Why did US go to war with Vietnam?

Answer 1

The United States didn't actually fight Vietnam; it fought the Viet Cong, or the China-backed communists who had control over North Vietnam. At the time, the United States regarded communism as a mortal enemy to democracy, liberty, and capitalism, and foreign policy was governed by a theory called the "domino theory": by this theory, if one country became communist, other nearby countries were likely to do the same. In order to stop the spread of communism in Asia, the United States offered military aid and support to South Vietnam (which was not particularly democratic or liberated--or capitalistic, but it wasn't communist, either). This escalated over time into a massive deployment of American soldiers to bolster the failing South Vietnamese war effort.

The Vietnam War can be regarded as one of several "localized hot wars" that happened during the Cold War. The tension between the Soviet Union and Western Europe and the United States never erupted in a direct military conflict (hence the term "Cold War"), but there were localized hot wars supported by both sides elsewhere in the world. These conflicts can be regarded collectively as part of the Cold War, in a sense:

Berlin Airlift

Hungary Revolt

Czechoslovakia Revolt

Angola Civil War

Korean War

Vietnam War

Arab/Israeli Conflict

Some historians consider the Cold War to have been World War III, furthermore, but this is a debating point or point of interpretation. Begging to difer on this answer on one important point and giving my opinon. The US did fight the government of North Vietnam. The government of North Vietnam ordered the formation and training of the Viet Cong out of the former Vietminh. The Viet Cong were a separate armed force from the regular North Vietnam army but many times Cong units were attached to and fought with the regular army units. The Cong can be likened in a very broad sense, to militia units. The militia sometimes fights on its own and sometimes as an adjunct with the regular army. See this article in Wikipedia: (or just Google Vietcong) The Vietcong(Việt Cộng) or National Liberation Front was a communist army based in South Vietnam that fought the United States and South Vietnamese governments during the Vietnam War (1959-75). It had both guerrilla and regular army units, as well as a network of cadres who organized peasants in the territory it controlled. Many soldiers were recruited in South Vietnam, but others were attached to the regular North Vietnamese army. The Vietcong was closely allied with the government of North Vietnam. The group was formed in the 1950s by former members of the Vietminh acting on orders from Hanoi. Many of its core members were "regroupees," southern communists who had resettled in the North after the Geneva Accord (1954). Hanoi gave the regroupees military training and sent them back to the South along the Hochiminh Trail in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The Vietcong's best-known action was the Tet Offensive, a massive assault on more than 100 South Vietnamese urban centers in 1968. The offensive riveted the attention of the world's media for weeks, but also overextended the Vietcong. Later communist offensives were conducted primarily by the North Vietnamese army. The group was dissolved in 1976 when North and South Vietnam were officially unified under a communist government. Ho Chi Minh was the head of the government of North Vietnam. He had been an agent of the US against the Japanese in WW2 and at war's end he declared Vietnam an independent state. The "Vietcong" as a military or political entity did not take over and rule North Vietnam at the behest of some other Communist country. To be sure, Ho Chi Minh had the help and support of other communist countries to form the government of Vietnam and declare its independence from France. But I have to disagree with the notion that the US fought a war against a guerrila army that had control of the government. The Vietcong were at all times controlled by the government of Vietnam.

Answer 2

The United States went to war with/in Vietnam in the Vietnam War because they wanted to stop the spread of communism. The US President felt that if North Vietnam spread communism to South Vietnam, it would eventually spread to outer countries and then spread into the world and eventually to the US.

Answer 3

The claim by the Johnson White House was that an American ship was attacked by North Vietnamese patrol boats in the Gulf of Tonkin. This was later proven to be false, but at the time it was used as the pretext for American involvement in the conflict. The US had been seeking to bolster the anti-communist South against the Viet Cong, and US ground troops were soon fighting the infiltrating North Vietnamese armies.

Answer 4

The United States of America did not attack Vietnam as a whole, but rather it helped the southern, Democratic portion of Vietnam. We did this for many reasons, but the main one was that the United States, as well as many European countries, were fearful of Communism. The theory that if one country, such as China, fell to Communism (which it did), then surely the smaller countries in Asia would fall to Communism under China's pressure. The US intervened in both Korea and Vietnam for this reason.

Answer 5

I don't believe the US did invade Vietnam.

The US was an invited participant and adviser in an ongoing conflict between North Vietnam and South Vietnam.

Answer 6

The US went to war with Communist NORTH Vietnam to prevent them from conquering South Vietnam.

Answer 7

To stop communist aggression.