America in The Vietnam War
The Vietnam War known also as the second Indochina began as a regional war and ended as one of history’s worst humanitarian catastrophes. It changed the way wars were fought and gave birth to peace that is brought on today. From 1954 to 1975 the heart of the conflict began with North Vietnam wanting to convert South Vietnam to communism. The U.S involvement in the war began in 1954. The result of this ended with spanning two decades and losing over 1.2 million lives in total.
France colonized South Vietnam for their rubber and rice, but leader of North Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh, didn’t appreciate the idea of France taking advantage of them this way. South Vietnams government was not very popular with its people, so the north Vietnamese used a transportation system called the Ho Chi Minh Trail to send soldiers and supplies to the communist uprising in the south. Ho Chi Minh fought against France to get them out of the South, this is where the United States decided to get involved. North Vietnam wanted South Vietnam to fall into communism as well. This was something the U.S did not want to happen seeing as if it did the rest of the countries around
…show more content…
This resulted for President Lyndon B. Johnson to order Congress to pass The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. It gave the approval for the U.S to use military power in Vietnam. However, it did not stop there. In March of 1965 Johnson went along with the decision-with the full support of the American public-to send U.S combat forces to battle in Vietnam. By June of 1965 more than 85,000 troops were stationed in Vietnam, nonetheless by the end of that same year military leaders ordered for 175,000 more troops. By the end of 1968 there were over 500,000. The U.S army had advanced forces and Navy ships, but the one thing they were not equipped to be was the fact that a lot of battles were fought in the