Why was Vietnam split into Two areas?

Question

Why was Vietnam split into Two areas?

Answer 1

Between 1945 and 1954, the Vietnamese waged an anti-colonial war against France and received $2.6 billion in financial support from the United States. The French defeat at the Dien Bien Phu was followed by a peace conference in Geneva, in which Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam received their independence and Vietnam was temporarily divided between an anti-Communist South and a Communist North. In 1956, South Vietnam, with American backing, refused to hold the unification elections. By 1958, Communist-led guerrillas known as the Viet Cong had begun to battle the South Vietnamese government.

To support the South’s government, the United States sent in 2,000 military advisors, a number that grew to 16,300 in 1963. The military condition deteriorated, and by 1963 South Vietnam had lost the fertile Mekong Delta to the Vietcong.  In 1965, Johnson escalated the war, commencing air strikes on North Vietnam and committing ground forces, which numbered 536,000 in 1968. The 1968 Tet Offensive by the North Vietnamese turned many Americans against the war. The next president, Richard Nixon, advocated Vietnamization, withdrawing American troops and giving South Vietnam greater responsibility for fighting the war. His attempt to slow the flow of North Vietnamese soldiers and supplies into South Vietnam by sending American forces to destroy Communist supply bases in Cambodia in 1970 in violation of Cambodian neutrality provoked antiwar protests on the nation’s college campuses.

From 1968 to 1973 efforts were made to end the conflict through diplomacy. In January 1973, an agreement reached and U.S. forces were withdrawn from Vietnam and U.S. prisoners of war were released.  In April 1975, South Vietnam surrendered to the North and Vietnam was reunited

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Answer 2

Ian S seems to have summed it up quite nice.  Cheers

Answer 3

What is the source of all this? You should aske America and special for their $ worth.Many Vietnamese was attracted by Dollar.

Answer 4

Because we, Vietnamese from the South, do not want Communism ramed down our throat.  Too bad that did not last, April 30th 1975 in violation of an international treaty the Communist took over.  They immediately  jailed and killed off a lot of our freedom loving patriots.

Answer 5

Just matter of war. According to 1954 Geneva Agreement, Vietnam was temporarily split into two areas in order for the the French to withdraw, and a nationwide election would be held in 1956. However, in the South, a US-backed political force led by the Ngo family called for independence and established the so-called Republic of Vietnam. The Democratic Rep. of Vietnam didn't agree with that and worked hard to unify the South. The Americans then came with military intervention.

In 1973, US had to withdraw due to the Paris Accord. South VN then became difficult with lack of money and corruption. In 1975, Saigon fell to North Vietnam. In 1976, the two parts were reunified.