Vietnam-Dabeach

In 1940, the Japanese invade Vietnam. The occupation was only the latest example of foreigners ruling the Vietnamese people. The Chinese Empire had controlled the region for hundreds of years. Then, beginning in the late 1800s and lasting until World War II, France ruled Vietnam as well as neighboring Laos and Cambodia-- a region known collectively as French Indochina. When Japan surrendered in 1945, it gave up control of Indochina. Ho Chi Minh quickly declared Vietnam to be an independent nation. France, however, had no intention of allowing Vietnam to become independent. Seeking to regain their colonial empire in Southeast Asia, French troops returned to Vietnam in 1946 and drove the Vietnminh forces into hiding in the countryside. The United States were worried that if Vietnam fell to communism, the rest of Southeast Asia would follow. President Eisenhower continued Truman's policy, what was often called the __domino theory__. BACK