Until we can learn from our mistakes, we are doomed to repeat history. Many historians believe that without knowledge of the past, future conflicts and events can be prevented from following the same course. This statement is true for the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War already happened in the form of the American Revolution. In order to understand the validity of this statement one must understand the French and foreign influences, the power of the British and the United States, the way the wars were fought, the geography and the politics used in both wars. By understanding them, one can arrive at a practical definition of revolution and the similarities between the two conflicts that span over 150 years. To understand both conflicts, we must first understand that the revolution is not a single event. Rather, it is a process. The goal of the revolution is the redistribution of wealth and economic power. In both cases, the battles fought in both wars were fought for these reasons and in both cases, the seeds of these revolutions had been sown long before the conflicts themselves. If these seeds were the seeds of revolution, then the sower of these seeds was France. It was present before the American Revolution in the British colonies and Vietnam was a French colony until recently, at the time of the Vietnam War. In both cases, France had recently left the territory and the result was a revolution. In Vietnam, the French had prevented the spread of communism and had the support of the United States. As author and historian John Green said: “Why should we fight with the French to maintain a colonial empire? Oh yes, because we were blinded by our fear of communism” (Green). It was America's fear of the spread of communism that propelled...... middle of paper ...... America's legacy. Internet. April 10, 2014. Patterson, James T. Great Expectations: The United States, 1945-1974. New York: Oxford UP, 1996. Google Books. “People and Events: Paris Peace Talks.” PBS. PBS and Web. April 12, 2014. Pohl, James W. “The American Revolution and the Vietnam War: Relevant Military Analogies.” The History Teacher 7.2 (1974): 255-65. JSTOR. Society for the Teaching of History. Internet. April 11, 2014. .Treaty of Paris, 1783; International treaties and related documents, 1778-1974; General Archives of the United States Government, Record Group 11; National Archives.