I'am interested to hear what you think were the causes of the conflict in Vietnam?

Great synopsis of a complex series of events.

One interesting discussion about our involvement I ran across had some additional thoughts. During WW II the OSS was working with Ho Chi Mihn who of course was fighting against the Japanese. There was a certain expectation on Ho's part that after the war was over, the US would support him in his goal of uniting the country. While he was a "communist" there is some thought that his vision was not necessarily solidly aligned with the Soviet Union. There is NO doubt he was encouraged by local agents with whom he was working. Whether their statements and assurances to him actually reflected top level policy is hard to say for certain.

At the end of hostilities, the French felt entitled to regain control in their former colony of French Indo-China. The French government made it clear to the US that it expected our assistance in that endeavor, which was not exactly what we wanted to do. To accomplish their goal, the French government made it clear that unless we cooperated with them in regaining control of Indo-China, they would make it very difficult for us in Western Europe.

At that time, both Germany and Austria were divided into four separate regions, occupied by the 4 Allied Powers, and confronting the growing Soviet threat of expansion into all of Europe was view as being a MUCH bigger issue than what happened in Indo-China. The stakes in Europe were higher and the ability to make things difficult for us much easier.

So we threw in our support to the French and events went down hill from there. Having no really good alternatives from which to seek support, Ho threw in his lot with the Soviets, who were MORE than willing to help.

The events in Korea in 1950 especially with China's entrance into the war on the side of North Korea seemed to vindicate the strategy. Once the French were defeated and the country partitioned, we almost had no choice but to back the South Vietnamese government, which did not necessarily have the best interests of the average citizen in mind.

Tom

Arrogance of Western Allies post WW2 (handing Vietnam back to colonial power).

fears of 'evils of Communism'

). And the British were quite happy (and capable) of re-establishing or maintaining their power in weaker colonies like Malaya and Ceylon.

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). And the British were quite happy (and capable) of re-establishing or maintaining their power in weaker colonies like Malaya and Ceylon.

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I don't think so, they couldn't even hold India.

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). And the British were quite happy (and capable) of re-establishing or maintaining their power in weaker colonies like Malaya and Ceylon.

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I don't think so, they couldn't even hold India.

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Well, either you don't read so well, or you don't understand what 'weak' means. India never was (and isn't now) what anyone would term 'weak'. Currently the 2nd or 3rd largest military, and even at the end of WW2 had a massive army. If you think holding down India was a breeze you need to read up on it. This was always Britain's most volatile colony, and one which was on the verge of going over to the Japanese. It was obvious in the war years that India would have to be given independence.

Britain was broke at the end of WW2 and couldn't afford India. Countries like Malaya and Ceylon were affordable. Ceylon was freed in recognition of outstanding loyalty in WW2 (unlike India), Malaya was hung onto into the '50s. Other colonies like Singapor and Hong Kong were retained even longer.

There's plenty of material on the post-colonial era, and not just on Britain's, so check it out, it's fascinating.

Three grenerations of my family are from Brtish india, both military and Police force in India, so i have a decent understanding of what went on there.

All men are created equal. They are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness."

This immortal statement was made in the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America in 1776. In a broader sense, this means: All the peoples on the earth are equal from birth, all the peoples have a right to live, to be happy and free.

The Declaration of the French Revolution made in 1791 on the Rights of Man and the Citizen also states: "All men are born free and with equal rights, and must always remain free and have equal rights."

Those are undeniable truths.

Nevertheless, for more than eighty years, the French imperialists, abusing the standard of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity, have violated our Fatherland and oppressed our fellow­citizens. They have acted contrary to the ideals of humanity and justice.

In the field of politics, they have deprived our people of every democratic liberty.

They have enforced inhuman laws; they have set up three distinct political regimes in the North, the Center, and the South of Vietnam in order to wreck our national unity and prevent our people from being united.

They have built more prisons than schools. They have mercilessly slain our patriots; they have drowned our uprisings in rivers of blood.

They have fettered public opinion; they have practised obscurantism against our people.

To weaken our race they have forced us to use opium and alcohol.

In the field of economics, they have fleeced us to the backbone, impoverished our people, and devastated our land.

They have robbed us of our rice fields, our mines, our forests, and our raw materials. They have monopolized the issuing of bank­notes and the export trade.

They have invented numerous unjustifiable taxes and reduced our people, especially our peasantry, to a state of extreme poverty.

They have hampered the prospering of our national bourgeoisie; they have mercilessly exploited our workers.

In the autumn of 1940, when the Japanese Fascists violated Indochina's territory to establish new bases in their fight against the Allies, the French imperialists went down on their bended knees and handed over our country to them.

Thus, from that date, our people were subjected to the double yoke of the French and the Japanese. Their sufferings and miseries increased. The result was that from the end of last year to the beginning of this year, from Quang Tri province to the North of Vietnam, more than two million of our fellow citizens died from starvation. On March 9, the French troops were disarmed by the Japanese. The French colonialists either fled or surrendered showing that not only were they incapable of "protecting" us, but that, in the span of five years, they had twice sold our country to the Japanese."

On several occasions before March 9, the Vietminh League urged the French to ally themselves with it against the Japanese. Instead of agreeing to this proposal, the French colonialists so intensified their terrorist activities against the Vietminh members that before fleeing they massacred a great number of our political prisoners detained at Yen Bay and Caobang.

Notwithstanding all this, our fellow­citizens have always manifested toward the French a tolerant and humane attitude. Even after the Japanese putsch of March 1945, the Vietminh League helped many Frenchmen to cross the frontier, rescued some of them from Japanese jails, and protected French lives and property.

From the autumn of 1940, our country had in fact ceased to be a French colony and had become a Japanese possession.

After the Japanese had surrendered to the Allies, our whole people rose to regain our national sovereignty and to found the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

The truth is that we have wrested our independence from the Japanese and not from the French.

The French have fled, the Japanese have capitulated, Emperor Bao Dai has abdicated. Our people have broken the chains which for nearly a century have fettered them and have won independence for the Fatherland. Our people at the same time have overthrown the monarchic regime that has reigned supreme for dozens of centuries. In its place has been established the present Democratic Republic.

For these reasons, we, members of the Provisional Government, representing the whole Vietnamese people, declare that from now on we break off all relations of a colonial character with France; we repeal all the international obligation that France has so far subscribed to on behalf of Vietnam and we abolish all the special rights the French have unlawfully acquired in our Fatherland.

The whole Vietnamese people, animated by a common purpose, are determined to fight to the bitter end against any attempt by the French colonialists to reconquer their country.

We are convinced that the Allied nations, which at Tehran and San Francisco have acknowledged the principles of self-determination and equality of nations, will not refuse to acknowledge the independence of Vietnam.

A people who have courageously opposed French domination for more than eight years, a people who have fought side by side with the Allies against the Fascists during these last years, such a people must be free and independent.

For these reasons, we, members of the Provisional Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, solemnly declare to the world that Vietnam has the right to be a free and independent country-and in fact is so already. The entire Vietnamese people are determined to mobilize all their physical and mental strength, to sacrifice their lives and property in order to safeguard their independence and liberty.