Ho Chi Minh, Vietnamese independence, and American Cold War intervention

Vietnam War

The lessons from Vietnam War

The quest for independence in Vietnam m was widely violent and involved factions arming themselves to face the other. Ho Chi Minh who was a communist activist by 1941 sneaked back to Vietnam after 30 years in exile and helps put together Vietnam Independence League. Immediately after World War II, Ho Chi Minh sent his guerillas to help free some captured American pilots from the Japanese. The year 1945 was an action packed year in the history of Vietnam. It was the year of the global World War II and the issue of global influence was the agenda for every country. Vietnam was drawn into the global event in 1945 since it was during this year that rumors about an imminent American attack of Japan that Japanese ousted the French colonialist so as to have control over Vietnam and installed Bao Dai as the Japanese puppet in 1949. It is at this point that it is said globalization drew Vietnam into the struggle for independence since every country that was a colony at that time pursued freedom.

One major factor that influenced the rapid changes, in Vietnamese fight for independence was the WWII

since the ousting of the French was facilitated by the Japanese (the major antagonists in WWII) so as to use Vietnam as aground to launch their offensive.

Then the British French alliance came into play in order to disarm the Japanese troops operating within Vietnam. It was a war that was clouded by various interest and alliances and shifting alliances with changing war dynamics. It is apparent that the decolonization war of Vietnam is different from those of most colonies since it attracted global attention and participation, with globalization playing a key role in contest for influence and supremacy in Vietnam. The country was also sharply divided between the communist North under the support of the Soviet Union and the South under the U.S. support.

The Vietnam situation was an interesting piece of history in the struggle for self rule which they achieved in 1954 and beyond with a myriad of countries like Republic of china, Britain, the U.S., French, Soviet Union and others getting involved at different levels at time as shown above. Finally Vietnam came to have their own constitution in April 15, 1992 which was much later on after independence. This was delayed due to the 30 year war that took place in Vietnam after independence. Because of fear of communism spilling from North to South Vietnam and spreading to Japan, the United States decided to send its troops to Vietnam. In August, 1964, Johnson got the Congress approval and officially waged war in Vietnam where millions of Vietnamese civilians and soldiers died. At least 58-000 Americans died (Miller & Maier, n.d.). The Vietnam War that followed the sending of the troops had a lot of implications to the U.S. In terms of the diplomatic circles, presidential leadership as well as cultural/social context.

Diplomatic negotiations

During the war, there were ties that were formed with allies in the war like the strengthening of the relations between U.S. And South Vietnam, with Australia and other friendly troops (Australian War Memorial, 2013). The relations with these countries took the form of financial aid, war artillery and even troops that fought on the ground. The U.S. had to also form new alliances as the war progressed for intake the diplomatic developments between the U.S.A. And Cambodia that saw the U.S. troops that were fighting in Vietnam use the Cambodian soil to wage attacks in 1970 under president Nixon (Anderson D., 1999). In 1972, President Nixon also travelled to China and USSR with the aim of fortifying the diplomatic ties that would see the isolation of Hanoi. Another milestone diplomatic development that came from the Vietnam War was the peace deal that was signed among the U.S., North Vietnam and the South Vietnam on January 27, 1973 that saw cooperation among the three countries and a massive withdrawal of troops from the war fields, the treaty was known as the Paris treaty.

Cultural/social disruptions

The Vietnam War totally destroyed the communal and societal mesh that bound the people of Vietnam together. This is however not restricted to Vietnam as even the families in the U.S.A. suffered extensively, particularly the families that had their own volunteers to the war who lost their lives or terminally injured in the war. They live in pain and at antagonism with the state each day with a deep feeling that the war should not have started in the first place and that the compensations were not adequate for the pain they go through.

The war also led to the destruction of significant societal amenities like schools which meant that the literacy levels went down within the community in general, which meant that there were no more jobs for the teachers as well as the slower economic developments realized among the Vietnam. The Vietnam War created absolute chaos at a personal level among the citizens of Vietnam as well as at the social level. The Vietnamese who resided in the war torn areas turned to refugees and their lifestyle totally altered and maybe forever so. It is estimated that there are more than four million refugees of this war who have fled to other areas like in Cambodia living deplorable lives there. The refugees have been welcomed in some countries though most of the western countries have refused to accept them with the U.S.A. And Sweden being among the very few western countries to openly welcome these refugees.