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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. As the South Vietnamese government realized it could not defend its territory from the attacks of the North, it requested help from the United States. We considered that area of strategic importance. We also had a treaty, SEATO, with other nations of Southeast Asia to support them in case of attack by an enemy. Starting with President Kennedy, troops and advisors were sent to the area. Under President Johnson, the fighting escalated and when American ships were supposedly attacked by North Vietnamese gunboats in the Gulf of Tonkin, LBJ asked Congress to authorize the necessary force to protect American interests in the area. The result was the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and the increase of our military in the Vietnamese War. US Involvement began - 1965 March: Operation "Rolling Thunder," a U.S. bombing campaign against targets in North Vietnam, begins; although projected to be of limited duration, it will continue for three years. Johnson authorizes the use of napalm in Vietnam bombing runs. The first American combat forces arrive; by year's end, roughly 200,000 U.S. troops will be "in country." Ia Drang is sometimes referred to as the first large battle of the Vietnam War. In fact, Starlite occurred three months earlier. In this brief but well-told and well-researched account (it is the first book published on this battle), U.S. Marine veteran Otto J. Lehrack, who is also the author of No Shining Armor: The Marines at War in Vietnam (1992), corrects the record. The First Battle provides a good description of early U.S. Marine deployments to Vietnam. In August 1965, intelligence sources indicated that the 1st Viet Cong Regiment was massing for an attack on the new base at Chu Lai, south of Da Nang. To preempt that, the 4th Marine Regiment decided to attack the VC force on the Van Tuong Peninsula, in Quang Nam province. Operation Starlite was the first combined helicopter and amphibious landing in history. More than 600 VC were killed, as were 54 Marines. Although considered ?destroyed,? the 1st VC Regiment reconstituted itself within months and continued to fight U.S. and South Vietnamese forces for the rest of the war. ?Blood Debt? in the title means revenge, blood owed for blood spilled. After Operation Starlite, it became much harder for the United States to find a way to exit Vietnam.

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15y ago

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Vietnam - It was a civil war, much like Korea, and like Korea, the USSR and USA intervened.

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17y ago
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No. North Vietnam invaded South Vietnam. The US first sent military advisors and then fighting troops at the request of the South Vietnamese government.

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17y ago
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Communists.

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16y ago
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