How did a local struggle in Vietnam become a major Cold War conflict?
1 Answer
I think by becoming a confrontation (indirect) between the US and USSR.
Explanation:
During the Cold War existed a kind of status of belligerence between the US and USSR as representatives (champions) of Capitalism and Communism intended as Economic, Political and Social ways of life. This belligerence was not direct and face to face but rather indirect and....fought by others!
The American fought in Vietnam indirectly against the USSR supporting the South against the North, while the USSR supported (more or less actively) the North with weapons, supply, training, intelligence, etc.
Basically, there were no battles or fighting between Russians and Americans (like in a "normal" war) but, as in a chess game, the two adversaries fought each other using different "pieces" on a chessboard that was Vietnam.
[...but who was really pulling the strings? Difficult to say!]
Many times the politicians in both sides (Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Nikita Khrushchev) hinted that they were really fighting either the forces of evil that were against world peace and democracy (the communist) or the colonialist and imperialistic oppressors of the weak and poor workers (the Capitalists).
The American frequently reiterated the existence of a "Domino Theory" that implied that if Vietnam fell to Communism soon other neighboring nations would necessary fall as well spreading Communism in the region and then probably to the entire World.
