The Vietnam war was a very interesting war, to say the least. The war was played a significant role in the Cold War as it was one of the battles fought between Capitalism and Communism. The Americans feared the domino effect, and they believed that if they lost Vietnam, many nations would fall to Communism as it displayed the military ineptitude.

Background of the Conflict

Vietnam was invaded by the Japanese during WW2. Before the invasion, Vietnam was under the control of the French. The country had not enjoyed a lot of freedom leading up to the end of WW2. Ho Chi Minh was a Vietnamese who supported Communism and wanted to bring Communism to Vietnam.

After the removal of the Japanese, Ho Chi was quick in grabbing power with a group called the Viet Men who were his supporters or at least supported Communism. The French wanted to try and get Vietnam, therefore he supported Emperor Bao Dai, the leader of the other half of Vietnam. The situation in Vietnam was similar to that during the Korean war where one side supported Communism while the other supported Capitalism. Both the leaders wanted to reunify Vietnam, under their ideology and rule.

Later Emperor Bao was removed and Ngo Dinh Diem became the leader of the then South Vietnam.

How America got involved

President Eisenhower was very strict on the Soviet Union, Communism, and its allies. He supported Southern Vietnam which became the main ideology of the next president, John F. Kennedy.

John F. Kennedy believed in the domino theory, which stated that if one country was to fall to communism, many others would follow. He wanted to prevent the first domino from ever falling and to do that he started militarizing South Vietnam, making South Vietnam ready for an attack or to defend an incoming invasion. By 1962, there were more than 9,000 troops in Vietnam.

An attack which was allegedly started by the North Vietnamese resulted in the South going to war with the North.

How did a newly developed nation beat one of the best armies in the world?

During WW2, America’s military capabilities were displayed and they were the physical representation of domination. They were one of the best strategists during the who orchestrated attacks like D-Day. They didn’t leave a lot of room for improvement. They were unstoppable in these battlegrounds.

Vietnam didn’t have these battlegrounds. They had jungles which dense canopies and thick foliage. The North Vietnamese used this to their advantage. They used a tactic called guerilla warfare.

Guerilla warfare is essentially a surprise party with weapons and humans instead of ballons. The people carrying out these tactics had to hide near in the foliage or in plain sight as civilians who would surprise the enemy troops and then completely decimate them.

The North Vietnamese were really good at carrying out guerilla warfare. They were able to erase American troops from the jungles. Many American lives were lost in this war which lead to protests back in the West.

Aftermath

The protests forced American President Nixon to remove troops from Vietnam. 2 years after the removal of the Americans, South Vietnam fell to the Communist Ideology. Just like President Kennedy’s theory, many countries tried to move to Communism, some failed and others succeeded.

The Vietnam War now serves to show how with clever tactics and proper use of resources anyone can beat the best army in the world, in a classic David and Goliath story.