US involvement in Vietnam

Background - Before and during WW2

From the 1860's to 1939, Vietnam was colonized by the French, who treated them badly and caused most of the country to be in poverty. They created plantations of rice and rubber but peasants would often starve as the French would export the food, even if it meant leaving the Vietnamese with not enough. The people worked from dawn to dusk, but still couldn’t afford food. Public executions would be for those who resisted.

In WW2, Vietnam became occupied by the Japanese, but they were treated even worse, with even harsher treatments for those resisting. From this, an anti-Japanese movement developed under the leader, Ho Chi Minh, a communist. He formed the Vietminh, and by the end of WW2, the north was under their control and they were determined to make the whole country and independent Vietnam.

In 1945, at the end of the war, the Vietminh entered Hanoi and declared Vietnamese independence.

After the war, the French wanted to continue ruling Vietnam, but the Vietminh were against this so a war broke out between them. In 1949, China became communist under Mao Zedong and helped the Vietminh, sending them money and arms. America then realised that the Vietminh were becoming puppets of Mao, so sent France $500 million per year. However, the French had underestimated the force of the Vietminh and were losing control. In 1954, was the battle of Diem Bien Phu.

Diem Bien Phu started when the French built a large military base with three bases surrounding it at Diem Bien Phu in the north of Vietnam, near the border with Laos. This would lure the Vietminh to attack the central base, and the French could then attack them from the surrounding bases. The Vietminh attacked in 1954, but General No Nguyen Giap saw through the plan and had peasants smuggle gun parts into the mountains, which were then assembled. The guns destroyed the airstrip and Giap also sent a n attack of 40,000 men. Diem Bien Phu became Vietminh in May, but 10 Vietminh were killed for every 1 enemy soldier.

After the fighting, countries went to Geneva, Switzerland in 1954 to decide what to do with Vietnam. The Geneva accords stated that Vietnam would be temporarily divided into north and south, with the south ruled by Ngo Dinh Diem and the north ruled by Ho Chi Minh. French troops were to be fully withdraw from Vietnam and the Vietminh would be withdrawn from South Vietnam. Vietnamese people would be allowed to choose if they lived in North or South Vietnam, and a general election would be held in 1956 under the supervision of the international body.

Domino theory was a theory held by America, in which they believed that if one country in southeast Asia turned communist, the rest too would turn communist and from there, communism would spread across the world. America were highly against communism, and were in the height of the red scare. This caused them to want to stop any attacks made by communists and help any country fighting off communism. Their involvement in Korea and Vietnam was due to the domino theory, as they believed that if these countries turned communist, it would turn the whole of southeast Asia communist and communism would become unstoppable. This lead to them giving money to those fighting against communism in these countries, and later, becoming engaged in war against part of these countries.

Diem was appointed president of South Vietnam after the Geneva Accords, and was a brutal leader. He would arrest, torture and kill people, and was from a very rich family but left the people of Vietnam very poor and starving. He was a catholic in a mainly Buddhist country, and was not liked by many in Vietnam. Despite this, he was supported by America. President Eisenhower sent military advisors to support Diem, who trained his army, and also gave him financial aid. President Kennedy continued to send military advisors, and by 1963 there were 16,000 “advisors” in Vietnam.

Diem was not a very effective leader, and was hated by his people. America realised that he could not unite the south against communism. In 1963, Kennedy along with a CIA operation gave $40,000 to South Vietnamese Army Generals to overthrow the government (called a “Coup”) which resulted in Diem and his brother being shot.

Strategic hamlets were a plan by the CIA and Diem’s government, in which they tried to stop the Vietcong winning over villagers in South Vietnam. If a village was thought to be in danger, they would relocate the residents to fortified camps with ditches and barbed wire, where they were guarded by non-communists. However, it was very hard to tell if someone was a communist or not, so there was no way of telling if it was helping or just spreading communists to a new area.

Military advisors were sent in by President Eisenhower, and later President Kennedy to aid the South Vietnamese government and train their army. However, by 1963, the were 16,000 advisors in Vietnam so it was hard to see them as advisors at all.

On the 2^nd of August 1964, American destroyer USS Maddox exchanged fire with a North Vietnamese torpedo boat in the Gulf of Tonkin. President Johnson then stated from this that if it happened again, he would be prepared to go to war. 2 days later, the Captain of the ship sent telegrams to Washington stating that they were under attack, but others were saying there was no attack. There was conflicting evidence in the White House, but Johnson ignored the reports of there not being an attack. The Gulf of Tonkin resolution was then passed, which gave President Johnson power to “take all necessary measures to prevent further aggression and to ensure peace” basically meaning he could take America into war if he felt it was necessary.