How did the first indochina war effect the Vietnam war?

Answer 1

1. The French War (1st IndoChina War) created two separate countries; N & S Vietnam.

2. The French War (1st Indo-China War) gave Ho Chi Minh and General Giap extensive combat experience, for their next war...against the US.

3. The French riverine forces from the 1st Indo-China War gave their experiences to the US Navy when the USN created their "Riverine Forces" (Brown Water Navy). As one example, the French designed and built RAG boat (River Assault Boat) was used as an inspiration for the US Navy to build the only purpose built (designed specifically for Vietnam) river assault boat during the war; the Alpha Boat (ASPB-Assault Support Patrol Boat) an all steel constructed riverine destroyer built in Oregon USA.

Answer 2

The French began to pull out of Indochina, communism then began to threaten the "Democracy" in place under Diem in Vietnam. The U.S. maintained a staunch anti-Communist Policy and under Truman's Containment Doctrine, a precedent that never fully escaped American political rhetoric, our lawmakers determined that we needed to stop Vietnam from "falling". It started with Kennedy sending in a few thousand "military officials" to train up the U.S. Loyal Diem Regime, but of course Diem's "democracy" was really a totalitarian government that payed no regard to the lower classes. When the people demanded change, we were already on the side that was losing power and had to send in more "officials" to stop it. Then we were "bombed" by a ship in the Gulf of Tonkin, it was later revealed to be a mechanical failure on the ship itself, which gave us a reason to formally declare a conflict. Vietnam is not technically a war, since the U.S. congress never gave LBJ or Nixon permission to declare or make war.