Lessons Learned
Before the United States went to war in Vietnam, there were many lessons they should have learned from the French defeat to the Vietminh. The only problem is between ignorance and greed they did not learn the lessons which were so obviously set before them.
Eisenhower and his administration believed the French lost the war because they did had not fought long enough or hard enough. The President did not even give in to the idea that the Vietminh had truly become a powerfully trained army and won the war because of their skills. This was the first mistake of the United States. They always underestimated the Vietminh and were blinded by the idea that the U.S. was almighty. Eisenhower believed that with the America’s help, they could rebuild southern Vietnam and succeed in areas in which the French had not. If they had given the Vietminh credit earlier, they might have avoided the longest war in the United States history.
When the Battle of Dien Bien Phu began on March 13, 1954, the French were barely hanging on to the end of the war they started with the Vietminh. The Vietminh and General Vo Nguyen Giap had strategically set up a trap for the French, using their knowledge of the land and resources they had. In the beginning of the war, the Vietminh were outnumbered. By the start of this battle, not only did the Vietminh outnumber the French soldiers, they also outmaneuvered them. They had the drive which the French did not. This was the yearning for freedom. They were able to walk the French into their set-up battle space, and shut them down including airstrips. The Battle of Dien Bien Phu, as Professor Tran Quoc Vong would tell a British reporter in 1954 was, “a metaphor for great victory in many languages”. This battle not only showed how much drive and determination the Vietnamese people had, but also the great power the Vietminh had achieved during the Franco-Vietminh war.
I think a major point the United States...