The Vietnam War

How did Eisenhower’s theory about dominoes lead to one of the most infamous wars in US history? Why was there so much resistance against the Vietnam War? And why was the US involved in it, anyway?

Lasting for over twenty years, the Vietnam War was one of the deadliest battles of the Cold War.

In this article, we will present both the causes and consequences of the Vietnam War and provide a summary of it.

The Vietnam War summary

The Vietnam War was a long, expensive, and deadly conflict between North and South Vietnam that started around 1954 and lasted until 1975. Whilst other countries were involved, there were essentially two forces:

Fundamentally, the conflict was about the North Vietnamese government’s desire to unify the whole country under a single communist regime and the South Vietnamese government’s resistance to this. The South’s leader, Ngo Dinh Diem, wanted to preserve a Vietnam that was more closely aligned with the West. The US intervened as they feared communism would spread throughout Southeast Asia.

The efforts by the South Vietnamese government and the US ultimately failed in preventing a communist takeover; in 1976, Vietnam was unified as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

Causes of the Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was part of a larger regional conflict referred to as the Indochina Wars, which involved Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. These wars are often split into the First and Second Indochina Wars, known as the French Indochina War (1946–54) and the Vietnam War (1954–75). To understand the causes of the Vietnam War, we need to look at the Indochina War that preceded it.

Fig. 1 - Map showing the different violent conflicts in the early years ( 1957 - 1960) of the Vietnam War.

French Indochina

France conquered Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos in the latter part of the nineteenth century. They founded the French colony Indochina in 1877, which consisted of:

• Tonkin (northern Vietnam).

• Annam (central Vietnam).

• Cochinchina (southern Vietnam).

• Cambodia.

• Laos (from 1899).

• Guangzhouwan (Chinese territory, from 1898–1945).

Fig. 2 - Division of French Indochina.

The colonists’ desire for independence grew throughout the 1900s, and the Vietnamese Nationalist Party was formed in 1927. After some success in assassinating French officials, a failed mutiny in 1930 heavily weakened the Party. It was superseded by the Indochinese Communist Party, which Ho Chi Minh formed in Hong Kong in 1930.

The Viet Minh

In 1941, Ho Chi Minh founded the nationalist and communist Viet Minh (Vietnam Independence League) in Southern China (the Vietnamese often fled to China to escape the French colonial state). He led its members against the Japanese who occupied Vietnam during World War Two.

In late 1943, the Viet Minh launched guerrilla operations in Vietnam under General Vo Nguyen Giap. They liberated large parts of northern Vietnam and seized control of the capital Hanoi after the Japanese surrendered to the Allies.

They proclaimed the independent Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945 but the French resisted it, which led to the beginning of the First Indochina War in 1946 between the French in the South and the Viet Minh in the North. However, pro-Viet Minh guerilla forces emerged in South Vietnam too (later known as the Viet Cong). The French attempt to regain support by establishing their independent state in the South in 1949, led by the former Emperor of Vietnam, Bao Dai, was largely unsuccessful.

Battle of Dien Bien Phu

In 1954, the decisive battle of Dien Bien Phu, where more than 2200 French soldiers were killed, resulted in the French exiting Indochina. This left a power vacuum in Vietnam, which led to the involvement of the US and the Soviet Union, who were fighting for global influence during the Cold War.

Geneva Conference of 1954

At the 1954 Geneva Conference, which marked the end of French rule in Southeast Asia, a peace agreement resulted in the partition of Vietnam into North and South at the 17th parallel. This partition was temporary and ended in unified elections in 1956. However, this never happened due to two distinct states emerging:

• The Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) in the North, led by Ho Chi Minh. This state was communist and supported by the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China.

• The Republic of Vietnam (RVN) in the South, led by Ngo Dinh Diem. This state was aligned with the West and supported by the United States.

Fights for independence did not cease, and the Viet Cong continued to engage in guerrilla warfare in the South. Ngo Dinh Diem was an unpopular ruler who became increasingly dictatorial, fuelling attempts in the South to overthrow the government and unite Vietnam under communism. This led to the Second Indochina War, which began in 1954, and with much heavier US involvement, otherwise known as the Vietnam War.

Why did the US get involved in the Vietnam War?

The US was involved in Vietnam long before their direct intervention in the Vietnam War in 1965. President Eisenhower had given aid to the French during the First Indochina War. After the division of Vietnam, the US offered political, economic, and military support to Ngo Dinh Diem’s Southern government. Their commitment only increased throughout the war, but what made the US get involved in a civil war on the other side of the world?

The Cold War

As the Cold War developed and the world started to become divided between the East and West, the US began to see the benefit in supporting the French against a nationalist army with communist influences.

The Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China had joined together to formally recognise Ho Chi Minh’s communist government in 1950 and actively supported the Viet Minh. The US support for the French resulted in a proxy war between the superpowers.

Domino theory

Domino theory is one of the most cited reasons for US involvement in the Vietnam War.

On 7 April 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower coined one of the phrases that would define US foreign policy for years to come: ‘the falling domino principle’. He suggested that the fall of French Indochina could lead to a domino effect in Southeast Asia where all the surrounding countries would fall, like dominos, to communism. This idea can be seen in the image below.

The formation of the communist Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea in 1948 and its consolidation after the Korean War (1950–53) and China’s ‘fall to communism’ in 1949 demonstrated the expansion of communism in Asia. The continued expansion would give the USSR and China more control in the region, undermine the US, and threaten US supplies of Asian materials, such as tin and tungsten.

The US was also concerned about losing Japan to communism, as, due to US rebuilding, it had the infrastructure and trading capabilities to be used as a military force. If China or the USSR gained control of Japan, it could potentially shift the balance of world power to the disadvantage of the US. Furthermore, the allies Australia and New Zealand could be at risk if communism spread southward.

Southeast Asia Treaty Organisation (SEATO)

In response to the threat of Asian states falling to communism like dominoes, Eisenhower and Dulles had created SEATO, an Asian defence organisation similar to NATO. The treaty was signed on 8 September 1954 by Australia, Britain, France, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand, and the US. Although Cambodia, Laos, and South Vietnam were not members of the treaty, they were offered protection. This gave the US the legal basis for their intervention in the Vietnam war.

The Assassination of Ngo Dinh Diem

President Eisenhower and later Kennedy backed the anti-communist government in South Vietnam led by the dictator Ngo Dinh Diem. They provided financial support and sent military advisors to help his government fight the Viet Cong. However, Ngo Dinh Diem’s unpopularity and alienation of many of the South Vietnamese people started to cause problems for the US.

In the summer of 1963, Buddhist monks protested their persecution by the South Vietnamese government. Buddhist self-immolations caught the eyes of the national and international press, and a photograph of Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc burning at a busy Saigon intersection spread across the world. Ngo Dinh Diem’s brutal oppression of these protests alienated him further and led the US to decide he needed to go.

In 1963, after encouragement from American officials, South Vietnamese forces assassinated Ngo Dinh Diem and overthrew his government. His death led to celebrations in South Vietnam but also political chaos. The US became more involved to stabilise the government, worried that the Viet Cong might use the instability to their advantage.

The Gulf of Tonkin incident

However, direct military intervention only occurred after what is described as the major turning point in US military involvement in Vietnam: the Gulf of Tonkin incident.

In August 1964, North Vietnamese torpedo boats allegedly attacked two American naval vessels (the destroyers U.S.S Maddox and U.S.S Turner Joy). Both were stationed in the Gulf of Tonkin (East Vietnam Sea) and were conducting reconnaissance and intercepting North Vietnamese communications to support South Vietnamese raids on the coast.

Both reported unprovoked attacks against them by North Vietnamese boats, but the validity of these claims has been disputed. At the time, the US believed that North Vietnam was targeting its intelligence-gathering missions.

This allowed the US to pass the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution on 7 August 1964, which authorised President Lyndon Johnson to...

This marked the beginning of increased US military involvement in Vietnam.

The Vietnam War key events timeline

Let's look at a timeline of key events of the Vietnam War.

Interesting facts about the Vietnam War

Here are some interesting facts about the Vietnam War:

• The average age of a US soldier was 19.

• Tensions within US troops led to fragging – deliberately killing a fellow soldier, often a senior officer, usually with a hand grenade.

• Muhammad Ali refused the Vietnam War Draft and had his boxing title revoked, making him an icon for resistance to the war in the US.

• The US dropped over 7.5 million tons of explosives on Vietnam, over double the amount it used during World War Two.

• The majority of US soldiers were volunteers rather than drafted.

Why did the US lose the Vietnam War?

Radical historians, such as Gabriel Kolko and Marilyn Young, regard Vietnam as the first major defeat of the American empire. Whilst the US left Vietnam on the grounds of a peace agreement, the subsequent unification of the country under communist rule meant their intervention had failed. What factors contributed to the global superpower’s failure?

• US troops were young and inexperienced, unlike the experienced Viet Cong fighters. 43% of soldiers died in their first three months, and around 503,000 soldiers deserted between 1966 and 1973. This led to disillusionment and traumatisation, which many used narcotics to treat.

• The Viet Cong had the help and support of South Vietnamese villagers, who offered them hiding places and supplies.

• US troops were not well-suited to fighting in the jungle, unlike the Viet Cong, who had intricate knowledge of the terrain. The Viet Cong set up tunnel systems and booby traps, using the jungle cover to their advantage.

• The corruption and oppression of Diem’s government made it hard for the US to ‘win the hearts and minds’ of the South Vietnamese, as they had aimed to do. Many in the South joined the Viet Cong instead.

• The US lacked international support. Their allies Britain and France were highly critical of Operation Rolling Thunder and were home to protest movements against the war.

• Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and the Philippines provided troops to fight in Vietnam but in small numbers, with the other members of SEATO not contributing.

• Resistance to the Vietnam War in the US was high, which we will look at more below.

Resistance to the Vietnam War

Opposition at home was a contributing factor to the US losing the war. Public outrage pressured Johnson to sign a peace agreement. The media fuelled the public outrage; the Vietnam War was the first major war to be televised, and images of dead or wounded American soldiers, children covered in napalm, and burn victims, disgusted American viewers. The My Lai Massacre proved particularly shocking to the US public and led to growing opposition and resistance.

US involvement in the war was also expensive, costing $20 million per year during Johnson’s administration. This meant that domestic reforms Johnson had promised could not be delivered due to the unavailability of funds.

Several different protest groups were key in the fight against the war back home:

• Civil Rights campaigners fighting against social injustice and racial discrimination in the US also campaigned against the war. Conscription was far higher among African-Americans than whites, and campaigners argued that those being persecuted in the USA should not be forced to fight for the ‘freedom’ of the Vietnamese.

• In the late 1960s, student movements gained momentum, and many supported the Civil Rights Movement and the anti-war movement. Students were also highly critical of US foreign policy and the Cold War.

• The Draft Resistance Movement was established to fight conscription in the US, which many felt was unfair and led to the unnecessary deaths of young men. People would avoid conscription through filing for conscientious objector status, not reporting for induction, claiming disability, or going AWOL (absent without leave) and fleeing to Canada. Over 250,000 men avoided the draft through advice from the organisation, which meant the US struggled with soldier shortages.

• Vietnam Veterans Against the War Movement began when six Vietnam veteran soldiers marched together in a peace demonstration in 1967. Their organisation grew as more veterans returned disillusioned and traumatised. The organisation declared that the Vietnam War was simply not worth sacrificing American lives.

• Environmental groups protested the Vietnam War due to the use of defoliants (toxic chemicals) to destroy the Vietnamese jungle. These defoliants destroyed food crops, increased water contamination, and endangered freshwater and marine life.

Consequences of the Vietnam War

The War in Vietnam had long-lasting consequences for Vietnam, the US, and international relations. It changed the face of the Cold War and destroyed America’s propaganda reputation as the ‘saviour’ against communist regimes.

Consequences for Vietnam

Vietnam suffered profound consequences of the war that impacted the country long-term.

Death toll

The death toll was staggering. Around 2 million Vietnamese civilians were estimated to have been killed, and around 1.1 million North Vietnamese and 200,000 South Vietnamese troops.

Unexploded bombs

America’s bombing campaign had lasting consequences for Vietnam and Laos. Many failed to explode on impact, so the threat of unexploded bombs existed long after the war had finished. Unexploded bombs have killed around 20,000 people since the end of the war, many children.

Environmental impacts

The US sprayed Agent Blue on crops to deprive the North of its food supply, causing long-lasting agricultural impact. For example, many paddy fields (fields where rice is grown) were destroyed.

Agent Orange also caused severe birth defects in unborn babies, leading to children with physical deformities. It also has been linked to cancer, psychological and neurological problems, and Parkinson’s Disease. Many veterans in both Vietnam and the US have reported these conditions.

Consequences for the Cold War

After the Vietnam War, the US policy of containment was seen to have completely failed. The US had wasted lives, money, and time pursuing this policy in Vietnam and was ultimately unsuccessful. The propaganda campaign of the US moral crusade to prevent the evils of communism was falling apart; the atrocities of the war were, for many, unjustifiable.

The Domino theory was also discredited, as Vietnam’s unification into a communist state did not cause the rest of Southeast Asia to topple to communist regimes. Only Laos and Cambodia became communist, arguably due to US actions. The US could no longer use Containment or Domino theory to justify intervention in foreign wars.

Détente

Pressure from the US public led President Richard Nixon to establish better relations with China and the USSR. He visited China in 1972 and later dropped the US objection to China joining the United Nations. The Soviet Union was then keen to improve relations with the US, as they were anxious about the potential power shift an alliance between the US and China might bring.

This easing of relations marked the beginning of the period of détente, where tensions eased between the Cold War powers.