The Vietnam War occurred in 1955 in the regions of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. The war brought around rival countries that supported different ideologies. This is to mean that there was involvement of Soviet Union and the United States with all propagating the spread of their ideologies. This paper hence tries to illuminate the issues surrounding the war with the cause being its agenda.
The aftermath of the Second World War had the South Vietnam controlled by the French and the North Vietnam controlled by Viet Minh. Viet Minh was considered an ally of the communist and received backing from communist China, Russia, and Eastern Europe. The French intending to reclaim the North in 1946 endorsed Bao Dai as ruler to the dislike of Russia and China who recognized Viet Minh.
This led to the bombardment of Haiphong in 1946 that killed 6,000 people. They however did not win their endeavour. In 1953 the French still tried to overturn Viet Minh to no success leading to their withdrawal from Vietnam. This background plays a critical role in the understanding of the involvement of various countries.
The Geneva accord stands out as one that epitomized the interest played by various countries. According to Brigham (1), it divided Vietnam into half and the participants of the conference were the United States, France, and people republic of China. The Non-communist according to (Simon 1) in the likes of the United States and its allies such as France were against division of Vietnam into half as this would make it fall into the hands of the communist.
The alliance that was formed by the U.S and its allies was then meant to resist the spread of communism. The U.S on this front was adopting the policy of containment which meant to contain the communist in their existing boundaries; this marking the U.S involvement in the Vietnam War (Simon 1). The elections of 1956 were not to take place leading to division between the south and the North.
The North led by Viet Minh intended to spread its communist ideology to the south that was led by Ngo Dinh Drem. The U.S felt the need to intervene and as early as 1950 had military advisors sent to the then French Indochina. The North who viewed the war as against the colonial masters and later a U.S puppet state used guerrilla tactics that was to be referred as the Viet Cong.
The involvement of the United States was even intensified by arrival of more troops in the 1960 to 1962. This was to escalate to even international borders and led to bombing of Cambodia and Laos. The United States hence used its resources in trying to stop the spread of the communism to the South leading to the death of thousands of people. The fall of Saigon in 1973 saw the end of Vietnam War and the defeat of the United States to its endeavour and the victory of the communist in the region.
It is outright that the U.S and the Soviet Union were using smaller countries to propagate their ideologies with the escalation of a war in the Vietnam being an example. To this end, Vietnam was a victim of the cold war as the immense support received from both the United States and the soviets were all mitigated to spread their ideologies. This then lays blame of the Vietnam War entirely to the cold war.
Brigham, Robert. “The Vietnam War: An Overview.” Overview – Vassar College. 2011. Web.
Simon, Dennis. “The War in Vietnam, 1954-1964.” Dsimon, 2008. Web.