Summary
In essence, the Vietnam War started as an anticolonial war against the French and soon morphed into a fully blown military conflict that eventually occasioned the Cold War clash between democracy anchored on free markets on one hand and international communism on the other. In the north of Vietnam was the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) and in the south of Vietnam was the republic of Vietnam – with the latter receiving the backing of the United States and the former having the support of several communist countries including, but not limited to, China and the Soviet Union.
It is important to note that America’s involvement in Vietnam was essentially escalated by President Lyndon Johnson. It was Lyndon Johnson who authorized a campaign of sustained bombings in North Vietnam and also committed ground troops numbering into hundreds of thousands. At home, the involvement of the U.S. in Vietnam lacked popular support and later on occasioned serious protests that effectively had a hand in the eventual withdrawal of troops in Vietnam. Upon the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the conflict, South Vietnam was invaded by the North – with the eventual consequence being the amalgamation of both countries under a communist government. In addition to explaining the course of American involvement in Vietnam between 1950and 1970, this text also assesses how the war was linked to a youth protest movement in various jurisdictions.
American intervention in Vietnam 1950 to 1975
America’s involvement in Vietnam commenced in the early 1950s with the overriding mandate being the provision of assistance in the First Indochina War to the French. In basic terms, the said involvement of the United States effectively triggered a full-scale military confrontation. It is important to note that as Hunt (2015) points out, as per the Domino Theory that had been formulated by the U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, the fall of a single country to communism would trigger a domino effect whereby other countries would also fall to communism in quick succession. The United States was wary of communism influence expansion in South East Asia.
The early...
References
Hunt, M. (2015). The World Transformed: 1945 to the Present (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Oxford.
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Cold War in Vietnam It has been more than 45 years since the Vietnam War, but still it is an on-going dilemma for the historians of American foreign relations. The Vietnam War occurred between 1945 and 1975, and it took place in Vietnam Laos and Cambodia. It was a War fought for the independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DMV) formally the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, which was divided into
According to the papers, Pearson indicated concern about the nature of the bombing and questioned Johnson about the potential use of nuclear weapons. While Pearson appeared willing to acknowledge that conventional bombing raids would be used against the North, he was clear that the deployment of nuclear weapons would be considered entirely unacceptable by both the Canadian government and people. History has been critical for Pearson's handling of the situation.
(MACV Dir 381-41) This document is one of the first confidential memorandums associated with the Phoenix Program, which details in 1967 the mostly U.S. involvement in counterinsurgency intelligence and activities and discusses the future training and development of South Vietnam forces to serve the same function, that had been supported by the U.S. In civilian (mostly CIA) and military roles. The document stresses that the U.S. role is to
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