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Why Did The Vietnam War In America's Place?

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The Vietnam War was an intriguing time in American History. From November 1st 1955 to April 30th 1975, American troops were engaged in warfare on Vietnam soil. This meant for nearly twenty years, America sent people, money, and resources overseas to fight this war. The question that has been raised by historians since is simple: Why did the American government enter into Vietnam in the first place? The speculation and theories over this question is what make learning about the Vietnam War interesting. As with any war that has been fought by the United States since its conception, there are opposing opinions and ideas about what caused the Vietnam War to begin. From ideas that it had to do with protecting the Vietnamese people to fear of the …show more content…
The Cold War, more commonly known as an era than an actual war, occurred from 1947 to 1991. The Vietnam War falls perfectly within these dates. Therefore, although the twenty years in Vietnam seems like an uncomfortable amount of time spent on a war, the tensions between the Soviet Union and America began before and continued well after. In 1947, the trauma of World War II was still fresh in the minds of everyone in the world. This was especially true for the Soviet Union who still had the possibility of a potential German invasion. It was at this time that the Soviet Union turned to a new way of governing its people a type of government called Communism. Communism was an atheistic way of governing, something that scared many countries, most notably the United States. Many leaders in the United States began to talk about Communism as if it were evil. Even though the United States had a government that required a separation of church and state, the laws were still spiked with Christian undertones. That meant the idea of a spread of atheistic views was completely terrifying to not only the government, but the citizens as …show more content…
This was perhaps the most shocking of all. Soviet Ambassador Nikolai Novikov spoke out about this in 1946. Novikov discussed how the Soviet Union was aware of America’s push for world supremacy. He spoke out about how the United States was in exceptional economic shape after World War II, which most of Europe had not been. Foreign policy also showed an America reaching for world supremacy. Since the war, the right and left sides of government had been able to agree and it made the policies that they churned out stronger, something that the Soviets could see happening. The government was also creating an army that existed in times of peace, an ultimate display of the dominance they wished to gain in the world (Novikov, as quoted in Griffith, 2014, pp. 10-11). Yet, the most shocking and alarming piece of information came at the end of Novikov’s words. Novikov blatantly stated that what the United States was doing would, “create the prerequisites for the revival of an imperialist Germany, which the United States plans to use in a future war on its side. One cannot help seeing that such a policy has a clearly outlined anti-Soviet edge and constitutes a serious danger to the cause of peace…” (Novikov, as quoted in Griffith, 2014, p. 13). These words signaled to the American government that the Soviet Union was

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