US Involvement in Vietnam

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Background - Before and during WWII

Vietnam, Cambodia and Loas (then Indochina) was part of the French Empire.

During World War Two the Japanese had taken over Indochina, however after the fall of Japan at the end of WWII (in 1945) a new communist party called the Vietminh, lead by Ho Chi Minh, began to take control of now Northern Vietnam, then tried to take over more.

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French involvement and Dien Bien Phu

The French had decided that they wanted to try and retake control of Indochina so a war that would go on to last 9 years began (1945-1954). The French being funded by the US with $500 million anually (Eisenhower), and the Vietminh being supported by China.

During the last year of the war, France lost a major battle( loosing 8,000 men) when the Vietminh surrounded the French in their Dien Bien Phu base (more info required) , forcing them to surrender.

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Geneva Conference

After the battle in Dien Bien Phu, in May 1954 Britain, China, The USSR, The USA, France and Vietnam met in Geneva. The aim of the conferance was to decide the future of Indochina. The end result was the division of Indochina in to Laos, Cambodia, North Vietnam and South Vietnam, as well as the withdrawal of French troops. South Vietnam (who would be led by non-communist Ngo Dinh Diem) would be seperated from North Vietnam (who would be led by communist Ho Chi Minh) by the 17th parallel. It was intended that in 1956 there would be elections across Vietnam to decide the future government

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Domino Theory

The idea that if one country in an area became communist, the surrrounding countries would follow in it's path and do so as well. This idea infiltrated American politics, likely causing such cold war forgein policies as Containment and the Marshall Plan

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Supporting and overthrowing Diem

President Eisenhower backed the new South Vietnamese leader Ngo Dinh Diem despite his unpopularity with the people. He was a Catholic who persecuted the Budddist majority and executed Vietminh supporters as well as imprisoning any enemies. He also didn't care about poor vietnamese farmers (unlike Ho Chi Minh who gave them land). He refused to allow any of the elections that involved the reunification of Vietnam. The main reason for his support from America was that fact that he wasn't communist. In 1961, fearing that Diem wouldn't be able to defend against the newly formed National Liberation Front (Viet Cong), President Kenedy sponsored a millitary coup against him, giving $400,000 to the southern army generals. This resulted in the killing of Diem.

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Military advisers and Strategic Hamlets

The US began sending military advisers to South Vietnam in 1955, who primary goal was to train the South Vietnamese army. Between 1955 and 1960 there had been up to 1,500 advisers in Vietnam. When President Kenedy came into power however, he increased the number of advisers to 3,200 in 1961 which increased to 16,000 in 1963. This could be due to the creation and increasing strength of the Viet Cong.

Between 1960-63 strategic hamlets became in use. This was were South Vietnamese villagers, seen as being in threat of being won over by the invading Viet Cong, would be moved to new, more secure 'hamlets', which were often surrounded by barbed wire. This tactic was likely uneffective as the secrative nature of the Viet Cong meant it was impossible to know who in the village was actually a member of the VC

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Gulf of Tonkin and military involvement

A US warship, the USS Maddox, was travelling through the Gulf of Tonkin during 2nd August 1964 when it was reported that it was hit by a torpedo, fired from a North Vietnamese torpedo boat, although the torpedos didn't explode. On the 4th August it was also reported that both the USS Madox and Turner had been fired upon by torpedos again (also not exploding). The second attack is surrounded with controversy as no sailer or fighter pilots saw any evidence of the attack.

The media had widely reported that the ships had been attacked, causing huge public outrage against North Vietnam. The new President Johnson proposed the Gulf of Tonkin resolution, which would give him the power to defend the US and South Vietnam however he thought best. The reolution was passed by Congress.

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