The Vietnam War and Conflicts in Vietnam

The Vietnam War was due largely impart to a feeling of competition between the US and the USSR. The Democratic Republic of Vietnam had friendly relations with China and the USSR. They all recognized each other diplomatically. To counter, the US recognized the French puppet government in Vietnam. The Military Assistance and Advisory Group aided the French in 1950, and by 1954 US had spent over a billion dollars to aid the French. After the battle of Dien Bien Phu, The Viet Minh forces greatly suppressed French forces as the French were defeated. France withdrew from Indochina.
After France left, the Viet Minh set up a socialist government under the oppressive rule of Ngo Dinh Diem. Ho Chi Minh created a land reform program and won support of most of the population. Vietnam split into Communist North and Democratic South. Ho Chi Minh made his zone Communist in order to receive aid from the Soviet Union. An election was supposed to take place at the Geneva Conference. Because the United States knew Ho Chi Minh would win, US refused to sign the Geneva agreement. The Domino Theory was what made the US join the war. They believed that if they fought communism from spreading in Asia, they would not have to fight it in their homeland.
The National Liberation Front of South Vietnam, also known as the Viet Cong, supported Ho Chi Minh and fought South Vietnam and the Americans using guerilla warfare. The US used napalm and Agent Orange to burn the Viet Cong out of the forest. Another problem was that Viet Cong hid in South Vietnam towns, so soldiers could not distinguish them from ordinary Vietnamese. Kennedy’s plan was to win support of the people, that way the Viet Cong would have nowhere to hide.
Diem was an extremely corrupt and oppressive leader. He was most known for his intolerance of Buddhists. Several Buddhists publicly burned themselves to protest him. The United States assassinated him and brought other leaders to power. However, each leader proved to be more corrupt than the last.
Johnson had been leading secret attacks in North Vietnam. The Maddox was there reporting on them. After alleged attacks on the Maddox, Johnson won support of Congress to escalate the war. However, he lied to the people about why the Maddox was there in the first place. This was called the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.
A major turning point in the war was the Tet Offensive. During Tet, a major holiday of Vietnam, there was a temporary truce. However, the Viet Cong secretly smuggled weapons and attacked cities during this time. From a military point of view, the US was successful. However, this greatly damaged American morale because there were many American deaths. The war lost much support throughout the country.
When Nixon was inaugurated, he installed a policy of “Vietnamization.” This was to gradually let South Vietnam fight their own war and withdraw American troops. However, all American troops were not pulled out until 1973.