The Vietnam War (Part 1)

"The Vietnam War (Part 1)" is an episode of MrSpherical, depicting the background of the Vietnam War.

Summary

In 1954, during the First Indochina War, Viet Minh is willing to overthrow the French colonies in Indochina. The French Fourth Republic refuses to give Vietnam the rights to be independent, as a result, the French Indochina is collapsed, and is entirely replaced by the independent state of Vietnam. The Soviet Union and China approves Viet Minh's actions, and decide to hold a democratic election in Vietnam. The United States and the United Kingdom comes to Vietnam, and the US is satisfied with elections at first. But after the calculations done by the US, he realizes that Vietnam will become a socialist state if the election is held. The US refuses to let Vietnam become socialist, and disagrees with the idea of the USSR and China. China and the USSR is annoyed by the US, but they still agree to temporarily divide the nation of Vietnam into two states, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) and the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam), along the 17th parallel. The partition reminds the US of the division of Korea. Eventually, all the countries agree with the idea. The US and the UK leaves, but the USSR immediately founds out that the US didn't sign any agreements, which makes China unsatisfied.

Back to the US, he is planning to make South Vietnam control the entire nation of Vietnam. South Vietnam is worried that North Vietnam is more popular than him, which has a higher possibility of winning the election. The US tells South Vietnam to simply stop the election from happening, and then take control of the nation. He plans to use psychological warfare, by implementing anti-communist propaganda, and increasing the popularity of South Vietnam. Another problem for the US is, the North Vietnam has a strong organization inside of South Vietnam, which is the Viet Cong. As a result, the US decides to provide military supplies to South Vietnam, in order to support the military training in South Vietnam, and increase his milltary power. South Vietnam has thought of a president to put in power in the government, which is one of his family members. While the US is deciding whether to accept the idea or not, South Vietnam kills the other candidate in the election. The US is surprised at first, but then amazed by South Vietnam, and decides to take him as an ally.

North Vietnam sees the result of the election on the news, and is unsatisfied, since it broke the agreement between the two countries. China once again regrets for not making the US sign the agreement. The USSR is willing to maintain peace between them, after taking the lesson from the Korean War. But China has a more agressive thought, and wants to spread the socialist revolutions. North Vietnam interrupts them, and gives out a solution, which is training South Vietnamese insurgents from the Viet Cong, with the military supplies given by the USSR and China. They all agree with the plan at last.

The Vietnam War quickly begins, between North Vietnam and South Vietnam. With the support from the US, South Vietnam continues to fight against the Viet Cong. At the same time, he is also arresting many South Vietnamese citizens, including members of the Viet Cong, but also Buddhists, since South Vietnam dislikes the Buddhist culture. The US is surprised by the action, because most of the South Vietnamese population are Buddhists. He thinks that South Vietnam is taking the military training too far, after seeing someone setting himself on fire to protest. After a bit of discussion, the US decides to change the plan, and directly attack North Vietnam, officially declaring military actions.

A North Vietnamese soldier reported the discussion to North Vietnam. North Vietnam tells him to keep up the war against South Vietnam, since the people has just lost faith in South Vietnam. He thinks that it is the correct time to attack South Vietnam, but the USSR is afraid that it may result in total war with the US. China is annoyed by the USSR, and convinces him to lend some weapons to North Vietnam. This once again reminds the USSR of the Korean War.

On July 30, 1964, the US and South Vietnam is waiting next to the North Vietnamese territory, in order to implement their plans to attack a small radar facility of North Vietnam. The US tells South Vietnam that he cannot be involved in the operation, or it may result in a total war. He also thinks that this will increase the popularity of South Vietnam, but South Vietnam is worried that someone will see the US being next the to facility. The US ignore the problem, and still starting the operation. A few hours later, the South Vietnamese army has reached the facility, but they are spotted by the North Vietnamese army, and the two sides quickly go into a battle. A soldier suggests that they should retreat, but it was denied by South Vietnam. At the same time, some North Vietnamese soldiers spotted the US, while he was having a discussion with South Vietnam. They realized that the operation was planned by the US, and are willing to start the war against the South.