For many hundreds of years, the country of Vietnam has been in the imperialistic grasp of several nations. Most notably the Chinese Empire, then France in the 1800s, then the Japanese in the 1940s. During the Japanese occupation, the leader of the Vietnamese nationalist
South
movement, Ho Chi Minh, organized a group named the Vietminh. The Vietminh, with American aid, worked to expunge the Japanese. Finally, in 1945, the Japanese surrendered and Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam an sovereign nation. But French imperialism would hear of no such thing: in 1946, the French drove the Vietminh into the countryside.
France appealed to the US for assistance. The US, though opposing colonialism, would not give up its own imperialism. In addition, Americans were deathly afraid of communism. In the end, the French were defeated
North
with the use of guerrilla tactics. The Vietminh defeat of the French on May 7, 1954 in the town of Dien Bien Phu. This defeat led the French to make peace. The Geneva Accords, negotiated in Geneva, Switzerland, ended the fighting and divided Vietnam along the 17th parallel. The communist North was led by Ho Chi Minh and the pro-western South was led by Ngo Dinh Diem (who was chosen in a special referendum). The Accords provided that an election for a new president (under whom the nation would be reunited) was to take place in 1956. They never occurred.
The War in Việt Nam
For many hundreds of years, the country of Vietnam has been in the imperialistic grasp of several nations. Most notably the Chinese Empire, then France in the 1800s, then the Japanese in the 1940s. During the Japanese occupation, the leader of the Vietnamese nationalist
France appealed to the US for assistance. The US, though opposing colonialism, would not give up its own imperialism. In addition, Americans were deathly afraid of communism. In the end, the French were defeated