Vietnam war was another war that was caused by the two superpowers, U.S. and the USSR. Very much like Korean war, during this war, the country was split into two different nations. Northern Vietnam was a communist country and was supplied by USSR, while the Southern Vietnam was aided by democratic U.S.
So why were the U.S. and the USSR involved in the Vietnam War?
Vietnam War originally involved only the North and South Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh seized the opportunity to establish their own communism government in Vietnam after the Japanese retreated. In an effort to subside the North Vietnamese revolution, the two powers clashed in Vietnam. The USSR, did not get directly involved with soldiers in the Vietnam war, but they consistently aided North Vietnam with Soviet experts and anti-air military equipments. The U.S. did get partially involved directly, because they sent a lot of U.S. troops to fight for the South Vietnam, because they were too weak to face the North Vietnamese army.
The Vietnam war was foreseen since the confrontation of the U.S. and the USSR. Called the Cold War, it was a war that indirectly involved the two superpowers; U.S. and the USSR. The Soviets wanted to spread their communism ideology and power, giving them easy access to control over those countries. The main objective for the two countries was the same. To gain a geopolitical advantage over one another. But they didn't use their own military power directly to confront each other. They used other countries to gain power. Both countries had nuclear power, and both feared that if both of them got directly involved in a war, the consequences will be beyond imagination. But for USSR to spread communism and U.S. to contain communism, they had to get involved in a war, and what they used was other state countries. This way, by aiding their allies, they didn't need to use their nuclear weapons directly on each other to spread their ideology, but use others as puppets.
The USSR, wanting to gain extra geopolitical advantage over U.S. decided to aid the North Vietnamese and the leader, Ho Chi Minh. The USSR did not only provide military power for the North Vietnamese, but also gave them advice for invading the South Vietnam. U.S. noticed this, and as clearly seen in the Cold war, the U.S. is a country that goes strongly against communism. The U.S. believed that if the Vietnam fell to the communists, the entire South-East Asia (Indochina) would also fall into the hands of the communists. This theory, called the "Domino Effect", was what the U.S. feared. Their policy was to contain the communism within the borders of Russia, but once the communism starts to spread, it will be able to When Ho's communist revolution began, the South Vietnam government was very weak. Fearing the loss of Vietnam, U.S. kept sending military advisers to South Vietnam, and as the time passed on, there were more and more U.S. troops in South Vietnam. Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower, and John F. Kennedy only sent military advisers to help out the Diem government in subduing the rebellion. But the North Vietnamese guerilla tactics foresaw the fall of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam. Since the main purpose for U.S. getting involved in this war was to oppose communism and prevent it from spreading any further, increase of U.S. aid and supplies was inevitable. Soon, the American military advisers in South Vietnam doubled, and the direct involvement of U.S. in the war was apparent. Their initial intention was to stop the communism power, but because the South Vietnamese government was obviously weak, they couldn't let the remaining troops just die out in the field, so the reinforcement kept on coming. America's poor decision just led to more casualties for both sides.
While China wanted North Vietnam to have complete victory over this Vietnam war, the goal of USSR was a bit different. USSR did not want the war to go on and did not want a forced communist dominance over Vietnam. They actually had secret negotiations with North Vietnam, encouraging them to make peace instead of continuing the war. They believed that if they pursued peace and stopped the war, world peace keeper would be USSR, instead of the blood thirsty U.S., and they will strength their position as an ally of North Vietnam. Also, by stopping the war they had already won, they will be seen superior over the U.S. politically and globally.
The Soviets backed the North Vietnam with Soviet experts and anti-air equipments. The first thing they had to do was to oppose the air raid using anti-air, and the Soviet experts were able to train the North Vietnamese with Russian military equipments.
The war went raging on for years, and the U.S. citizens got tired of the war. The casualties kept on increasing, and desperate to quickly win the war, U.S. started massive air attacks. Bombs soon covered up the entire Northern Vietnam, and soon the U.S. dropped more bombs during the Vietnam war than they had during the World War II. The U.S. found out that their involvement was getting way too apparent, and this caused violent protests from American citizens, and was forced to withdraw. The leftover troops in South Vietnam was nothing compared to the massive USSR-aided-North Vietnam army. Soon the country was united as a communist country with U.S. losing the war. Most of the U.S. soldiers were teenagers, and the average age of the soldiers was 19. The Vietnam war was one of the biggest and the bloodiest wars ever caused by the Cold war. Both U.S. and USSR suffered great casualties. Although the two countries may have used the puppet countries, their involvement in the war is apparently seen when we see the loss of U.S. and the gain of USSR after the war.
Spencer, Tucker C. Cold War. Vol. 3. Santa Barbara, Calif. [u.a.: ABC-CLIO, 2008. Print.
Toropov, Brandon. "Vietnam War." Encyclopedia of Cold War Politics. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2000. American History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?
Vietnam war was another war that was caused by the two superpowers, U.S. and the USSR. Very much like Korean war, during this war, the country was split into two different nations. Northern Vietnam was a communist country and was supplied by USSR, while the Southern Vietnam was aided by democratic U.S.
So why were the U.S. and the USSR involved in the Vietnam War?
Vietnam War originally involved only the North and South Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh seized the opportunity to establish their own communism government in Vietnam after the Japanese retreated. In an effort to subside the North Vietnamese revolution, the two powers clashed in Vietnam. The USSR, did not get directly involved with soldiers in the Vietnam war, but they consistently aided North Vietnam with Soviet experts and anti-air military equipments. The U.S. did get partially involved directly, because they sent a lot of U.S. troops to fight for the South Vietnam, because they were too weak to face the North Vietnamese army.
The Vietnam war was foreseen since the confrontation of the U.S. and the USSR. Called the Cold War, it was a war that indirectly involved the two superpowers; U.S. and the USSR. The Soviets wanted to spread their communism ideology and power, giving them easy access to control over those countries. The main objective for the two countries was the same. To gain a geopolitical advantage over one another. But they didn't use their own military power directly to confront each other. They used other countries to gain power. Both countries had nuclear power, and both feared that if both of them got directly involved in a war, the consequences will be beyond imagination. But for USSR to spread communism and U.S. to contain communism, they had to get involved in a war, and what they used was other state countries. This way, by aiding their allies, they didn't need to use their nuclear weapons directly on each other to spread their ideology, but use others as puppets.
The USSR, wanting to gain extra geopolitical advantage over U.S. decided to aid the North Vietnamese and the leader, Ho Chi Minh. The USSR did not only provide military power for the North Vietnamese, but also gave them advice for invading the South Vietnam. U.S. noticed this, and as clearly seen in the Cold war, the U.S. is a country that goes strongly against communism. The U.S. believed that if the Vietnam fell to the communists, the entire South-East Asia (Indochina) would also fall into the hands of the communists. This theory, called the "Domino Effect", was what the U.S. feared. Their policy was to contain the communism within the borders of Russia, but once the communism starts to spread, it will be able to When Ho's communist revolution began, the South Vietnam government was very weak. Fearing the loss of Vietnam, U.S. kept sending military advisers to South Vietnam, and as the time passed on, there were more and more U.S. troops in South Vietnam. Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower, and John F. Kennedy only sent military advisers to help out the Diem government in subduing the rebellion. But the North Vietnamese guerilla tactics foresaw the fall of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam. Since the main purpose for U.S. getting involved in this war was to oppose communism and prevent it from spreading any further, increase of U.S. aid and supplies was inevitable. Soon, the American military advisers in South Vietnam doubled, and the direct involvement of U.S. in the war was apparent. Their initial intention was to stop the communism power, but because the South Vietnamese government was obviously weak, they couldn't let the remaining troops just die out in the field, so the reinforcement kept on coming. America's poor decision just led to more casualties for both sides.
While China wanted North Vietnam to have complete victory over this Vietnam war, the goal of USSR was a bit different. USSR did not want the war to go on and did not want a forced communist dominance over Vietnam. They actually had secret negotiations with North Vietnam, encouraging them to make peace instead of continuing the war. They believed that if they pursued peace and stopped the war, world peace keeper would be USSR, instead of the blood thirsty U.S., and they will strength their position as an ally of North Vietnam. Also, by stopping the war they had already won, they will be seen superior over the U.S. politically and globally.
The Soviets backed the North Vietnam with Soviet experts and anti-air equipments. The first thing they had to do was to oppose the air raid using anti-air, and the Soviet experts were able to train the North Vietnamese with Russian military equipments.
http://history1900s.about.com/od/vietnamwar/tp/vietnamwarpictures.01.htm
The war went raging on for years, and the U.S. citizens got tired of the war. The casualties kept on increasing, and desperate to quickly win the war, U.S. started massive air attacks. Bombs soon covered up the entire Northern Vietnam, and soon the U.S. dropped more bombs during the Vietnam war than they had during the World War II. The U.S. found out that their involvement was getting way too apparent, and this caused violent protests from American citizens, and was forced to withdraw. The leftover troops in South Vietnam was nothing compared to the massive USSR-aided-North Vietnam army. Soon the country was united as a communist country with U.S. losing the war. Most of the U.S. soldiers were teenagers, and the average age of the soldiers was 19. The Vietnam war was one of the biggest and the bloodiest wars ever caused by the Cold war. Both U.S. and USSR suffered great casualties. Although the two countries may have used the puppet countries, their involvement in the war is apparently seen when we see the loss of U.S. and the gain of USSR after the war.
Works Cited
"English-Online." The Vietnam War. Web. 02 May 2012. <http://www.english-online.at/history/vietnam-war/vietnam-war-background.htm>.
Infoplease. Infoplease. Web. 02 May 2012. <http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0861795.html>.
Spencer, Tucker C. Cold War. Vol. 3. Santa Barbara, Calif. [u.a.: ABC-CLIO, 2008. Print.
Toropov, Brandon. "Vietnam War." Encyclopedia of Cold War Politics. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2000. American History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?
"Vietnam War Pictures." About.com 20th Century History. Web. 02 May 2012. <http://history1900s.about.com/od/vietnamwar/tp/vietnamwarpictures.htm>.