America's increase of participation in the Vietnam War was mainly caused by the long-running causes of the cold war, which were fear of communism and containment.
The Vietnam War really started in 1945 with the North Vietnamese Declaring independence. Vietnam was a French colony before the Second World War and, with the liberation of German controlled France; they decided to try to reclaim their imperial state for the French empire. The leader of the Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh) had been shown possibility of support from America during the fighting against the Japanese, so he thought they would help him in the war with France. Unfortunately for him it was discovered that Ho Chi Minh was "sympathetic" to communism and the Americans had announced their efforts to try to contain it. The French also invoked the Truman Doctrine as, technically, they were fighting against a communist aggressor.…
