Vietnam History

Paper Summary:

This paper takes the reader through Vietnam's independence after World War II, the rise of communism in that country, how the domino theory guided U.S. policy toward Vietnam, how this policy actually had its origins in early American colonies, France's role in bringing on the Vietnam war and how peace with Vietnam was finally achieved. The paper concludes with a look at how accurate the domino theory really was and whether it applied to the situation in Vietnam.

Outline
The Domino Theory
Casting the Drama; Framework for the Longest U.S. War
Before "Freedom Fries"
Was the Domino Theory Accurate?

From the Paper:

"Politics makes strange bedfellows, but so does war. In World War II, one of the allies of the United States, Great Britain and France was a Communist nation, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R., or commonly, then, Russia). By the time that war had fully ended, however, it was business as usual for the once-major European powers. France and Great Britain still had many colonies spread across the globe to superintend, and Great Britain would soon be involved, as well, in 'uncolonizing' Palestine-a bloody undertaking that is still arguably providing for bloodbaths and upheaval in the entire region. When Fascism had been wiped out, the United States suffered as many concessions to the U.S.S.R. regarding Europe (the Baltics, Germany) as were tolerable. On the heels of the unsatisfactory results there, with a partitioned Germany and small independent states gone Communist (not to mention the free-Communist hybrid that was Finland), it was time for the United States to devote its energies to defeating the anti-democracy known as Communism before that political idea took hold in the remaining unaligned nations. (Fascism had also been an anti-democratic form of government, but it had been limited to Germany and briefly Italy)."

More papers on Vietnam History:

• Essay # 6238 : "American Involvement in Vietnam War"
• Analytical Essay # 129650 : "The Vietnam War on the Internet"
• Research Paper # 145027 : "Looking Back at the Vietnam War"

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