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Question: Question regarding a question about the Vietnam War!? !?
alright so for a history thing i have to support a certain side of a "debate"!. The question is whether the Vietnam War was a civil war, or if it was the conquest of one independent nation by another!. when it says "the conquest of one independent nation by another" is it referring to containment or what!?
i apologize if there is any confusion or no sense, but it was never really clarified completely and i don't want to do the wrong thing and get an F on the project!. any help appreciated!. Www@QuestionHome@Com
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
In my opinion, it would be more accurately described as a civil war than a war in which one nation conquered another!.
The separation of the country into North and South Vietnam was an arbitrary and artificial act that was never intended to be permanent!. As a result, the war could really be seen as an attempt by one group of Vietnamese (the North) to reunify the country, as was always intended!. In the minds of the North, there never was, nor should never have been, a divided nation, and in fact two nations never existed!.
In that sense, the South was not conquered by the North, but instead the North was successful in reunifying the country of Vietnam!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
It wasn't very clear in reality, either!. Vietnam is a country with a long history, and it managed to stay independent of China, with much the same social structure and institutions!.
In the 1880's in the European scramble for colonies the French partly took over Indochina, which consisted of the countries between India and China, roughly speaking!. Specifically they took over Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos!. Europe's demand for rubber grew every year, and tropical countries like Vietnam were ideal for raising rubber trees!. Vietnam also had many valuable forest products!.
The Japanese invaded Vietnam during WWII!. When they were beaten, the French tried to resume control of Vietnam!. However in the meantime China had become communist, and Chinese influence spawned a communist insurgency in Vietnam!. The French were defeated in 1954!. The treaty divided Vietnam into a northern (Communist half) and a southern more or less capitalist half!. I say more or less because the economy was still mostly agricultural!.
Truman's doctrine of containing communism led to resisting the North Vietnamese communists in South Vietnam by giving money and weapons to the current government!. The North Vietnamese Army trained an insurgency based in South Vietnam called the Viet Cong!.
By 1963 or so American involvement was escalating, due to the fact that the various South Vietnamese presidents had little popular support and mainly used the American aid to act like warlords!. So America decided to send in advisers, and then regular Army troops!. You can call the war many things!. It was a civil war, but it was also a proxy war between the US and Russia (who supplied most of the weapons and training to the North Vietnamese)!. Www@QuestionHome@Com
After 30 years of American propaganda, the picture is still a little unclear, as the American people were when the Vietnam war was being fought!. Thankfully, today we have a lot more information on this matter!.
Do not believe the hype!. There never was an independent "Republic of Vietnam!." There never was a "North Vietnam" either!. There was a conflict between the Vietnamese people, which resembled a civil war, in which the Vietnamese did win, defeating the Vietnamese in the south who the Americans at one point completely took over the direction of their war, in violation of an "independent" country's statutes!.
The Vietnamese fought their war from 1945 - 1975 with two goals in mind: a socialist republic, and a united Vietnam under a communist government!. The reason why the "conquest of one independent nation by another" is a fallacy is that the south of Vietnam was never intended to be, nor ever truly was a, a democratic independent nation!.
It was brought into existence under the dictatorship (i!.e!. NOT a democracy) of Ngo Dinh Diem!. It was his personal kingdom, with his family or his lackeys in the positions of power!. Similar to China under Chiang Kai-shek, and Korea under Syngman Rhee!. Remember, it was the Cold War period, where America actively chose to support dictatorships rather than let the countries "fall to communism!."
The popular will of the Vietnamese people in 1954 was for unification of the entire country under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh and the Viet Minh!. The American attempts to "contain" this will failed after 20 years of war!.
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ig304621 brings up a valid point!. The question is either in supporting or denying the Vietnam War was a "civil war!." By the time of U!.S!. involvement, it was no longer a civil war!. During the time of the "French / IndoChina War," yes!. It was truly a country divided!. It ended with the country being divided into two countries!. The civil war having ended with that division, the U!.S!. entry was after northern aggression!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
Thou this conflict has many things that could characterize it as a civil war, the fact that NATO and the WARSAW pact nations had a major part in the sustaining and escalation of the conflict this is better identified as a proxy war between the Pro WARSAW communist nations and the Pro Democratic NATO!. Www@QuestionHome@Com