what was south vietnam called in the vietnam war

President Truman and then Eisenhower sending military and economic aid to the French and South Vietnamese respectively in their wars against the North communists.

Vietnam War is a typical proxy war during the Cold War under the influence of the U.S., Soviet Union and, to a large extent, China.Īmerican involvement in Vietnam began the same way as most proxy wars do with U.S. and particularly the Soviet Union sought to spread their own spheres of influence all over the world, leading to many proxy wars such as one in Greek, Korea, Afghanistan and notably Vietnam. During the Cold War, the two nuclear-armed superpowers did not wish to exchange blows directly since that would have led to a devastating nuclear war. Cold WarĪlthough the first recorded proxy war happened as early as in 1529, it was not common until the Cold War set off by the ideological and political differences between the two victors of the World War II. Third-parties can be local governments built or supported by opposing powers or armed forces, mercenaries and terrorist groups who could strike an opponent without leading to full-scale war.

Therefore, they rather conduct proxy wars in developing countries in order to avoid loss and achieve some certain interests at the same time.

However, a direct large-scale war between them would cause enormous damage to all belligerent powers. Opposing powers are usually core countries who have conflicting ideologies and interests with each other.

What was south vietnam called in the vietnam war