The Vietnam War
Read this article on the history of the Vietnam War. What began as a conflict over decolonization became a Cold War battlefield by the late 1960s, with U.S. troops fighting communist North Vietnamese troops, who were given weapons and support from China and the Soviet Union.
Exit of the French 1950–1955
In the meantime, the United States was supplying its French allies with military aid. After the outbreak of the Korean War, the United States began to see what had been a colonial war in Indochina as another example of expansive worldwide communism directed by the Kremlin. In 1950, the U.S. Military Assistance and Advisory Group (MAAG) arrived to screen French requests for aid, advise on strategy, and train Vietnamese soldiers.[2] In 1956, MAAG assumed responsibility for training the Vietnamese army. By 1954, the United States had given 300,000 small arms and machine guns and one billion dollars to support the French military effort and was shouldering at least 80 percent of its cost.[3]
The Viet Minh inflicted a major military defeat against the French at Ðiện Biên Phủ on May 7, 1954. After this, the war lost public support in France, and at the Geneva Conference, the French government negotiated a peace agreement with the Viet Minh. This allowed the French to leave Indochina and granted all three of its colonies, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam independence. However, Vietnam was temporarily partitioned at the 17th parallel, above which the Viet Minh established a socialist state, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, and below which a non-communist state was established under Emperor Bảo Đại. Bao Dai's Prime Minister, Ngo Dinh Diem, quickly removed him from power and established himself as President of the new Republic of Vietnam.