The Vietnam War: How America Lost the War Against Communism Essay

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.

The Vietnam War began in 1954 after years of conflict stretching back to the 1940s between the communist regime of North Vietnam and South Vietnam. North Vietnam was attempting to make South Vietnam a communist country; since we are a democracy, the United States opposes the views of communist countries, and because we feared the spread of communism the United States became involved as an ally of South Vietnam. The war ended in 1975, resulting in disastrous effects on Vietnam and America. The assertion of the United States in this war rose controversy among Americans, and I disagree with our involvement in the Vietnam War because of the United States’ reasons to fight.

The Vietnam war brought many changes to the United States in the 1960’s and the 1970’s. Some of the changes were for the better of the country, take the rediscovered Women’s Rights movements and the ever growing Free Speech movements inspired by New Left, while most of the other changes brought on tensions between government and their people. The Domino Theory pushed our leaders to the edge. In order to stop the Domino Theory in Vietnam, the U.S. invaded. The war was useless for the American government to get involved with. Even Robert Kennedy described our presence in Vietnam as ‘... sending a lion to halt an epidemic of jungle rot.’ (Doc E) From new groups forming to rebel, to inflation and loss of trust in the Government, from 1960’s to

In 1961 the worst war ever fought by America had just started. The Vietnamese of the north also known as the Viet Cong had invaded the south to take control of the entire country. America and other democratic countries felt the spread of communism to this country would be a stepping-stone for other communistic countries around the world, also known as the Domino Effect. America, as cocky as they were, invaded Vietnam to help the southern Vietnamese. Although America is one of the most powerful countries in the world, it extremely underestimated the dedication of their enemy. Backed by China and the USSR, the Viet Cong were a determined and very tough enemy. The Vietnam War as a whole was a terrible act by the US government. Vietnam was

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.

Anais Moss The Vietnam War was a very devastating war. There were many negative aspects that came along with this tragedy. Figuring out whether or not your against or for the war. The war on vietnam started in 1954 and ended 1975.For the United States of America the Vietnam War lasted for 11years. The United States originally got involved to help stop the spread of communism. Can you believe it saw two presidential terms? During this war the Civil Rights Movement was going on full force. African Americans were volunteering to go fight for a country that wasn’t even willing to give them basic rights. Such as getting de-segregation abolished, non- discrimination, and the right vote. Despite how America felt they were still willing to risk their lives. There were many aspects that came along with this war. A lot of people supported the war out of ignorance. They didn’t know the full intentions and actions that were taking place. Violence was a major downside to the war, many lives were lost during this period. With the Guerilla Warfare tactics that were taking place--the dropping of Napalm on the Vietnamese civilians was devastating because this toxic chemical was being dropped regardless of if there were men, women, children or enemy soldiers being involved. The use of unrestricted force and violence, gave Lyndon B. Johnson authority to do as he pleased when passing the Tonkin Gulf Resolution. The amount of American Soldiers lost to this war is an unimaginable number. Young

The Vietnam War was devastating time for not just America, but worldwide. This War lead to 1 million, four hundred and fifty thousand casualties from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. This devastating number only increased when you also take into account the other side, the Americans, with more than 50,000 casualties. One may argue that a major reason the Vietnam War occurred was due to the disagreement between the Soviet Reds and the Great Uncle Sam after World War 2. The Reds wanted to spread communism, this left Americans not too pleased because they were capitalist. They did not believe in communism. The U.S. got involved in the Vietnam War to help countries stay free, and to contain communism, but the American people were not pleased about the government decision.

The Vietnam War was cause do to The United States wanting to stop the continuation of Communism, this war however had major consequences on several societies and communities. The war caused many American casualties and the soldiers who did survive suffer from many mental and physical problems to this day nearly forty-three years later. The Vietnam war was well known for its chemical warfare. The two most common chemicals were substances called napalm and agent orange. The war was also well known as America's biggest mistake for warfare. Soldiers who served were disrespected and disgraced after their return. And many of the politicians in office were threatened and the government was beginning to fall apart do to miscommunication.

Vietnam was a divided country with the North supporting communism and the South opposing it. The United States was an ally to South Vietnam, with the goal of assisting them to avoid a communist takeover. The United States involvement may have started out with an honorable intention; however, there are many reasons the United States should not have become involved in the conflict, such as it was no business of the United States, it was very costly, many lives were lost, there was no victory in sight, and it went against the United States ethics and standards. Many would argue that the U.S. involvement was crucial, but many more would

The United States entered into Vietnam in 1965 and fought there until 1975. The U.S. got involved because North Vietnam was trying to take over South Vietnam and make them part of the communist North Vietnam. Due to President Johnson and congress believing that if they didn’t engage in this war that the domino effect (which is where one country becomes communist and this causes other countries to fall victim to the same fate) that this would happen. For the first time in the history of any war, the American public was extremely disrespectful to the soldiers coming home from war. The war was extremely costly for the United States and the loss of life was too great. So many lives were lost over there in a conflict that was never to be won.

The viet cong were supported by the Soviets and China. Because of their support, it lead to a little more tension to the Cold War. North Vietnam was far more ambitious in wanting to win the war than the United States. Due to many inexperienced American soldiers in an unknown terrain, that gave the Vietnamese a higher advantage to plan their attacks, corner the U.S soldiers, or flank from. The disagreements between the American soldiers and their Sergeants often caused them to turn on each other, especially if the sergeant had a radical tactic. The war was very unpopular in the United States, thus meaning the war had no support from the U.S population, as mentioned in the previous paragraph. Not only was the war destructive, it was very costly as well, causing a loss of 28.5 billion for the United States. Because of the ineffectiveness and inefficiency of the U.S’s knowledge toward this war, they shouldn't have participated. This was the only war America had lost

In the beginning, thousands of men signed up to be drafted because the war was supported. According to Howard Zinn, “over 200,000 American soldiers were sent to South Vietnam, and in 1966, 200,000 more.” The New York Times discovered that the American soldiers used an excuse of Vietcong to bomb many places in which the residents were mostly the innocent women and children. About five hundred deaths took place, and the women were treated for serious burn from napalm. Napalm is a thick and highly incendiary liquid, usually

The Vietnam War was started and based around politics of the country Vietnam. At the time the country was split in half because the country was fighting over what type of government they would have. One side of the split country started to force the other side to give into communism. At first the US did not want to get involved too deeply and only supplied resources to the war. Eventually we supplied troops and the real war began. Once the war had started the US froze all trade to and from Vietnam, making a siege on the country. After years of fighting and a couple million casualties, the communists surrendered ending the war. During the war, the US went billions of dollars into debt while Vietnam’s economy completely crashed(this is a main reason to why Vietnam is so poor today). To this day families suffer from loved ones who suffer from the war. The US altogether also suffers with debt and recovery from that tragic

The Vietnam War of 1955-1975 was one of the most unsupported and controversial wars to date in all of American history. It occurred in present day Vietnam (Southeast Asia). It was all around caused by the fact that two powers in Vietnam, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam, united and started to press and force a communist government system over all of the nation of Vietnam. As the result the Republic of Vietnam, the U.S., and their allies fought to abolish the communist government in Vietnam and to stop the spread of communist rule. The U.S. had been helping the French forces who were trying to keep a handle on their colony, who were imperialists. Because the U.S. and the French were allies and because the French was defeated, the U.S. sent out many troops

The Vietnam War was a war that was unnecessary. That is why many people today call it the "unwinnable war", because it was simple, the United States just could not defeat the Vietnamese. The immorality of the U.S. in Vietnam started in 1963. President Kennedy said "a Pax Americana on the world by American weapons of war, ", but he had in the act, already gave weapons to the South Vietnamese to fight against the North Vietnamese. Kennedy’s commitment to be a strong anticommunist and vigorous foreign policy was thought to come from the president before him, Eisenhower. When Kennedy took office, already more than $1 billion in aid and military advisers were sent to South Vietnam to stabilize it, but it was failing. The United States faced a challenge