Vietnam War Domino Effect Essay

Hess argues that the threat of the USSR and Communism “left the US no choice but to stand up to the challenge posed by Vietnam”. Direct confrontation was impossible as the USSR was a nuclear power, therefore the only choice available was “a policy of containment”; previous success in Korea gives validity to this view. Hess states Vietnam was the centre of the “Domino Theory”, that a communist Vietnam “would inexorably lead to the collapse of other non-communist states”. All communist states were believed to be puppets of the USSR so an increase in Soviet allies would tip the global power balance against the US.

In conclusion, America’s involvement in the Vietnam War was the right course to take we showed the world we will not stand for communism and will fight for what we believe. The Vietnam War stopped the domino theory and even more spread of communism, and show America’s war tactics should be changed. US may of lost the war but still sent a message to the

The Vietnam War was first derived from the gradual oppression of the communist party of the north over the region of South Vietnam. The North Communist party was supported mainly by China and the Soviet Union whiles the Anti-Communist party of South Vietnam was supported by United States and France. The communist party group, as known as the Viet Cong, was recognized for their guerilla war strategies within the region of South Vietnam, intended to fully expand and unify Vietnam under Communist rule. U.S. involvement with the Vietnam War starting in November 1, 1955, develops from the theory of the domino effect, stating that if one country falls into communism, a threat that can develop into the encouragement and spread of communism throughout the world in the future. It is basically viewed as a potential harm to the welfare of the United Sates. Therefore, due to the conflicting forces of the historical, political, economic and cultural nature of the war itself, it is known to be the longest enduring war in United States history that altered many lives of the Vietnamese and American community, leading to suffrage and acts of courage.

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 domino theory was defined as the held belief that if one communist country fell, neighboring communist countries would fall with it, and in turn, communism would eventually reach America and take over the world. This was theorized by American foreign policy advisors, but the phrase was popularized after Dwight D. Eisenhower’s use of it in one of his speeches. In this speech, he talked about the importance of American intervention in South Vietnam to allow the creation of a buffer country (South Vietnam), a country or state that stood between a potentially

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

As communism began to spread steadily and gain more and more attention, Americans became immensely concerned in what most saw as a detrimental threat. President Eisenhower only added to the hysteria by outlining the Domino Theory: the theory that a political event, in this case referring to the spread communism, in one country will cause a similar turn of events in neighboring countries, like a falling domino that causes an entire row to fall down. Although the Vietnam War is seen by many as the only option to try to end the spread of communism, the specious outcome of the war was not effective enough to justify the amount of unethical decisions and situations that were allowed to take place. In 1961, under President Kennedy, 100 Special Forces troops were sent to South Vietnam and by 1963, just two years later, U.S military advisors and Special Forces had increased to 21,000 troops. We will soon see that this is just the beginning and in my paper I will outline the full record of events all the way to the end of the war, including the reasons for U.S involvement, unethical decisions that were made, America 's effort to end the war, and the lasting impact the war had on the United States.

Although, the Vietnam war was a very unpopular war in America the domino theory was a useful reason for joining. However, it was still not enough to make the war popular. Although the war was highly unpopular, there were a couple of reasons that argued going into the war was the right thing to do. One of the main political factors was the domino theory (Document 9), The Domino Theory was based

Right after World War II, Vietnam was under the control of the French. The North Vietnamese were not satisfied about the French control and later was influenced by the communist China. Communism eventually spread throughout the entire northern part of Vietnam. North Vietnam citizens, led by Ho Chi Minh, then started rebelling against the French and later won. This caused Vietnam to be divided into two parts; North Vietnam and South Vietnam. After that, the U.S. was fearing that communism would spread into the south which caused them to go into war against the north. Presidents during this time reinstated the draft which would bring young men from America into the war. During the war, the media brought a lot of action to the home front which eventually was lost due to tragedies like the Tet Offensive and the My Lai Massacre.

In Vietnam the U.S lost lots of things like money, power, troops, etc while they were at war. In 1955 many American troops were sent over to Vietnam to help stop the communist spread. The U.S felt obligated to go to war with Vietnam because they were scared of the domino effect. During the war America lost a lot of things both financially and manpower wise. This took a toll on many American troops and their families.

It is highly debatable for what the reasons were for the Vietnam War beginning but for the most part the reason was to stop the spread of communism. Communism was on the rise and

The ear in Vietnam had ended and on the 30th April 1975, the NLF took

The United States intervention in Vietnam is seen by the world as America’s greatest loss and longest war. Before the start of the war in Vietnam, the thought of the United States losing this war was unheard of because America was technologically superior, no country in south East Asia could contend with them. Lyndon B. Johnson announced that he would not be the president to allow South East Asia to go Communist . Why the United States lost the war has been a huge debate since the end of the war, because there were so many factors affecting why they lost; the war was a loss politically, after losing support from not only the American public but also the South Vietnamese and losing a political mandate for the war by 1973, when the last

The Domino theory was first evident in

In 1954, Northern and Southern Vietnam entered a war that led to the death of nearly 3 million people including civilians, Vietnamese troops, and ally soldiers. Though the number of lives lost during the war is atrocious, so are some of the other lasting effects of the “poor man’s fight”. Throughout this essay, I will explain my opinion regarding what I believe were the costs and the benefits of U.S interaction in the war in Vietnam.