vietnam war-when, what happened, and the significance for US?

Answer 1

N Cognito is partially correct.

Vietnam was part of French Indochina, as was Cambodia and Laos. In fact Vietnam was divided into three regions, Tonkin in the North, Annam in the centre and Cochin-China in the south which was inhabited mostly by ethnic Cambodians.

The Viet Minh, led by Ho Chi Minh and a schoolteacher, General Giap, were fighting against the Japanese during WW-2 and the US sent in a group of OSS (forerunner of the CIA) in 1944 to arm and train the Viet Minh in the fight against the Japanese. President Roosevelt was for independence for the Vietnamese.

In September 1945 Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam an independent country but the French wanted their colony back and with allied help (the British Army), the French returned.

The Viet Minh wanted the US to recognise the independence of Vietnam, but President Truman was not for stopping the French return. He also did not like Ho Chi Minh because he was a communist. Most US Foreign service personnel did not understand the difference between a "Nationalist" and a "Communist", and that in some cases the two can be the same.

The Viet Minh tried negotiating with the French about independence, but the French would not even allow autonomy within a French union, and certainly not independence.
In 1947 when the talks broke down, the Viet Minh started attacking French military targets and the First Indochina War started that lasted until 1954. In 1948 the US started sending arms and ammunition to the French under the "Marshall Plan", first to France then directly to Vietnam. The US then started sending airforce personnel to fly troop missions, supply missions then later bombing missions in aid of the French.

The French were defeated in May 1954 at a Valley called Dien Bien Phu, west of Hanoi, and a peace conference started in Geneva called at which the "1954 Geneva Agreements" were signed. Major points of the agreements stated --
1. That the Viet Minh were to move north of the 17th parallel while the French troops were to move south of the 17th parallel.
2. The 17th parallel was a TEMPORARY military demarcation line and NOT to be taken as a national, international or territorial boundary.
3. There were to be national elections to take place NO LATER than June 1956 to elect a national government for the whole of Vietnam.
4. No foreign troops, arms or ammunition or military or civilian advisers were to be introduced into either area.

The US, while the agreements were being signed, sent CIA operatives into the north to destroy local major infrastructure, Coal depots, oil depots, railway lines, dikes and dams. The CIA also started a scare campaign amongst the Catholics (85% of Vietnam is/was Mahayana Buddhist and 15% are/were Catholic) stating that the Viet Minh would start persecuting Catholics in the north. This caused a large number of Catholics to flee into the south.

The US then installed a Catholic seminary student, and dictator, Ngo Dien Diem, into power in the south, first as Prime Minister, then as President after declaring the South as the "Republic of South Vietnam" in violation of the Geneva agreements. The US then started sending arms, ammunition, military and civilian advisers in the south, all in violation of the Geneva agreements.

Ngo Dien Diem started persecuting Buddhist monks and trade union leaders as soon as he took power. The US did not allow elections in the south, again in violation of the Geneva agreements saying, ."....if we allow elections Ho Chi Minh will win over 95% of the votes.."

Following the expiry time for the elections there was a large amount if discontent and Diem increased his persecution of any dissidents.

In December 1959, just outside of Saigon, a conference took place where there were nationalists, Buddhists, Trade Union officials, communists and others. The "National Liberation Front of Southern Vietnam" (NLF) was founded. In mid 1960 the NLF started small attacks on South Vietnamese (ARVN) soldiers and their bases.

A small number of former Viet Minh living in the north, who were southerners, were sent south to help train the NLF.

In late 1960, under Eisenhower, the US increased the number of advisers in Vietnam and this was increased even more by JFK in 1961. In February the 'first US soldier' was killed. Actually seven others had been killed between 1957 and 1961. February 1961 is the "Official US Military" start date for the Vietnam War.

Following the increase in US advisers into Southern Vietnam, more southern Viet Minh were sent south to assist the NLF. Also, the Russians and Chinese started rearming the north.

As the US increased the number of troops and advisers and military supplies into the south, the government in Hanoi started sending more and more advisers and arms into the south, and this is when you started to see 'Soviet weapons" being used by the NLF where it had always been old French and US weapons used pre-1954 or newly captured weapons from the ARVN.

The US sent in the "first combat troops", US Marines, in 1965 and these were stationed in Da Nang. As the US troops numbers increased, the government in Hanoi started sending members of the People Liberation Army of Vietnam (PLAV) [also known as NVA] into the south along the Ho Chi Minh trail along with even more arms and ammunition.


The significance for the US?" --- This is a hard question to answer.

It was the first war that the US were involved in that the US were defeated.
It was the first war that was a "Media War" and a "TV War" and the sights at the dinner table in the evening were disturbing to ordinary Americans. The US learnt from this and that is why there is extreme censorship by the US military of their operations today.
It was the first war that divided the US people about the war, and also divided the media who initially were pro-war, but later became largely anti-war.

Answer 2

hey I can help you on some of these we're studying the Vietnam war. they used booby traps and holes they would drop into and tunnels to sneak supplies under ground. the significance of the march was to either give blacks there rights or end the war. sorry I don't know the others hopes this helps you... good luck..