly involved. Indochina, which includes Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, was under French colonial rule. The Vietnam communist-nationalist, also known as the Vietminh, fought for their freedom from the French. The French were being murdered, torchered, and were doing little to keep the communist.North Vietnamese out of South Vietnam. The U.S. sent financial aid to France to help them eliminate the communist threat, At the Geneva Conference in 1953.

In July 1954, France and the Viet Minh signed the Geneva Peace Accord. This resulted in dividing Vietnam along the 17th parallel into a northern section, under the control of the communist led by Ho Chi Minh as president, and a southern section led by the Catholic anti-communist Ngo Dinh Diem. The partition was to be temporary until elections in 1956. However, Diem started arresting suspected communist sympathizers in 1956 to keep power for himself. The elections were never held, and in 1957 the North Vietnamese began guerilla warfare against the south. A French colony called Indochina have been occupied the Japanese during the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War is the commonly used name for the second Indochina war, 1954-1975. The United States

When Nazi Germany invaded and conquered France in 1940, the puppet Vichy French government was established. The vichy French government signed a peace treaty with the Japanese later that year in 1940, giving Japan control over Vietnam. Japan had been fighting an aggressive land war against the Chinese. Japan was looking to exercise its own ambitions of an empire as they tried to conquer all of South East Asia. Vietnam was a strategic part in Japan’s ambitions to open up a new southern front against the Chinese. The Vietnamese who were not pleased about their previous Chinese and French invaders, were not in any way gracious with the arrival of Japanese soldiers. Thus nationalist like Ho Chi Minh now found a new enemy in the Japanese. This is an important turning point in Vietnamese history. Now that Vietnamese nationalists are resisting Japanese occupation, a relationship with the United States begins. By 1945 the Japanese had ousted the Vichy government, and now maintained complete control over Vietnam by instituting a puppet Empower, Bao Dai. American support is established and Ho Chi Minh is sent weapons and material to fight of the Japanese. In August of 1945, Viet Minh forces, led by Ho, overthrow the Japanese and establish a pro communist government in Hanoi. At last it seems that the Vietnamese have won their independence. However with the end of the Second World War, the Cold War would begin, and Ho

Ho Chi Minh (Prime Minister and Revolutionary leader of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and the communist group he established, the ‘Viet Minh’, were very instrumental regarding the process of the withdrawal of the foreign armies from Indochina. The large amount of the population that took part in the Viet Minh did not advocate for the French colonization of Indochina and underwent various obstacles and took actions to ensure France’s abandonment of the colonies. The first Indochina war was a key turning point of French colonization of Indochina. The newly modern military tactics like Guerrilla warfare destabilized the French’s army and flipped the odds for the Indochinese civilians and nationalists. Particularly, the battle of Dien Bien Phu (March 13, 1954- May 7, 1954) and the downfall of the French army

As World War II progressed, conflicts between Japan and the French spilled into Vietnam. The main “services” that Vietnamese gave to the French was the Vietnamese’ assistance against the Japanese despite everything that the French had implored upon Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh speaks about the French and Japanese battling for the Vietnam territory and ultimately the Vietnamese Republic paid the price. Minh argued the fact that despite an increase in the "sufferings and miseries" of the Vietnamese people, they continued to assist the French in battle. Minh stated that the Vietnamese extended a tolerant attitude toward the French. Minh also stated the Vietnamese helped the French cross the frontier, rescue French people from Japanese jails, and

The Vietnamese had not liked living under foreign rule. They are Nationalists and their communist party leader had formed the Vietminh, so called after his name "Ho Chi Minh". They later became known to the world as the Vietcong. In 1945 the war ended and with Japan being weaker now the French influence returned to Vietnam.

There was ever a formal presentation of war. Rather, the French attempted to reassert their power over their state of Indochina after World War Two. Preceding the War, the French could indicate this region as one of the immense bits of its domain. Toward the end of World War Two, occasions in Europe constrained activities in China. The French government demanded that France must hold two colonies keeping in order to hold its national pride: Indochina and Algeria. The outcome was two horrible colonial wars. Irritating the matter, the French were not forceful in uprooting components that had worked together with the Japanese amid their control of Indochina. This fed nationalistic wrath toward the French. The Viet Minh battled the French until 1954, when they dispensed a mortifying thrashing on the French at a mountain fortress called Dien Bien Phu.

After World War II, France reclaimed French Indochina from the Japanese, attempting to reassert their dominance in southeast Asia. In the territories that would become the country of Vietnam, many began to oppose these invaders. The result was the First Indochina War ( the second was the Vietnam War), leading to French defeat and the