Try to picture for just a moment what the United States would be like if during our civil war, a pro-slavery, but otherwise uninvolved, country had started aiding the southern confederates but in the process destroyed our country's villages, land, and people. Imagine that this hypothetical country had not been asked by the South for assistance, but simply interfered because the morals in their land disagreed with the idea of freeing slaves. This purely metaphorical circumstance is almost parallel to the very real events involving America in Vietnam from 1956-1975. The longest war in American history, (besides the Iraq War), and probably one of the most controversial events in American history as a whole, the Vietnam war divided our country and resulted in over 58,000 American causalities. The events of the Vietnam War expose a side of American history that is, put bluntly, quite unpleasant to look at considering the death and destruction left in the wake of our actions in Vietnam. The unnecessary and extremely controversial involvement of the United States in Vietnam's civil war, was an occurrence that was overall a large mistake on the part of the U.S. This is shown by: the injustice and unpopularity of the draft system, poorly handled and executed military tactics, and the fall of America's reputation nationally and internationally. However; before being able to fully understand the way in which America's mistakes were made, one must understand the reasons the U.S. was involved with another country's civil war to begin with.
During World War Two, the provinces of Vietnam had been colonized by the French who promised to protect Vietnam from the threat of a Japanese invasion. However; after World War Two had ended, Ho Chi Minh, (a pro-unification and independence leader of Vietnam), and his supporters the Viet Minh declared independence of France and attempted to unify the French-Vietnamese colonies.