The Conspiracy which was the Vietnam War The Vietnam War is very well-known as being one of the most controversial wars that the United States of America has ever participated in. The Vietnam War took place in the middle of the Cold War. The Cold War, was a war between the United States and the Soviet Union. It was a war of ideas and culture, the basis of this war was military build-up and the stocking of nuclear warheads. The Soviet UNion had a Communist government and was very secretive during this time. This secrecy worried the United States and increased their fear of Communism. As a result of this fear and the fear of nuclear war, the United States entered multiple “Proxy Wars” and the Vietnam War was one of them. The Vietnam War was …show more content…
The Viet Minh used guerilla warfare and launched multiple surprise attacks. The North Vietnamese Troops were ruthless and would burn down small villages and kill the locals to show their brutality. This style of warfare was all new to the United States and they were unsure how to combat such a force. The United States held their own and both sides endured heavy losses. The fact that so many men were dying is why the media and public were so interested in this war, and the United States would eventually have to withdraw because of how the media affected the views of the …show more content…
The United States first off could have trained the troops better for what they were about to encounter in Vietnam. As stated before, the warfare used in Vietnam was all new to the United States troops and they were completely caught off guard by most of the fighting. Another thing that the government could have done is to make sure troops understood why they were even there. To ensure that their morale was high and keeping them positive about the war. This would have helped perhaps with men obeying orders and having more hope of ending the war sooner. The United States government should have also kept the public more informed and been more honest with them. Had the United States government done this they could have shown the public a different view than that of the media. The media often only showed gruesome details of the war and this made for an ugly picture on the TV in most American homes. Also the handling of the Kent State shooting and other incidents like it would have greatly helped to United States government. INstead of the National Guard being sent, have a person of authority come and explain what is happening and why, to help inform the public instead of leaving them confused and scared. Those are some things that the United States could have done differently in the Vietnam
US goes to war, they show we are serious about stopping the spread of communism but if US doesn’t go to war the communism in Vietnam could spread just like Hitler did in WWII. The war wasn’t all about communism though, Vietnam was rich in resources and US wanted to keep South Vietnam’s way of life without communism. America may of killed civilians but think of how many civilians would of been killed if North Vietnam rampaged through South Vietnam. An overlook over the situation I believe America should of fought the war but planned it out better like choosing a better leader to rule South Vietnam. America was just waiting to lose a war and against a third world country America lost the war because of poor decisions.
The Vietnam war has been referred to by many names, one of the longer ones was 'the cornerstone of the free world southeast Asia'. It was called that by John F. Kennedy. He was talking about Vietnam being and essential country in a non-communist world. He believed that if Vietnam became a communist country, all of the surrounding countries would also become communists. This is the main reason America was involved in the Vietnam war. Another reason was that America wanted to spread their “political ideas around the globe”. They wanted to do this so that their anti-communism stance was clear. The public also wanted to keep communism from spreading. To soldiers, the war was like a crusade, a great journey to purge the communists from Vietnam.
The Vietnam War is the longest war fought in America’s history (1954-1973). The Vietnam War occurred because North Vietnam followed Communist ideas and the United States followed democratic ideas. The North wanted to interfere with the South into becoming Communist but the U.S did their best to reduce or eliminate the North interference in South Vietnam. The Vietnam War was the first ever war to be shown on television. Although the U.S won the battle, the T.V exposed the horrors and struggles of the war. It seemed like the U.S was just killing random people for no reason. It made a lot of people question whether the U.S was the good or bad side. During the war, there was a theory “Domino Effect/Theory, that basically meant that once one fell under communism than the others would fall too. This war was extremely difficult because they were fighting in a forest. There were trees and bushes and everything would block the sight of the soldiers. So there was Guerilla Warfare which meant unconventional fighting, surprise attacks and ambush. Helicopters were extensively used. It was a fast in and an easy out. After the Tet Offensive, people started to distrust the government and increased the number of protests. There were war-hawks and doves. They were two completely different groups. One was anti-war and the other was pro-war. The war made a drastic impact in American Culture. Especially with the American people. The Vietnam War created division. (History.com)
The Vietnam War was a disastrous war that lasted roughly 20 years; we lost around 533,000 Americans, not to mention the 2 million civilians who were killed as well. The controversy and bitterness that arose throughout America divided us as a nation. The next steps to ensuring that history will not repeat itself would be educating students and peers more about the negative effects of war and how the government may have been misled with their decisions throughout this
The Vietnam War was a major controversy for the United States compared to World War 1 and World War 2. With both of the previous wars that the United States had been a major part of they had brought the people of the country together to fight and work hard to show their support to the soldiers that were fighting. During these two wars we saw the rise of women in the workforce as they came into the picture of taking the jobs that the men held while they went away to fight in the way. And then there was the avid signing up to fight. Men as young as teenagers signing up to fight in both of these wars. The difference is that with the Vietnam War it was met with disdain from the public and also the soldiers as well. With this war people
Because of this war, many soldiers died. It was difficult for American men to fight in Vietnam due to the geography. American troops were not used to a jungle habitat and therefore did not know how to go about fighting in it. The Americans were fighting a war on foreign soil and it was very unfamiliar to them. The North Vietnamese used Guerilla Warfare and picked off many American men without them even knowing where the attacks came from. The North Vietnamese also used many booby traps set up in the jungle that were well hidden. If one was activated, it would either kill or severely disable the victim.
During the Vietnam War, United States involvement was for personal reasons and fear of communism. Neither the United States or the Soviet Union should have been involved. The War was just used as a cover up for the actual silent, passive aggressive war between the United States and the Soviet. The Vietnam war was started by the North “Viet Cong” and their desire to unify Vietnam under communist rule. The South was against communism, making tensions grow until eventually, a war broke out on November 1, 1955. Five years later in the 1960s, the war was escalated with the involvement of foreign countries. While the North was supported by its communist allies such as China and the Soviet Union. The South was supported by the United States of America. The Americans wanted to halt or prolong the spread of communism. The “domino theory” compelled the U.S. to get involved as soon as possible because if not, the rest of Asia would fall to communism like “dominoes”. The U.S. involvement only started with Eisenhower administration when Vietnam split in half. This action of the United States was only for their own well being and their main goal was not for the good of Vietnam. During this time period the Vietnamese had just united and established the state of Vietnam. The war ended up lasting 9 years with long periods of bitter guerrilla warfare in the rugged jungles of Vietnam which would eventually result in the victory of the North and longed unification of Vietnam
The Vietnam War was the first major war American’s had suffered defeat. The Vietnam war was a war of confusion, competition and biasness. The outcome of the war was far greater than an upset American nation, but a severe breakdown of the Vietnamese culture, economy, environment and government. It also had a tremendous impact on American society even up to present day. It was unclear from the beginning of the war if the American’s should even be involved. It was a war between Northern and Southern Vietnam but the U.S saw it as an indirect way to challenge the USSR’s sphere of influence in Southern Asia and to prevent the domino effect and the further spread of communism. The Vietnam War completely changed the way the United States
The Vietnam War was a conflict, which the United States involved itself in unnecessarily and ultimately lost. The basis of the conflict was simple enough: Communism vs. Capitalism, yet the conduct of the Vietnam War was complex and strategic, and brought repercussions which had never been seen before. The struggle between North and South had an almost inevitable outcome, yet the Americans entered the War optimistic that they could aid the falling South and sustain democracy. The American intentions for entering the Vietnam conflict were good, yet when the conflict went horribly wrong, and the resilient North Vietnamese forces, or Viet Cong' as they were known, refused to yield, the United States saw they were fighting a losing battle.
Over thirty years ago the Vietnam War ended, and the U.S. came back home with their tails between their legs and nothing to show for other than a high number of casualties, and a huge pile of debt. The U.S. underestimated the North Vietnamese army, and it was costly. Many believe that the Vietnam War was none of the U.S. business, but on the contrary, many believe we should have tried to stop the spread of communism. The long-lasting Vietnam War was unnecessary for the U.S. to be a part of; it put many people through unneeded stress and hard times.
The Vietnam war today is considered one of the most traumatic but important events in the United States history. The war was between the North and South Vietnamese however the United states got involved to help the South avoid falling into the communist ways just as the North did. There were some positive aspects in the war, however there seemed to be more negative situations and opinions that overpowered the good. Opposition grew as the result of; the Gulf of Tonkin, the John Kerry testimony and the Tet Offensive. These aspects along with many others allow many to come to the conclusion that the war was fatalistic thing.
The American involvement in the Vietnam War was a very controversial decision, with many people being for the war, however many people in the United States were also against the war. The Vietnam War was the longest lasting war in the United States history, before the Afghanistan War, in which most people felt strongly about, be them United States citizens, Vietnamese citizens, or just the global population. In order to better understand the ideas of those American citizens that are either for or against the war, one would have to look at the reasons that the United States was involved in the war, the impact of the Vietnam war on the American society, and the impact on the United States foreign policy.
The Vietnam War was the longest and the most unpopular American war of the twentieth century. The United States was involve in the Vietnam from 1944 to 1973, but it was only during the last years that the U.S deployed ground troops (Lawrence 1). For the first time the United states was the aggressor. Vietnam is situated thousands of miles from the United States, so Vietnam was not a direct threat to the United States’ safety. The Vietnam leader Ho Chi Minh seem to look up to the United States, their declaration of independence is prove of that. The United States involvement was so controversial because to some people the U.S was trying to stop heroic Vietnamese national liberation movement (CITE). Tim O’Brian was a university graduate
The Vietnam War was a long armed conflict where the communist regime of North Vietnam and their southern allies, Viet Cong, fought against South Vietnam and their biggest ally, the United States. It was a decisive war that had an increasing amount of criticism in the United States, and resulted in the withdrawal of U.S. forces in 1973. In 1975, Vietnam was unified under communist control. Over 3 million people were killed in the war; 58,000 of these casualties were American.
Vietnam was a country divided into two by communism in the North and capitalism in the South. The Vietnam War, fought between the years 1959 and 1975, was, in essence, a struggle by nationalists in the north to unify the nation under a communist government. This was a long standing conflict between the two sides that had been occurring for years. It wasn’t until 1959 when the USA, stepped in, on the side of southern Vietnamese, to stop the spread of communism. It was a war that did not capture the hearts and minds of the American people as it was viewed as a war that the US army couldn’t win and so the government lost the peoples support for the war. This ultimately led to the withdrawal of the US army from Vietnam. Some people, like