Throughout much of its history, Vietnam had been under the rule of colonial countries such as France and Japan, who had interest in Vietnam particularly for its raw materials and for its recourses. Nearly a century later, when time came for Vietnam?s independence, the United States should not have intervened in Vietnam?s affairs, and they learned that doing so caused havoc for several countries, mainly their own.
Ho Chi Minh was one of the Vietnamese that longed for their independence from France. During World War I, he traveled to Europe and lobbied for the sake of his country. After no success in Europe, Ho Chi Minh spent many years in the Soviet Union and China, countries where colonialism was significantly denounced. Meanwhile, the French were slaughtering the people of Vietnam, killing 10,000 people and deporting 50,000 more after a peasant rebellion in Vietnam. (American Foreign Relations, p.320)This further added to Vietnamese hatred and paranoia against colonial countries, with whom Vietnam would have to deal with for years to come.
U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Secretary ...
Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, Hanoi, Vietnam
By ferry across Saigon RiverIn 1940, the Japanese took over Vietnam. Minh and other nationalists would not tolerate this power that countries had over Vietnam, and they organized Vietminh, an alliance of Nationalist groups led by the communist party. The United States, caught up in World War II, helped Minh and nationalists by training them and soon Vietnam claimed its independence. Minh, however, was still suspicious of the colonial U.S., as he felt that America?s ??only interest was in replacing the French? They want to control our country? They are capitalists to the core.? (American Foreign Policy, p. 321) Minh knew that the U.S. helped him merely to overthrow Japan, who was a distinct enemy in World War II.
After the war, France returned to being the colonial power controlling Vietnam, thus proving the fact...