Vietnam War Questions?

Question

Why was the US involved in the Vietnam War, and what were the main goals of the Vietcong?

Answer 1

U.S. Cold Warriors were convinced that if Vietnam fell to the communists, that the rest of Southeast Asia would "fall like dominoes." So they sent American troops to prop up the weak South Vietnamese government and army.

The Vietcong's main goal was the overthrow of the South Vietnamese government, and unification with North Vietnam.

Answer 2

The reasons for any war seem complex but at the risk of insulting anyone's intelligence, I will boil it down to one cogent phrase: "war is a scam."

For the United States, Vietnam had rubber, peanuts, some oil, and was a gateway to SE Asia. The US had ample opportunity to after WWII to allow self-government and to kick the Nazi-sympathizing French out. The US failed to do that. Instead, we chose to see Vietnam as a possible pawn in a much larger game.

This was an era when China was expanding. The "hawks" were finding Communists under every pillow. Ho Chi Mihn was arguably not pro-Chinese, but he was pro-people's rights, that was close enough to being Communist. When the French got beaten at Dien ben Phu, we stepped into it, and badly.

We came in on the side of a repressive Catholic regime, the Diems. They were hated by many of the people of even the South, especially the Buddhists. A few Buddhist monks publically set fire to themselves in protest. Very horrible sight.

We eventually were sold on the war by a trumped up incident that may never have happened. Evidence surrounding "The Gulf of Tonkin Incident" is now being locked away again by the Bush government. Funny thing about that.

It looked as though John Kennedy was about to pull the US troops out of Vietnam just before he was killed in Dallas. Johnson did not make that mistake. He continued with the escalation which eventually grew bigger than his presidency. The draft (Selective Service) made college age men have to go fight. The war and the news coverage polarized the nation.

Back in Vietnam, the Viet Cong were the "native fighters" who lived in the area and fought against the South Vietnamese and the Americans and Australians and S. Korean troops there. The NVA, North Vietnamese Army, were soldiers who came from above the DMZ (North Vietnam) and fought.

By 1973 the US had had enough and left. It took almost 2 years until the NVA and Vietcong took over the entire country of Vietnam. By that time many of the Vietnamese people who wanted to live in the US had moved. Some could not.

The US lost over 50,000 soldiers dead from combat. The figures of Vietnamese killed may be never truly known. It is estimated that 150,000 Vietnam Veterans have since committed suicide or overdosed due to depression.

Dow Chemical, Bank America and other large companies got richer. The world is not freer. Communism was not stopped. But you can buy cheap shirts at Walmart (almost 70% of the money going to Communist China) many of them made in Vietnam.

Hope this helps you.

Answer 3

The US involved in the Vietnam War because the US goverment wanted take all resources, bring back to the country and serve for the America. One more of the reason is helped the South to get their own freedom.

The main goal of Vietcong is taking over the South. So all of the Viet people can be in one nation of Communist.


These are all fact, my family was there.

Answer 4

I've pulled exerpts from a college term paper...I went to a very good university and got a 4.0 on it...so hopefully that will assure you I am not a ranting lunatic and everything was researched:

(I will try to keep it simple; my thesis was complex and thoroughly documented...so I will say only this as a disclaimer: "facts" aren't always what they seem. Try to be critical. My answer is a generally accepted one, however I will not disagree that there are other view points and this topic can be explored in a thousand different directions....)

To the U.S, stopping the spread of communism was hugely important. Due to “umbilical cord-like” ties between communist Laos, Cambodia, and North Vietnam the U.S was frightened that the influence on the rest of Southeast Asia would cause communism to spread throughout the world. The U.S reacted to this by supporting South Vietnam against North Vietnamese communist infiltration. The U.S felt that the spread of communism was a real threat, as Nikita Khrushchev was influential in the world at that time. The U.S made a statement by fighting Vietnam while also trying to stop communism.

To the Vietnamese (Vietcong included), being a unified country where people of both the North and South belonged to one Vietnam was the aspiration. It was just a coincidence that the person driving the desired peaceful unification was communist leader Ho Chi Minh. There were never any deeply rooted anti-Americanism movements. However, once Vietnam began to feel that its independence was being threatened for the fourth time in less than a century (this time by the U.S) there seemed to be no other option but to militarily defend itself using full force. The reasons for why each country entered a confrontational situation are arguable and must be personally speculated.

....[blah blah] nationalistic pride was a driving motivator for the North to fight. Also, after the U.S took control of the South their chance at independence and to unify without outside influences in a peaceful manner was jeopardized (this desire to unify on their own was voiced during the Hanoi peace talks).

As far as the Gulf of Tonkin, remain critical of the issue:
The most well known, and possibly most misinterpreted, marking-point of the beginning of the war itself was the attack on the ship Maddox while it was in the Gulf of Tonkin. After the attack the U.S immediately assumed that they were ordered by Hanoi when in reality they were performed by a group controlled by a local commander. The local North Vietnamese led the attack because the ship was too close to the coast and according to a decision made by locals, any “pirate” ship which may threaten the security of North Vietnam may be fired upon. Also, at that point in time the U.S had just backed attacks on the North by the South. This resolution seems to be uncannily similar to the act passed by the U.S after the attack. The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution proclaimed that force may be used to protect the U.S against any aggressors. So, from a larger viewpoint the North Vietnamese were merely securing their territory against a ship that had no real reason to be in such close proximity to their coastline. Although perhaps a warning would have been a more diplomatic first move, but so would have the U.S asking permission to enter marked territory. Yet, when a country’s boarder and territory are being harassed on a regular basis, a defensive, reactive manner will surely and reasonably develop. The day before the Maddox entered Vietnamese waters, another U.S ship violated coast near Hon Ngu Island and actually fired on the area. So for local commanders to take a vigilante approach and fire upon the Maddox certainly does not seem an irrationally offensive move.

Answer 5

The US became involved in the war because of a theory called the domino theory which said that id one country in a region fell to communism others would rapidly follow.. The goal of the Vietcong was to outlast any foreign army because the South Vietnamese government was too corrupt to survive on it's own.

Answer 6

The “official” or commonly accepted version of how and why the U.S. was involved in Vietnam sort of goes along the following lines:

Non-communist South Vietnam was invaded by communist North Vietnam
The United States came to the aid of the regime in the South.
The regime in the South was democratic

Answer 7

There was an incident in the Gulf of Tonkin where US troops got into a bad fight and more troops and more ended up sent to Vietnam to try to make them a democracy, it was basically a continuation of the Korean Conflict. The Vietkong were just fighting like soldiers do, they were the enemy of our troops. The Vietkong were famous for taking prisoners.

Answer 8

We get involved because of Communism, because of N.Vietnam is trying to hurt the democracy process

Answer 9

There's a lot to it, you'd be better off just searching... It was mostly fear of Communism, the domino effect, foreign policy at the time, etc...

Answer 10

The U.S was involved because the soviet union was involved, and it was during the time when U.S, ans Soviet union were competing.

Viet cong were a rebel communist group supported by the soviet union.