Was the Vietnam war an official war?

Answer 1

A declared war might have an official start; but not an un-declared war. The US Civil War was an un-declared war, but historians normally count the beginning of the "War of the Rebellion" when Fort Sumter was fired upon on April 12, 1861. Many historians count the Vietnam War starting in '61 when Kennedy sent in the Green Beret. But just as many historians count the beginning in '65 when Johnson sent in the Regulars. Some historians want to count the beginning when US Military men began dying in 1956.

Answer 2

The Chinese had control over Vietnam, but in 939, they left and an independent Vietnam was created. In 1407, the Chinese regained control of the area. In 1427, the Chinese were driven out and another Vietnam nation was established. In 1861, the French seized control of Saigon and the rest of the south by 1867. They took control of the north by 1883. In 1940-41, the Japanese advanced into and took control of Northern and Southern French Indo-China, as France had been defeated by Germany at that time. It was during this period, that Ho Chi Minh, a Vietnamese Communist, returned to Vietnam from China and headed a Revolutionary League to regain independence for Vietnam. In 1945, he proclaimed the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. When the Allies defeated Japan in WWII, the British and Chinese accepted the surrender of the Japanese in Vietnam and the French re-entered the area and took over control again. On December 19, 1946, Vietminh forces attacked the French in Hanoi and the Indochina War--also known as the Vietminh War--began. In 1954, the Vietminh defeated the French at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, and the nation was temporarily divided into two sections, north and south. The people of the south chose Ngo Dinh Diem as their ruler and Ho continued to rule the north. Diem refused to go along with the planned elections in 1956 to unite the nation, because he knew he would lose, so the Vietminh members in the south created the Viet Cong and the war between north and south for control of the country began.

Answer 3

It was called a police action by many in government. Viper1

Answer 4

No. Congress did not declare war and that the was point many protesters against the war argued about. They considered it an illegal war.