Vietnam After The Saigon Fall 1975

Blood, gore, intense combat, little sleep, death. These are some words that describe the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War had 240 days of combat in one year. World War II had forty days of combat in four years(Interesting Facts). That statistic shows how rough the Vietnam War was. The fighting was constant between the two sides. This war was fought over politics and had many gruesome battles.

Vietnam is a small country located on the western edge of the Indochina sphere of countries. it borders Laos, Cambodia, and China. Historically, Vietnam has had over a 1000 years of Chinese influence and therefore ranks in the realms of the Confucian world along with Japan, Korea, and Singapore. (source 1). The French were the catalyst that ushered feudal

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 political instability in Vietnam from 1950 to 1975 between the communist North Vietnam and anti-communist South Vietnam during the Cold War era has led to the United States’ inevitable intervention in Vietnam. The main motivators for the United States’ incremental decision to intervene and commitment in Vietnam can be viewed as an accumulation of socio-political, political and economic catalysts. In recognition that there were many other factors that may have contributed to the U.S’s involvement in the conflict in Vietnam, this essay will largely focus on these three factors. As the cold war resonates, the American’s crusade was propelled by the fears of the domino theory and perception of Communist threat and expansion affected the

The authors of these texts want to show that the fall of Saigon was traumatic to the people of South Vietnam. One reason to support this idea is that in the poem Saigon is Gone, Ha and her family are on a ship heading towards safety when a helicopter begins circling the ship when Mother is seasick, “People run and scream, Communists! This is not helping Mother” (Lai 67-68). This is showing that the refugees are frightened of the helicopter, believing it to be North Vietnamese. The loss of their country and home has been a traumatic experience. Later the commander of the ship says, “Do not be frightened! It’s a pilot for our side who has jumped into the water, letting his helicopter plunge in behind him” (Lai 68). Furthermore, in the transcript

The Fall of Saigon on April 30th, 1975, marked the end of nearly two decades of fighting between the Russia and China backed communist North Vietnam and the US backed right wing South Vietnam. When the North Vietnamese army entered Saigon, the free world was horrified at what it believed to be major drawback in its attempt to defeat communism around the world. In accordance with the domino theory, that same year, the capitals of neighboring former french colonies, Cambodia and Laos, both of which were also run by right wing regimes supported by the US, fell to communist insurgencies Khmer Rouge and Pathet Lao respectively. It took the communists three decades, millions of lives, and the destruction of billions of dollars in infrastructure and assets overthrow these western backed governments. So what gave these people, especially in Vietnam, incentive to sacrifice so much to “free” themselves from those governments and embrace communism as their system of governance? As this question is answered, it is important to identify aspects of the communist ideology that appeal to the general population, as well as how it goes along with Vietnamese culture, the actual practice and execution of the ideology.

The Vietnam War had no restrictions on what the media could and couldn’t cover, making a very public war. Journalists from big companies and small towns went to Vietnam to cover what was happening. Some went for the excitement and adventure. Others wanted to be on page one and be part of the exclusive combat correspondent club. These journalists were taking any information they could get and were sending it back to for American people to view. These journalists could even go into North Vietnam, if they had the courage too. Some journalists, based of what they saw, believed that the war was unwinnable. The military ended up blaming the media for the loss because the turned the American people against the troops in Vietnam through the information

     Vietnam has a very rich and cultural diverse background dating all the way back to 1066 when William the Conqueror invaded and paved the way for English colonization.

The emergence of the Vietnamese people can be traced to the fifth or sixth millennium B.C. The Vietnamese or Kinh ethnic group was formed in a region that is now northern Vietnam and southern China, which is the main ethnic group in the country, accounting for about eighty six percent of the Vietnamese population. Modern day Vietnam was established through French colonialism which led to an outburst of problems between the French and Vietnam. When the French left Vietnam in 1954, numerous Vietnamese people migrated to France. North Vietnam began a policy to forcefully reconcile the country with South Vietnam. However, conflict arose which introduced America to fight against Vietnam in the 1960s. As a result of the division between North and South Vietnam, nearly

Vietnam is a southeastern Asian country that has been occupied by the French since the early 19th Century. During War War II Japanese forces invaded Vietnam. In order for the native Vietnamese to fight off both the French Colonial Administration and the invading Japanese, political leader Ho Chi Minh inspired by Soviet Communism, established the League of Independence of Vietnam. After Japan’s defeat in World War II in 1945, the Japanese withdrew their forces from Vietnam. The French educated Emperor Bao Dai was now back in control of Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh saw this as an opportunity to finally gain control and almost immediately took control of the northern city of Hanoi. Ho Chin Minh declared himself as president. In hopes to regain control of Hanoi, France backed Emperor Bao and created the state of Vietnam in 1949. Although both sides wanted the same goal of uniting Vietnam, their government views were drastically different. Ho and his followers wanted the nation to be modeled after other communist countries. While Bao and his followers wanted their country to be in close ties with democratic countries in the west. These causes led to a civil war for the sole control of Vietnam.

The Vietnam War was one of the bloodiest wars in the history of Vietnam. Vietnam use to be a peaceful country until the idea of communism started spreading across Vietnam. Many wanted to stay democratic but saw what happened to the Germans and started to lean towards communism. Many also wanted to stay democratic and still had it hopes high that it will soon get their lives and economy back on track.

For centuries Vietnam had been under Chinese rule. The Vietnamese people were an oppressed society and were exploited by the Chinese. Forced labour was brought upon the Vietnamese people, and there were many tyrannical Chinese governers along with constant demands of tribute for the Chinese rulers. There had been many revolts by

Vietnam as an organised civilisation dates back to around 2900 B.C.E. which is nearly 5000 years ago. Before 2900 B.C.E. Vietnam was split into lots and lots of different tribes. In the year 2879 B.C.E. Lộc Tục a successor to a tribal chief, tried to unify all the tribes in what is now Norther Vietnam and southern parts of China and succeeded in his attempts. during the fourth dynasty of Vietnam (2252 - 1913 B.C.E.), the Vietnamese people started using a calendar that was written down using stone tools, coinciding

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

Located in the continent of Asia, Vietnam covers 310,070 square kilometers of land and 21,140 square kilometers of water, making it the 66th largest nation in the world. Before French colonization, Vietnam had been takeover of China rule where the imposed the Chinese language, laws, values and cultures to the people of Vietnam. This rule lasted for thousands of years. Though Chinese colonization was bad, it wasn’t nearly as traumatic and devastating as the Direct French colonization in 1887.