Vietnam War

20
Oct/080

How did the vietnam war begin?

Did the war in vietnam begin as a result of Noth Vietnam's invasion of the south or as a result of south vietnam's refusal to participate in the 1956 unification election and repression of political dissent? In other words, was it an international war of communist aggression, a civil war, or a revolutionary war?

This is an essay topic for my vietnam class if you could please give me something to get started with i would greatly appreciate it.

The Second Indochina (Vietnam) War arose from the violations by the US of all aspects of the "1954 Geneva Agreements on Indochina" which the US was violating even as the agreements were being negotiated and signed. The US sent CIA operatives into the northern zone to destroy major infrastructure, such as dams, dikes, railway tracks and junctions, oil and coal depots etc plus to carry out a dis-information campaign against the Viet Minh saying that the Viet Minh would start persecuting the Catholics (15% of Vietnamese are Catholic and 85% are Mahayana Buddhist).
There are several start dates used by historians for the Second Indochina War. They are --
1954 - Before the First Indochina War (War of Independence 1947-1954) was finished.
1956 - When the US and Ngo Dien Diem would not allow nationwide elections in the southern zone for the reunification of Vietnam. Again in violation of the Geneva Agreements.
1959 - When the conference was held just outside of Saigon that created the National Liberation Front of Southern Vietnam (NLF).
Mid 1960 - When the NLF attacked an ARVN (South Vietnamese) Police station -- the first military action between the NLF and the ARVN.
February 1961 - this is the date the US military uses because of the "Death of the first US serviceman in Vietnam". Actually seven (7) other US servicemen had been killed in Vietnam between 1957 and 1961.

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The war was a civil war with foreign assistance on one side (at the start -- the US illegally creating the "Republic of South Vietnam" in violation of international law and the 1954 Geneva Agreements. It was also a war for the reunification of Vietnam, as called for in the Geneva Agreements.

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I suggest you download a copy, in English, of the "1954 Geneva Agreements on Indochina" and read the document fully.

I further recommend that you read "The Pentagon Papers", as published by the New York Times.

Read the Vietnamese chapters of several history books on Southeast Asia. I suggest "In Search of Southeast Asia" edited by Dr. David Chandler. Another is "History of Southeast Asia" by D.G.H. Hall. Both are American professors.
There are a number of other books I can suggest from academics or journalists who worked in Vietnam and covered the war and some are conservative in their writings while others are more against the US in all aspects. Most of the journalists I could recommend were supportive of the US involvement at the start but quickly changed their minds within a couple of years.