Going back in history: Roots of the Vietnam War

Vietnam had been under French colonial rule since the 19th century. During the Second World War, Japanese forces invaded Vietnam. In order to fight off both Japanese occupiers and the French colonial administration, political leader Ho Chi Minh formed the Viet Minh also known as the League for the independence of Vietnam. As a result of its defeat in the Second World War, Japan withdrew its forces from Vietnam. Seeing this as an invaluable opportunity to seize control, Ho Viet Minh's forces took over the northern city of Hanoi and declared the Democratic Republic of Vietnam with Ho as a president. However, seeking to regain control in the region, France set up the state of Vietnam in 1949, with the city of Saigon as its capital. It seems important to note that both sides wanted the same thing: a unified Vietnam. However, while Ho and his supporters wanted a nation shaped after other communist regimes, Bao wanted a Vietnam with close economic and cultural ties to the West.

The Vietnam War and US involvement in the war began in 1954. After Ho's communist forces seized power in the north, armed conflict between northern and southern armies broke out. After Viet Minh's decisive victory in the battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954, a century of French colonial rule in Indochina ended. The subsequent treaty signed in 1954 at a Geneva Conference split Vietnam, with Ho in control in the north and Bao in the south. In 1955 the strongly anti-communist politician Ngo Dinh Diem became president of the Government of the Republic of Vietnam, often referred to as South Vietnam. With the Cold War intensified, the United States hardened its policies against any allies of the Soviet Union. In 1955 President Dwight D. Eisenhower had pledged his firm support to Diem and South Vietnam.

References:

Barnet, R.J., 1973. Roots of war (pp. 48-9). Baltimore: Penguin Books.

Lawrence, M.A., 2010. The Vietnam War: A concise international history. Oxford University Press.