Tiananmen Square Massacre Research Paper

Mao Zedong was born in the Shaoshan village in the Hunan Province of China in 1893. Born to a peasant farmer who independently became wealthy, Mao became a revolutionary whose theoretical ideas spurred him into taking action against imperialist China. His father was noted to be a very strict man who wanted Mao to follow in his footsteps on the farm. Mao, however, was rebellious and had other ideas that he wished to pursue. He was a lover of books and learning the ways of many theoretical writers. One of his favorites for which he would eventually style his own beliefs and actions after is Karl Marx. These would come to be known as Maoism.

“To survive in peace and harmony, united and strong, we must have one people, one nation, one flag.”- Pauline Hanson

Though termed the Tiananmen Square Massacre, this incident actually took place throughout China. What started out as a peaceful protest calling for political and economic reforms, soon turned to bloodshed. (Hu 2015)This greatly impacted China's international relationships. Contact between China and Western nations declined, official visits were suspended. Western powers imposed arms embargoes and economic sanctions, preventing the sale of military equipment, and approval of loans. (The National Bureau of Asian Research) Understanding the causes of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, and its effects on China’s international relationships, aids in better understanding the nuances of this infamous incident.

Jamestown, VA was an English settlement founded in 1607 that was funded by the Virginia company. The first few years were known as the Starving years because people were in famine and there were even claims of cannibalism. It is also where Captain John Smith, a councillor in Jamestown, claimed to have been saved by Pocahontas, which is important because it created one of the first good relationships between settlers and Native Americans.

​Cowardice. Lack of education. Immorality. These are only a few traits to describe the soldiers that went along with the My Lai Massacre in 1968. The My Lai Massacre took place during the Vietnam War in the southern village of My Lai. American troops were told to bomb and kill the “armed” and “dangerous” people of this village because it was believed to be “stronghold for forces of the National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam, or Viet Cong” (My Lai Massacre). These American troops then continued to follow orders although the villagers, mostly women, children and elders, were in fact not dangerous at all. Later, Hugh Thompson, an American soldier, was able to end this massacre. Since then, many people have studied and read up on the brutal actions of the American

A major turning point in the Vietnam War occurred in the small village of My Lai, Vietnam. The hamlet of My Lai was known for being fertile Viet Cong territory. A unit of the 11th Infantry Brigade, known as the Charlie Company, was sent to My Lai on a “search and destroy” mission. Soldiers of the Charlie Company were ordered to locate and eliminate communist fighters said to be in the area. On the morning of March 16, 1968 U.S. soldiers entered My Lai and, in what was said to be a matter of hours, killed hundreds of Vietnamese civilians in cold blood. Innocent men, women, and children were raped, tortured, and murdered. The initial targets of the Charlie Company’s mission, the 48th Viet Cong Battalion, were nowhere to be found. This horrific event became known as the My Lai massacre.

In the town of My Lai on March 16, 1968 was not a day you would be wanting to visit. U.S troops were ordered to conduct a massacre killing 500 plus innocent old men, women, and children.

Imagine, waking up to your neighbors and family being brutally murdered. You manage to escape, and later find out that those responsible for the massacre of your community have gotten off, scot free. When people commit a horrible crime, we expect there to be consequences. Son My is a village that had been heavily mined by the Viet Cong, a communist organization that fought against the South Vietnamese government, many American soldiers had been killed or injured by those mines. Seeking “revenge”, on March 16, 1968, American soldiers from the C Company division went into a smaller part of Son My called My Lai and murder over 400 innocent people. The My Lai massacre was a horrible crime committed by U.S soldiers from C Company division, they

“When my troops were getting massacred and mauled by an enemy I couldn't see, I couldn't feel, I couldn't touch... nobody in the military system ever described them anything other than Communists.” (Simkin) These were Second Lieutenant William Calley’s words in response to the My Lai Massacre, but were an example of how most soldiers felt at the time. The My Lai Massacre was a killing of over 500 unarmed South Vietnamese civilians in March 16th, 1968. During this time, The Vietnam war was growing and US support towards the war was increasing.

Tragedies happen every day in small and large ways. You can live your life with the memory of one of the worst. I’m one of the unfortunate. I was a student at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. I was a student there on Tuesday, April 20th of 1999: the day of the infamous Columbine School Shooting.

March 16, 1968 was when over 300 civilians were killed in the My Lai village and was hidden by American soldiers from the American people. November 1969 was when the My Lai massacre was brought to the attention of the American people. People wondered why did some soldiers commit atrocities and others did not, also some of the different choices the soldiers made instead of following orders, and can anyone ever judge anyone? Also Pham Thi Trinh was one of the Vietnamese witnesses that lost her family on this tragic day.

Mass shootings have become an upcoming trend, all over the country. Shopping centers, schools, churches, and even movie theaters have seen the violent mass shootings lately. People ask how we can stop the violence, but most don’t know where to start.

On June 5, 1989, soldiers and tanks from China's People’s Liberation Army physically oppressed the student led protesters. The events surrounding this day are referred to as the Tiananmen Square Protest of 1989, a democracy movement calling for political and social reforms in the Republic of China. The deaths that occurred as a consequence of the Tiananmen Square Protest was not the fault of the students, but rather, the disastrous situation of China beforehand, the common belief that demonstrations would succeed, and the government’s obstinate decisions.

Society has seen and experienced mass shootings over the last decade and more frequently as of recent. There have been mass shooting in malls, schools, military bases, movie theaters, and even churches. The shooting in South Carolina was not the first mass shooting to occur in a church. It may even seem that a number of mass shootings has increased over the years. Many have been quick to rush to judgment when these shooting have occurred and have led to overgeneralization, selective and inaccurate observation and illogical reasoning. Everything from guns, race, prior criminal history, lack of armed security, and a flag have been blamed for the violence that has occurred from those who

When tragedies occur, we always ask ourselves how and why did such a thing happened and what we could have done to prevent it. The Columbine High School massacre, perpetrated by two local high school students, was the worst school indecent to have ever occurred at the time. The Columbine High School massacre illustrated the issues that this country still retains such as gun control, bullying, violence, Internet use, and drug use by teenagers. This incident caused our society to reevaluate and to reconsider steps that we should take to prevent such a tragedy from occurring again. After the Columbine High School massacre, our nation would not be the same again.