Proxy War Vietnam Case Study

This war would keep Ho Chi Minh and the Vietnam Communist Party busy for the next 8 years. [N] At the beginning of the war, the U.S. was neutral in the conflict because of our opposition to imperialism and to avoid helping colonial empires regain their power and influence, because the Viet Minh had recently been our allies, and because most of our attention was focused on Europe where Winston Churchill argued that an iron curtain had fallen. This was the beginning of the Cold

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 United States foreign policy has changed a lot throughout history. The Vietnam War changed foreign policy regarding military force in a huge way. The Government must be more careful when to use military force. Some Government officials who served in Vietnam use it as a reminder (Document 8). American Citizen’s opinions must also be taken into consideration. The Government can not afford to try and keep secrets. America must be careful to avoid Vietnam syndrome and prevent war from happening as shown in Document 9 with the Gulf

The war in Vietnam was a very contestable event for America and an overall major impact of the cold war. Fear of the spread of communism was on the rise again as Ho Chi Minh, the leader of North Vietnam wanted to unite the country under one communist leadership. The United States entered into the war to prevent this spread of communism to further their reputation of containing it as they have done in the past. While there are positives to the war in Vietnam, it seems as if there are more negatives in the situation which include massive casualties on both sides, chemical warfare, and a divided nation back home.

“You could never tell who was the enemy was … therefore you treated everyone with suspicion”- Thomas Giltner, US Soldier “Contested Spaces”The foreign US soldiers had no knowledge of the geography of Vietnam (jungles, mountains, rainforests, and climate) but the VC did, and used it to their advantage. The US, by engaging in massive firepower, killing many non-combatants, destroyed the US credibility in the minds of the people. The VC sympathised with the people’s hardships and this was effective as they won the people over. The VC had extensive knowledge of guerrilla warfare, it was their war, and the US fought tractional conventional warfare which did have some effected, but eventually the US ran out of will. The military operations were

Vietnam was so significant to the United States partly as it would be the first war they would lose. It also had a tremendous financial impact on the country and the casualties were also more in the public eye than ever before due to the media. They learnt that: "a long war for limited objectives, with its steady stream of body bags, will not be supported by the American people" (Martino, 1996, p37). Some suggest that the US should have avoided any involvement in the war.

US policy during the war was weak and not nearly aggressive enough to beat the North Vietnamese. For example, President Johnson was unwilling to order a full scale invasion of North Vietnam. His reason for this was it passed through the territory of countries not involved in the war This was due to fears that it would also provoke China into entering the war directly. Another example would be Johnson’s refusal to cut off the Ho Chi Minh Trail. As a result, supplies would continue to flow uninterrupted. The reasons for not cutting off the trail were mainly political. These political reasons include not wanting to breach Laotian neutrality, especially since the North Vietnamese had no qualms about breaching, and that US

North Vietnam wanted the country to become a Communist country. They were supported by other Communist countries such as USSR and China. South Vietnam did not want to become a Communist country and stood strong. US and south vietnam were supported by South Korea and other anti-communist countries. This war could have been avoided if North

Even before the war had started, 80% of Vietnam itself was in support of the regime Ho Chi Minh, therefore, the United States were stacked against the odds. Within the United States government itself, there was a large divide between those that wanted the war, hawks, and those that strongly opposed the war, doves. Without a doubt, the communist Vietnam had numerous advantages against the United States even before the war started like landscape and better war tactics, such as, setting up bear traps around the jungle, digging tunnels to the camps around Vietnam, and bombing some camps at night while hiding out during the day. Tactically, the Soviet Union played a large role in spreading the communist mindset within Vietnam. By providing ammunition, soldiers, and moral support, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics had a large enough influence within the country that the war was practically between the United States and the Soviet Union. The Cold War had a large impact on the Vietnam war and based on the domino theory, the United States just simply did not want to lose Southeast Asia and were prepared to go to war even if the likelihood of them winning was low. The communist Vietnamese even had an advantage in terms of soldiers because civilians joined forces against the United States military in order to remove the invaders from their territory. This commenced to non-stop fighting, violence, and death throughout Vietnam, the United States, and other nations that took part in the war. Although the idea of containment was why the war seemed reasonable, the fact that Vietnam turned completely communist anyway invalidates the cause for the war, while also undermining the reason millions of lives were lost during the years of

As mentioned before, the Vietnam war occurred because of United States’ involvement in Vietnamese politics and attempts to end communism. The Tet Offensive, which was a terrible failure turned out to be a huge success, here is a quote from a credible source showing this: “Failing to spark revolts, the Tet Offensive was a costly military failure. Without a public uprising, most attacks were little more than suicidal raids because of the small number of troops. The broad offensive also lacked plans for retreat, which led to further casualties. PAVN and NLF losses were estimated at 45,000, of an 84,000-member attack force; South Vietnamese losses were 2,300 while the United States suffered 1,100 combat fatalities.” The main goal of the North Vietnamese Tet Offensive was to launch a series attacks on military and government sites in South Vietnam, and take control and apply communist rule. Although the Tet Offensive failed to take South Vietnam, it defeated the United States. This is because when the Tet Offensive was launched, North Vietnam was close to defeat, and the United States’ attempt to stop the spread of communism was almost successful. However, when this attack was launched, North Vietnamese soldiers pushed the South and the United States back and the war continued raging on until President Richard Nixon’s order for United States’ withdrawal in 1973. This, again, was one of the most significant moments in history because it showed the rest of the world that the West could be

The U.S. involvement in Vietnam was a failure and should not have been a war the US fought. The United States main objective was to stop communism within Vietnam, considering that Vietnam is still a communist country shows that the involvement did not help to stop communism in Vietnam. The Vietnam War was not only a disaster in Vietnam, the United States was getting a lot of backlash from its citizens. The US was split with pro-war and anti-war opinions that created a lot of protest amongst the citizens. The covering up and lying about the war by president Johnson also caused a lot of distrust between the US citizens and the US government grew. The United States involvement in Vietnam did not only not fail in its main objective, it came at a huge cost in casualties to American and Vietnamese citizens.

The American role in the Vietnam War still sparks much debate today. There is a sharp focus on the Americans role in the Vietnam War because of the tragic end for the South Vietnamese. The United States faced much criticism world wide through literature during the war that continued after the war ended in 1975. The American governments reasoning for getting involved was to prevent the spread of communism in South Vietnam and to essentially prevent the domino effect. South Vietnam had no hope of winning a civil war against the North Vietnamese without the United States assistance. The Americans involvement was unjust in the Vietnam War because they failed to finish what they promised to end and in result of that, a betrayal to South Vietnam.

Currently, society is increasingly more modern. Education growing priority not only for the developed countries like the US, but also in developing countries like Vietnam. Different learning approaches between the US and Vietnam are learning environment, approaches and objectives need to be achieved in the process of

To understand the US involvement in Vietnam, it is necessary to understand the background of traditional independence and opposition to larger powers throughout Vietnamese history. The Vietnamese had a long history and tradition of opposing invading powers. This opposition and culture was to draw the U.S. into the longest war it has been involved in. This was an indirect but vitally important cause of US involvement in the Vietnam War. As early as 500BC, Vietnam was a country that held a strong sense of nationalism, and endeavoured for the goal of autonomy, independence, and self-rule. Up until modern history, there have been several events that have contributed towards intensifying this sense of nationalism and resistance against foreign powers. National resistance against the Chinese empire was one of the earliest examples of resistance against nationalism. Throughout the period of pre-modern history from 210 BC to 1789, resistances against foreign control and rule such as that against the Nan Yue, the Song, the Ming, and the Qing, were frequent. These attempts at national resistance came down to the basis that the nationalist Vietnamese did not want foreign influence determining the political future, culture, or customs of their country. Another main example that increased a sense of nationalism was French Colonialism. The French, who were appealed by Vietnam’s unique location, natural resources, and the extensive economic opportunities

From the outset, the Vietnam War manifested itself as a conflict that could only be settled by prolonged engagement. Because the war was fundamentally an ideological struggle between the democratic, capitalist United States and the Communist bloc of the U.S.S.R. and China, the strategy formulated by both democratic and communist advisory forces in North and South Vietnam conformed to accepted Cold War military practices. However, while initially similar to the war in Korea, the war in Vietnam soon outgrew and exceeded the expectations of U.S. strategists, evolving into one the longest and most bitterly contested campaigns in U.S. history. The reasons for this relative loss of control on the part of the American