In the early 1960s, North Vietnam wished to unify North and South Vietnamthrough military force. Since the United States feared the spread of communism in Asia,John F. Kennedy provided economic and military aid to South Vietnam to prevent thetakeover by North Vietnam.
At this time, this was still a civil war. The United Stateswere not yet officially involved. The North Vietnamese resented this intervention by the United Sates and so, threeVietnamese torpedo boats fired on the U. S.
destroyer, Maddox on August 2nd, 1964. The Maddox had been in the Gulf of Tonkin ( international waters ), thirty miles off the coast of Vietnam. On August 3rd, 1964, President Johnson gave the right to attackwith the objective of destroying attacking forces . Retaliation air attacks began onAugust 3rd. Their aim was to destroy North Vietnam’s gunboat capability.
As two moreUnited States destroyers were supposedly sunk, more air and sea forces were sent. Upuntil now, the U. S. had refrained from direct combat. This is when the United Statesformally entered the Vietnam War. The U.
S. did this for two reasons. We wished tomaintain the independence of South Vietnam and we had to prove to allied nations thatwe would help them resist Communist takeover. As Congress was about to vote whetheror not to allow the combat to move into North Vietnam, the North Vietnamese attacked amajor U. S. airbase at Bein Hoa.
On February 7th, 1965, Johnson ordered retaliationbombing on North Vietnam. Rolling Thunder was the name of this operation. It’s purposewas to put pressure on Hanoi and convince them that Communism could not and wouldnot win. At the end of 1965, one hundred and eighty thousand Americans were in SouthVietnam under General William S. Westmoreland. The U.
S. mainly depended onsuperior firepower and helicopters. The Viet Cong and North Vietnamese depended onsurprise attack and concealment. The United States soldiers realized that the war would last for many more yearsand wondered if the U.
S. war effort could succeed. At the end of 1968, The number ofAmerican troops in South Vietnam reached it’s peak of 542,000 men. The Viet Cong andNorth Vietnamese launched a major invasion against the United States called the Tetoffensive from January 30th to February 25th, 1968. At the Khe Sanh U.
S. firebase, therewas a major ground battle. There was a siege from January 21st to April 14th. It wasthought to be the American Dien Bien Phu .
The United States turned it around however, with their victory at Hue. By 1969, combat decreased rapidly and Americantroops began to return home. The role of Communism was extremely important in this conflict. Communismwas one of the main reasons of why the United States entered the war in the first place. The U. S.
had to enter the war to stop the spread of Communism in Asia since NorthVietnam was Communist. Had North Vietnam succeeded in converting Vietnam into aCommunist country, it could become very powerful and go on to persuade othercountries to become Communist. The U. S.
believed that Vietnam could becomepowerful. They were amazed that France, an Allied power, had been beaten by theVietnamese. North Vietnam was a Communist country. The man who had proclaimedVietnam independent, Ho Chi Minh, was a Communist. During the war with the French,Ho Chi Minh took refuge in northern Vietnam and settled there with his followers.
Hefounded the Indochina Communist Party and the Viet Minh. He became the president ofNorth Vietnam from 1945 to 1969. North Vietnam was a poor area and was cut off fromthe agricultural benefit of South Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh was forced to ask assistancefrom major Communist allies – the Soviet Union and China. Both aided North Vietnambefore and during the war. The North Vietnamese invaded South Vietnam.
They wanted to use militarytactics to force unification. The United States did not allow their unification. The U. S. knew that the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese wished to establish one rulinggovernment, the Communist Party. This led to the Vietnam War and U.
S. intervention. On January 27th, 1973, South Vietnam Communist forces ( Viet Cong ), NorthVietnam, South Vietnam and the United States agreed on many things during the Parispeace talks. The talks lasted over two years before any agreements were made that suitedall of them. The forces involved agreed that U.
S. troops would gradually withdraw fromVietnam and all prisoners of war would be released. They also agreed that SouthVietnam had the right to choose their own future, whether or not to unite with NorthVietnam. North Vietnamese troops were given the right to remain in South Vietnam butthey could not be reinforced.
President Nixon finalized the accepted treaty and began toremove United States troops. After the peace talks, fighting continued between the North and SouthVietnamese. North Vietnam went against all that was outlined at the peace talks after themajority of American soldiers left.History Essays
