The Vietnam War in History

The Vietnam war was a conflict between the north and south vietnam governments and the time span of this war began from 1954 all the way down to the year of 1975 fighting in the locations or North Vietnam, South Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. One important fact was the south of vietnam had an ally who were the United States, but also the north had help from China and the Soviet Union. With the two enemies having their own allies it caused major issues.

" The South Vietnamese government, on the other hand, fought to preserve a Vietnam more closely aligned with the West. U.S. military advisers, present in small numbers throughout the 1950s, were introduced on a large scale beginning in 1961, and active combat units were introduced in 1965. By 1969 more than 500,000 U.S. military personnel were stationed in Vietnam." (Ronald H., Spector). The South Vietnamese wanted the Vietnam to be a very strong ally with the United States but the North Vietnamese did not want which caused a war with the armies and government of both sides of the Vietnamese. Now, closer to the end of the war the United states began to notice the casualties that were involved in the Vietnam War were to much for the U.S to handle so the United states decided to throw in the towel by 1973 which caused the South Vietnamese to slowly be weak and by 1975 the North Vietnamese to over all of Vietnam.

There were a few historic reason for the start of the Vietnam War. First reason was that simply the United States did not like communism. In which communism was threatening expand all over Asia which is where Vietnam is located. 'The causes of the Vietnam War were derived from the symptoms, components and consequences of the Cold War. The causes of the Vietnam War revolve around the simple belief held by America that communism was threatening to expand all over south-east Asia." (Chris, Trueman). With communism knocking on the doors of the vietnam the North wanted to welcome them on in but the South had other plans. In which the South knew of the United States not liking communism so they decided to let the United States be their ally because America wanted to get into the war of communism but they were afraid of facing the Soviets and having a full on nuclear war , so they began and helped the South Vietnamese but by the United states allying with the south. The soviets allied with the North Vietnamese because it always loved to ally with there fellow communists states but especially with North Vietnam because they were going to fight Americans.. " Neither the Soviet Union nor the United States could risk an all-out war against each other, such was the nuclear military might of both. However, when it suited both, they had client states that could carry on the fight for them. In Vietnam, the Americans actually fought therefore in the Cold War 'game', the USSR could not. However, to support the Communist cause, the Soviet Union armed its fellow Communist state, China, who would, in turn, arm and equip the North Vietnamese who fought the Americans."(Chris, Trueman). This was one of the main reasons because the Americans and Soviets fell perfectly into war of Vietnam and created something much more bigger than just the Vietnamese going to war.

Secondly, The Gulf of Tonkin and was another big reason for the vietnam war because of what happened. What happened was that the North Vietnamese sent torpedo boats or what the Vietnamese like to call them the Drv torpedo boats. They sent these boats to attack not one but two U.S destroyers which infiltrated our Government which caused us to send continuous bombing raids to the Vietnam and this is when United States code named the bombing raids as Operation Rolling Thunder. "Operation Rolling Thunder was the codename for an American bombing campaign during the Vietnam War. U.S. military aircraft attacked targets throughout North Vietnam from March 1965 to October 1968." (History.com/Editors). This for me was another reason for the cause of the Vietnam War to happen and keep on going because by bombing the North Vietnamese it caused all of the North to Believe that the U.S was in full support and ready to go to war with the North Vietnamese and showed the involvement the U.S would have in the Vietnam War.

With the involvement of the U.S giving bigger help was not only just because they attacked our destroyers but also because the North Vietnamese kept pushing which drove us to aid more help to the South because as I said the United States did not want communism leadership to take over the Vietnam. "Americans compared communism to a contagious disease. If it took hold in one nation, U.S. policymakers expected contiguous nations to fall to communism, too, as if nations were dominoes lined up on end. In 1949, when the Communist Party came to power in China, Washington feared that Vietnam would become the next Asian domino." ( Andrew. J Watter). This comes to prove the United States were worried for the South and afraid they would fall to the North, so by solving the fear they send aid to help with the war. "A team sent by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 to report on conditions in South Vietnam advised a build-up of American military, economic and technical aid in order to help Diem confront the Viet Cong threat." (History.com, Editors). With John F Kennedy sending troops just like that, I feel the North felt threatened which activated more warfare and caused for the North and South Vietnamese to keep going to war for a longer period of time.

Lastly, The third reasoning for the Vietnam war to become what it is known for in History now is when the subsequent treaty was signed in the year of 1954 to divide country into two known as the North and the South Vietnamese. " The subsequent treaty signed in July 1954 at a Geneva conference split Vietnam along the latitude known as the 17th Parallel (17 degrees north latitude), with Ho in control in the North and Bao in the South. The treaty also called for nationwide elections for reunification to be held in 1956." (History.com, Editors). With the treaty being signed this of course had a big impact because this is what started it all with the Vietnam being split of course they would both have there differences. In which the North had interest in Communism as the South didn't like the idea of a communist government or as other people know it as a democracy. The difference of the two leaders caused the war between each other to become substantially a longer fight between the two and each others allies.

In conclusion the Vietnam was a mark in American History because it was known as the longest war in U.S history until the war of Afghanistan began but it was also World History with participants of all countries going to war with or against each other for one ultimate reason which was Communism some fighting for it to others fighting against trying to prevent a democratic government taking over the Vietnam. In result of the war the South ironically fell to the North because of the United States dropping out of the war because of the casualties. "U.S. suffered over 47,000 killed in action plus another 11,000 non combat deaths; over 150,000 were wounded and 10,000 missing." (Anonymous). We all know even thought this wasn't the highest death toll on the war it was big enough for the United States to notice that this was their war and they should not be losing this many men for a war that they first did not even begin. With the United states dropping out of the war the South had no weapons or enough soldiers to fight back against the North with ended in them falling to the North Vietnam and the North taking over all of Vietnam.

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