Why did the U.S. participate in the Vietnam War?
536608
There were two great empires (the Soviet Empire & the American empire) and these empires had the ability to completely destroy each other, so they couldn't fight each other directly. But they could fight over out lying territories, and so Vietnam became te battle ground for the Americans to fight the Soviets.\n\nExcept that we weren't actually fighting the Soviets. We were fighting Vietnames people, so that explanation doesn't really make any sense. Gosh, maybe we shouldn't have been there and the whole thing was a huge mistake. Oops.
277759
After the French's attempt to recolonize Vietnam was defeated at Dien Bien Phu by Ho Chi Minh's Vietminh army, a meeting at Geneva agreed to partition the country into demilitarized zones (North - free Vietnam, communist and South - french/us influence, democratic). The North wanted to reunite Vietnam (as a second meeting in Geneva was scheduled, which was blocked by South) while South wanted independence (with US support). At Geneva joint elections were decided with a Communist Party running for the North and a Democratic one for the South, however the South blocked the elections as US knew communist support was strong even in the South and they would win. \nOfficially the war began with the Communist offensive in 1963 and the '63 coup which overthrew the Democratic govt of the South, but for two years before that the South was plagued by Communist insurgency as Communist factions of teh South were armed by the North via the famouse 'Ho Chi Minh trail'. Later that year US stated its support of the South govt (even though Kennedy grew frustrated with the South politic of violence and repression, which led to protests even among Democratic supporters). After Kenndy's assasionation, Lyndon Johnson called for continuous military action, using as propaganda the fight against communism (even though US helped in the prohibition of elections which would have united Vietnam instead of dividing it).\nUS military actions were officially terminated in 1973.\nWhy did US fail in the war:\n- gradually changing war policies (escallation) which gave Vietcong time to adapt, instead of dealing swift and decisive strikes.\n- war crimes (massacres, public executions led even against journalists and civilian population) which turned even US supporters towards communist side. When policy changed towards winning 'heart and mids' of Vietnamese people, it was too late as it was clear US wasn't there to help and protect Vietnam.
721563
Yes it played a major role into the failures of the Vietnam War.  Limited War provides a safe haven for the enemy, where they can regroup and launch additional attacks.
165410
It was fought on the land, air, and lesser so, at sea.\nThe North Vietnamese had small airforce and navy. The N. Vietnamese fought a guerilla warfare the majority of the time. The French, and then the Americans had to adjust to jungle fighting that was sumwhat unique in their country.\nIt also became a phyalogical battle of stalemate and grueling conditions for the americans and their foes.
13305
What an excellent and well timed question, thank you.\n\nMost people believe that the start of the war was a response to North Vietnamese patrol boats firing on the US destroyer USS Maddox in the Gulf of Tonkin in 1964.  This "attack" was the all the reason needed for the US to "respond" with bombing raids on North Vietnam.\n\nBut, and this is important, there was a report that came out a few days ago that basically states the North Vietnamese did NOT shoot at our destroyer and further the N. Vietnamese had no idea where our destroyer was!
757818
They did use it During Vietnam.
68373
Serious negotiations to end the war began after U.S. President Lyndon Johnson's decision not to seek reelection in 1968. Contacts between North Vietnam and the United States in Paris in 1968 were expanded in 1969 to include South Vietnam and the NLF. The United States, under the leadership of President Richard M. Nixon, altered its tactics to combine U.S. troop withdrawals with intensified bombing and the invasion of Communist sanctuaries in Cambodia (1970).\n\nThe length of the war, the high number of U.S. casualties, and the exposure of U.S. involvement in war crimes such as the massacre at My Lai (see My Lai incident) helped to turn many in the United States against the war. Politically, the movement was led by Senators James William Fulbright, Robert F. Kennedy, Eugene J. McCarthy, and George S. McGovern; there were also huge public demonstrations in Washington, D.C., as well as in many other cities in the United States and on college campuses.\n\nEven as the war continued, peace talks in Paris progressed, with Henry Kissinger as U.S. negotiator. A break in negotiations followed by U.S. saturation bombing of North Vietnam did not derail the talks, and a peace agreement was reached, signed on Jan. 27, 1973, by the United States, North Vietnam, South Vietnam, and the NLF's provisional revolutionary government. The accord provided for the end of hostilities, the withdrawal of U.S. and allied troops (several Southeast Asia Treaty Organization countries had sent token forces), the return of prisoners of war, and the formation of a four-nation international control commission to ensure peace.
731395
U.S. military advisors first became involved in Vietnam as early as 1950, when they began to assist French colonial forces. In 1956, these advisors assumed full responsibility for training the Army of the Republic of Vietnam or ARVN. Large numbers of American combat troops began to arrive in 1965 and the last left the country in 1973.\n\nclick here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War\nhttp://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/vietnam/timeline/
562696
The ground war thing in Vietnam was hard, just like it had been for the French in the 1950's. Guerrilla warfare used by the Viet Cong attacked and caused many casualties to larger U.S. forces. The U.S. had no answer to match these hit and run tactics. The other problem was American GI's had no idea who the enemy was because many people in the South supported Ho Chi Minh. The South Vietnamese government was unstable and corrupt, so people in the South liked the idea of a unified Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh knew the American public did not like blood, so as long as Americans were dying he knew the war was going his way. Poor public opinion at home ensured that an escalated ground war was out of the question. For example invading China.
1000150
Gee i seem to understand that America had a few problems ourselves after the revolution.  I mean like a previous answerer stated Germany and Japan were not fixed overnight.  The biggest difference between Iraq and Vietnam is that in Vietnam the Democrats would not let the military fight to win, but were more interested in making money on our dead 58,000 American soldiers than doing what needed to be done to help democracy succeed, but now the Republicans, much to the anger of the liberals, have turned the conflict over to the military so that they can do what they need to in order to win.  In wartime someone always makes money, but something you need to keep in mind is that most of the major conflicts America has been involved in the Democrats have squarely planted us in them.  You are so concerned with getting us out of Iraq, and so worried about the soldiers dying there, because Bush got us there, but you have said nothing about the American, and allied troops that still get into firefights in Bosnia!!!  Clinton put us there 11 years ago, and we still rotate troops there, but no says anything about Clinton's screwup!!  If you are going to ask these kind of questions, then at least have the balls, and intestinal fortitude to ask about ALL the places AMERICAN troops are dying in!!!!!
109101
I would venture to guess they did not want a show down with the Soviet Union or China at the time. The Gulf of Tonkin incident was enough to justify escalating the war without a declaration.  You would think that sending 50,000 amercian boys and soldier girls to their deaths would've justified a declaration of war, but who am i to raise that argument.
242056
In Vietnam, the politician's back home 'lost' the war, in Iraq, the tactical operations were left to the military and victory was achieved in days.  The current violence, insurgency and more soldiers dying are the result of an occupation force trying to install a democracy over a people that don't seem to want it. A civil war is brewing and were caught in the quigmire.  \n\nIn Vietnam, tactics of conventional warfare were used to fight non-conventional enemies.  The US Armed Forces relied too much on their great fire power and modern weaponry and equipment. American leaders seemed to be overconfident in their "know-how" in fighting a war that required the more know-how on psychological strategy than just on modern technology\n\nThe Vietnam Communist Party and its regime were strongly supported by the whole Communist bloc. Immense military aids came from Beijing and Moscow. Unofficial sources estimated that aids from Red China and the Soviet Union had been in tens of billion dollars, not far lower than US aids to South Vietnam and American military expenses in the Vietnam War. \n\nMoreover, the Soviet Union, China, North Korea and possibly Cuba joined North Vietnamese Communist forces in direct fighting the Americans in North Vietnam with their combat pilots, and air defense SAM-6 surface-to-air battalions (Soviet). Beijing also sent some infantry divisions to safeguard the northern mountainous area of North Vietnam and many engineer regiments to repair bombed bridges and road in North Vietnam\n\nWe were defeated in Vietnam by the communist bloc at the time, sent packing from the rooftops of the American Embassy.  I don't see a similarity with Vietnam except maybe the discontent among the liberals back home.
42215
For the USA, it created the question "why should I die to further someone else's political ambitions"? It effectively killed the draft - which has repercussions right up to the last presidential election. It made the use of military force a very expensive tool for American politicians to use. It made Americans question their government, which improved democracy until recently.\n\nFor the Asians, it proved that a guerilla war done long enough would weary anyone who was trying use military might but didn't have the moral callousness to be as brutal as the guerillas.\n\nOnce the war was over, it proved that underneath the "east-west", "commie-freedom" fight was really a hidden ethnic battle that had been there for centuries - rmember all those boat people? A lot were ethnic Chinese "driven out" by the repression of Vietnam.\n\nIt also did what it was supposed to, and stalled the Communist expansion before it swallowed Malaysia, Thailand, and Burma.
1066054
When america coerced the un to enter vietnam under the guise of atrocities commited by the north against the south. it was the south who tried to set up a puppet govt. When vietnam won indepenence from france it was only one country.Liberated by the communist regime.The usa could'nt coerce the un to invade iraq they went ahead anyway for some ulterior motive. Certainly not the stated reason In both wars it was absolute banditry they will be deafeted.No matter how strong you cannot break the will of the people
634706
U.S. involvement in Vietnam did not begin in the 1960's or even the 1940's, but in 1845. That's right -- 1845. In that year the people of Da Nang arrested a French missionary bishop for breaking local laws. The U.S. commander of "Old Ironsides" (the U.S.S. Constitution) landed U.S. Navy and Marines in support of French efforts to reclaim their missionary. Mad Jack Percival, the ship's captain, fired into the city of Da Nang, killing 3 dozen Vietnamese, wounding more, and taking the local mandarins hostage. He then demanded that the Catholic Bishop be freed in exchange for his hostages. The Vietnamese were unimpressed. They refused his demand and waited. "Mad Jack" got tired of waiting, released his hostages, and sailed away leaving the Bishop behind.\n\nDuring WW11, US and Vietnam fought against the Japanese. After the end of World war, Ho Chi Minh asked the Americans to honor their commitment to independence, citing the Atlantic Charter and the U.N. Charter on self-determination.\nHowever, by the end of the war, the U.S. government had begun to redirect its foreign policy from the wartime goal of the liberation of all occupied countries and colonies to the postwar anti-communist crusade, which became the Cold War. \nAmerican policy supported General Charles de Gaulle and his anti-communist "Free French." De Gaulle aimed to restore the glory of France, which meant the return of all former French colonies. U.S. relations with the Vietnamese turned sour. President Truman refused to answer letters or cables from Ho. Instead, the U.S. began to ship military aid to the French forces in Indochina.\nAccording to international agreement, Vietnam was to be temporarily divided into north and south, with free elections to take place nationwide in 1956. Even before the French were out, the U.S. was moving in.\n\nFrom there on the US involvement in Vietnam increased and so called vietnam war started.
879242
Nixon has been one of the best president the US had together with Reagan in the last 50 years. Honorable peace? You think that by leaving the South Vietnamese helpless, it's a honorable peace that he has achieved? The pressure from the American public was too big and he had to withdraw. But, was the cause just? What did the North achieve? What were they fighting for? Communism? Where is that communism now? The American cause was a cause that was right and in the end it has proved that it were the North Vietnamese who have for something that they now do not believe... So many lives lost.... Is that honorable?
611886
1. The USA was getting an absolute humping.\n2. errrr that's it really.\n\nThe Vietcong were hamering the USA and so the USA pulled out and left South Vietnam to face the onslaught alone.\n\nAll the US citizens were seeing on a daily basis were rows of body-bags being loaded onto planes.\n\nEventually the USA admitted that enough was enough and pulled out.