Indochina War: The Intangible Factors And Instruments Of National Power

In the middle 1960s, every male in America had to register for Selective Service Draft at age 18. He would then be eligible for the draft and could be inducted into the Army for a period of two years. If you were a college student, you could receive a deferment and would be able to finish college without the fear of being drafted. However, once finished with college, a students name would be put to the very top of the draft list and could be deployed at anytime. The anti-war movement was about young men being drafted and then sent into war that most Americans did not believe threatened the security of the US. The Vietnam War was America’s rebellious war, a war without popular support

Gonyea, D. (2014). LBJ Legacy: Vietnam War Often Overshadows Civil Rights Feat. Retrieved from: http://www.npr.org/2014/04/09/300836769/civil-rights-act-anniversary-may-polish-lbj-s-image

How significant was the Tet Offensive in achieving a communist victory in Vietnam by 1975?

Evaluate the effectiveness of the Strategies used by the opposing sides in the Second Indochina War (1965-1973). Why was it inevitable that the South (USA and Republic of Vietnam) would be defeated?It was inevitable that the USA and the Republic of Vietnam would be defeated in the Second Indochina war of 1965-1973 because of the effective strategies used by the North, with the use of Guerrilla warfare and the Ho Chin Minh trail. The south was defeated because their tactics like using conventional ground warfare and air warfare and their Pacification Campaigns were totally inappropriate for the war in Vietnam.

The Vietnam War started in 1945, resulting in almost 60,000 American deaths and nearly two million Vietnamese deaths, according to Mintze. Years after combat countless Vietnam veterans suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder in every aspect of their lives (Price). Posttraumatic stress disorder is an illness that can happen to anyone who has gone through a horrifying experience. It has been documented in all forms of literature and films the brutality of the war and the side effects it came with. The history of Vietnam is quite long and winding and leaves one to question its purpose (Mintze).

To follow their goals in wartime, states tap their economic, political, and diplomatic resources and experiences, as well as their military ones. All of these are elements of grand strategy. Strategy means the larger use of military force. Some examples include implementing blockades, wear and tear, exhaustion, and applying immediate pressure at many points.

During the Indochina war, the United States aided the French, but if we inspect France

be the gateway to it spreading and taking over the whole of Asia. I f

Assess the importance of nationalism to the Vietnamese up to 1965. A clear desire for nationalism and self-nationalism in Vietnam was evident as early as the 15th century, when historian Nguyen Trai stated “although we have been at times strong, and at times weak, we have always been Vietnamese and this will never change.” The importance and significance of nationalism and establishing a sense of self-determination was of vital concernment to the Vietnamese, in both the North and South of the country. The Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North) and the Republic of Vietnam (South) were both driving forces in the ambition of self-determination and their established sense of nationalism regardless of the

The Vietnam War was a war that seems to have thought the American Military and Government officials a lot about diplomatic negotiations, presidential leadership, and cultural/social contexts. Each American involved most likely has a different story to tell about the War from the ground soldiers all the way up to the President. Each American most likely has varied options about the lessons learned from the Vietnam War. I will discuss what I feel we Americans have learned. Including the good, the bad, and they ugly related to diplomatic

“The war in vietnam is but a symptom of a far deeper malady within the American spirit.” Martin Luther King, Jr. once said. The Vietnam War was considered one of America’s greatest defeats of all time. Not only did the US failed to stop the spread of communism, but they also embarrassed this country as a whole with the outcome of this war. The overall outcome from this war will be remembered for years to come. In this essay, I will be talking about how the United States would have won the Vietnam war if the home front was for the war, if the the US was more familiar with the land, and the U.S.’s goal was not successful.

It will then assess the strengths and weaknesses of the viewpoints presented in this article. And lastly, author’s personal thoughts on strategy will be terminated alongside the conclusion of the entire essay.

The Vietnam War also known as the second Indochina war started on November 1st 1955 ended on April 30th 1975. The war was between North and South Vietnam and occurred during the Cold War which was between two superpowers: the United States and the Soviet Union. The U.S and other anti-communist nations supported South Vietnam and the Soviet Union and other communist nations supported North Vietnam. North Vietnam was ruled by a dictator in a communist society and North Vietnam was a democratic capitalist society like America. A war broke out when the ruler of South Vietnam wanted to unify Vietnam but South Vietnam didn’t want to become a communist state so to prevent this they stopped elections which angered North Vietnam and they went to war. But North Vietnam wouldn’t want to become unified if t hadn’t been for the French that wanted to keep part of Vietnam and split it at the 17th parallel. Both sides had aid of a superpower and the outcome of the war was North Vietnam winning and unifying with South Vietnam. So who was to blame for this war that cost so many lives of almost 60,000 American men and 2 million Vietnamese men and how it affected the world; I believe everyone was an active contributor.

In the era between the Second World War and the Vietnam War, national unity in the United States and American patriotism began to disintegrate and morph as the nation progressed from the 1940s through the 1970s. During WWII, the United States military fought a foe that the American public, and the world alike, saw as an enemy to the human race, which caused Americans to unify in their efforts to fight in the battle. In contrast, US military actions in Vietnam were not fully backed by the American public or American allies, in which caused many people from the country to lose trust and faith in America. Wars have points that define them. In WWII, it was the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese, which rallied a nation to come together and fight, citizens and soldiers alike. Where as, Vietnam it was the Gulf of Tonkin with North Vietnam, which left many Americans, and soldiers both, confused by the confrontation and unsure of what actions should be taken by their government. Both attacks prompted American officials to make decisions concerning the use of military force, but in each case the attacks appealed differently to American leaders and the American public. In the time period between the two wars the United States military had desegregated its forces. For the first time, African American and white soldiers fought on the front lines together and slept in the same barracks and this caused many African American soldiers to think about the Army differently. Although the

History and culture are important key factors that help contribute, to the upbringing of strategic culture in today’s contemporary world. The significance of strategic culture, has allowed for our modern society to identify key factors such as, our country political structure, culture variables and most importantly our country national character. Strategic culture was developed subsequent to the Cold War this ideation helped the U.S to create strategies, thus influencing security policies. The subject of strategic culture is pertinent to the U.S engagement of international relation with our countries that are not democratic like, China, North Korea and Russia. Culture, specifically, has condition member to their respective society to think a certain way, thus giving them pre-condition responses to given situation. For example, the United State, experience a serve shock during the event of 9/11, this incident made the American people to become more willingly acceptable to engage in war, and as a result the patriot act doctrine quickly went in to effect. Ultimately, the U.S has become ethnocentric, substantially making strategic culture to western-centric making the U.S unable to understand other nations cultures. There are serval different factors that can shape a countries strategic culture, either through geography, history, technology and a countries political structure and defence organization are all different influences of strategic culture.