Vietnam+Path

=VIETNAM - THE PATH TO WAR =

In the 1850s, Vietnam was a French Colony, called French IndoChina. The French occupied this area through World War II, although there was a short period of occupation by the Japanese during the war. On September 2, 1945, Vietnam declared independence from **France**. This movement was headed by **Ho Chi Minh** (a Communist) and the Viet Minh (the Communist Party) in the north, and **Ngo Dinh Diem** in the south. The Second IndoChina War lasted for ten years until the French were forced out in 1954.

After the war, it was agreed that Vietnam would be divided on the 17th Parallel. The French were to move south and prepare for departure, while the rest of the country prepared for an election in 1956 to choose a new government. In Northern Vietnam, the Viet Minh increased its followers; while in Southern Vietnam Ngo Dinh Diem wanted a Democratic government. Fearing that the **Communists** would win the election, Ngo Dinh Diem refused to allow the election in 1956 to take place. The U.S. and the French backed Ngo Dinh Diem's decision. Wanting the reunion of Vietnam, and with the election and peace treaty gone, the Viet Minh decied to go to war against South Vietnam.

Diem asked for aid from the U.S. to fight the war, which he would recieve. By the end of 1962, 11,000 US **military advisors** had been sent to Vietnam. Still, the Vietnam war was unpopular (as was Diem's corrupt government) and the U.S. did nothing to prevent his assasination. In addition to Southern Vietnam's government in shambles, the Viet Cong guerrillas of the north gained strength through recruiting in both the north and the south. The Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) was unable to contain or defeat them.

The US feared Communist takeover in East Asia if Vietnam fell. Like a row of dominoes, Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand would fall to Communism. When Johnson declared that the USS //Maddox// had been attacked in the **Gulf of Tolkin**, Congress gave Johnson the power to do anything and everything to protect the U.S. military and south Vietnam's interests from harm.