It didn't really help anybody.

The issue was that after World War II, the Allies divided Germany into administrative zones, with different members of the Allies having responsibility for different zones.

This was done for the country as a whole, and more pertinently, for Berlin specifically.

Berlin happened to be within the Soviet (USSR) administrative zone, but because unlike other cities it was portioned out separately, parts of Berlin ("West Berlin") were administered by countries other than the USSR.

When the Soviet-controlled zone became a separate (communist) country from the rest of Germany, that meant there was a tiny region of democracy within soviet East Germany. (The other zones merged into West Germany. Technically, West Berlin was not actually a part of West Germany but a separate administrative area; however, they behaved in essentially every practical way as if they were part of West Germany, even to the extent of having their legislature vote to approve all laws passed by West Germany without debate.)

Many people decided they'd rather live in a democratic country than a socialist one (that's little-d democratic as in "democracy", not big-d Democratic as in "the Democratic party." Thought I should mention that to make it clear there was an actual difference between the two.).

And, since Berlin was kind of right there, people started streaming in.

The USSR didn't like this, so they built a wall to keep it from happening. (Also, they were somewhat offronted by the very concept of "West Berlin," and hoped they'd be able to basically starve the people into agreeing to become part of East Germany... this didn't work because of the Berlin Airlift, where other countries sent food to West Berlin by plane; the USSR didn't want actual war with other countries, particularly not the US, so while they could and did stop trucks from traveling through East Germany to get to Berlin, they couldn't really just shoot the planes down.)

In the general collapse of the Iron Curtain countries under the weight of Soviet mismanagement in the late 20th century, the wall was mostly torn down and the two Germanies reunited into a single country.

So, temporarily, it helped the Soviets keep control of East Germany and not continually lose people to West Germany, by providing a physical barrier making it harder for them to simply stroll across the border. But in the long run, it was ultimately futile.

Among the reasons/causes of the Vietnam War:

• As for why the US got involved, Americans feared the "domino theory" of expanding communist empires. The Truman doctrine stated that America would assist governments resisting communism.

• French rule was harsh: only the government was allowed to produce/sell alcohol & salt; rice was exported from huge French-owned plantations while many Vietnamese did not have enough to eat; workers in mines and rubber plantations could be jailed if they tried to leave their jobs; and taxes of every kind multiplied. Then during WW2, the French shared control of Vietnam with the Japanese.

• In 1945, Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam a free and independent country. However, the British and Chinese helped the French to return and the USA did nothing to stop them.

• In 1954, after a massive Viet Minh victory over the French at Dien Bien Phu, peace talks were held in Geneva and Vietnam was divided at the 38th parallel. Elections were planned for 1956 but the South Vietnamese leader, Ngo Dinh Diem, refused to hold these.

• The USA was worried about the spread of Communist power in Asia and Ho Chi Minh was a member of the French Communist Party.

The main reason for the war was to stop the spread of communism. There are many other views on this subject so I would suggest reading some books on the subject.

You can find a complete timeline and reasons for actions at www.historyplace.com

The United States feared that Vietnam would be taken over by communists, so they sent troops there. - arrowbeat

The primary cause of the Vietnam War was the invasion of the French shortly after World War II. By occupying the country, the French created an imbalance in the cultural lifestyle of the Vietnamese. This disruption of the peaceful Vietnamese life was taken advantage of by the communists, who at that time where seeking to spread their political views on small, weak, countries that were unbalanced by the French.

You did not indicate which wars you are interested in. The Chinese had control over Vietnam, but in 939, they left and an independent Vietnam was created. In 1407, the Chinese regained control of the area. In 1427, the Chinese were driven out and another Vietnam nation was established. In 1861, the French seized control of Saigon and the rest of the south by 1867. They took control of the north by 1883. In 1940-41, the Japanese advanced into and took control of Northern and Southern French Indo-China, as France had been defeated by Germany at that time. It was during this period, that Ho Chi Minh, a Vietnamese Communist, returned to Vietnam from China and headed a Revolutionary League to regain independence for Vietnam. In 1945, he proclaimed the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. When the Allies defeated Japan in WWII, the British and Chinese accepted the surrender of the Japanese in Vietnam and the French re-entered the area and took over control again. On December 19, 1946, Vietminh forces attacked the French in Hanoi and the Indochina War--also known as the Vietminh War--began. US Involvement in Vietnam: In 1954, the Vietminh forces of Vietnam defeated the French at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, and the nation was temporarily divided into two sections, north and south. The people of the south chose Ngo Dinh Diem as their ruler and Ho Chi Minh ruled the north. Diem refused to go along with the planned elections in 1956 to unite the nation so the Vietminh members in the south created the Viet Cong and the war between north and south for control of the country began. The government of South Vietnam requested military advisors from the United States to help train the South Vietnamese army. Ho Chi Minh was a communist and during the Cold War of the 1950s and 60s, the aim of the US government was containment of communist power and not to let it spread. The Eisenhower administration provided South Vietnam with money and advisors to help stop the threat of a North Vietnamese takeover. The United States also was pledged by treaty (SEATO) to aid the member nations in southeast Asia, if they were attacked by a foreign (communist) power. Following the Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations, President Lyndon B. Johnson also believed in containment and the domino theory. If one nation falls to communism, the next nation will fall, and the next, etc. It became the aim of the Johnson administration to prevent a communist takeover in Southeast Asia. In August, 1964, President Johnson reported to the nation that American ships had been attacked by North Vietnam gunboats in the Gulf of Tonkin, in international waters. The Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution giving the President the power to use whatever force necessary to protect our interests in the area. At the time, the truth was not reported. << Rather than being on a routine patrol Aug. 2, the US destroyer Maddox was actually engaged in aggressive intelligence-gathering maneuvers � in sync with coordinated attacks on North Vietnam by the South Vietnamese navy and the Laotian air force.>> http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2261

Money and power is the background of any war

It was an attempt to stop the spread of Communism.

The term "Iron Curtain" referred to a theoretical boundary which divided Europe into two separate zones, symbolically, politically and physically. Use of the term started at the end of World War II and continued until the end of the Cold War, which was from about 1945 to 1990. With the Iron Curtain in place, some of the Eastern and Central European countries were under the political influence of the Soviet Union. Exceptions were West Germany, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Austria.

The term "Iron Curtain" was originally used during World War II by German Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels and later Count Lutz Schwerin von Krosigk towards the end of the war. It was popularised by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who first used it in his "Sinews of Peace" address at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, on 5 March 1946, during which he stated:

"From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an "iron curtain" has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia; all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere, and all are subject, in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and in some cases increasing measure of control from Moscow."