The war started because of the “U.S.’s strategy of containment during the Cold War, which aimed to prevent the spread of communism throughout the world”. (http://thevietnamwar.info) The Vietnam war had “substantial impact” on those that were involved, during the war hundreds of thousands of lives were lost, in “1960s and 1970s, artists from both sides of the conflict, Vietnamese and American, created paintings to capture the human side of the war.” Around August 1966 through to 1970, the “U.S army sent a group of artist to Vietnam to record their experience as soldier-artist”. (http://blogs.bl.uk) The Vietnam war
The Vietnam war has been referred to by many names, one of the longer ones was 'the cornerstone of the free world southeast Asia'. It was called that by John F. Kennedy. He was talking about Vietnam being and essential country in a non-communist world. He believed that if Vietnam became a communist country, all of the surrounding countries would also become communists. This is the main reason America was involved in the Vietnam war. Another reason was that America wanted to spread their “political ideas around the globe”. They wanted to do this so that their anti-communism stance was clear. The public also wanted to keep communism from spreading. To soldiers, the war was like a crusade, a great journey to purge the communists from Vietnam.
The Vietnam War was first derived from the gradual oppression of the communist party of the north over the region of South Vietnam. The North Communist party was supported mainly by China and the Soviet Union whiles the Anti-Communist party of South Vietnam was supported by United States and France. The communist party group, as known as the Viet Cong, was recognized for their guerilla war strategies within the region of South Vietnam, intended to fully expand and unify Vietnam under Communist rule. U.S. involvement with the Vietnam War starting in November 1, 1955, develops from the theory of the domino effect, stating that if one country falls into communism, a threat that can develop into the encouragement and spread of communism throughout the world in the future. It is basically viewed as a potential harm to the welfare of the United Sates. Therefore, due to the conflicting forces of the historical, political, economic and cultural nature of the war itself, it is known to be the longest enduring war in United States history that altered many lives of the Vietnamese and American community, leading to suffrage and acts of courage.
The Vietnam War was a conflict, which the United States involved itself in unnecessarily and ultimately lost. The basis of the conflict was simple enough: Communism vs. Capitalism, yet the conduct of the Vietnam War was complex and strategic, and brought repercussions which had never been seen before. The struggle between North and South had an almost inevitable outcome, yet the Americans entered the War optimistic that they could aid the falling South and sustain democracy. The American intentions for entering the Vietnam conflict were good, yet when the conflict went horribly wrong, and the resilient North Vietnamese forces, or Viet Cong' as they were known, refused to yield, the United States saw they were fighting a losing battle.
The Vietnam War was fought between South and North Vietnam over the reunification of Vietnam. The North fought a more conventional warfare and it was supported by the Soviets and other communist countries while the South fought more of a guerilla war and was supported by the US and other anti-communist countries. Of course the US got involved and supported the South because of the Truman Doctrine in which aided any country who felt threatened by communism and prevented the spread of communism, the US got involved and supported them by going into war and using military tactics such as airstrikes and large stratgetic bombings. One major thing the US had going on was the Domino theory which applied to most US foreign policies, this justified their support for non-communist regimes. North Vietnam saw this war as something small while the US saw it as a way to prevent communism taking over another country and eventually the US got involved in the long run. Although the North Vietnamese won and unified Vietnam under communism, and the US had no success in preventing this, communism failed to spread through the rest of Southeast Asia.
There is no single fixed reason as to why the U.S. entered the Vietnam War. The United States became involved in the war step by step until it was completely committed, which was when Japan took over Indochina. There is, however, multiple reasons as to why stopping communism in Vietnam became a major U.S. priority. Presidents Eisenhower and Truman both advocated doing everything in their power to keep communism, which is a social system where all property is collectively owned instead of by individuals, from spreading throughout the world. Therefore, the domino theory is one of the major reasons it became a U.S. priority to prevent Vietnam from falling to communism. Another major reason for the action taken by the United States towards this dilemma would be that if the United States hadn’t taken part, the non-communist people of South Vietnam would have been persistently victimized and tortured. Lastly, it became a priority to the U.S. because the nation just generally felt responsible in helping Vietnam become independent and to be involved in the global fight against communism.
First and foremost, the Vietnam War was a conflict between the communist regime of the north and southern allies. People viewed the war as a continuation of the First Indochina war against France; while the involvement in the war as a way to prevent a communist takeover of South Vietnam. The purpose of the war was to reunify Vietnam and by doing that North Vietnamese government against the Viet. Congress had to fight bringing something that was once broken back together again. Fear that the public would not forgive them for losing Vietnam made it impossible for Presidents Kennedy and Johnson to remove the United States from an increasingly untenable situation. By 1968, the number of U.S. troops in Vietnam exceeded half a million and the conduct
Tensions were not only rising in Vietnam but they were also rising on American soil. Opposition to the war escalated as the casualties grew, which created divisions among people of the American society. The United States government
The Vietnam War began on November 1st, 1955.Vietnam decided to have this war because since a very long time ago, Vietnam wished to have a government that was independent, since it has been for a long period of time, colonized first by China, then France and Japan. The United States started this war as a result of the Cold War. This war is caused by the belief that communism was going to expand through south-east Asia, which is not of great content for the United States, since they hold a capitalist and democratic government. The belief of the spread of communism is called the domino theory or the domino effect. The United States wanted to prevent this spread so badly, that from 1950, the US started to support South Korea, and sent military aids to France, all to help their common worry of the dispersion and escalation of communism.
The causes of the Vietnam War go back to World War ll and the Cold War. During World War ll, the United States and the Soviet Union were allies, however it was an uneasy relationship. The Americans had always been vigilant of Russian communism and Stalin’s rule. After the war, the USSR set up communist governments in several eastern European Countries after they were freed from Nazi control. In 1949 communism spread to Asia as Communist governments took over in North Korea and China. The Americans were worried that surrounding countries would become communist, this was known as the Domino Effect. This provoked more fear into the Americans; the threat of Soviet world domination and communism started the beginning of the Cold War.
The Vietnam War was a 21-year conflict that originated in 1954 surrounding Vietnam in several wars. This instigated two specific engagements with two countries: France and China. The altercation between France and Vietnam was called the Indo-China which led to the U.S.’s involvement after France left Vietnam. Meanwhile, China commenced its interest in Vietnam after the defeat of the U.S. and South Vietnamese government. It hoped to demonstrate its influence as the top nation in Southeast Asia. This conflict inspired the U.S. fear of a domino effect of communism spreading throughout Southeast Asia when Vietnam fell; furthermore, the U.S. decided to assist the South Vietnamese to avert this event. North Vietnam had the support of Russia because many Russians hoped communism to expand throughout the world and they saw Vietnam as an opportunity to achieve their goal. Thus, many citizens needed to escape into South Vietnam from these communists. From a documentary,
The Vietnam War was a war between the Capitalist United States and the Communist North Vietnamese army. This war started in 1964 and it ended in 1975, when the US withdrew its soldiers. The US joined the war to stop the spreading of Communism, because they didn't want Russia to gain more allies, as they had been in a cold war with them for years.
It was a long costly armed conflict between the Viet Cong or North Vietnam, South Vietnam, and its principal ally the United States. It was the longest war in American history and the most unpopular American war of the 20th century (“Overview of The Vietnam War”). The Wars roots began before World War II, Vietnam had been part of the French Empire. During the war the country had been overrun by the Japanese. When the Japanese retreated the people of Vietnam took the opportunity to establish their own government lead by Chi Ho Minh while the French were not focused on Vietnam at that time period. Once the French settled down they announced their intention of reclaiming the North which meant the Viet Minh, which were Chi Ho Minh’s followers had to fight to keep their independence. The war began when the french bombarded a part of Haiphong and killing 6,000 people (Truman). In 1954 Chi Ho Minh rose to power and so did his Viet Minh communist party in North Vietnam. America got involved when they realized that communism was expanding all over South Asia (“Vietnam War History”), (Truman). It is important to learn more about the war’s origin to better understand the importance of
The Vietnam war was a lengthy war that lasted for approximately 20 years. The war was between northern and southern Vietnam against communist beliefs. Northern Vietnam was pro-communism and so were its allies Viet Cong. Southern Vietnam was anti-communist and was allied with the United States. The war began in 1954 following the upcoming of Ho Chi Minh and his communist Viet Minh party in North Vietnam. The reason for the U.S involvement in the war was due to the fear of the “domino effect” where one country falls to communism and the surrounding countries follow. Prior the to the Vietnamese war, the world's two superpowers (the United States and the Soviet Union) were involved in the cold war. The cold war was more or a less a state of
The Vietnam War spanned from 1954 to 1973 and had the name, the Second Indochina War, prior to the United States involvement. The initial cause for the war was a battle between communist North Vietnam and its southern allies, the Viet Cong, against South Vietnam and its allies, the key ally being the United States. Ho Chi Minh, the leader of North Vietnam, was one goal, to unseat the French hold on South Vietnam to reunite the entire country. The resulting war would end up spanning across nearly two decades and would be costly both financially and in the number of lives lost.