Why did the Vietnam War start and when did it start?

Answer 1

Start of Vietnam War

The Chinese had control over Vietnam, but in 1939, 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 Indochina, 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 W.W.II, the British and Chinese accepted the surrender of the Japanese in Vietnam and the French reentered 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. In 1954, the Vietminh forces of Vietnam 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 Chi Minh ruled the North. Diem refused to go along with the planned elections in 1956 to unite the nation so the Vietminh members in the south created the Viet Cong and the war between north and south for control of the country began. The government of South Vietnam requested military advisors from the United States to help train the South Vietnamese army. Ho Chi Minh was a communist and during the Cold War of the 1950s and 60s, the aim of the US government was containment of communist power and not to let it spread. The Eisenhower administration provided South Vietnam with money and advisors to help stop the threat of a North Vietnamese takeover. The United States also was pledged by treaty (SEATO) to aid the member nations in southeast Asia, if they were attacked by a foreign (communist) power. Following the Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations, President Lyndon B. Johnson also believed in containment and the domino theory. If one nation falls to communism, the next nation will fall, and the next, etc. It became the aim of the Johnson administration to prevent a communist takeover in Southeast Asia. In August, 1964, President Johnson reported to the nation that American ships had been attacked by North Vietnam gunboats in the Gulf of Tonkin, in international waters. The Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution giving the President the power to use whatever force necessary to protect our interests in the area. At the time, the truth was not reported. << Rather than being on a routine patrol Aug. 2, the US destroyer Maddox was actually engaged in aggressive intelligence-gathering maneuvers � in sync with coordinated attacks on North Vietnam by the South Vietnamese navy and the Laotian air force.>> http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2261

MrV

Answer

There was dissension between North and South Vietnam for at least hundreds of years before we were involved. The war we were part of we were asked to join and help French forces in the effort to stop the spread of communism. We pulled out before the war was over but while Laos and Cambodia became communist, South Vietnam did not.

chicken giggitygoo

Answer 2

The Vietnam War officially started in 1965, but civil unrest began when communist Ho Chi Minh secretly returned to Vietnam after a 30-year exile in 1941. After the end of WWII in 1945, France was trying to gain back power in its colonies, including Vietnam. Eisenhower was trying to inhibit the spread of communism, which is why the Korean War was fought. That's why we agreed to help France when asked. We tried to keep down Ho Chi Minh, and eventually had to start the war (meanwhile France had pulled out).