what was the point of the vietnam war?

Answer 1

Well,

We had bases in the Philippines, Japan, Australia, Singapore, the Indian Ocean, and Korea and Polynesia: we had China surrounded. We did not need Vietnam for more bases.

We had lost in Korea, and we were smarting from that. and then, this little country kicked one of our allies (France), and we just had to prove ourselves better than them.

Also, there was all that rubber on the Michelin Rubber Plantations, and the tin mines, and the tungsten mines, and the oil wells in the gulf near Da Nang, and the Catholic President and his wife and all the poor people who wanted to be free, not communist.

The stated reasons for for our military actions in Vietnam were that we were opposing communism, protecting people against tyranny, and bringing democracy to the third world.

Oh, did I mention that the North Vietnamese attacked the US Navy? In 1964, in the Tonkin Gulf, and as a result ofd this deadly attack from the treacherous and godless communists, we had to seek a wider war, protect our allies, and end this terrible violence against these defenseless people.

Except that, even worse than the weapons of mass destruction, the Tonkin Gulf Incident never happened; it was fabricated out of whole cloth, to manufacture an excuse so the military could expand the war.

What was the point? Don't we all need a little war every few years?

Answer 2

The west did not want to watch how the communists took over one country after the other. The so called "domino theory" was not totally wrong (as one often hears today): Laos and Cambodia went communist. Of course the war was performed the wrong way. The real attacker was North Vietnam, but we could not send troops there because in that case China would have entered the war. And we had already shown during the Corean war that we do not want war with China because in that case the Soviet Union would have protected China. In every case there was an attacker who sat safely at home (except for the air raids on North Vietnam).

Answer 3

There was much talk at the time of the 'Domino Theory', in other words if South Vietnam fell, then all the neighbouring states would fall into the hands of the evil empire. Well, the whole of Vietnam was united under communist rule and Laos followed, but has subsequently changed again after the horrors of the Pol Pot regime. In the end, to answer the question, there was no point whatsover Millions of lives were lost unnecessarily. Nothing at all was achieved except some generals were able to parade their military machismo.

Answer 4

We had to ground a home base in the Orient somehow.
With Russia a big threat and the Chinese we needed somewhere besides Korea that was split in half as well.
It was thought to prevent the Chinese from taking over. In a way it was the Russian's battle. But inevitably we ended up in that war. On one hand if China had succeeded in taking on Russia or visa versa that would be a real mess and maybe a fusion between the two like the Nazis and Japanese and they would have carved us up like the turkey on Thanksgiving. No question no one should have had to go to that merciless thing they called an incident or conflict(War), but it happened. Always there are the profiteers, either out front touting about it like the Arab oil routine we hear everyday but there is no stopping that. However out of bad comes good. Oil was an issue in Viet Nam it made billions of dollars for all the people who had investments in that business and the military vehicles etc. But we did knock down one of the chapters of communism later which was the Wall in Berlin, and now we are trying to penetrate that invisible wall with china.
Maybe it will be someday we will be able to travel there and all the other places in peace.

Answer 5

To discourage the spread of communism. It really was a dumb war, just like Iraq. America once fell in the rabbit hole in Vietnam, and doing so again in Iraq.

Answer 6

The theory of communist containment. That was started right after the Korean War.

Answer 7

I think the US misunderstood what started as a nationalist, anti-colonial movement as an attempt to spread communism. By opposing the nationalists, we pushed them into the Communist camp.

Answer 8

To avoid spread of communism in all Asia

Answer 9

to reduce the population in Vietnam and in the US

Answer 10

what's the point of Iraq?