The Vietnam War Essay– US Involvement

The Vietnam War was a conflict that had arisen in Southeast Asia. The war was primarily amongst government forces, supported by the United States, against forces in North Vietnam known as guerrilla. The war escalated after the Geneva Convention that took place in 1954, which bought a new era in Southeast Asia by dividing both provinces. What began as a civil war amongst the native people of Vietnam, gradually escalated to an international crisis with the United States playing a major role? Despite a peace agreement that was signed in 1973, the war escalated to an unimaginable level. The war continued up until 1975 when the North Vietnams were able to execute a successful offensive attack on South Vietnam’s, which led to their collapse.
The Geneva conference led to the initial settlement between France and Vietnam for an election to take place on July 20th 1956 amongst the portioned Vietnam. The agreement that was stipulated was similar to the incident of what happened in Korea. It was decided to separate the two military zones by a temporary line known as the Demilitarized zone. Despite these activities in 1955, the prime minister of the state of South Vietnam, Ngo Dinh Diem, had stated that the scheduled elections would no longer take place. South Vietnam was always against the proposed ideas that had taken place during the Geneva conference. Seeing it did not agree to any of the terms, it was not “bound” to follow the agreement. They saw no hope in achieving free elections that were to be taken place in the “communist north”. The benefit expected to be seized by the communist was the main cause for South Vietnams decision. Understandably, after 1956, the government of Ngo Dinh Diem came under heavy scrutiny and severe opposition force by Viet Cong. Viet Cong were aided and funded by North Vietnam and where known to be insurgents. The United States provided aid and advice to Diem; however, which proved to be ineffective as they were not able to suppress the guerrillas.