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First of all I am non American so I am novice in American History ( thats why raising very basic Question ).

I am looking to google for it but everything is too descriptive.

If anybody know very specific and important incident that triggered war; That is sufficient for me.

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closed as off-topic by Sardathrion, Mark C. Wallace♦, Samuel Russell, Tea Drinker, Pieter Geerkens May 31 '14 at 2:12

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  • "Requests for trivia or basic historical facts are off-topic if they can be easily answered by looking up the relevant topic on Wikipedia. We're trying to complement common historical references, not duplicate them." – Sardathrion, Mark C. Wallace, Samuel Russell, Tea Drinker
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    wikipedia – Sardathrion May 30 '14 at 7:42
  • Do you want to know why the US entered the war or what started the Vietnam War? Many nations fought. – Razie Mah May 30 '14 at 7:42
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    As @Sardathrion says, check wikipedia. Also, abandon the assumption that nations fight wars because of specific and important incidents. – Mark C. Wallace♦ May 30 '14 at 11:05
  • Because the commies (ie the Soviet Union, our mortal enemies) were taking over French Indochina. There was no specific incident that led to the intervention. – Tyler Durden May 30 '14 at 15:13
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    @MarkC.Wallace Normally deliberative assemblies in democracies require specific reasons for engaging in warfare. The causus belli for official US involvement in Vietnam was the Gulf of Tonkin incident. It should be noted that war was not formally declared. – James Jun 5 '14 at 17:24
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Japan conquered IndoChina (Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos) during WWII. After the war, the French went back to retake their colonial territory, but communist fighters, the Viet Minh, were trying to also take control. The First Indochina War broke out. (The Vietnam War is also known as the Second Indochina War)

So, the US entered the war because: the US signed the Mutual Defense Assistance Act with France in 1950 and with growing concerns about the spread of communism in Asia after the Maoist revolution in China installed the CCP in 1949, the start of the Korean War in 1950, the US decided to start to provide military assistance to France in the war that was viewed as a proxy war against China and the USSR. The French finally surrendered land north of the 17 parallel and would leave Vietnam.

After the war, the Geneva Conference on July 21, 1954 made a provisional division of Vietnam at the 17th parallel, pending unification on the basis of internationally supervised free elections.[20] Control of the north was given to the Viet Minh under Ho Chi Minh, and the south continued under Emperor Bảo Đại.[21] A year later, Bảo Đại would be deposed by his prime minister, Ngô Đình Diệm, creating the Republic of Vietnam. Soon an insurgency backed by the North developed against Diệm's government. The conflict gradually escalated into the Vietnam War.

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    I can mention the Truman Doctrine, in the '50-s USA targeted to stop the spread of Communism at any cost (except the total Nuclear destruction), Truman Doctrine targeted Greece and Turkey, but the same behaviour pattern was applied to all countries which were leaning to the USSR. – CsBalazsHungary May 30 '14 at 12:31
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In USA foreign policy ruled Domino theory that speculated if one country came under influence of communists, surrounding country might also get communist. USA wanted to stop spreading of communism so they got involved in Vietnam war in 1964. Lyndon B. Johnson in 1963 said:

The battle against communism... must be joined... with strength and determination.

Specific event that triggered war you are looking for might be the assassination of South Vietnam’s dictator, Ngo Dinh Diem, what created anarchy that led to rising U.S. involvement.

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    This was pretty much it. If the independence movement had not been communist, most likely the US would have never gotten itself involved (compare with what happened to France in Algeria at about the same time). Unfortunately, rebel movements really need a good rallying concept, and Communism was really useful to the Vietnamese for that purpose. – T.E.D.♦ May 30 '14 at 20:27
  • Totally agree with you, very useful comment. – Branko Sego May 30 '14 at 20:34

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