History of the Vietnam War: What were the reasons and how long did it last?

The spread of Europe’s endless colonial policies to Asia, even in the 20th century, caused other problems to arise in the region. The conflicts between communism and anti-communism regimes, especially during the Cold War years, were also seen in Vietnam. The conflict between these regimes turned into a bloody war with the support of foreign powers.

“How long did the Vietnam War last, what were its causes, what was the impact of the United States on the Vietnam War?” Let’s examine the answers to all questions such as these and more, starting with what happened in Vietnam.

In order to understand the Vietnam War, let’s first look briefly at what happened in Vietnam: The story of escaping from China and being caught by the French.

With its official name Socialist Republic of Vietnam, located in Southeast Asia and the Indochina Peninsula. We can say that Vietnam is located at the heart of global politics. The country has a deep-rooted history of 2500 years. From the 1st century BC to the 10th century, Vietnam was part of China. They then started a fight for independence against China. After winning this struggle, Vietnam’s own culture began to develop.

However, this independence was interrupted by the French occupation in the early 19th century. With this occupation, the Vietnamese known as “French Indochina” It turned into a French colony. Of course, the struggle for independence started from the beginning and they regained their independence against the French. Since they were economically exploited as a French colony, the people were left faced with poverty when they gained independence.

Vietnam’s first president Ho Chi Minhis an important name who was also a pioneer of the struggle for independence. Thanks to its success against France, it also gained a place in world politics. At the same time, Ho Chi Minh, with his good relations with Chinese statesmen, also led Vietnam to receive arms support from China. However, this success could not prevent Vietnam from being divided into north and south. While there was a communist government led by Ho Chi Minh in the north, there was a French-backed anti-communist government in the south.

At this point, the USA, along with France, started to support the South Vietnamese government with its anti-communist policies. Thus, the first stones of the road towards the Vietnam War were laid out. Let’s now look at the causes of the Vietnam War.

What are the causes of the Vietnam War? A country divided in two…

• 1954 Geneva Treaty, which divided Vietnam into north and south
• North Vietnam was close to the Eastern Bloc with the support of the USSR, which continued its communist leadership, and South Vietnam was close to the Western Bloc, with the support of the USA, which continued to lead the anti-communist movement.
• North Vietnam’s serious attacks and terrorist acts against South Vietnam

There are many reasons behind the Vietnam War, which lasted between 1955 and 1975, as mentioned above. When we look at these reasons, we see US involvement in the war It’s crashing isn’t it?

Why and how did the USA get involved in the Vietnam War?

When we think of the Vietnam War, the country that comes to mind is the USA. So why? The first reason is that the USA domino theory. They wanted to prevent the rising communist rule in North Vietnam from spreading to surrounding countries. The only solution to this was to support anti-communist movements in South Vietnam. The USA provided arms aid to French-backed South Vietnam for many years.

The other reason dates back to after the French withdrew from Vietnam. The civil war that started between communist-minded communities and the nationalist community paved the way for the USA to step into the region. Because the communist administration in the north started to attack the anti-communist administration in the south. Therefore, in the USA to train Vietnamese soldiers in the south sent 16,000 US soldiers and US soldiers were not involved in any fighting according to the documents.

The number of US soldiers increased to 500,000 and the US decided to withdraw from the Vietnam War.

In the following years, in the region The number of US soldiers has reached 500,000. On US soil, protests against the war continued increasingly. In other words, the US people began to object to their own soldiers fighting and dying in distant lands. At the same time, increasing war costs began to put pressure on the US administration.

Considering all this, the USA “Vietnamization” tended to develop a strategy. If you ask, “What is this Vietnamization?”, we can say that as the USA’s desire to fight decreased, they left all the military responsibilities brought by the war to the South Vietnamese. In 1973, US President Nixon offered peace negotiations to the North Vietnamese administration by putting forward some conditions. These conditions:

• Return of prisoners of war
• Northern administration recognizes southern administration
• Any disputes that may arise were resolved by international commissions.

However, despite all this, South Vietnam was captured by North Vietnam in 1975.

Who won the Vietnam War and what were the consequences?

• The number of civilian deaths from North and South Vietnam is estimated to be over 4 million.
• With the death of approximately 58 thousand US soldiers, the number of anti-war people in the US has gradually increased.
• In 1975, North and South Vietnam were united.

Alright, ”Who won the Vietnam WarWe can say that the answer to the question “?” is North Vietnam, which supports the communist regime supported by the USSR.

“Why did the USA lose this war?” The answer to the question is actually very simple.

USA against the communist regime in Vietnam He lost his fight. There are many reasons for this. First of all, the region was surrounded by USSR-backed communist regimes and US soldiers in the south could not receive food aid. At the same time, US citizens were putting the administration in a difficult situation with war protests.

In addition, the North Vietnamese who migrated to the south were They had hoped to encounter a democratic government. But the people’s expectations could not be realized. The USA was implementing the most severe form of the capitalist system in the southern lands, leaving the people in a difficult situation. The reason why it could easily implement the capitalist system was that the South Vietnamese administration worked by taking bribes.

In our content today Vietnam War We have covered all aspects. The Vietnam War, one of the bloodiest wars in Asia, has been an unforgettable part of Vietnam’s history, and the traces of the 20-year war have never been erased from these lands.

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