Vietnam And The Vietnam War

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.

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 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)

I had never talked with my grandfather about his military background or the Vietnam War specifically, so it was enlightening to hear from him and connect his personal experiences with things we have learned about in class. The Vietnam War is often viewed as the war that changed everything. The United States government and the relationship it shares with its citizens was forever changed. The role of the media was transformed and more and more Americans put their trust in the press over the government. No longer could our presidents and our representatives make decisions for our nation without the fear of how the American people would react existing in the back of their minds. As our leaders struggled to regain the respect of other nations as a world power, the American people struggled to regain the confidence and pride they once had in their own

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.

The Vietnam War was the longest and the most unpopular American war of the twentieth century. The United States was involve in the Vietnam from 1944 to 1973, but it was only during the last years that the U.S deployed ground troops (Lawrence 1). For the first time the United states was the aggressor. Vietnam is situated thousands of miles from the United States, so Vietnam was not a direct threat to the United States’ safety. The Vietnam leader Ho Chi Minh seem to look up to the United States, their declaration of independence is prove of that. The United States involvement was so controversial because to some people the U.S was trying to stop heroic Vietnamese national liberation movement (CITE). Tim O’Brian was a university graduate

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.

The Vietnam War was a significant event in American history. The war was very detrimental to the United States. The war was a long one that cost billions of American dollars, cost thousands of lives (American and Vietnamese), and politically divided the country. While the Vietnam War originally had good intentions to help the South Vietnamese and contain the spread of Communism, it was poorly executed and cost America politically and economically.

Through my conversation with Tom Woodard, a family friend, I have been able to see a different side of himself and a different perspective when looking at the memory of the Vietnam War. Through this, it proves that each individual memory has great value, and I feel it is important to listen to our veterans to better understand the war and to further improve our nation’s collective memory of it. Being a white male from the south, it was interesting to listen to his perspective of the war and how he discussed how liberal students protested the war. Mr. Woodard reveals how different demographics can create different sets of memories. Looking at his story, it is evident that he clearly remembers it. It is a memory that greatly affected his life.

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.

Background: The Vietnam war was a long conflict in Southeastern Asia, starting after World War II, ending in 1975. After losing the war, Japan seceded from the country in 1945, leaving the french with the urge of wanting to regain its long forgotten land. In addition, when China turned to communism in 1949, the communist views became a large influence in Vietnamese society. President Harry Truman was blamed for losing China to communists because he did not want to get the U.S troops involved so he instead aided the French. As a result, Vietnam wanted to become a Communist country; however, the United States was willing to help the lost cause of South Vietnam.

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

Bao Ninh’s novel The Sorrow of War tells a very realistic and explicit story of Kien, a North Vietnamese soldier and writer, during the Vietnam War. Kien manages to survive, usually by luck, through battles and