Vietnam ( vs. America) from 1954-1975...

The Vietnam War has left its mark, alongside all other great wars of it time, on the remainder of the world surrounding it. It can be said that the Vietnam War is often also known as the "Second Indochina War". The actual dates of the actual fighting within the war were 1959 to the end in 1975. A long time, right?! Well, try saying that to those men that bravely fought in this war.

Dien Bien Phu, a major battle leading up to the main content of what this war was to be about, held place in Vietnam for the sole purpose of driving the then current French rule OUT. Soon following this, the date of May 7th, 1954, French forces known as the French Union garrison surrendered and left Vietnam behind. Between the years of the early 40's and the mid 50's, a total of nine long years, more than around 400,000 civilians as well as soldiers lost their lives in the fight to honor, protect, and free their lost country from the French reign of their time.

Later on, about two years or so, the time became known as the "Diem Era". This lasted from 1956-1963 and was all under the rule of the then Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem, from which the era's name is contrived. The conflict was emerging during the time of the Geneva Conference in 1954, when it was considered to pend and hold off national elections in July of 1956. It set up what we now call a DMZ or in more formal terms, a Demilitaized Zone, which set up a line of what was to supposedly be a zone of no fighting. Many powers of the day, including our country the USA as well as Vietnam, declined to sign this contract and Vietnamese President Diem resisted the signing for no national elections. A theory known as the "Domino Theory" came out and stated that America feared if Southern Vietnam fell into Communism, that all of the regions in South East Asia would topple right alongside it. This proved to be an even bigger building fear in the mind of then American President Eisenhower and the American people of the time. In the year 1955, Diem created the Republic of Vietnam primarily due to Eisenhower's obvious concern expressed to the world of its spread of Communism. However, doubts started layering on top of one another and the mistrust between the Vietnamese people and their President Diem, due to his wealth and his devoutness to the Catholic faith. This proved to be a problem because the majority of people located in Vietnam were highly regarded Buddhists.

Soon after this trouble began, a man by the name of Le Duan arrived in Vietnam and started his attempt to convince the people of Vietnam to follow the Communist party. Insurgency began and pushed terrorist attacks and dangerous kidnappings into the homes and lives of the Vietnamese. Tragically, in the year 1957, over 400 government officials were assassinated and the numbers kept increasing. Then came what started an internal conflict called the Ho Chi Minh Trail which President Diem was head of in order to completely eliminate and abolish any further movement towards Communism. A struggle developed in heavy and aggressive fighting and proved to be the what the middle of the Vietnam War consisted of. The NLF or National Front of the Liberation of South Vietnam started in 1960 due to the increasing unpopularity of President Diem. Within this group there came about two subgroups-the communists and nationalists. Did the Vietnam people REALLY know what they were getting themselves into? The NLF stood for primarily one sole reason: to eliminate any and all influence America had on the country of Vietnam.

After winning the 1960 Presidential election for the United States, President John F. Kennedy saw the need to cure and complete this task in the Asian region, especially in Vietnam, and thus sent in troops such as the infamous Green Berets and others. In May of 1961, Vice Presdient Johnson proved his loyalty to President Diem of Vietnam and continued to fight the fight. He promised Diem that he would keep sending troops in order to continue the resist of the Communist takeover. However, Kennedy's military policy stated in basic terms, that we were NOT going to help Diem in his war and that we should withdraw our troops in the hope Diem would fight or figure out how to fight this internal battle of his country all on his own. Many politicians and others of influence tried to persuade Kennedy into sending troops however he was very much against this aid and continued to hold strong to his original belief. A sudden change however, promoted the number of American soldiers there from just 700 to over 12,000 in a matter of a short time. This uprise was held in the middle of the year 1962. Corruption continued until July of '62 when about 14 nations signed and agreed to the neutrality of Laos-South Vietnam, Soviet Union, North Vietnam, and of course, the United States of America.

In the years following this, Vietnamese President Diem was overthrown and ultimately executed alongside his brother who wished to repress Buddhists. Diem and his brother came to their end in late 1963. It has been said that the CIA was in cahoots with generals in this plan to ruin Diem. Kennedy was shocked. Following this chaotic and horrid display of power, one government official after the other fell to the ground in a long period of unstability. Three weeks after the death of Diem, Americans saw their President, Kennedy, shot and killed in a horrible fashion. Vice President Johnson succeeded Kennedy and pushed for the support of Southern Vietnam. General Minh was in power at the time and his regime of evildoers was thrown out in January of 1964 by another General, General Khanh. An attack from American forces came into play in August of '64 when we fired and hit several of the torpedo boats lining the shores of Vietnam-on the Gulf of Tonkin. Then on March 2nd, 1965, Operations Flaming Dart and Rolling Thunder took place and lasted around 3 or more years. These operations consisted mainly of explosions such as bombs, torpedoes, missiles, and intense rockets. During this time, the Ho Chi Minh Trail continued to last through the areas of Cambodia and Laos.

Most would say that the main escalating conflict of the Second Indochina War (Vietnam War) would have to had take place around January 31st, 1965. This was mostly when Americans became fully involved in the midst of the struggle for freedom of the Vietnamese. In March of this same year, around 3,500 U.S. Marines were sent and deployed to South Vietnam. This was where most of the American ground battle and/or war in this area first started to take place. By December of '65, over 200,000 of America's Marines were located in Vietnam and fighting the trappings of Communism. Nixon was elected into America's Presidency in 1968 and promised his oh so famous motto, "Peace-with honor". A term came about about that was called "Vietnamization" which said that American soldiers were only the ones dying in the war that wasn't theres in the first place. After this Vietnamization, Ho Chi Minh died at the elderly age of 79 in the year 1969. Other countries such as Switzerland, Sweden, and of course, Cambodia, all vowed to be neutral within the fight.

And thus began the next few years...