The US presence in Vietnam was required to contain the communist influence from living up to the expectations of the Domino Theory. At the time France was fighting to gain back control of Vietnam as it was beginning to receive attacks from small guerrilla groups, so America saw it as its duty to help out their French associates by giving money and supplying weapons, if not it was possible that the French would lose control of Vietnam and fall to Communism, this would show America and all its believes to be weak against Communism. These small Communist guerrilla groups funded by other Communist powers such as China and Russia. If the whole of Vietnam fell to communist rule this could have had an impact on the rest of the world and show that Communism is a good thing, thus slowly turning the rest of the world communist. This was just the beginning of the part the US played in Vietnam. Gradually they got dragged further and further into the war and suddenly the indirect aid the US gave to France became more direct as the French left in 1954, and US troops were sent in on March 1965. Mistakes and bad decisions made by the US escalated and added pressure onto the US governme

The use of napalm and Agent Orange caused many casualties and destroyed many villages. Napalm was jellied petrol and was dropped from planes on large areas of jungle and burnt anything it stuck too. Many villages and people were killed using this flammable weapon, the burns would often take up to six months to heal. Agent Orange was a highly toxic defoliant used to strip away leaves from trees. It was used so the Americans could see under the forest canopy and spot VC troops and their hideouts. Agent Orange contain a toxic ingredient called Dioxin caused cancer in those who came into contact with it, and later as a side affect women who came into contact with it gave birth to Siamese twins.

Overall from my research on the Vietnam War I believe that America withdrew its forces from Vietnam in 1973 due to the accumulation of many factors and problems. The death of so many people during the war was a definite factor as neither side wanted to lose any more people. Also I reckon that the reporting of the war by the media played a huge part in the withdrawal of US troops from Vietnam. The shocking and hurtful stories of the suffering of Vietnamese people made Americans do something to stop the war. It led to many, many demonstrations and protests against the war and showed the American government that no one wanted the war.

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Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)