The Cause For The Vietnam War - 1442 Words

Among the causes for the Vietnam War are the Western fear of communism, the remnants of nineteenth-century colonialism, and tensions caused by World War Two and the Cold War, but these causes could easily have been circumvented and the Vietnam War prevented. As is often the case with wars, one of the most influential factors in the causation of the Vietnam War was fear, especially fear of communism and social upheaval. The anti-communist policies of Western culture had the greatest direct influence in causing the Vietnam War, but were not enough reason to send troops to the area. The United States and Western Europe had similar attitudes toward communist ideologies, with political leaders implementing policies that were intended to limit†¦show more content†¦In this way, the Truman administration attempted to justify its hostility toward all communist states; the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War stems directly from the paranoia of communism that caused Tr uman to implement this policy. It is clear that the American government under the duress of the slow expansion of communism felt that using force to prevent the spread of an opposing economic and political structure was perfectly justifiable. However, this policy likely led to more disastrous military conflict, such as the Vietnam War, was based primarily on fears of a conflicting ideology, and had little evidence to back up the fears that may otherwise have been rational. The Western policies of containment exacerbated the issue of communism and its spread through Asia, perhaps even enabling it through worsening foreign relations with countries that otherwise posed no threat. Of course, the paranoia of communism that gripped much of Western culture was in no way the sole cause of the Vietnam War. The French colonization of Vietnam in the late 1800s was a major cause, but that colonization was unnecessary and indefensible, and therefore the conflict could easily have been avoided. I n the later half of the nineteenth century, France was seeking to gain territory to keep pace with other