How Did The Vietnam War Affect The Cold War

The Americans and Soviets experienced a “Cold War” from 1945-1991. Both countries never engaged in any direct war but focused on destroying the power and influence of one another. America’s involvement during Vietnam through 1955 was one instance that occurred where both the US and the USSR were both engaging in a Communist vs. Capitalist war. The Vietnam conflict created tension and fear between the US and the USSR. Even though the battle did not occur on US or USSR soil, the impact of both super powers were largely present during the Vietnam War. The conflict in Vietnam started during the Indochina War, when France was fighting in Vietnam to stop Communism from spreading to North Vietnam. After World War II, France took control of Vietnam, because Japan surrendered to the US, and the US granted the land to the French. After the battle of Dien Bien Phu the French surrendered. After the war, North Vietnam “went red”, or in other words became Communist. Shortly after North Vietnam became Communist they invaded South Vietnam to take it over and enforce their choice of government on South Vietnam because they were not Communist. After the attack on South Vietnam, President Eisenhower wrote Ngo Dinh Diem, the President of …show more content…
They wanted North and South Vietnam to unite and become one big Communist country. In order to do this the USSR deployed 3,000 troops to Vietnam while the United Sates where stationed there (Historical Text). However, the Soviet Union was not the only country that favored the spread of Communism in Asia, the Chinese also played a part in the war. The Chinese already had an alliance with the North Vietnamese government, Viet Minh, and they supported North Vietnam with military aid during the war (Chinese and Soviet Involvement in Vietnam).With the Chinese and the Soviets both supporting North Vietnam it made North Vietnam a huge threat to the United States and South Vietnam