AHC: U.S. in Vietnam-like conflict

samcster94

Banned
With a POD of July 27th, 1953, the U.S. has to end up in a Vietnam-like conflict somewhere's in the world. The conflict can even parallel the Vietnam War, but it cannot be in Burma, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, or Vietnam. How can it happen??? Bonus points if the conflict is not in Latin America.
 

Byzantion

samcster94 said:
With a POD of July 27th, 1953, the U.S. has to end up in a Vietnam-like conflict somewhere's in the world. The conflict can even parallel the Vietnam War, but it cannot be in Burma, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, or Vietnam. How can it happen??? Bonus points if the conflict is not in Latin America.
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1960es direct military involvement in Congo crisis ?
 
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Lusitania

Lusitania

Donor
Egypt

POD Nasser coup against the king of Egypt fails and he goes into hiding. Soviet Union provides him with weapons and over next decade they able to take over half of country installing socialist republic in Southern part. The north under national Egyptian appeal for assistance and US slowly begin to first arm the Egyptians, train and by 1965 have over 100K troops in country fighting both communist from south as well as communist Libya insurgents.
 

Seandineen

Lusitania said:
Egypt

POD Nasser coup against the king of Egypt fails and he goes into hiding. Soviet Union provides him with weapons and over next decade they able to take over half of country installing socialist republic in Southern part. The north under national Egyptian appeal for assistance and US slowly begin to first arm the Egyptians, train and by 1965 have over 100K troops in country fighting both communist from south as well as communist Libya insurgents.
Click to expand...
Lusitania said:
Egypt

POD Nasser coup against the king of Egypt fails and he goes into hiding. Soviet Union provides him with weapons and over next decade they able to take over half of country installing socialist republic in Southern part. The north under national Egyptian appeal for assistance and US slowly begin to first arm the Egyptians, train and by 1965 have over 100K troops in country fighting both communist from south as well as communist Libya insurgents.
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. What if Farouk and idiris are backed by us uk and Israel? The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
 
FieldMarshal

FieldMarshal

Banned
samcster94 said:
With a POD of July 27th, 1953, the U.S. has to end up in a Vietnam-like conflict somewhere's in the world. The conflict can even parallel the Vietnam War, but it cannot be in Burma, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, or Vietnam. How can it happen??? Bonus points if the conflict is not in Latin America.
Click to expand...

Iran could have very well turned into Vietnam 2.0 OTL, with additional risk of direct conflict with the USSR.
 

raharris1973

Lebanon 1958 gets bloody and boggy? OTL US Marines got in and out without killing anybody or losing anybody. What if it turns into a prolonged proxy fight?
 

David T

samcster94 said:
With a POD of July 27th, 1953, the U.S. has to end up in a Vietnam-like conflict somewhere's in the world. The conflict can even parallel the Vietnam War, but it cannot be in Burma, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, or Vietnam. How can it happen??? Bonus points if the conflict is not in Latin America.
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The US gets bogged down fighting militant Islamists in Afghanistan? :p
 

samcster94

Banned
raharris1973 said:
Lebanon 1958 gets bloody and boggy? OTL US Marines got in and out without killing anybody or losing anybody. What if it turns into a prolonged proxy fight?
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I can see this get ugly if done wrong.
Afghanistan is OTL, but later. An early Afghan war makes little sense as it was rather stable until short before the Russians(who hated Islam as their version of Communism is anti-religion) invaded and tried imposing Communism.
 

Paul Spring

raharris1973 said:
Lebanon 1958 gets bloody and boggy? OTL US Marines got in and out without killing anybody or losing anybody. What if it turns into a prolonged proxy fight?
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Possible, but from what I've read Eisenhower was pretty determined not to get US troops involved long term in Lebanon.

Congo seems like a distinct possibility. In the USA, being involved in a war against an African enemy is likely to exacerbate racial tensions beyond even what they were in the 60s OTL.
 

David T

The problem with the original post is that except for specifying a POD of July 27th, 1953, it doesn't say when this Vietnam-like conflict takes place (a lot of people seem to think it has to be in the 1950's or 1960's but the OP doesn't say so), so it is perfectly legitimate to argue that America's 21st century wars do have some analogy to Vietnam, and to give them as the answer. By definition anything that happened after 2001 happened after 1953.
 

longsword14

Banned
Paul Spring said:
Congo seems like a distinct possibility. In the USA, being involved in a war against an African enemy is likely to exacerbate racial tensions beyond even what they were in the 60s OTL.
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You cannot have Vietnam without an equivalent of China. No such possibility exists for Congo.
 
Yes

Yes

Mad Bad Rabbit said:
Cuba (after a narrow 1960 Nixon victory, and altered Santa Maria and USS Scorpion incidents)

https://www.alternatehistory.com/fo...ts-katarn-edition.421710/page-7#post-15252092

https://www.alternatehistory.com/fo...s-katarn-edition.421710/page-11#post-15270343
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It's Latin America (but really the OP nixing LA removes some of the most likely contests) but yes, at that point guerrilla warfare was part of Cuban culture, had been for several generations, and either Kennedy or Nixon striking fast (late winter/early spring in '61) before the Soviets really got going with support, that has very definite potential in the role.

The danger in Congo is not the presence of a China equivalent (though that sort of thing could have been doable by the sheer porousness of Zaire's borders) it's the sheer bloody vastness of the place. There are so many cross-cutting ethnic conflicts and so many places to hide. Much more than Vietnam that would be a case of "win every battle but never quite finish the war." And the domestic consequences would have been horrifying. Also yes to the poster who mentioned the Birchers and Tshombe: he was their Magic Negro and like Rick Astley, they were never going to give him up. Katanga would make Saigon look like Salt Lake City in terms of white-picket-fence rectitude.

Also agreed with @David T, the Sandbox Wars have been 'Nam on mescaline (and now, perhaps, with a long heroin downer to level out.) Much broader geographic canvas than SE Asia plus the Awl Bidness plus cultural atavism on both sides, much harder to quit that stuff.
 

Seandineen

What if the so called Bantustan Leaders Lucas Magope and Kaiser Mantanzima decide to Assist MT? Wouldn't that start a ruckus
 
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