Ho Chi Minh and crew have been trying to regain Vietnam's independence for while. During WW2 when France got done in by Germany on top of losing Vietnam to the Japanese, he was part of the resistance and even cooperated with the OSS which later became the CIA. in 1944-1945, the Japanese caused a famine in Vietnam which my grandpa remembers and that was the final straw. Ho Chi Minh and the resistance launched a rebellion and took control of food stores to give to the people on top of taking control of the country as Japan neared defeat in which he proclaimed Vietnam's independence. But the allied powers entered to occupy the country with the French wanting to regain their colonies despite even OSS agents on the ground assessing that it was futile. This led to the 1st Indochina War that ended with the French being beaten badly with Ho Chi Minh becoming even more popular and a 3rd world hero with help from the Eastern Bloc whereas America stuck with its colonial ally. An election was supposed to decide the future of Vietnam following a temporary division, but it was obvious that Ho Chi Minh would win them and so the South refused to follow up with it. The Viet Cong began an insurgency while the South Vietnamese government was pretty corrupt and oppressive towards different groups of society, and fearing Communism, the USA entered the war.