The Vietnam war By Chris and Nicole

In most of Vietnams history it was under foreign rule primarily by the Chinese In 1860, then France controlled it by the late 19th century, then during WWII the Japanese government took control of a lot of the area, eventually the Japanese were forced out by the Vietnamese in 1945

After the WWII and until 1955 France fought hard to regain their old land but with a poorly organized army and little determination among the troops, they soon lost the battle. The French were finally defeated at Dien Bien Phu on the 8th of May 1954 by the communist general Vo Nguyen Giap.

The French was forced to withdraw, leaving a buffer zone separating the North and South. Many north Vietnamese left the country and fled south where the self-proclaimed president, Ngo Dinh Diem had formed the Republic of Vietnam.

Between 1955 and 1960, the North Vietnamese with the help of the southern communist Vietcong they tried to take over the government in South Vietnam, and in November 1963 the President Diem was overthrown and executed. The next year, the North Vietnamese started a battle to conquer the whole country aided by China and Russia.

Scared of a communist takeover of the entire region, the United States grew more and more scared of the progress of Ho Chi Minh and the Vietcong. Communism had become the evil menace in the United States and with the Soviet rule in Eastern Europe, Korea and Cuba, the Americans were bent on stopping communism from spreading any further.

With the cold war at its worst, the US leaders were worried that an attack on North Vietnam by the US would create tensions with the Chinese and Russians that would in turn lead to a larger conflict and possibly WW III. This created a difficult situation for the US and would eventually lead to many inside conflicts, which ultimately prevented the US from forming firm laws for the region.

The US was also faced with a number of cultural problems between the two countries, and what was considered corrupt by the US government was considered legitimate by South Vietnamese standards. It was difficult for the US to portray South Vietnam as a hard working, hard fighting democracy because there was lots of corruption among officials and the armed forces.

The Army of the Republic of Vietnam was disorganized due to the low morale of it's leaders and their single interest in personal gain. Therefore the US had a great deal of difficulty in holding the army together in South Vietnam and saw only one solution, that was to start taking care of things for themselves. By 1950 the US began sending their first troops first in an advisory role, which slowly escalated into a full blown commitment.

The large scale involvement of the US came under the control of President Lyndon B. Johnson. As president, he was torn between the different strategies the US had for Vietnam. The increasing involvement and the escalation of troop involvement meant there were more deaths and more problems at home.

But Johnson was always concerned about his image and as president held the power to halt the war in Vietnam, could not face the thought of being regarded as the first president in US history to loose a war.

The best US commander in Vietnam was General William Westmoreland he had to face an army full of young men placed in an environment that was totally unknown to them. There was no clear front to the conflict and the enemy could be hiding anywhere and everywhere. Life in the jungle was tortuous and there were no home comforts. Drugs and other stimulants filtered their way into the daily routine of many servicemen and morale quickly started to fall.

For the first time people in the US resisting the draft were given acceptance although still not by the majority of citizens. Riots and demonstrations against the war became normal in the US, with numerous veterans taking part in the efforts to stop the war, strengthening the issue. Finally the US government saw that they couldn’t win and began making plans to withdraw.

After great efforts by the US to withdraw, and the establishment of a cease-fire on January 27th 1973 American soldiers began leaving Vietnam. The North Vietnamese finally conquered South Vietnam in early 1975 totally ignoring the cease-fire and on July 2nd 1976 North and South Vietnam were officially united as a single communist state.

It had cost an estimated 2 million lives and the injury or disablement of many millions of others.

 The End 