The Vietnam War came at a time of great social and political unrest in America. It was right in the middle of the Cold War, a fierce worldwide battle between Eastern communism and Western democracy. There was already division going on in America at the time, with events like the red scare in Washington creating a growing fear of worldwide communism. The U.S. involvement in Vietnam began with Harry Truman aiding the French in an imperial war from 1946-1954, which the French eventually lost to the Vietminh. The U.S. once again entered Vietnam in 1965, this time involved in a civil war between the democratic South and the communist North. What ensued was one of the most controversial wars in American history, which had a lasting impact that is still felt today.
The Vietnam War created numerous tensions across the United States. On the social side, there was race tension due to the legal segregation at the time. There was also class tension that was shown through the biased draft process. Generational tension also existed, as the young people of the nation were in a battle with the older generations of the purpose of the war itself. In terms of political tensions, the war created a severe credibility gap between the government and the people. The war was also viewed as a threat to constitutional democracy. Lastly, the war lacked justification in the minds of many Americans, which caused the rise of an anti-war movement. Therefore, from 1964-1975, the Vietnam War divided the
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, and continues to be, one of America's darkest moments, one that nearly tore the nation apart. In order to stop the spread of communism in Europe and Asia, the United States aided French imperialists and their reoccupation of Vietnam. At first, the U.S took a position of neutrality to both countries, but by early 1947, they began fighting in support of France. This war, lasting over 20 years, became the longest and most unpopular war in the 20th century. Overall, the Vietnam War was detrimental to the United States because it caused a massive debt from the 1960s to the 1990s, turned the American people against their government, and many troops were neglected and despised upon their return.
The Vietnam War, filled with controversy and tragedy, raised serious questions about its justification. When examining the facts, it becomes clear that the reasons provided for the United States' engagement in this conflict fall short. All while leaving a path of destruction and suffering. Known to be one of the longest and most unpopular wars of the 20th century, lasting from 1954 to 1975. The Vietnam War arose from tension between the Soviet Union and the United States.
The Vietnam War was a very long and messy war that started in 1954 and ended in 1975, although the United States joined in 1965. The united states projected the idea of stopping a Communist takeover of Vietnam as their main reason for joining the war. Soldiers fighting in the war were about two thirds volunteer and the rest were selected through the draft. This sparked outrage in many military aged men and was the beginning of the defiance towards the war. (thevietnamwar.info) With so many people fighting the war it was really supported overall by Americans at the start of the war. The Vietnam War affected the relationship between Americans and the government in many ways, some people it strengthened the idea of the government, and many people who were against the war rebelled in many ways to test the governments powers such as skipping the draft, protesting, or anti-war marches.
The Vietnam War was a long lasting one that started in an attempt to try to prevent Vietnam from joining the Socialist Republic, but at the end the United States lost the war and a lot of credibility towards other countries. This opposition and the fact that the first military defeat of the United States being, created a feeling of bad conscience in the US population considered against an unjust war, said Vietnam syndrome. Syndrome gave way to a movement for peace and lasted until the mandates of Ronald Reagan. The Vietnam War became a symbol, and still is, social groups and leftist parties in many parts of the world, then imitated an example of
The Vietnam war was originally fought between North and South Vietnam. They were in war because the north was communist, and the south was not. America joined the war to make sure communism did not spread across the world. In order to get America involved in the war the government needed to organize a draft, when a man's number was called in the draft the men were shipped off to Vietnam. Even after that Vietnam soldiers were treated unfairly when they returned home from the war.
The Vietnam War started as the US assisting the French to keep its colony in the region called Indochina but became a war that symbolized everything wrong with the cold war and the United States. The conflict in Vietnam was a contentious considering that it was an undeclared war that used American men to control a third world country and resulted in a bloodbath of civilian deaths. The death of civilians and body count policy was a byproduct of the pressures created by the Cold War on the US government toward its military, and the guerilla tactics of the Vietcong pressuring US military to use deaths as a measure of success, which was helped by their rejection of the rules of engagement. All these pressures created an army of young men that was
While the soldiers fought the war in Vietnam, the people were fighting a political war at home. By 1968, the country was divided between the anti-war “doves” and the pro-war “hawks.” The people were horrified at the atrocities of the Vietnam War. At the beginning of the war, President Johnson told the American public that the war would be a quick one. The Vietcong proved multiple times over during the war that they could survive the onslaught of the U.S. military and could draw out the war. The war draw out so their was no end in sight. After the Tet Offensive, the people's opinion quickly soured even more so soon after the peace protests turned violent. Johnson’s support all but evaporated.
The Vietnam war had five major conflict points from the years of 1964-1975. There was air war, ground war, the "war at home", and negotiations between China and Soviet Union and primary enemies. There were many social, economic, and political issues that led to this war and developed during this war. America had conflicts with Vietnam that were to stop the spread of communism but with many political, economic, and social incidents occurring, including attacks on North Vietnam, manufacturing goods for the United States soldiers, and issues that included many soldier casualties which led to a lot of discrepancy within the United States.
This war occurred from November 1st, 1955 to April 30th, 1975 making it one of the longest wars in American history. A quick summary of the war would be that the US desired to stop the communist takeover of South Vietnam but the result was that North Vietnam took over South Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. This was a defeat for the US. Today in Vietnam the war is known as the American War because the US had such a large military presence. Our veterans of the Vietnam War were not treated with respect when they returned home because many Americans believed we shouldn’t have gotten involved and that the war was a waste of lives. The nation was divided between people who were for and against the war. The war made Americans more likely to question their government especially when we send troops on foreign
The Vietnam War was from 1965 to 1973. American troops were sent to South Vietnam to try and stop the Communist regime in North Vietnam from gaining power over South Vietnam. This caused great opposition in America because the American people did not understand why our troops were being sent to Vietnam if it did not really affect us. There were many protests and rallies in America during this time.
4 Vietnam war was a war between America and the North Viet cong. The vietnam war led to a lot of consequences that was brand new to america. It led our congress to replace the military draft like they had in world war two, to an all volunteer force and because of that the country reduced the voting age to eighteen. The war split americans because other americans were calling our troops baby killers and murderers. Now in history the Vietnam war is known as the mistaken war.
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
First and foremost, the Vietnam War was a conflict between the communist regime of the north and southern allies. People viewed the war as a continuation of the First Indochina war against France; while the involvement in the war as a way to prevent a communist takeover of South Vietnam. The purpose of the war was to reunify Vietnam and by doing that North Vietnamese government against the Viet. Congress had to fight bringing something that was once broken back together again. Fear that the public would not forgive them for losing Vietnam made it impossible for Presidents Kennedy and Johnson to remove the United States from an increasingly untenable situation. By 1968, the number of U.S. troops in Vietnam exceeded half a million and the conduct
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)