The+path+to+war

The french ruled it from the late 1800 until ww II. Before and after the nationalist in these countries wanted the french out. through out 10 years the rebel Viet Minh caught on and they over through their colonies. Vietnam was then split into two, the french in the south and the communist lead Viet Minh up north. The US who had supported the french also support the south leader Ngo Dinh Diem. Ho chi Minh was the leader of the revolutionary army. The north wanted to reunite the country so they went to war and the south asked for US help.

The US said yes. Pres. Eisenhower sent 900 military advisors over and JFK increased the number to 11000 by the end of 1962. The US feared that Vietnam would go communism and that the other countries around it soon would too. in 1964 Johnson announced that he sent a ship over to vietnam. The north attacks two smalll southern island and that ship, Maddox, was near by. He ordered war planes to bomb the north to defend south vietnam against aggression. Johnson authorized operation rolling thunder. It is support to force North Vietnam to stop supporting the Vietcong guerrillas in the south.