CRITICAL CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE VIETNAM WAR The Vietnam War was a cold war that lasted from 1956 to the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975. It can be seen that the end result of the Vietnam War Vietnam The war tainted America's image because of its failure to demolish the communist Vietnamese government. It should be noted that many years before America became directly involved in the war, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos were under French colonial rule where the Việt Minh (the communist nationalist independence coalition) spent many years fighting for freedom from the French. The Geneva Conference allowed the major powers to reach an agreement on Indochina that would temporarily divide Vietnam at the 17th parallel. In the future, the country will have a division in leadership between North and South; the North was to be led by the Việt Minh and the South by Emperor Bảo Đại. It was hoped to establish a permanent government within a few years, but the United States did not entirely agree with the terms of the elections. However, Ngô Đình Diệm, the new president of the supposedly democratic South was elected and was strongly supported by the US government. It was then that the National Liberation Front, or Viet Cong, began to rebel against Diệm's government, while simultaneously promoting North Vietnam's communist efforts through guerrilla encounters. The United States Army would later become more heavily involved in the Vietnam War as the threat of a communist takeover potentially threatened all of Indochina. Around the world, it is clear that there were a range of views in which individuals participated in and endured the Vietnam War. War. From American military personnel, to Vietnamese inhabitants... middle of paper... the land, with access to the prosperous Mekong River. Furthermore, any ability to oversee this area of ​​Asia would give a Western power an advantage on the Asian continent. One might perceive that the US government had much more interest than just suppressing communism in Vietnam. they had their reasons for fighting, but you can see that both sides had similar traumatic experiences during the war and how the human spirit weakens in these circumstances. It is clear that the unifying factor in these men is the inhumanity they faced and the effects it had on their lives if they were lucky enough to survive the Vietnam War..