Vietnam War :: essays research papers

Vietnam WarThe Vietnam War was a multitude struggle scratch in 1959 and finishing in 1975. It began as an attempt by the Vietcong (Communist Guerrillas) to swage the sulphurern Vietnam G overnment. This research paper will discuss the Vietnam War, US interest in this struggle, and significant battles. Following the surrender of Japan to the Allies in August 1945, Vietminh guerrillas seized the capital city of Hanoi and forced the abdication of emperor moth Bao Dai. On September 2 they declared Vietnam to be independent and proclaimed the creation of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, commonly called North Vietnam, with Ho ki Minh as president. France officially recognized the new state, but the subsequent softness of the Vietminh and France to reach satisfactory political and economic agreements led to armed engagement beginning in December 1946. "Northern Vietnam was determined to gain its license" (Davis 12). With French backing Bao Dai set up the state of Vie tnam, commonly called South Vietnam, on July 1, 1949, and established a new capital at Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City). "Where as the Southern Vietnam government seemed content to be a sort of a colony" (Davis 12). The following social class, the U.S. officially recognized the Saigon government, and to economic aid it. death chair Harry S. Truman dispatched a military assistance advisory chemical group to train South Vietnam in the use of U.S. weapons. In April 1961, a pact of amity and economic relations was signed with South Vietnam, and in December, President John F. Kennedy pledged to help South Vietnam maintain its independence. Subsequently, U.S. economic and military assistance to the Diem government increased significantly. In December 1961, the first U.S. troops, consisting of four hundred uniformed army personnel, arrived in Saigon in order to operate deuce helicopter companies the U.S. proclaimed, however, that the troops were not combat units as such. A year l ater, U.S. military strength in Vietnam stood at 11,200. By the end of 1965 American combat strength was nearly 200,000. In February 1965, U.S. planes began regular bombing raids over North Vietnam. A halt was ordered in May in the hope of initiating peace talks, but when North Vietnam rejected all negotiations, the bombings were resumed. From February 1965 to the end of all-out U.S. involvement in 1973, South Vietnamese forces mainly fought against the Vietcong guerrillas. duration U.S. and allied troops fought the North Vietnamese in a war of attrition marked by battles in such places as the Ia Dang Valley, palas To, Loc Ninh, and Khe Sanh-all victories for the non-Communist forces.