Causes and Effects of the Vietnam War

Total words: 1210

Ho Chi Minh once said to the French, "You can kill ten of my men for every one I kill of yours, but even at those odds, you will lose and I will win." Ho Chi Minh had this confidence even back in the 1940's when he said that. In the news and on television people are voicing their opinions. Many have question such as, "Should the United Stated have sent troops into Iraq?", "Should they be removed?", "What caused this war?". Most of the wars that America has fought in have had obvious starting points or something that caused the war to start, for instance the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 is what got the United States involved in World War II. There will always be wars where people will always have an opinion on what caused them. As for the Vietnam War, there was no real starting point or beginning. The cause and effects of this war are still debated, and to some, painfully remembered.

The cause of the Vietnam War goes back many years before the first American troops were deployed over to that country. The United Stated entered the war in baby steps through out 1950 to 1965. At first the French had control over Vietnam in the mid-nineteenth century, but the French rule was very harsh, and left many Vietnamese starving and poor. But in 1945 Ho Chi Minh formed the League for Vietnam Independence to resist French-Japanese rule. A little after that Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam an independent country. Within a year the Viet Minh were fighting for independence from French. In 1946 French troops tried to reestablish their colonial power but they received open resistance by Ho Chi Minh and his staff because they wanted to have an independent Vietnam. At this time the United States was not involved because they were in the midst of the Cold War. In 1950 President Harry S. Truman authorized a program of economic and military aid to the French. The United States were paying for over 75% of the French war costs. In 1954 the Viet Minh at Dien Vien Phu defeated the French. After peace talks in Geneva they decided to divide Vietnam at the 17th parallel. South of the 17th Parallel would be the non-Communist side. There were elections planned for 1956, but the South Vietnamese leader, Ngo Dinh Diem, refused to let people vote.
On April 7, 1954 President Eisenhower came up with the idea of the "Domino Theory". In his Domino Theory he compared Southeast-Asia to a game of domino. Stating that if one falls, the others will eventually fall. So if Vietnam fell to the Communists they he feared that all of the neighboring countries like Laos, Cambodia and Thailand would fall as well until the whole area was a Communist land. The United States then suddenly faced two enemies because of the Domino Theory, they nationalistic communist Vietminh under Ho Chi Minh and the Chinese Communists who supported Vietminh since 1949, both did not agree with the theory. Eisenhower and his administration had hopes to build a nation in South Vietnam by establishing a government there, taking over the French, and releasing the Central Intelligence Agency, also known as the CIA. The used the CIA to conduct psychological warfare against North Vietnam. Then in 1955 the French Troops were exchanged for American ones.

The cause of not having the elections in 1960 led to the formation of the "Viet Cong" whom battled against Ngo Dinh Diem. The newly elected President Kennedy made a huge turning point in 1961 when he secretly sent 400 Green Beret soldiers, who were Special Operations Forces-trained men. He sent them there to teach the South Vietnamese how to fight in what he liked to call counterinsurgency war, against the Communist guerrillas. He labeled these man "advisors", which had armed helicopters and weapons.

After President Kennedy was assassinated in November 1963, Kennedy's successor Lyndon B. Johnson committed the United States to the war. In August 1964, he secured from Congress and declaration of war, called the Tonkin Gulf Resolution. Then during February and March 1965, Johnson authorized the sustained bombing, but United States aircraft, of targets north of the 17th parallel. Finally in March he dispatched 3500 Marines to South Vietnam and with or without a legal declaration of war the United States was now at war. The multiple starting dates for the war complicate the actual cause by the United States for invasion. The reasons for entering the war shifted over time.

The cause of the Vietnam War was undecided and debatable. Whereas the effects of the Vietnam War were more obvious than the cause of Vietnam had been. One of the goals of the Americans in the war was to halt Communist aggression on Southeast Asia. The American policies and foreign affairs, domestic politics, and cultural and social history were greatly changed by this event. One of the most known effects is the reunion of North and South Vietnam. This happened after the United States in Paris signed a ceasefire, after removal of troops in March 1973. As the American aid decreased, the Chinese and Soviet aid increased and in January of 1975, North Vietnam launched and full attack on the South. On April 31 North Vietnam captured Saigon and the following year they were united again to a single nation. Even though the American aid decreased, they kept giving money to the South Vietnamese. This was the first time the Americans had suffered and defeat as a whole country. As a result the American began to feel that other nations should determine their own destinies and that the United States should take a less active role in foreign policy. The Americans felt the same way, they did not like having their men over in Vietnam fighting a war that we shouldn't have gotten involved in anyways. When the American Soldiers returned home they received a very cold welcome from the public. The coldness stemmed from deep hate many Americans felt about the war and the way that it had ended. The coldness made many of the soldiers feel alienated. Causes to the soldiers of America were their exposure to Agent Orange, and many suffered from posttraumatic stress disorder. There were many negative causes of the Vietnam War, most of which were to the citizens of the United States. Mostly because most of the citizens disagreed with the way the war started and they actions took during it and most of all the way it ended. Brigham, Robert K. and E. Kenneth Hoffman. "Viet Nam War
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