Why did vietnam happen ????

Hello i was just wondering wether people could tell me the reason for the vietnam war.

Im i know i appear stupid asking this to some but i would be even more foolish not to ask.

I have tried looking but not got a lot of information, ive tried asking american because they may have had more of a chance of learning about it in school.

Ive never got an answer and often been met with hostility.

In your answer i was hoping you could say wether you were american or not.

Ive been told that it was to fight communism, is it that simple , and if so why.

thanks for reading, looking forward to the answers

I think you are referring to the american vietnam war:
There was something called the Domino Theory. Basically it meant: If one country turned to "communism" others would follow.
To support South Vietnam and the Pro West countries in Asia,the US Government sent Advisors and then troops.

CIA heroine trade routs, don't let anyone tell you differently. Maybe it didn't start off being about that, and maybe it did but the result during the war was the CIA growing and transporting and supporting the transport of a LOT of drugs.

it was a cold war power struggle. america didnt want the whole of asia to go commie on em!

however the CIA used the war to create what are called "pipelines" which are basically drug trafficking routes. this was done using military transport infrastructure with possible support from some French elements who were also involved in Vietnam (i think it used to be a French colony) Why the pipeline you ask?? Lots of money for funding of other projects, and basically pure greed. Vietnam is either in or very close to the Golden Triangle one of the richest areas of poppie production in the world. Sound far fetched?? Please research the British opium wars - similiar thing different time. Take a look at the international poppie crop before 911 and afghan war and after..talibian may have been backward but they stopped heroin product in that country, after the war heroin was cheaper again in the west with record ammounts hitting the streets once again.

more info on Vietnam? watch: Apocalpse Now (with Martin Sheen and Marlon Brando) Platoon (with Charlie Sheen) and google it!

Fighting just to become powerful or against a country because of its policies doesent seem ver right though.

www.vwam.com...


The link above shows where the root of the Vietnam War started.

[edit on 18-11-2004 by kessel]

Vietnam was a French colony prior to WWII

When the Japanese started kicking ass, Hoh Chi Mihn and his buddies started fighting back, the CIA started training the Vietnamese and eventually they played a big part in defeating the Japanese in Asia.

At the end of WWII the French, embarassed by getting their ass kicked all over, decided they could just waltz back into Vietnam and take up where they left off.

Hoh Chi Mihn was slightly pissed at this and sent numerous letters to the American president asking for help in keeping the French out as they helped against the Japanese. The president didn't even bother to reply . . . didn't even know who he was or what he had done.

This simple mistake led to the Vietnam war. Hoh Chi Mihn and his buddies started kicking French butt after declaring independence. With no help from the Americans (or any other Western nation) he instead turned to the communists. The Americans where in the middle of "communists under the bed" fever and game up with the dominoe theory.

When the French where losing, America sent "advisors" then more and more troops. The war escalated, including the Americans blackmailing Audtralia to send troops and the rest as they say . . . is history.

Chances are it could all have been avoided by the Americans helping a past comrade by telling the French "cest la vie . . . get the hell out of Asia!"

Actually, Ru, Uncle Ho, originally named Nguyễn Sinh Cung, didn't want our help as far as troops, supplies or anything like that. All he wanted was for us to not help the French, and to say a few kind things about thed Vietnamese on the international scene. Instead, we backed the French.

Somewhere around 1940 or '41 (Hey, what do you want? My memory is slipping!) He changed his name to Ho Chi Minh, "He Who Enlightens", and became an important part of the fight against the Japanese during WWII. He reclaimed half of Vietnam from the Japanese, and then continued the fight against the French, who, even after nearly losing their country to another, tried to maintain a colony there. Anyway, that pretty much leads us back to the first paragraph.

Do you know that at one point, before WWII even, Uncle Ho tried to garner our support and attention by adopting our Declaration of Independence but using the word France instaed of Great Britain?

We pushed the North Vietnamese leader straight into the Soviet Union's camp by bull-headedly backing the French. The Soviets were trying to spread their domination over the world, and we were trying to contain them, but neither side wanted to go toe to toe as that would have meant certain nuclear warfare. Instead, the battle was fought throughout the world in places like Vietnam.

It was never a viable option for the U.S. to win that war due to U.N. constraints (most people don't know that the war was controlled by the U.N.), but what the U.S. wanted mostly to do was bleed the Soviets of resources and money; the U.S. has an economy that could recover from prolonged battles but the Soviets did not. As you know, the "Cold War" was finally won when President Ronald Reagan threw it into overdrive, outspending the Soviets and causing the Soviet Union to collapse.

Originally posted by Fitzpatrick
Hello i was just wondering wether people could tell me the reason for the vietnam war.

Its starts with the french making viet nam a colony of their overseas empire. Eventually I think it becomes something like a 'UN Mandate' (like palestine was for the Brits). But then the Soviets start supplying a revolutionary communist movement there. The French deal with it for a long while. Meanwhile the US and the Soviets are already in the cold war, and I think it was eisenhower who commited the US to a policy of containment of communists, rather than 'rollback' or active invasion of soviet russia or red china. Eventually the french leave. Ike sends some military advisors over to the 'democratic' governement in the south, trying to aid them like they would later with the mujahideeners in afghanistan. Problem is that the international communists are able to keep the rebels well supplied, and the rebel leadership ends up being dam well good at fighting a war. Ultimately Kennedy decides that its vital to global security and sends lots more troops over there. Full Blown war, declared or undeclared, starts under LBJ, or at least at that point its undeniable. Basically the motivation is similar to supporting the insurgents in the afghan war or fighting in the korean war, or any of the 'smaller' cold war skirmishes.



I have tried looking but not got a lot of information, ive tried asking american because they may have had more of a chance of learning about it in school.

Ive never got an answer and often been met with hostility.

In your answer i was hoping you could say wether you were american or not.

Ive been told that it was to fight communism, is it that simple , and if so why.

What do you mean why? Why did the US decide to fight communism? Besides general opposition to a world movement that is not only revolutionary but radical (ie calls for the physical and violent destruction of the old order) and also one that fundamentally has to deny people one set of rights (in exchange for another set of protections and guarntees), there was also the specific question of the Soviet Russians. Before them communism was like pre-nazi fascism, or balkin's like nationalism and 'global' anarchism. Basically putting down thugs and mobs who sometimes took over a set of villages or even a city or two. With the Soviets, after WWII, there was an entire, powerful, 'modern', industrial global communist power, one that had plans for not just global dominiation but specifically a take over and expansion of the soviet sphere into newly liberated eastern and possibly western europe. Much of the nuclear stockpiling and post war military advances were over having to fight on an european battlefield, and in particular a concern over fighting on a nuclear contaminated battlefield (thats what lots of apc's came out of). This concern, apparently valid, over Soviet invasion of europe is what lead to the necessity to 'challenge' the soviets. The arms race lead to fighting by proxy (ie viet cong and mujahideeners).

So in a sense its simple, there was a system wide agreement to oppose communism. The motivations behind that opposition are a little more complex and varied of course.

you guys seem to know the facts on vietnam. what about the pipelines? any truth in that or is that just a good novel?

Originally posted by Thomas Crowne
Actually, Ru, Uncle Ho, originally named Nguyễn Sinh Cung, didn't want our help as far as troops, supplies or anything like that. All he wanted was for us to not help the French, and to say a few kind things about thed Vietnamese on the international scene. Instead, we backed the French.

Yep, that's what I meant, basically all he was after was some sort of support politically. Damn shame the Pres didn't reply or follow up, could have avoided one hell of a mess, and avoided the "communist" threat that so many people ended up dying for.

Advisors like Henry Kissenger and his Empire theory. Straussian "thou shalt do war" nutjobs. Current incarnation of the Neocons of today. Same old song and dance.

It's a ten year cycle if you read your history book. Once the terrorism threat loses steam and credibility, who knows, space invaders sounds like a good money racket.

Hi i once met a gent who was involved in the vietnam war as a soldier but not a regular instead he and some other roughfies were singled out to carry out tasks unoffically as a unit the only tasks i actually recall in any detail was going into neighboring cambobodia and fight and killing bandits who would descend upon villages after aid (food and supplies)had been delivered and would terrorise the villagers .The other thing i remember is they had to chase up american awols hidding in towns and villages arrest them with the pretense of returning them to american forces officals but instead would take them somewhere secluded shoot them and hand in their id either tags or papers to their direct superiors who would then pass the on to the american forces officals.This is only what i was told and the person telling me made it clear that it was his story not something he,d heard or someone else had told him ,i was quite young when he told me this nd havent seen him since to ask more questions unfotunately.jm

Ah, no, JAP, not "Current incarnation of the Neocons of today."

You didn't read much of what was written, did you? There's a big difference between war-mongering and protecting your way of life. It could be argued that Vietnam was unnecessary, and I totally believe that would have been the case had we not backed our "good friend" France.

To day, the "thou shalt do war" administration is a favorite target for the "No War, no matter what the cost" types, but you'll get the chance to graduate highschool because of them. You'd better be cheering them on. There's a reason we are at, buddy, and it isn't becuase we attacked them.

Truth, yeah, the opiate pipelines had to be protected during the war, elsewise we would have interfered with the East India monopoly agreement the nation made during the very first constitutional congress.

Er? Whats that all about? I am unaware of this agreement, and would it really be in effect after so much time? Hadn't the brit gov effectively changed enough to say that the agreement no longer applied?

Originally posted by Thomas Crowne
Ah, no, JAP, not "Current incarnation of the Neocons of today."

You didn't read much of what was written, did you? There's a big difference between war-mongering and protecting your way of life. It could be argued that Vietnam was unnecessary, and I totally believe that would have been the case had we not backed our "good friend" France.

To day, the "thou shalt do war" administration is a favorite target for the "No War, no matter what the cost" types, but you'll get the chance to graduate highschool because of them. You'd better be cheering them on. There's a reason we are at, buddy, and it isn't becuase we attacked them.

TC. Are you trying to tell me these current warmongers just started their warmongering after 9/11 2001? 911!! It's all out there in the public domain these "civilian professor" have written articles through so called "think tank" espousing exactly what is happening today. In the 1970's!!

These "intellectuals" have killed millions through out the world. What is 100,000 dead Iraqui's to these nutjobs? Kissenger was the kiss of death.

I am not arguing with you that Kissinger is a blight. Yes, he said that all this nation needs is a situation bad enough to cause the public to willingly give up their rights, true, but while that is true, did it ever occur to you that maybe we were actually attacked? I know you're young and might not remember, but we have been attacked many times and have arrogantly ignored those who call us the enemy and have declared war against us. When I was young there was a pun off of TWA; Travelling With Arabs. The WTC was attacked before. Embassies have been attacked and the Cole was attacked. We are at war now because the enemy who has been attacking us for a long time did it while a president who would respond was in office. There's nothing wrong with that. As a matter of fact, that is the right thing to do.

By the way, Jap, I am very impressed that you are up to date on the likes of Henry Kissinger. Great job!

Originally posted by Fitzpatrick
Hello i was just wondering wether people could tell me the reason for the vietnam war.

Im i know i appear stupid asking this to some but i would be even more foolish not to ask.

I have tried looking but not got a lot of information, ive tried asking american because they may have had more of a chance of learning about it in school.

Ive never got an answer and often been met with hostility.

In your answer i was hoping you could say wether you were american or not.

Ive been told that it was to fight communism, is it that simple , and if so why.

thanks for reading, looking forward to the answers

Yes that is why and no, it isn't that simple.

Read Robert McNamara's book. He was SecDef to Kennedy and Johnson and was there for all of it. He details exactly why the second Vietnam War happened.

As for Kissinger, he came onto the scene only with Nixon, the Yanks were already in VN by then. Kissinger is why Cambodia happened but not VN.