How long was the Vietnam War SUPPOSED to last?
The Vietnam war didn’t start as off as a war and the U.S. positions towards Vietnam changed so drastically and fluidly from 1920-1960 that it is quite possible that they really did not have any good long term calculation as to what was going to happen, let alone how long it would take. The US had no knowledge of Vietnamese language, culture and or History. Its earliest meaningful contact was after ww1 when the US wanted France to let go of Vietnam and actually supported the future guerillas against the French colonial presence. Then after ww2 the country was divided into Chinese and British spheres to restore order during the Japanese withdrawal. As the Cold war alliances took shape, suddenly the US was more supportive of French claims in the south as a counterweight to communism in the north (It also needed the French support in Europe against the spread of communism).
