The Vietnam War And The Cold War

The Vietnam War was costly not only to our armed forces but to our American economy and American morale. We entered the war in an attempt to end the communist regime of North Vietnam and their southern allies, the Vietcong, from taking over South Vietnam. South Vietnam was an ally of the United States and due to this political relationship; the United States was entitled to help defend their ally. More than 58,000 Americans were killed in the Vietnam War. By 1969 it was the peak of American involvement in the war and more than 500,000 U.S. military personnel were involved in the Vietnam conflict. Throughout the war growing opposition towards participation of military forces threatened the support of the war. American citizens began to

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 a Cold War-era conflict that started in 1946 and ended in 1974, taking nearly 30 years to resolve. The war was fundamentally a conflict between North Vietnam and South Vietnam, where the North was communist and South was not. The United States, France, the United Kingdom and other non-communist allies supported the non-communist South Vietnam. China, Russia (USSR), Cuba, Cambodia and other Communist allies supported the regime in the north. North Vietnam saw the United States involvement in the North as foreign aggression, so they fought guerilla wars against the anti-communist forces in the region. Guerilla forces (the Viet Cong) and the regular North Vietnamese Army were responsible for fighting the anticommunist forces. The conflict mainly consisted of small battles until the onset of air attacks -- part of an overall strategy of massive bombing and search-and-destroy operations, which South Vietnam and the Americans hoped would win the war.

The Cold War, in fact didn’t take place in the winter season, but was just as dangerously cold and unwelcoming, as it focused on two contrasting powers: the U.S. and the Soviet Union. After World War 2, the Cold War influenced capitalist U.S. and communist Soviet Union to engage in disagreements causing many disputes having to use military, economic and humanitarian aid. With different goals, the contrasting powers prove through the Marshall Plan, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and SALT that communism really can’t coexist with capitalism.

It seems as if the united states are always fighting a battle whether it is overseas or within its own borders. The citizens were not ready for what the 1970’s was going to bring, socially, economically, and religiously. Jim Jones was going to bring peace and relief to these people in the most tragic way possible. With brain washing, manipulation, and isolation Jones convinced hundreds of people to commit suicide. The Peoples’ Temple religious movement was one of the many going on during the 1970’s.

Since World War II, Conflicts in Asia have played a major role in the Cold War and American foreign policy. One conflict was the Vietnam War, the effects of this conflict were not only felt within the region of Southeast Asia, for example Norman Morrison was a Baltimore Quaker and performed the act of self-immolation at the age of 31 to protest the US’s involvement in Vietnam, this is an example of how it was felt even in the United States and not just in Vietnam. These repercussions had a great impact on American society and even our foreign policy.

The Cold War was a war between America and the Soviet Union. Both sides threatened to blow each other up with Nuclear Weapons. This war was a Cold War because neither side used weapons on the other. Both sides got involved in wars that they did not need to be involved in, but they fought just to prove they were the stronger country. When the Korean War and the Vietnam War broke out, both countries joined the fight to help out allies although their allies could fight the war alone. Many pacts, alliances, and treaties were formed because of the Cold War, mainly so we did not destroy the Earth. It took many years and multiple leaders on both sides to come to a resolution. Although America technically won the war, we were

The Montagnard had suffer the same consequent as the Native American, the conquer of the land, according to the Degar Foundation “In this way, we have suffered a fate similar to the Native Americans, Australian aboriginals, African Bushmen and other original inhabitants subjected to invasion and exploitation by outsiders.” The same way as the Vietnamese is taking over the land, but the solution in taking back the land is far too risky, due to the fact that; the Montagnard population is dropping. It was once over 3 million during French colonialism, today the race has dwindle to only a few thousand. As the tension between the Montagnard and Vietnam grow the safer place to be is in Cambodia and the neighbor countries.

The Korean War is a forgotten conflict in American history in which this conflict was followed by World War II in 1950. The United States didn’t enter World War II until the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. World War II has ended resulting in the United States defeating Nazi Germany, in support of allies of the United States in coordination with the United Nations. The citizens of America have peace and prosperity now that their G.I.s are home. However, there is still tension between the United States and the communist Soviet Union. During the mid 1940s countries that had conflicts with each other have now been resolved. North and South Korea, one country, only divided by its regions, do not like

Former Secretary of State and Vietnam veteran John Kerry said it best when he stated “In our opinion and from our experience, there is nothing in South Vietnam which could happen that realistically threatens the United States of America” and “To attempt to justify the loss of one American life in Vietnam, Cambodia, or Laos…is to us the height of criminal hypocrisy which we feel has torn the country apart” (Goldstein). This statement stands true with many Americans as the Vietnam War was the most opposed and debatable war in the history of the United States. The Vietnam War or Second Indochina War began 1954 and ended in 1975 and was a direct result of the First Indochina War in which France claimed Vietnam as a colony (Mintz, McNeil). The war ended in 1954 following a French defeat in the battle of Dien Bien Phu (Marlantes, history.net) which resulted in Indochina’s independence, and the division between North and South Vietnam. America’s involvement heightened in the war in 1954 in an attempt to stop the spread of communism (Mintz, McNeil). In fact, the United States had the largest military presence in the war and basically directed the war from 1965 to 1968 (Mintz, Mcneil). This battle against communism led to one of the longest wars in American history, and one of the bloodiest conflicts America has ever seen; thus, leading to outrage and protests in streets of Washington D.C. The Vietnam War is considered one of the most controversial wars in the history of

During the cold war, Soviet Russia and the U.S. disagreed on many matters, but found a common ground in appreciating technology and its instrumental value to the progress of society. Each nation glorified their contrasting examples of the ideal lifestyle, however their shared faith in technology was fulfilled in different forms. The Soviet Union had clearly attained their upper hand in the Space Race, achieving the launch of Sputnik, the first artificial satellite and Vostok 1 which brought the first human to outer space. The US government were also acutely aware of the vulnerability of their military forces as the Soviet Union were developing advanced nuclear weaponry with potential for mass destruction. Conscious of their technological inferiority in comparison, the U.S. sought after ways to demonstrate a technological competence and restore faith in an insecure nation. The family home was praised as the symbol of American prosperity but remodeled to convince a nation that they were just as knowledgeable and proficient in technology as the Soviet Union. These modifications had a radical influence in what was considered as ‘necessary’ technologies to the ideal American home but also materialized a direct confrontation with fears of a nuclear attack on American soil. In this sense, military technology did not have a direct or literal influence on the American home during the Cold War, rather that the consciousness that such technology existed had a profound influence on

During the Vietnam War, between 1955 and 1984, fifty-eight thousand Americans lost their lives, as well as over three-million Vietnamese lost theirs. The financial cost to the United States comes to over one hundred-fifty-billion dollars. The causes of the Vietnam War were derived from the symptoms, components and consequences of the Cold War. The Vietnam War revolved around America’s belief that communism was a threat to expand all over South East Asia. With this being said the Vietnam War was both a nationalist and communist movement, unsuccessful in America’s regards, comparable to the war in Iraq, a poor man’s war, led to the downfall of Lyndon B. Johnson, and overall stood as an unpopular war. Let’s take a look at what damage the

The Cold War is the name given to the relationship that developed primarily between the United States and the USSR after World War II. The Cold War began in 1946 between the United States and the Soviet Union, who had been allies just a few years before during World War II. Although they were once allies, America and the Soviet Union had very different systems of government. The United States had a democratic form of government and the Soviet Union was ran on a communist form of government. The United States and Soviet Union did not fight against each other physically, and fought with politics and economics instead. Many crises occurred during the Cold War including the Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam and Korean wars and the fall of the Berlin wall.

The early 1960’s marks a time when the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War is increased. On August of 1964, North Vietnamese patrol boats fired upon American vessels and Lyndon Johnson declared this as an act of open aggression against the United States and Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin resolution, which gave the president full power to make any decisions he thought to be necessary. President LBJ decided to increase the United States involvement in war and his reasons included: credibility of the United States, threat posed by China, and he feared that if he did not get the United States involved it would make him seem soft on communism. This war had many effects on Americans and the people that seen the effects of the war up close and personal were the soldiers. Full Metal Jacket is a movie that showcases the hardships and terrors undergone by soldiers in the Vietnam War. In this film it is evident that a war will change a person not only on a physical aspects but also on a psychological one.

History experiences many triumphs in the form of conflicts but in most circumstances are dominated by tragedy. This is exemplified by the Soviet – Afghan war 1979-89 which saw mass destruction of both sides and left the military ruined to no avail, destruction of life and disruption through politics. Tragedy can be observed in both the war itself the outcome and the issues that stem from the conflict.