American History

The Vietnam War was fought between the government of South Vietnam and the communist North Vietnam. United States formally entered the war on September 26, 1959, with the aim to prevent the spread of communism. However, even before this formal entry, the US had been heavily invested in Vietnam, having spent over 2.6 billion in financial support to help France fight the anti-colonial war in Vietnam (Learn about the Vietnam War, 2006). Unlike other wars, the US entry in the Vietnam conflict was gradual and incremental and the US did not find itself completely committed until as late as 1965. There were several causes for the Vietnam War but the main cause was the Cold War, which resulted in an atmosphere of distrust regarding communism. Other causes which directly or indirectly led US to the Vietnam War included French defeat at Dien Bien Phu and splitting of Vietnam into North and South, Vietnams desire to free itself from colonial rule and western worlds dependence on the US to ensure a defeat of communism so that they could concentrate on rebuilding their post-war economies.

The main cause of the Vietnam War was the distrust regarding communism as a result of Cold War. The Cold War was guided by the domino theory according to which if one state in a region fell to communism all other states would also become communist. America saw communism as their biggest enemy since communist were against democracy, they violated human rights and operated in closed economies which did not trade with the capitalist countries (Rotter, 1999). After China fell to communism and North Vietnam turned to Mexico for support, this threat of communism began to seem real. The general feeling is America was that if this spread of communism was not stopped, it would take over all western capitalist countries and destroy the western way of life. As communist countries began to grow in strength, this need to stop the spread of communism became even more urgent. In 1962, Soviet missiles were discovered in Cuba, bringing the communist threat nearer to the US. And when China acquired the atomic bomb in 1964, the increasing power of the communist was enough to send shivers in American political circles. Vietnam was seen as the last anti-communist stand in Southeast Asia which had to be won at any cost to stop further spread of communism.

The proximate cause of the War was the French defeat in Dien Bien Phu and the subsequent splitting of Vietnam into North and South Vietnam at the 17th parallel. North Vietnam was under the communist Vietminh, led by Ho Chi Minh. US policymakers, and much of the west saw, Ho Chi Minh as the agent of communism who had to be defeated to stop the spread of communism. Between 1945 and 1954, US had provided economic and military aid to France in its fight against the Vietnam Freedom struggle in the hope the French victory would help contain the spread of communism. As such, conceding North Vietnam to the communist, with the real threat of South Vietnam following suit, was simply not acceptable to the US and in 1959, President Eisenhower committed the US to help South Vietnam fight for its independence from communism. Thus American refusal to accept defeat at the hands of communism following French loss in Dien Bien Phu became the immediate cause for the US entry in Vietnam.

The remote cause of the Vietnam War was in long colonial history of Vietnam and desire of Vietnamese to free themselves of colonial rule. Vietnam had been under French colonial rule since 1887 and in 1941, the Japanese occupied the country, only to be defeated in 1945. At the end of the Second World War, the British gained control of the area south of the 16th parallel, while China took over the area north of the 16th parallel and France got back its colonies (Nosotro). During the Second World War, the US had helped Vietminh fight off the Japanese and the Vietnamese were hoping to finally become independent. However, when the pre-war status quo was returned, Ho Chi Minh decided to fight for independence and turned to Moscow for help. The US saw this as a hostile move by the communist forces and decided to fight it using whatever means necessary. Thus Vietnamese desire to free itself of foreign rule became the remote cause leading to the conflict.

Yet another reason for the Vietnam War was the inexplicable ways in which the fate of Vietnam was linked to several western countries. The US was in the process of helping Japan rebuild itself post Second World War and they needed to be able to actively trade with Japan which would not be possible if were taken over by the communist. According to the domino theory, if communism was allowed to spread in Southeast Asia, it would soon extend to Japan and this was definitely not acceptable to the US. Britain, on its part, needed to revive its rubber and tin industries in their colonies in Malaya to help them with post-war recovery. Since Malaya was one of the neighboring countries of Vietnam, a communist victory in Vietnam would have endangered British trade. Similarly, France needed US aid to succeed quickly in Indochina so that they could concentrate on post-war recovery at home (Rotter, 1999). With the fate of so many nations seemingly tied to defeat of communism in Vietnam, and all of them looking to the US to lead them to victory, the US had little choice regarding the Vietnam War.

Thus, the US commitment to the Vietnam War was the result of the western fear of the spread of communism. Whether realistic or not, this fear was enough for the US to spend billions of dollars and lose over 50,000 soldiers over a thirty year period. As more and more countries came to depend on the US for their economic development, the US found itself getting sucked more and more into the War. On the other hand, the Vietnamese were fighting for their freedom from the colonial rule. Put together, all these reasons resulted in the Vietnam War, the longest American War till date.