The+US+in+Vietnam

The Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War began in 1959 and ended on the 30th of April 1975 due to the progressive withdrawl of all American Soldiers and the resultant defeat and surrender of the South Vietnamese.

The war started when North Vietnam led by Ho Chi Minh made attacks on South Vietnam led by Ngo Dinh Diem. the North Vietnamese forces or Viet Cong used guerilla tactics in most of their battles, preferring to perform ambush attacks on the non-Communists rather than attack them face-to-face. This tactic proved incerdibly successful and allowed them to win the war. The American tactics were slightly different... They preferred using ground forces, planes, artillery, and LOTS AND LOTS of explosives to annihilate the enemy forces, which, dispite destroying everything in its path, did not win them the war. Although the Vietnam War started in 1959, America entered in 1960 sending non-combatant troops, but by 1965 had began sending armed soldiers. America sent troops to Vietnam as they believed that if Communism emerged the victor in Vietnam then more countries around it would in turn become Communist creating a 'chain-reaction' leaving all of Asia and the Pacific Communist, this idea was known as the "Domino Effect" and was used to justify the war and pursuade other countries to send troops also. Other countries who sent soldiers to Vietnam to back up the Americans and the South Vietnamese were: New Zealand, South Korea, Phillipines, Khmer Republic, Australia, Thailand, Kingdom of Laos. However on the other side, it was not the Communist North Vietnamese on their own, they were aided by the forces of: China, North Korea, USSR, Khmer Rouge, Pathet Lao.

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__Ho Chi Minh__:

Ho Chi Minh was a communist who became president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) in 1955. He wanted to unify both North and South Vietnam into a single communist Vietnam so he led the North Vietnamese forces against South Vietnam until he died in 1969.

__Ngo Dinh Diem__:

Ngo Dinh Diem was leader of South Vietnam. After the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, Ngo Dinh Diem formed the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) and made himself President in 1955. Ngo Dinh Diem was assasinated in november 1963.

__Lyndon B. Johnson__:

Lyndon B. Johnson became president of the United States of America in 1963, after previous president John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Johnson increased the United States involvement in the Vietnam War. By 1968 there were 550,000 American soldiers inside Vietnam; in 1967 and 1968 they were being killed at the rate of over 1000 a month. Lyndon B. Johnson died in January 1973.

__Consequences__: The Vietnam War was the longest military conflict in U.S. history. The War in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia claimed the lives of more than 58,000 Americans. Also another 304,000 were wounded. On the other side around three to four million North and South Vietnamese were killed, and another 1.5 to 2 million Lao and Cambodians who were involved in the war.

The United States failed to acheive its goal of stopping communism in Vietnam through trying to stop the South Vietnamese government from collapsing. In 1975 North and South Vietnam unified under communist control and in 1976 it officially became the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.