Oi, First: The French didn't try to colonize South Vietnam.
They colonized most of Indo-China, not just Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos were included.
Second: The hands of the US and South Vietnamese governments aren't clean; the entire WW2 and on era in the region was messy and unpleasant and rife with civil wars for a reason. The Viet Cong may've kicked things off, but the West backed South and communist backed North were always going to come to blows over the political structure of Vietnam.
Third: The US and South would've no doubt sought to support and finance rebel groups in North Vietnam if they'd had the chance. The South because they were the rightful government of Vietnam (or so they claimed, just like the North) and the US because it was a useful proxy war.
Fourth: Not saying Vietnam's hands were clean, but they fought multiple wars with other communist countries, including China shortly after the conclusion of the reunification of Vietnam, not least of which because the Red Khmer were crazy and China wanted land that was Vietnam territory and influence in the region, none of which the communist government of Vietnam was very happy with.
And no, the communist block were not always the ones initiating things. On the eleventh of September 1973 the Chilean military couped a democratically elected socialist president on the basis of pressure by the US administration of the time, establishing a military junta under General Pinochet, a government not exactly known for their even handed and sensitive approach to maintaining order and handling dissenting voices. And while the US wasn't directly involved in the coup, it sure as hell did everything it could short of it, and supported the junta afterwards. Can't have those dirty commies point to a successful socialist government as an example, after all.
The US isn't always the bad guys. The US is sometimes the good guys. But the US sure as shit will be the bad guy when it suits the US and tell everybody they're the good guys and lie about everything so they don't get called out for their bad behaviour, which makes it harder to credit the US when they are actually being the good guys.
They colonized most of Indo-China, not just Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos were included.
Second: The hands of the US and South Vietnamese governments aren't clean; the entire WW2 and on era in the region was messy and unpleasant and rife with civil wars for a reason. The Viet Cong may've kicked things off, but the West backed South and communist backed North were always going to come to blows over the political structure of Vietnam.
Third: The US and South would've no doubt sought to support and finance rebel groups in North Vietnam if they'd had the chance. The South because they were the rightful government of Vietnam (or so they claimed, just like the North) and the US because it was a useful proxy war.
Fourth: Not saying Vietnam's hands were clean, but they fought multiple wars with other communist countries, including China shortly after the conclusion of the reunification of Vietnam, not least of which because the Red Khmer were crazy and China wanted land that was Vietnam territory and influence in the region, none of which the communist government of Vietnam was very happy with.
And no, the communist block were not always the ones initiating things. On the eleventh of September 1973 the Chilean military couped a democratically elected socialist president on the basis of pressure by the US administration of the time, establishing a military junta under General Pinochet, a government not exactly known for their even handed and sensitive approach to maintaining order and handling dissenting voices. And while the US wasn't directly involved in the coup, it sure as hell did everything it could short of it, and supported the junta afterwards. Can't have those dirty commies point to a successful socialist government as an example, after all.
The US isn't always the bad guys. The US is sometimes the good guys. But the US sure as shit will be the bad guy when it suits the US and tell everybody they're the good guys and lie about everything so they don't get called out for their bad behaviour, which makes it harder to credit the US when they are actually being the good guys.