The Effects Of The War In Remembering The Vietnam War

Spearheaded by Second Lieutenant William Calley and his platoon, US forces began attacking human and animal targets alike. Men, women and children were killed indiscriminately with firearms, grenades and bayonets. After the initial attack, backup forces came in and dealt with the “remaining resistance,” killing every living person they could find. Although most soldiers did not or refused to participate in the My Lai Massacre, they neither resisted nor attempt to prevent the killings.

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 Tet offensive was when the Viet Kong decided to attack on the week of Tet. Tet was similar to our new years and in the previous years neither side of the war had ever fought on that day. Suddenly Tet came and we (the United States) was being attacked. This played a huge role in society. Eventually this lead to Cronkite announcing that this war was not winnable, it also lead to LBJ announcing that he would not run again for president. Both of these were a wake up call to the United States basically letting them know that we are way further in on the war then we had expected. This also stated that we could not win the war, making more and more riots happen at home. No one wanted the United States at war anymore for they thought that they were there for no reason and we weren't going to win so why not come home? Tet Offensive also impacts the following topics.

Kara Hinson The war in Vietnam started in 1955 and lasted until 1975. Many Americans believed it was a pointless war that had no meaning. The United States became involved in the Vietnam Warbecause they wanted to stop the spread of communism. This war took 50,000 lives and wounded 300,000 American men. Due to the My Lai massacre which killed hundreds of innocent and unarmed Vietnamese civilians, protests about the draft start all over the country, because of draft dodgers and draft deferment, and the government misleading people back home, this was known as the credibility gap, Americans are turning against the war in Vietnam. This leads to anti-war protesters, known as doves springing up across the United States demonstrating their opposition to the war.The Vietnam War is one of the most known wars in history, many innocent people were killed that had no involvement. United States soldiers came up with strategies to kill off the Vietcong, but occasionally the United States was not sure who were Vietcong and who were not. Napalm was a jellied gasoline that explodes when dropped in large canisters the napalm was usually dropped on villages. When the napalm was dropped on the villages, the Vietnamese houses and vegetation were destroyed. Napalm burned men, women, and children who were in the villages the clothes would burn completely off their bodies. Agent orange another substance used this was sprayed by an aircraft over the jungle. Agent

The Vietnam War is known as the longest battle in American history (Mintze). It is also one of the first to end in defeat for America and to be

The Vietnam War can be considered as a hot battle that was part of an even greater conflict, the Cold War. It began with little political involvement and left the country divisive by the concluding years of the war. The atrocities that American troops experienced and committed helped shape the unpopular opinion on the war. The war in Vietnam became America’s longest running conflict that coincided with chaos, controversies and ultimately distraught citizens back home.

     The Vietnam conflict has been known for being the most unpopular war in the history of the United States. The war of 1812, the Mexican war and the Korean conflict of the early 1950's were also opposed by large groups of the American people, but none of them generated the emotional anxiety and utter hatred that spawned Vietnam. The Vietnam war caused people to ask the question of sending our young people to die in places where they were particular wanted and for people who did not seem especial grateful.

The Tet Offensive was a series of North Vietnamese attacks on more than one hundred cities and outposts in South Vietnam. It was an attempt to provoke rebellion among the South Vietnamese population

The Tet offensive was an attack of North Vietnamese on the South Vietnamese. The North Vietnamese took forty-one cities including the capital. After that, the United States and South Vietnamese took back these cities in twenty-four days. Although the North Vietnamese was defeated in that offensive, it considered a victory for them because of the outcome of the offensive on the American government. There were a political, social, and military outcomes of the Tet offensive.

The effect of the Tet Offensive was that American citizens wanted soldiers to pull out of the Vietnam War. The Tet Offensive was when North Vietnam attacked villages in South Vietnam during their New Year. Many Americans wanted American troops to leave Vietnam, because the American citizens were unaware that the North was capable of such attacks. Causes of the Vietnam

It was largest campaign of Vietnam war and since it took place on the day of Tet, it is called “Tet Offensive”. All the major cities including provincial capital Hue had suffered a major loss. In Saigon, communist invaded government institutions, American embassy and killed the people. Americans were shocked to watch such events on television which withdrew their support for war. Most sensational incident that took place in Saigon was shooting mercilessly the head of South Vietnamese officer by Viet Cong soldier.

For many Americans it is common knowledge to know about the Vietnam War; however, for some Americans the Vietnam War is ancient history, dishonorable, but irrelevant nonetheless. If people do not physically see the many horrors of war it is easy to forget; although maybe it is something we try to forget. However, there are some who may be able to forget there will be some, like politicians, that will not forget. The Vietnam War had a terrible impact on both the United States and Vietnam, and more importantly it would affect foreign policy for many years to come.

Then, on January 31, 1968, the North Vietnamese Army, supported by the Vietcong, launched the Tet Offensive, a series of surprise attacks on cities and towns throughout South Vietnam. Militarily, American forces repelled the attacks and retook the cities initially occupied by the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong. However, television portrayed the attack as an appalling defeat for the United States. In addition, the Tet Offensive made the brutality of the war very visible to Americans as the viewing public watched graphic footage of a prisoner being shot through the head by a South Vietnamese general.

The Vietnam War is a war that was fought in the dense jungles, rice patties, in the air and in the tunnels of Vietnam. This was a long and costly war that sacrificed too many lives on both sides. American Soldiers had to learn jungle warfare and the tactics that would keep them alive in combat. This was no easy task and it took years of training and experience to understand the challenging and dangerous jungle. The Vietnamese Soldiers already knew the jungle and how to fight using the elements to their advantage. This would give them an edge on the American Soldiers because of their knowledge and experience. That wouldn’t stop the American Soldiers; they would prove they could fight effectively in the jungle and defeat the Viet Cong.

As mentioned before the Vietnam War caused the soldiers to harbor a lot of hostility directed at their situation as opposed to just their enemy. These were all relatively young men fighting, 18-22, most without anything more than a high school education. They were in a strange foreign country fighting a war that most of them did not even understand. They were fighting "in an oppressively hot climate among peasants of an alien culture." (Goff, Moss Terry, Upshur, 445) The main problem was that Vietnam was not a conventional war, it was very difficult to tell who the enemy was. "Members of the 48th Battalion reportedly lived with the local villagers in order to conceal their presence, often