The War Of The Vietnam War

Before the Vietnam war, Vietnam was in a revolution because they did not want to be ruled by France. Vietnam wanted to be independent right after World War II ended in 1945. Japan had control of them, when Japan surrendered to the Allies the French never left Vietnam and claimed it as a territory(Mintz).

On the 19th of December 1946, The Viet Minh under Ho Chi Minh leadership launched a rebellion against the French authority governing the colonies of French Indochina. The first few years of the war were a low-level rural insurgency against French authority. However, after the Chinese communists reached the Northern border of Vietnam in 1949 the conflict became a conventional war between two armies equipped with modern weapons. These were supplied by the Chinese communist and Russian communist.

The Vietnam War was one of the most deadliest wars in America, many were killed and even more injured. The war began because of America’s efforts to stop the spread of communism. The Vietcong may of won the war but America showed that we will not let communism spread, the domino theory come into effect, and America’s faults in our war program and way to attack the Vietcong. The war was lost but from a overview of the war America learned from their lose.

The French were highly involved with Indochina (Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia) due to the abundant harvesting riches that were favorable with their own economy. Historically, Vietnam first established the communist party through the influence of China after their conversion into a Communist country in 1949. Ho Chi Min, a nationalist leader, had

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 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 a conflict, which the United States involved itself in unnecessarily and ultimately lost. The basis of the conflict was simple enough: Communism vs. Capitalism, yet the conduct of the Vietnam War was complex and strategic, and brought repercussions which had never been seen before. The struggle between North and South had an almost inevitable outcome, yet the Americans entered the War optimistic that they could aid the falling South and sustain democracy. The American intentions for entering the Vietnam conflict were good, yet when the conflict went horribly wrong, and the resilient North Vietnamese forces, or ‘Viet Cong' as they were known, refused to yield, the United States saw they were fighting a losing battle.

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.

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.

For centuries the Vietnamese people resisted being controlled by their powerful Chinese neighbors. They struggled to unify their country as an independent state. Ultimately they freed themselves from China 's claim for control of political authority and achieved national unity only to fall victim to French imperialism (Anderson 1). French ruled Vietnam and neighboring kingdoms as colonies from the nineteenth century to the twentieth century. Japanese occupation of Southeast Asia during World War II influenced the Vietminh war against the French in 1945. September 2nd, 1945, Ho Chi Minh declares independence from French rule shortly after Japans surrender from World War II (www.history.com). France 's rule over its colony was incredibly brutal and exploitative (Anderson 6). French colonialism deprived the Vietnamese of their political independence, and it impoverished many of the Vietnamese people (Anderson 7). Many villagers lost their lands and became low-paid plantation

In The Vietnam War, Mark Atwood Lawrence goes in depth with research from many different sides of the Vietnam war and accounts for the different events that took place during this time and the many elements that led to the war. He talks about the significance of the war and how it wasn’t just another war. Lawrence also discusses the effect it had on not just our history but world history.

The Vietnam War greatly changed America forever. It was the longest war fought in America’s history, lasting from 1955 to 1973.The war had two major effects on American people. First, the Vietnam War tarnished America’s self image by becoming the first time in history the United States failed to accomplish its stated war aims, to preserve a separate, independent, noncommunist government. It was the first war ever broadcast on television. The public was able to see what happened on the battlefield. Second, one of the chief effects of the war was the division it caused among the people. Not since the Civil War had America been so divided. This war would have lasting affects on the United States. To better understand the horrors of the war, I will narrate the story from the perspective of my grandfather with a few personal opinions injected in between my grandfather 's thoughts.

Vietnam has a very rich history that often goes unnoticed and unaccounted for, this is most likely due to the war being such a big landmark in the history of Vietnam. Before the war many events transpired that would eventually lead up to the war. In the late 19th century Vietnam was considered to be a French colony. The French built their own standing infrastructure, they began to build railways and roads and bridges. All of this building meant heavy taxation on the Vietnamese. This was all good and progressive for vietnam however “Naturally the Vietnamese wanted independence.” (http://www.localhistories.org/viethist.html) From there Ho Chi Minh founded a revolution and within 20 years Vietnam came under Ho Chi Minh rule.

This caused the initial French colony of Indochina being declared in 1887. Until world war two and in the 1940’s, Vietnam had stayed part of the French Empire, until the invasion of Japanese soldiers. Vietnam took the opportunity to develop its own form of government, led by Ho Chi Mihn, until after the war where the allies had divided Vietnam giving South Vietnam back to the French and north Vietnam to the non-communist Chinese. However due to the poorly treated state North Vietnam was in, the Chinese in 1946 pulled out of the declaration of this area and the Ho Chi Mihn party took over and created the Viet Minh. Though during this time after, the French empire announced their intentions of recapturing the north, which resulted in the Viet Minh having to fight for it. During this, the cold war was occurring between RUSSR and the USA. The French started the Indochina War after the bombing in south Vietnam which killed 5000 people.

In WWII, Japan took over vietnam. The French also wanted to take over. Not long after that, Ho Chi Minh created the Viet Minh to fight against them. They fought until 1954 at Dien Bien Phu, the battle that defeated the French. After that, the Japanese removed their troops leaving Bao Dai in charge, the Viet Minh seized Hanoi and declared the Democratic Republic of Vietnam with Ho Chi Minh as the president.