Nancy Is Blue

The country of Vietnam has been in misery since the late nineteenth century. The League for the Independence of Vietnam ( Viet Minh ) was formed in 1941, seeking independence from the French. On September 2nd, 1945, Ho Chi Minh proclaimed Vietnam independent of France. Ho Chi Minh ignited a rebellion against the France and won.

After the war there was a conference in Geneva where Vietnam was divided into two parts, North Vietnam was mainly Communist and supported Ho Chi Minh, while the south was supported by the United States and the French were based there( ). There were still some Communist rebels within South Vietnam. These were the Viet Cong. The South Vietnam ruler was Ngo Dinh Diem who was anti - Communist. At the conference, Laos and Cambodia became independent states.

North Vietnam wished to unify North and South Vietnam through military force. Since the United States feared the spread of communism in Asia, John F. Kennedy provided economic and military aid to South Vietnam to prevent the takeover by North Vietnam. At this time, this was still a civil war. The United States were not yet officially involved.

The North Vietnamese resented the little intervention by the United Sates and so, three Vietnamese torpedo boats fired on the U.S. destroyer, " Maddox " on August 2nd, 1964. On August 3rd, 1964, Johnson gave the go ahead "to attack with the objective of destroying attacking forces "(Pimlott 1982, 36). Up until now, the U.S. had refrained from direct combat. This is when the United States formally entered the Vietnam War because they wanted to maintain the independence of South Vietnam. And we all know how the war turned out.

The role of Communism was extremely important in this conflict. Communism was one of the main reasons of why the United States entered the war in the first place. The U.S. had to enter the war to stop the spread of Communism in Asia since North Vietnam was Communist.

On July 2nd, 1976, the country was united as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The capital became Hanoi and it was under Communist rule. Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh City after the instigator of Communism. The North Vietnamese had won.

After the war, southern Vietnam's agriculture, business and industry were devastated. The newly Communist Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia became an important South - Asian power.