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As Japan Surrendered to the Allies, they relinquished Vietnam as a territory. This caused Ho Chi Minh to declare independence on vietnam. -
France didn want to lose its former colony, so they returned to Vietnam and forced Ho Chi Minh into hiding. -
The Vietminh fought back against france and were slowly gaining power. France called to the U.S for help. Despite the U.S opposition to colonialism, The U.S joined as a result of the domino theory, saying that if one country falls to communism, so will its neighbors.
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As the French still continued to struggle agaisnt Vietminh, despite U.S help, France lost the city of Dien Bien Phu to the Vietminh. This caused them to withdraw all troops from indochina
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Negotiations to end this conflict were held, and provided a temporary division of Vietnam along the 17th parralel. Also called for elections to be help in 1956 to reunite the country -
Ho Chi Minh using south vietnamese communists, made a new army called the Vietcong -
Diem, South Vietnams unpopular leader, for reasons including the discrimination and murders of buddhists, was overthrown by the US government.
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Despite Americas prevois help, thye were never considered to be at war with Vietnam. After reports of two torpedo missles shot at American ships by the Vietcong, Johnson declared war on Vietnam.
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By 1965 180,000 troops were in vietnam, and 360,000 troops in 1966
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Due to the Vietcongs creative but effective fighting style the U.S needed to create new weapons to combat against the Vietcong. They created napalm, a sticky flammable substance that stuck to anything, including people. They aslo created agent orange, which eliminated all sorrounding vegetation to make it harder for ambushes.
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The North Vietnamese were recieving weapons from other communist countries like North Korea and China from the Ho Chi Minh trail. Due to Johnsonś policies they could not fight to conquer land, but fight a war of attrition and kill all of the enemies. Bombings killed thousands of Vietnamese, but the American death toll was more. This caused speculation about the war back home.