Vietnam War Influence

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.

North Vietnam had its southern allies known as the Viet Cong: a network of communist agents and subversives supplied and controlled by North Vietnam that began with the Geneva Accords of 1954. After the Viet Minh party rose to power in North Vietnam with leader Ho Chi Minh, who formed the Viet Minh party to fight Japan after they invaded and occupied Vietnam during World War II and to fight the French colonial administration since they had been controlling Vietnam since the late 19th century. The Viet Minh forces quickly seized control of the northern city of Hanoi and declared Ho Chi Minh president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. France, in attempt to

The United States played a very crucial role in the conflict that occurred in Southeast Asia between the U.S.-backed democratic South Vietnam, and Soviet-backed communist North Vietnam. Following the defeat of its French administration in 1954, North Vietnam, led by Communist leader Ho Chi Minh, wanted to reunify the country with the help of its rebel allies in the south, known as the Viet Cong. Out of this chaos emerged a difficult situation for the United States, as Cold War sentiments were present within this proxy war between the two powerful nations and the third party of Vietnam. The United States wanted to support Ngo Dinh Diem, leader of South Vietnam, in order to ensure his government would not fall into ruins and be taken control by the communists, but President Eisenhower was also hesitant to get his troops involved in this large scale conflict in Southeast Asia.

The Vietnam War had an influence on veterans in more than one way, including massive loss of lives and increased violence. American veterans bore physical and emotional injuries that they have carried for the rest of their lives, and many remained loyal and proud of their services to the United States of America. American soldiers in Vietnam served in individual capacities, leading to difficulties in adjustments back at home and others becoming drug addicts. Their addiction to drugs was supported by the challenges brought about by transitioning to a peaceful existence, drugs available in America and the lack of federal programs that could assist the veterans in coping with life at home after war.

Before entering the Vietnam War, President Kennedy had been warned by Charles De Gaulle, a French general, that war in Vietnam would trap America in “a bottomless military and political swamp” (Source A). Just a few years later, entrance into this very swamp resulted in a wide variety of changes in American life. The Vietnam War affected cultural aspects of American life by giving rise to the counterculture movement of the 60s and 70s, it affected economic aspects of American life by depleting resources in a long and drawn out war, and it began to tear society apart. The changes brought on by the Vietnam War had both positive and negative impacts that affected our country for years to come.

Together, they came up with the plan of Vietnamization, which called for all United States forces to leave Vietnam, but still allow South Vietnam to fight North Vietnam in their own civil war.

The United States entered the Vietnam War as the superpower of the World following its great victory in World War II. The United States was the greatest country to live in at this time as we were the wealthiest and strongest as the only ones with an atom bomb and we definitely were not afraid of anyone. Founded on good values and principles that helped men prosper, it seemed as if nothing could affect America. As time went on though this would all change as racial tensions grew and the United States entered Vietnam. People quickly began to realize how many problems the United States really had is it was fighting wars across the world and in its own backyard. As tensions grew from the wars being fought people began to change their views on social

Finally, another reason could have been to distract Americans from all the troubles and the wars going on. When Apollo 11 landed in 1969 the vast majority of Americans forgot about the Vietnam War and watched in wonder as their country proved its place as the world superpower. Ironically, manned landings suddenly seemed to end about the same time that the United States ended its involvement in the war. In fact, the ending of the war was not "sudden", and was in no way related to the end of US involvement in Vietnam. The war was one of several federal budget items with which NASA had to compete; NASA's budget peaked in 1966, and fell by 42.3% by 1972. (Dunbar) This was the reason the final flights were cut, along with plans for even more ambitious

Originally, the topic I have chosen was about the social effects of the Vietnam War and how the veterans were treated when they returned. However, I was able to narrow it down to a protest that took place at Kent State University and the treatments given to veterans who suffer from diseases due to war. The Kent State University protest was a violent one that took place on May 4th,1970. These students were clearly anti-war, and this was shown by their disagreement with the military draft, the power the military held, and the denial of many basic civil rights (Kohn). National guards started getting involved when the protests began disrupting the rest of the town and nearby neighbors. Tear gas was fired into the crowd of students, following with

In 1954, The Geneva Accords called for a cease-fire, a temporary division of the 17th parallel, and for all Viet Minh forces to remain in the north while French and Vietnam troops remained in the south. Refugees were allowed 300 days in which to move from one zone to the other before the border were sealed, and national elections were planned to be held in 1956 in order to unify the country. The Accords also stated that, “that the military demarcation line is provisional and should not in any way be interpreted as constituting a political or territorial boundary” . While the United States acknowledged the Accords and stated they would not interfere with the process, they refused to sign the Final Declaration because they were sure the Viet Minh leaders would win in those elections. The U.S. feared that a Communist win in Vietnam would mean an automatic spread to Asia, which would then

The Vietnam War began in the year 1954, after the ascension to power of Ho Chi Minh, who was a communist leader in North Vietnam. The leader was spreading communism, and because the United States wanted to stop the spread, it sent military troops to aid South Vietnamese to stop this vice. The war saw about 3million people die with the inclusion of 58,000 American soldiers. About 150,000 people were wounded during the war. In 1975, South Vietnamese government surrendered the war after the communist forces forced them to surrender. Vietnam unified communism and became a Socialist Republic. Although decades have passed since the occurrence of the Vietnam war, the American culture, which was partly born as a result of this war, is celebrated

The Vietnam War is one of the major conflicts within the vast time frame of the Cold War. In this long and horrific war, the Viet Cong from the communist north fought against southern Vietnam and the United States. The war lasted from 1954-1975. Throughout the long war, the Lyndon B. Johnson and Nixon associations faced several difficulties, two of them being military tactics and the American public. The most influential (in a negative manner) military tactic was the infamous Tet Offensive.

When the French came back to their colony most of the resistances were put down. The only resistance to prove strong enough was the Viet Minh. The Viet Minh were a group of revolutionists who wanted independence from the French government. They were lead by Ho Chi Minh. Minh was a socialist who was supported by China, the Soviet Union, and Vo Nguyen Giap a Vietnamese general. Together they fought the French government who was allied with Emperor Bao Dai in the First Indochina War. The war lasted from 1946, a year after Vietnam declared an unrecognized independence, to 1954 when Vietnam officially gained independence from France. The war did not go large scale until 1949 when communist Chinese forces reached the northern borders of Vietnam. Now with the Viet Minh being supported militarily by China and mechanically by the Soviet Union created a difficult opponent for the French to confront. In 1950 the United States started supporting France with weapons and funds to fight the Viet Minh in a fight for democracy during the cold war. The French meet many problems when fighting in the north because of the underdeveloped terrain lacking roads and

In the early 1950s Vietnam declared independence from the French rule, much like Cambodia had done in 1954 during the excitement of World War II. The product of Vietnam’s freedom was the division of a communist north and democratic south. The clashing differences of major powers resulted in a civil war that affected several different countries, including Cambodia. The United States intervened in the war on the behalf of southern Vietnam, who also embraced the Western culture. The United States offered a wide range of military aid in the form of bombs, airpower, and defoliants. The prince of Cambodia at the time, Sihanouk, attempted to play both north and south Vietnam to reserve neutrality between the three countries. Northern Vietnam was granted

Vietnam During World War II Between 1939-1945 The Vietnamese guerrillas (Viet Minh) had been fighting the French and the Japanese. Before the Second World War the French ruled Vietnam, then the Japanese took over, when this happened the communist leader Ho Chi Minh who set up the Vietminh in 1945 fought the Japanese and defeated them. When the Japanese were defeated the French tried to rule Vietnam again, Ho Chi Minh fought them also, however the Americans supported the French because they did not want Vietnam to become communist under Ho Chi Minh. However Ho Chi Minh also overcame the French.