Military Draft

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Subject

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Military Draft in the Vietnam War

Vietnam was conquered in 1884 . In true colonial fashion , France ruled Vietnam and the rest of Indochina for the benefit and grandeur of the French nation . All top positions in the government and armed forces were held by Frenchmen . All plantations , mines , banks , commercial firms , and shipping lines were owned by Frenchmen . And the Chinese minority controlled the rice trade and enjoyed more privileges than the Vietnamese natives . Although France introduced modern transport and

communications , the Vietnamese resented the foreigners and longed for their independence (Shipway , 1996

Gradually , the Vietnamese prepared to gain back their lost freedom After World War I and the execution of leaders of the Vietnamese Nationalist Party , a fearless and tough crusader for independence appeared . The French returned to Indochina after World War II to find much of it under the control of the Vietminh , a nationalist movement founded in 1941 by Ho Chi Minh . Ho , a Communist , had set up a government in the northern part of Vietnam

Unwilling to part with its colonies in Indochina , France set troops to fight against the nationalist army . Vietnamese peasants , who looked on the French as imperialists , gave help and supplies to Ho 's guerilla forces . Communist China also aided the Vietminh , while the United States helped France (Bradley , 2000 . In March 1954 , the Vietminh severely defeated the French troops at Dien Bien Phu , and the French left Indochina (Shipway , 1996

The 1954 peace talks , held at Geneva , Switzerland , included representatives from North and South Vietnam , Cambodia , Laos , France China , Great Britain , the United States , and the Soviet Union . In the settlement , known as the Geneva Accords , France granted independence to Laos , and Vietnam was temporarily divided at the 17th parallel of latitude . North Vietnam became the communist enclave , with its capital at Hanoi , under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh , who dreamt of reuniting North and South Vietnam

An exodus of one million Vietnamese , mostly the Catholics , upper classes , and non-communists , fled to the south . South Vietnam became the pro-Western counterpart , with its capital at Saigon , under the monarchy of Bo Dai , the playboy emperor . South Vietnam 's leaders refused to sign the Geneva Accords . They would not accept a divided nation , particularly one in which the Communist north was so much richer in industry minerals , and farmland . South Vietnam 's leaders feared that since the division put a majority of Vietnamese under Communist rule , the Communists would win the 1956 elections . Ho Chi Minh and his Communist forces were theless determined to reunite the nation under their leadership

North Vietnamese soldiers crossed the 17th parallel to recruit and train South Vietnamese who were sympathetic to the north 's cause . These southerners became known as the Vietcong . By 1957 , Vietcong forces were attacking villages in the south , and by 1960 , they were strong enough to attack South Vietnamese army units . Meanwhile , Ngo Dinh Diem tried to restore the . Diem resorted to harsh...