Vietnam War Essay

Jignesh Patel
Professor Virgen
English 102
October 30, 2012

Table of Contents
Title page………………………………………………………………………………… 1
Introduction……………………………………………………………………………… 2
Causes of the war…………………...…………………………………………………… 3
United States Involvement in the war………………………………………………….. 4
The Vietcong……………………………………………………………………………. 5
Australia Involvement in war…………………………………………………………… 7
The Vietnam War Timeline……………………………………………………………. 9
The War Aftermath…………………………………………………………………….. 10
Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………. 11
Works Cited…………………………………………………………………………….. 13

Vietnam War
Introduction
The Vietnam War took place between 1955 and 1975 lasting for a period of 19 years and half. The war took place in Vietnam, Southeast Asia but it also spilled over to the neighbouring countries such as Cambodia and Laos. The war began as a resistance war due to the Japanese occupation of Vietnam whereby the communist insurgents were pitted against Japanese occupiers. Numerous reasons and events led to this war. The Americans feared of the Domino theory; whereby one country after another will start becoming communist. The war remains historic to United States, as it was the longest and unsuccessful war fought. The communist forces were the major trigger of the war. The war was very complex, as it has been described as both civil and interstate war. It was irregular and conventional as it involved different actors over time. The war was a composite of several successive wars. The French ruled Vietnam becoming very harsh on the people of Vietnam and Vietnam became France’s most profitable colonies during the mid and late 19th Century (Boettcher 27). They reserved all the rights of producing alcohol and selling it strictly to the French plantations and denied the local people of Vietnam any rights. The Vietnamese remained very poor and lacked enough food to eat and other basic needs. The Japanese as well as the French shared control over Vietnam for their own selfish gains at the expense of the Vietnamese. The economic success gained by French in Indochina was enormous and came at a great cost to the Vietnamese people who underwent harsh and exploitative treatment in the hands of their rulers. These conditions made the national independence movement take hold in Vietnam, specifically with the rise of Ho Chi Minh (Adams 122).

Causes of the war The origin of the Vietnam War can be traced from the end of the World War II. There was an anti-colonial war against French after the liberation of Vietnam that saw various periods and finally ended in a compromise leading to the country’s partition. The North Vietnam became communist while South Vietnam joined the West and the Americans replaced French as its major sponsor. The partition was characterised by enormous migration from the South as well as the North. Most Southern communists left for the North and the Northern anticommunist Catholics relocated to the South (Boettcher 140). The Vietnam communist people, also referred to as the Vietminh, fought for their liberation from the French. French people were being slaughtered since they were doing very little to keep the communist North Vietnamese away from South Vietnam (Karnow 150). According to the U.S. Department of state Office of Historians’ website, “The United States sent financial support to France to help them fight and eliminate the communist threat. During the Geneva Conference held in 1954, the major powers had tried to reach an agreement on Indochina. Thereafter, there would be a temporary division on the 17th parallel in Vietnam. The Vietminh took control North Vietnam, and South Vietnam was to be ruled by the emperor Bao Dai. Election was scheduled to take place in next two years to come up with a permanent government. The U.S. failed to reach an agreement to these terms and after the conference, the United States decided to create a Treaty Organization in the Southeast

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