2006-06-05 17:53:42 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Other - Society & Culture
In the 17th Century, French missionaries arrived in Vietnam. The Catholic priests received a friendly welcome from the Vietnamese people and they were allowed to live and work in the country. However, the Vietnamese authorities became concerned when the missionaries began to recruit the local people to Roman Catholicism. The converted Catholics were told to abandon their religious customs including that of taking several wives. The missionaries also instructed their followers to give their loyalty to God rather than to their Emperor. Hostility towards the Christian missionaries grew and over the years there were several cases of priests being murdered.
In 1847, French troops were sent to Vietnam to protect the Catholic community. News soon got back to France that Vietnam would make a good addition to the French Empire. Nothing was done about it at first but in 1858, Napoleon III sent 14 ships and 2,500 men to the Vietnamese port of Danang. It was a long drawn out struggle but in 1868, the Vietnam Emperor surrendered and signed a peace treaty with France. This did not stop the fighting as China, concerned about the presence of French troops on its border, sent soldiers into Vietnam.
The war continued until 1885, when China finally accepted her inability to defeat the French Army and signed an agreement recognising French control over Vietnam. By 1893, the neighbouring states of Laos and Cambodia had also been added to the French Empire.
2006-06-05 18:00:12 · answer #1 · answered by opentogainknowledge 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Communist North Vietnam invading semi-democratic South Vietnam.
2006-06-05 17:56:51 · answer #2 · answered by Pancakes 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Vietnamese being tired of being walked on by country after country, then it was a civil war ,like ours. But then Eisenhower had to try to step in and liberate them. JFK carried on with that thought, so LBJ progressed it, and then finally Nixon said that is enough.
2006-06-05 18:00:44 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The cause is not easy to pinpoint. I'd like to think the Americans were trying to extinguish the growth and influence of Communism. It was being squashed in Europe to some degree but it proved impossible to stop in 'Nam.
2006-06-05 17:57:30 · answer #4 · answered by Scozbo 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Due to senseless and selfish human beings.
2006-06-05 17:56:41 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is a forgotten story now. Talk something current.
2006-06-05 17:56:31 · answer #6 · answered by Ifeelso706 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_war
it was a complicated situation. this explains it in detail.
2006-06-05 18:04:25 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋