The Vietnam War was a brutal war that affected millions of people in manydifferent countries. All wars start because there is a difference in peoplesopinions, and the Vietnam War was no different. It started because France and aVietnam leader, Ho Chi Minh, had a difference in opinion about the type ofgovernment Vietnam should have.
To find out why the war broke out you will haveto go back to the 1750s. This is where the French started their so-calledprotectorate state of Vietnam. For many years the people of Vietnam protestedbut could not organize into a force powerful enough to resist the French. Thenin 1946 a communist educated individual called Ho Chi Minh organized the peopleof North Vietnam and drove out the French rulers in a war that took eight years. During peace settlements in Geneva they allowed North and South Vietnam tobecome separate nations, divided on the 17th parallel.
This was only to last fortwo years. After two years the two countries would then vote on a common leaderand reunite the two countries once more. This never happened. South Vietnam wasafraid that a Communist leader would be chosen and the nation would be in ruins.
Communist guerrillas in South Vietnam opposing the canceled election beganattacks on Southern Vietnam and remaining French officials to gain control ofSouth Vietnam. If North Vietnam was to begin their invasion of South Vietnam theCommunist ruler Ho Chi Minh was sure to have complete control over the nationand spread his ideas of communism to neighboring countries. The United Statesthought that this should not happen so in 1965 the president ordered the bombingof North Vietnam and the landing of US troops in South Vietnam. This then causedNorth Vietnam to send regular units to the South.
That therefore, cause more UStroops to become involved. All of this kept building and building until it was afull-scale war. The main cause that lead the Vietnam War to brake out was thatthe old imperial France thought they could keep a so called protectorate statewithout giving them any freedom. Then a communist leader came along that unitedthe people and took over in the name of freedom. The U. S.
thought that ifVietnam became communist then neighboring countries would soon follow. They didnot want communism to spread so they tried to stop it but it did not work outlike they thought it would. The United States hatred for communism was whatpulled them into the war. Another mishappening that pulled the United Statesdeeper in to the war happened in the first week of August 1964, when NorthVietnamese torpedo boats were reported to have attacked two U. S.
destroyers inthe Gulf of Tonkin. As a result of this attack, former President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered jets to South Vietnam and the retaliatory bombing of militarytargets in North Vietnam. Later on, this information was found out to be false. The Vietnam War was a very unique war. There has been many different thing saidabout the Vietnam War.
Some say the war was a waste of time because it as notour battle. There are many reasons that caused us to enter into the war. Thiswar was very unique because the U. S. didnt win but did win most of thebattles.
The U. S. was greatly affected by the war and so was Vietnam.
