Until we learn from our mistakes we will be condemned to repeat history. Many historians believe that without knowledge of the past, future conflicts and events can be prevented from following the same course of events. This statement is true of the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War occurred first in the form of the American Revolution. To understand the validity of this statement it is necessary to understand 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 working definition of revolution and the similarities between the two conflicts spanning over 150 years between the two. To understand both conflicts one must first understand that the revolution is not a single event. Instead, it is a process. The goal of the revolution is the redistribution of wealth and economic power. In both cases the battle waged in both wars was fought for these reasons and in both cases the seeds of these revolutions were planted long before the conflicts themselves. If those seeds were the seeds of revolution, the sower of the seed would be France. It was present before the American Revolution in the British colonies and Vietnam was a French colony until very recently, at the time of the Vietnam War. In both cases, France had recently abandoned the territory and the result was 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 right, because we were blinded by our fear of communism” (Green). It was the United States' fear of the spread of communism that drove... middle of paper... Rican heritage. Network. April 10, 2014. .Patterson, James T. Great Expectations: The United States, 1945-1974. New York: Oxford UP, 1996. Google Books. "People and Events: Peace Talks in Paris." PBS. PBS and Web. April 12, 2014. Pohl, James W. “The American Revolution and the Vietnamese War: Relevant Military Analogies.” The History Teacher 7.2 (1974): 255-65. JSTOR. Society for History Education. Network. 11 April 2014. Treaty of Paris, 1783; International Treaties and Related Documents, 1778-1974; United States Government General Records, Record Group 11; National Archives.