why was the vietnam war fought?

Answer 1

The united states was practicing its technique of containment. To prevent Communism from spreading from North Vietnam to the south, the united states sent in troops and the war began.

Answer 2

To understand the reasons for the war in Vietnam, it is helpful to search the history of Vietnam as a whole. I have provided a link for this reason.
In a nutshell, the seeds for the Vietnam war are based on colonialism. The French in the middle of the 19th century had established a colony in Vietnam. During WWII, the Japanese empire occupied the country and at the end of the war, different factions were vying for independence, from anybody. That did not sit well with the French, whom wanted to retain their colony at all costs, so the Vietnam struggle started in 1946, French against nationalistic vietnamese, most of whom believed in Communism. Vietnam was partitioned as a country into North and South Vietnam in 1954, the communist always said that they wanted a full country, not a partitioned one. I suppose that the precendent is North and South Korea, whose partition has lasted until today thanks to the military presence in the Korean Peninsula of U. S. forces. The French were defeated and the United States took up their role, with the objective of stop the spread of communism in Southeast Asia, due to the prevaling theory at that time that communism could not be allowed to spread, since it will make the governments in adjacent regions unstable and the whole region will become communist, the so called domino theory, which in the end has proven to be wrong, since there are far less communist countries in the world today than in the 1960's. The U. S. initially send advisors to South Vietnam to help the new government in establishing a free democratic republic and train their armed forces to withstand the communists in the North. The war in Vietnam was an unconventional war in the sense that in the South there was a gorilla warfare being conducted by the Viet Cong (south vietnamese that were allies of the North Vietnamese government). The war was not about conquering territory as a whole, just stop the advance of the North into the South. As such, no clear objectives for winning that war were ever pursued (sounds familiar, doesn't it). In the end, the lack of focus on how to destroy the North Vietnamese Army and the Viet Cong, without involving the other major communist powers of the time, the Soviet Union and the Chinese was the undoing of the U. S. Armed forces in the Vietnam battlefield. Nobody want it a whole out war between the major powers (WWIII). The consequences would have been too terrible. Remember during this period of time, there were some that thought that a nuclear exchange between the USSR and the U.S. was a survivable event. Thank God that it never got to that, otherwise we would not be here today. In the end, the U.S. became involved in a Civil War, something that no country should ever do on behalf of another and chose a side and did not support it to the end, since in 1972 the U. S. army started the vietnamization of the war, which concluded with the fall of Saigon in 1975.

Answer 3

This is a very complex question. My answer will not be popular, but it fits in to the greater world political landscape. World events are not independent, but are connected in a cause/effect relationship. Whenever there is a fall of an empire/world power something will fill the vacuum left. During the time of Vietnam, Communism was the dominant force in the non-western hemisphere. The USSR wanted us to have our focus in Vietnam so they could act as they wished in other parts of the world, especially Syria and Iran. This is best seen by the revolution in Iran in 1979. With hindsight we see that radical Islam was on the rise then, and continued to gain power and influence through the 1990's. Communism faltered (has not fallen as a worldview for China and most of southeast Asia as well as North Korea are very powerful players on the world stage) and radical Islam filled the vacuum.

The same kind of progression can be seen with World War ONE with World War TWO in many ways being a continuation of it (not unlike Act 1 and Act 2 in a theater production) with resulting events happening -- the rise of the Russian Revolution in 1917 and the domination of communism in Eastern Europe after 1945.

Answer 4

My Bro replaced into in u . s . on a international excursion end over approximately 10 years in the past he replaced into staying in some small village purely north of the conflict border,he and his female pal went for a walk one morning purely into the fringe of the jungle and he kicked something annoying and rounded while he dug it up he chanced on a US military fiberglass liner with cranium nevertheless in it he suggested it the police got here out and dug it up alongside with something of the skeleton,2 grenades a M16, rotted clothing a great variety of the webbing replaced into intact yet no call plates boot soles and eyelets have been something long previous.His dogs tags have been rusted and rotted away, yet at hire one extra KIA Soldier replaced into going living house. somewhat spoiled my Bro's trip to locate some KIA left in the sphere yet my Bro's ineffective now died 2 years in the past so with a bit of luck there is is a few Soldier Up There Thanking Him for Sending Him living house. that's been an prolonged time and Vietnam is a very small u . s ., vacationer are in each and every single place now so the probabilities of absolutely everyone hiding out in the bush are very slender plus they could be of their 60's.. Vietnam = history. Unfortually.

Answer 5

The Vietnamese fought to unify their country.
The so-called "South" Vietnam was not even a nation.

Answer 6

The belief in the domino theory. Ultimately it was fought in an effort to contain communism to the countries where it already existed. The domino theory suggested that once one country in fell to communism then another would fall and then another ...

Answer 7

We were trying to stop the spread of communism in Asia and the world because of the "dominoe theory" that if one nation in a region fell to communism, then the rest would as well.

Answer 8

We were trying to stop the spred of communism into South Vietnam.

Answer 9

To stop the spread of Communism! Also not much talked about, to decrease the male post wwII population from flooding the job market here in U.S.

Answer 10

because south vietnam needed the united states' help