Vietnam During World War II Essay

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 War, also known as the Second Indochina War was a clash between communist forces who are allied with the Viet Cong and South Vietnam allied with the United States of America. The “roots” of the war started during the 1940’s when Japan “invaded and occupied Vietnam” which has been under French rule for more than 50 years. It all started with Ho Chi Minh, a communist revolutionary who established the Viet Minh, an organization “whose goal was to get rid Vietnam of the French and Japanese occupiers” .

The Vietnam War or Second Indochina War started November 1, 1955, and ended April 30, 1975. During the Vietnam War, there were multiple countries that were involved at some point. The main countries involved in the war were North Vietnam, supported by the Soviet Union, China, Viet Cong, and other communist allies. Southern Vietnam was allied with the United States and other anti-communist allies. Many people don’t know how Vietnam relates to the Cold War or that it even relates to the Cold War. The Vietnam War relates to the Cold War because they were both fought about communism. One of the main reasons the Vietnam War was started was because of the fighting between the French and the Vietnamese about communism. The United States became involved

The Vietnam War was an antagonism war that took place in Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia for around 20 years – 1954 to 1975. It was a hostile struggle that not only lasted many years, but also an expensive one. The Vietnam War had radical outcomes for the U.S and the various countries who took part in it. The war was between South Vietnam backed by the United States of America and many other countries that opposed communism ideologies, and North Vietnam backed by China, The Soviet Union and supporters of communism. The reason for the start of the Vietnam War rotates around the notion at that time held by America that communism was extending to all parts of south East Asia. The US government considered American participation in the war as a strategy to preclude a communist seize of South Vietnam. This was a component of a broader restraint strategy, with the declared aim of blocking diffusion of communism and a way to repress nationalist self-determination (Eldridge, 2012, p.18-20).

The Vietnam war was a long, armed conflict which heated between communist rule of North Vietnam, allied by Viet Cong and South Vietnam and its principle ally, the United States of America. The region was in fog of conflict from mid-1940’s, when the Viet Minh party was formed by Ho Chi Minh, a communist leader who was inspired by the Soviet Communism, to fight Japan and French Colonial administration during the World War II. After the Japanese forces left Vietnam, and French Emperor Bao Dai was in control of an independent region, Ho Chi Min rose to power, and declared himself as president of a Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

The Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War, occurred from November 1, 1955 to April 30, 1975. The war was during the cold war era. This brutal 19 year war was fought mainly between North Vietnam, supported by the soviet union, and South Vietnam, supported by The United States of America. The U.S. government 's goal of the war was to prevent South Vietnam to be labeled as a communist country. However, North Vietnam had their reasons for the war as well. Vietnam believed they should reunify South Vietnam under communist rule.

The Vietnam War was a twenty year war that started on 1955. During this time period, known as The Cold War, communism was spreading rapidly throughout East Asia. It was a battle between Democracy and Communism; the communist party consist of North Vietnam, the Vietcong, People’s Republic of China, Soviet Union, and other communist allies, while South Vietnam had support from anti-communist countries and nations of SEATO, South East Asia Treaty Organization, United States, Australia, South Korea, New Zealand, the Philippines, Thailand, Khmer Republic, Kingdom of Laos and Republic of China (Taiwan). The Vietnam War was a horrendous war that developed through political desires and involved many nations to wage war against each other; the War partook in new strategic warfare, Agent Orange, a biochemical weapon, give veterans psychological trauma, and cold blooded massacre against innocent men, women

From 1954 to 1975, America fought its longest and costliest war. The Vietnam War created massive disruption to Southeast Asia and tremendous turmoil in American society.

How effective were the Vietcong tactics of underground tunnels and booby traps in the Vietnam War?

When I was choosing a topic for this paper I thought of many significant events within United States history during the time period we covered during the last few weeks, but there is one event that has always had my interest. That is the Vietnam War, more specifically not only the war overseas, but the war that was going on right here at home. For the remainder of my paper, I will be discussing about three major points relating to the Vietnam War. I will be talking about the life of an American solider fighting in Vietnam, the life of that soldier’s family, and the life of the average United States citizen.

During cold war times, the US’ had a theory of containment. Containment made to stop the spread of communism, because it was thought that if the US could not stop communist countries than it could work on stopping communism from spreading. In 1954, Vietnam was able to become independent from France. The country was divided along the 17th parallel, and North Vietnam and South Vietnam were created. Ho Chi Minh led North Vietnam and it had a communistic government, which was supported by China and the USSR. On the other hand, South Vietnam was a ‘democratic’ (anti-communism) government, which was led by Ngo Dinh Diem and supported by the US.

     For almost a century, Vietnam was the colonial property of France, however, it had a taste of independence during World War II when France was unable to maintain control . During World War II, the Viet Minh established itself as the organizational body for the resistance of French control, and went on to assist the U.S. in combat with the Japanese. On September 2, 1945, following the Japanese surrender, the leader of the Viet Minh, Ho Chi Minh, declared the creation of the

The responses from the allied troops were mainly of hatred for the very harsh yet beautiful environment and an ambiguous response to the Vietnamese people. It is understandable the grudge troops held against a gruesome environment shrouded with innumerable killings in an alien culture, but the brutal racial discrimination perpetrated by Americans was still very prejudicial. There were, however, acts of kindness and charity to Vietnamese, yet at the same time, these glimpses of humanity were overshadowed by the greater bloody conflict. The varying responses of the allies were clearly evident through well-known films, stories and writers.

The United States became involved in Vietnam both militarily and politically during World War 2. At the start of World War 2, the Japanese seeking to exploit the vast amount of resources of south-east Asia, occupied by the French Indo-China. Between, 1941-1945 the only effective resistance to the Japanese in French indo-china was the Vietnamese communist known as the Viet Minh. To help the Viet Minh, their leader Ho-chi-minh fight the Japanese, the United States supplied the Viet Minh with arms and ammunition, and in return the Viet Minh supplied the United States with military intelligence concerning the Japanese and help rescue downed American pilots. By 1945 the Viet Minh had won control over a large part of Northern Vietnam along with the Tonkin Provence and the capital city of Hanoi.

France took control of Vietnam during the 1880's, and that was the first step that led to the Vietnam War in 1955. At first, the Vietnamese attempted to resist the French overruling and try to fight for their independence, but they failed. Later on, after World War II, U.S. President Harry Truman, helped out the French on the battle against Vietnam by giving them money. Although the U.S. assisted the French, Vietnam was able to get their independence back in 1954, and the country got divided in two creating North Vietnam and South Vietnam. The north being the communist side created the National Liberation Front which was ruled by Ho Chi Minh. The south, the democratic side, was supported by the United States.