The+Path+to+War

Over time, Vietnam had been controlled by many different nations, including China, Japan, and France. At the time before the war with American in Vietnam, France was duking it out with a rebelious group called Viet Minh lead by Ho Chi Minh. It was at the finla battle of Dien Bien Phu that the France were defeated, and Vietnam formed a Declaration of Independance much after the one of America. After the battle, a peace conference was held in Geneva, Switzerland, where it was decided that the 17th parrallel would divide Vietnam, and French troops would move south of it to soon be deployed, while the communist people moved north. In 1956, the entire country would have an election to decide what kind of government would rule. Ho Chi Minh would lead the north while Roman Catholic Ngo Dinh Diem would lead the south. Seeing as Ho Chi Minh would obviously win the elections, Ngo Dinh Diem stopped the elections (somehow....). Seeing as, with President Trueman, the United Sates back France throughout their war with Vietnam, the United States also supported Diem. This lead the Viet Minh to go back to war. Diem even asked for military support, and baby he got it. Eisenhower has sent approx. 900 military advisors while Kennedy boosted that to 11,000. Many soldiers of the north bordered the...border in order to overthrow the corrupt southern leader. U.S. military saw them as threats. Diem died sometime late as the southern government stayed unstable. Lots of governemtn officials feared the spread of communism, as the northern army was advancing. They figured if one country went all bad communist, the others would "topple like dominoes." Sometime later after that, it was declared by president Lyndon B. Johnson that a U.S. ship had been attacked in the Gulf of Tonkin. Days later, he announced that they had come back to do more damage. This caused him to go to Comgress to "take any steps necessary to defend the U.S. against such raids." They granted him access, and the unnoficial Vietnam War began.