Vietnam+War

=**VIETNAM - THE PATH TO WAR **=

You all know that the United States was involved in a major military conflict in Vietnam during the Cold War ... but why? What was America's "path to war"? Using the resources below and __Creating America__, your task this evening is to write a description in YOUR OWN WORDS of the causes of American involvement in Southeast Asia. Pretend you are writing it as a summary for on online encyclopedia or textbook. Your description should ...
 * be between two and four complete, well written paragraphs
 * contain the following terms - France, Ho Chi Minh, communism, Ngo Dinh Diem, military advisors, Gulf of Tonkin, Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, Rolling Thunder
 * be IN YOUR OWN WORDS (remember, it's easy to check this online)
 * contain two images THAT RELATE TO YOUR WRITING
 * Should end with the first Marines landing in Vietnam in 1965

Need some help? How about ... //Creating America// [|This cool animation] [|Into Vietnam (Overview)] from ABC-CLIO [|**Vietnam War** - the **Causes**] [|Timeline of the Vietnam War] [|Vietnam Online Timeline] Causes of the Vietnam War video below

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Vietnam War: From the late 1800's until World War II, France ruled Vietnam as part of its colony French Indochina. Many wanted freedom from French rule, so a revolutionary leader, Ho Chi Min, created the Indochinese Communist Party. This called for an independent Vietnam. This group lead protests against the French government. In response, the French starting arresting group members and killing Communist leaders. Later on, the ICP came together with other nationalities and created an organization called the Viet Minh. The Viet Minh trained soldiers to fight against the Japanese. Alongisde, the United States helped Ho Chi Minh and the Viet Minh against the Japanese. After the Japanesee currendere in August 1945, Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam's independence. But a little after, France tried to gain control of Vietnam. In 1946, war broke out between the French and Viet Mihn.

Mean while, communists gained control of China. So, France asked the United States support to help them fight the Viet Mihn, the United States agreed. The United States entered the conflict in Vietnam in 1950. After Eisenhower became president in 1953, he continued aiding the French war effort in Vietnam.

Many worried about communism emerging into Vietnam. They feared that if Vietnam became a communist country than others would soon follow. Although, there were pacifists who believed that war was never right and it should not be the responsibility of the United States. They thought it was not right for the United States to be associated with a corrupt, dictatorship, and communistic, south Vietnamese government. Both Truman and Eisenhower used this policy, the Domino theory. This belief was that if one country became communist than nearby countries would topple and become communist.

On May 7th, 1954, the Vietnamese caused the French to cease fire at the battle of Dien Bien Phu. The battle had lasted 55 days. There were much more casualties with the Viet Minh than the French. The French had a loss of 3,000, with 8,000 wounded. On the other hand, the Viet Minhs had over 8,000 dead and 12,000 wounded. As written, there were many more deaths within th Viet Minhs, but this was a great victory over the French. After the battle, there was to be an international peace conference in Switzerland. Vietnam was going to be split in half at the 17th parallel; the french were to occupy the south and the communist-led Viet Minh were to move to the north. In 1956, the country would hold a new election that would reunite Vietnam. However, Ngo Dinh Diem, the prime minister in the south, refused to schedule a vote because he assumed the popularity of Ho Chi MInh, leader of the revolutionary army in the north, would lead to a communist win. Because of this conflict, the elections were cancelled and the peace treaty was broken. The Viet Minh decided to go back to war so Diem turned to the United States for support.

In the South, there was an anticipation of the assassination of Ngo Dinh Diem from. Even though his government was corrupt and unpopular, as well as his army, the United States did nothing. During this worry, two groups emerged form either side of the 17th parallel. The Viet Cong guerilla fighters and the National Front for the liberation of Vietnams both wanted to reunite their country and throw out a corrupt leader. The United States saw them as dangerous communists. Finally, on November 1, 1963, Diem died.

Even though Congress had not declared war, there were American soldiers stationed in Vietnam. In a way, there were though to be advisors. President Kennedy continued to send military advisors and equipment to South Korea. By late 1963, the United States had 16,000 military personnel there.

Because of the death of Diem, the south vietnamese government was in chaos, and soon failing. In response, Johnson increased United States efforts in Vietnam. In August 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson announced that a United States military ship, the USS Maddox, had been about to be attacked by North Vietnamese forces in the Golf of Tonkin. Because of this unprovoked attack, Johnson sent was planes to bomb North Vietnam. Also, Congress had granted him the authority to take any steps in order to defend the armed forces of the United States and protect Southern Vietnam. This was known as the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which gave the president the power to use military force in Vietnam. Later on, the official story of the USS Maddox was found. The Maddox may have been part of a Untied States military operation in support of South Vietnam to move into North Vietnam. Also, there was only one attack on the Maddox, the second reported attack never happened.

In March 1965, Johnson began bombing North Vietnam. He also sent the first combat troops to Vietnam. Their number were almost 184,000 by the end of 1965. This was known as the policy of escalation; the increasing military involvement in Vietnam. General William Westmoreland, commander of United States forces in South Vietnam, wanted more troops. So by the end of 1968, there were more than 536,000 American military personnel in South Vietnam

Above is a picture of the revolutionary leader, Ho Chi Mihn

This picture is the prime minister of South Vietnam, Ngo Dinh Diem