Vietnam War :: essays research papers

The Vietnam WarThe Vietnam War was the longest war in Americas history of involvement. Twenty years of hell, land mines, cross-fire, and death. Vietnam was divided by the Geneva Accord. The north being communist exit by Ho Chi Minh. The south being anti-Communist run by Ngo Dinh Diem. Before Vietnam was separated, it was run by France. France had ruled most of Indochina since the late 1800s. The Vietnamese were unhappy with the way the French were controlling, therefore, many of them took refuge in China. When in China, they began to follow the lead of Ho Chi Minh, who wanted to model the Vietnamese Declaration of Independence as that of the U.S. version. In the 1940s, Japan had taken over Vietnam which upset Ho Chi Minh and his revolutionaries when they had returned a year later. After returning, Minh had help from the Vietminh an organization of communist that wanted freedom from other countries. Their main goal was to turn Vietnam into a self-governed communist country. France w anted n adept of this non-sense. In 1945 they had moved back into southern Vietnam and ruled most of the cities. Ho Chi Minh swore to fight France to gain control of the whole country. U.S. promised to aid France, and sent roughly $15 million worth of financial aid to France. The French fought for four years, being financially aided by the U.S. the whole time. The U.S. spent nearly one billion dollars in order to help France regain control of the tiny country. The only reason that much effort was put into a small demesne was the fear of the y. Domino Theory. The Domino Theory first showed its head during a 1954 news conference by U.S. President Eisenhower. The domino theory is the fear of the dot of communism from one country to the next, and so on. Even with the assistance of the U.S. France could not gain the control it once had on Vietnam.When president of south Vietnam, Ngo Dinh Diem inflexible that the election of 1956 should be canceled, America strongly agreed so that Min h could not gain control of the whole country. Diem was a Catholic, which angered the country consisting mostly of Buddhist. In opposition to Diem, a new regime was conjured up in south Vietnam called the Vietcong. Vietcong were residents of South Vietnam who were in favor of the communist rule in North Vietnam.