Why Did The Us Lose In Vietnam Essay

The Vietnam War was a violent and costly war that needed many men to fight for its cause. These men are now known as the Vietnam veterans. Numerous veterans who fought in the war were injured or lost a comrade during battle. These soldiers fought to protect the United States and its people while risking their own lives. A lot of these brave men were either killed or injured and did not gain the

Nobody back in the U.S. knew what happened to the soldiers back over in Vietnam. They cannot comprehend some of the most gruesome stories they told. With them not being able to know what they went through, most do not know what PTSD is or how it affects the veterans. Therefore this brings us to how loved ones were affected from the war.

The impact of the Vietnam War upon the soldiers who fought there was huge. The experience forever changed how they would think and act for the rest of their lives. One of the main reasons for this was there was little to no understanding by the soldiers as to why they were fighting this war. They felt they were killing innocent people, farmers, poor hard working people, women, and children were among their victims. Many of the returning soldiers could not fall back in to their old life styles. First they felt guilt for surviving many of their brothers in arms. Second they were haunted by the atrocities of war. Some soldiers could not go back to the mental state of peacetime. Then there were soldiers Tim O’Brien meant while in

They were treated horrible in the war and out the war. Some soldiers had post traumatic stress disorder. The conditions in the war were bad 58,000 Americans killed and 365,000 were wounded. This caused PTSD for a lot of them. 11 percent still have PTSD so, not only in the war did they have to suffer some suffer up until this day (What we know about PTSD and Vietnam veterans today). During the war they weren’t treated good. They couldn’t even choose to go into the war they just had to if they were put into the drafting cards. During the war the president was assassinated and that caused stress on them. Another thing that was difficult after the war is getting another job(The Vietnam WAR). They weren’t liked once the war was over or even when

Almost 31 percent of Vietnam veterans are affected by post traumatic stress disorder also known as PTSD. In the book The things they carried by Tim O’brien he writes about his stories from Vietnam war. The effect of war are also heard in the television program by This American life interviewing families of soldiers and the soldiers themselves. There is also a radio interview from Frontline that talks about some of the impacts after war. In the Personal Interview I had with Steve McHale a veteran from the Operation of Iraqi Freedom he told me his experiences from war. The impacts of war are loneliness, suicide, guilt, and communication.

Paranoia and fear of the spread of communism lead to the flood of American dollars and troops into Vietnam. Countless lives were lost of both American and Vietnamese citizens and civilians. The intentions of this war were not just. America intended to prove it was a superpower and its’ ideals and practices would flourish wherever they sent their support. America was wrong.

The impact in which the Vietnam War had on the Vietnam veterans was that they were left Untreated of post traumatic disorders. Returning from the war, the community were not proud of those veterans but if anything made them feel bad and down. They were known as child murderers, their self-esteems were lowered and all pride in which they had was taken. Life would only get tougher on these poor men, but to mountain the pain was that psychological

To begin with, the Vietnam War is known as the most devastating, unsuccessful wars that has transformed the face of the Earth. This fight came to be when the United States feared that communism would expand to Vietnam, and this influenced the U.S. to destroy communism to its very root. As the U.S. joined forces with South Vietnam, North Vietnam and the Vietcong joined together to achieve their goal of expanding communism to Vietnam. This war lasted approximately 20 years and did not bring any success in the midst of the battles and lives that were lost. At the conclusion of this war, President Nixon decided to withdraw the remaining Vietnam troops. The Vietnam War resulted in 60,000 American casualties with an estimated range of 2 million Vietnamese casualties as well.

The Vietnam War harmed the U.S. economy extremely. The U.S. had emptied some $168 billion into the war, yet the genuine cost of the contention

The Vietnam War was a 20 year war that changed the ways of how the American military operates. It was the Cold War’s largest war and it was the most notorious. American and Soviet Union armies avoided direct military confrontation, in fear of creating an all-consuming nuclear war. Vietnam had been divided into two halves, and the seed of this war was the communists wanting to take over and have the two Vietnam’s become a communist country. Large attacks on cities had become a turning point, causing the militaries to take action. This war changed the lives of many Americans and Vietnamese forever.

The Vietnam War is one of the most controversial wars the United States participated in. Communism in the 20th century, was a huge threat to the U.S. It become a priority of the U.S. to stop the spread of Communism. In the late 1940s, the French struggled to control its colonies in Indochina - Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos (history.state.gov). The U.S. saw that the French were struggling in south Vietnam so they decided to come and help France. They tried to support France and the South Thus leading the U.S. into what most consider a pointless war. The Vietnam war was the biggest failure of the 20th century because the United States failed to win, the war created a divide between soldiers and civilians which led to riots, and the war also caused great distrust of the government.

Before the Vietnam War, the United States had never lost a war. The military of the United States had grown to be one of the largest in the world. The post WWII boom boosted America’s economy to be the largest in the world, occupying 38.6% of the world GDP in the 1960 . Yet with all of its military and economic might, the United States could not defeat an insurgency seeking control of a third world country. The United States didn’t lose the war on the battle field; the failure of the United States could be traced to foreign policy failure, poor American military effectiveness, US military moral, loss of local support, and the loss of support from the American people. The United States should have won the war but due to its short comings faced a humiliating defeat that left millions dead, divided the United States and ruined millions of lives.

"After the war, southern Vietnam's agriculture, business and industry were devastated."1. This means that the land was ruined because of all the destruction that went on in the Vietnam War. "The infrastructure had suffered heavily"5. The community was basically destroyed. The transportation and communications systems, water and power lines, and public institutions including schools, post offices, and prisons were all damaged. In fact for the road system "Sixty percent had been almost completely destroyed."5. More than half of the infrastructure got destroyed because of the war. Meaning that it will take a long time and a lot of money to rebuild. The transportation in Vietnam was severely damaged since "134 bridges out of a prewar total of 475 had been destroyed, and only 582 miles of railroads out of 873 miles existing before the war were in operation."5. The United States didn't help Vietnam in getting back on their feet instead the "United States Presidents tried to punish Vietnam for the losses suffered by their country. They cut off all trade to Vietnam."5. Without any help and their economy severely damaged it caused Vietnam "to beg for help from the Soviet Union."5. Because of all the environmental destruction "More forests have been lost in Vietnam since the US/Vietnam war ended in 1975 than during it. Because of post-war lumbering operations (the rebuilding of 10 million homes,

The Vietnam War was a prolonged, costly struggle between nationalist forces. North Vietnam wanted to unify Vietnam under communism and the USA wanted to contain communism and prevent the domino effect. More than 3 million lives were lost before the end in 1975, when communist forces conquered Saigon, the capital of the South, and the North took control. The USA withdrew in 1973 and left the fighting to the South. USA advisers believed they could beat the Vietcong, a Southern communist movement, with a strong government and a well-organised, large-scale war. President Johnson said ‘I am not going to be the president who saw South-East Asia go the way China went.’ The loss was due to different factors, including their strategy and tactics

Why did America lose the war in Vietnam when we had never lost a war before? America got involved when France lost the Battle of Dien Bien Phu. “It consisted of a struggle between French and Viet Minh (Vietnamese Communist and nationalist) forces for control of a small mountain outpost on the Vietnamese border near Laos. The Viet Minh victory in this battle effectively ended the eight-year-old war.” Vietnam won its independence from France, and was divided into two countries. North Vietnam fell under Communism, and South Vietnam became Capitalist. North Vietnam fought to keep all of the country Communist; however, South Vietnam began to lose, and Americans feared the Communism would take over all of Asia.