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Why Were the USA in Vietnam? After the end of WW2 in 1945 it wasn’t long before the Cold War broke out. The USSR) was run as a communist country; The USA was a capitalist country. They both wanted their ideas to dominate the world and were worried about the spread of their opponent’s ideology. The ‘Cold’ War was so named because no actual fighting took place in either country. But both sides were prepared to do anything to stop their opponent’s ideas spreading. If a small country anywhere else in the world was in danger of becoming a communist or a capitalist country then the USA or Russia would send money and weapons to push their ideas and stop their opponents. It became a war of ideas fought on neutral ground around the world. US President Truman in particular was keen to stop communism anywhere in the world it looked like starting. His idea became known as the ‘Truman Doctrine’. Vietnam had been part of the French Empire from the 1880’s onwards. But after WW2 Ho Chi Minh set up a peasant army called the Viet Minh who tried to gain freedom for his people. They had few weapons and equipment but in 1954 succeeded in evicting the French. After the French left Vietnam was split into two countries. From 1954 North Vietnam was run as a communist country (the ‘People’s Republic of Vietnam’) with Ho Chi Minh as its leader. South Vietnam was run as a capitalist country with help from the French with Ngo Dinh Diem as its leader. There was an uneasy peace between them, but both wanted a united Vietnam. In the 1950’s the USA came up with its ‘Domino Theory’ of how to stop the spread of communism. They argued that if one country turned communist, other nearby countries would be sure to follow, and argued that Vietnam was the first domino. In the early 1960’s Ho Chi Minh was becoming increasingly popular with the ordinary people across Vietnam. The USA became worried and started to send money/equipment to Diem in the South. They had not yet sent any actual soldiers to fight, but tensions between North and South steadily rose. On August 2nd 1964, the USS Maddox came under attack from North Vietnamese torpedo boats – there were no US casualties. Two days later a second attack occurred. This led President Johnson to pass the Gulf of Tonkin resolution. Air strikes were ordered against targets in North Vietnam. US soldiers were sent into South Vietnam in larger numbers to support the South Vietnamese government...
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American soldiers began to arrive in numbers from 1965 onwards. They had superior military technology and would be fighting a peasant army.