![]() America was operating a policy of containment and feared if Vietnam fell to communism, other countries in South East Asia would fall too.To the USA this was proof that North Vietnam was communist. Ho Chi Minh’s government attempted to remain neutral and socialist but ended up allying itself with communist China. Under the Geneva Accords which granted Vietnam independence from France, there was to be an election in 1956 to decide whether the country would be reunified (restoring the political unity) or remain divided into North and South. The North Vietnamese government, led by Ho Chi Minh, declared the country to be a socialist state in 1954.Vietnam was divided into North and South at the 17 th Parallel, with the Viet Minh in control of North Vietnam, and a non-communist government in control of South Vietnam. ![]() Why did a communist regime in Vietnam worry the USA? The Geneva Agreement spelled the end of French control in Vietnam and the beginning of a major dilemma for American political and military leaders. ![]() This defeat was formalised in the Geneva Agreement and temporarily separated Vietnam into two zones: a northern zone to be governed by the Viet Minh, and a southern zone to be governed by an anti-communist government led by Ngo Dinh Diem. In 1954, the French were finally defeated by the Viet Minh at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu. ![]() Halting the spread of communism was an idea that President Truman had said he was committed to as part of his Truman Doctrine, which was announced in 1947 during the early days of the Cold War. Worried about the spread of communism in South East Asia, the USA began to bankroll the French war effort in Vietnam. As a result, in the 1950s the French found themselves fighting a war against the Viet Minh - an organisation dedicated to getting rid of foreign imperialist powers from Vietnam. ![]() After World War Two it was returned to French control but many Vietnamese people wanted independence. Vietnam had been a French colony before it was occupied by the Japanese during World War Two. ![]()
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