...The Vietnam War was a bloody, violent war that many disagreed with. The use of napalm, agent orange, “daisy cutter” bombs, and guerrilla warfare in tunnels perforating Vietnam generated fifty thousand American casualties, as well as horrible side effects from exposure to agent orange. Furthermore, to many, the war had no real purpose, and America was stepping out of their place by getting involved. This led to a huge anti-war movement, in which everyone from students to veterans were involved. Out of all of these groups rebelling, the most notable is some of the veterans of the Vietnam war. They spoke out openly, and spearheaded massive riots in metropolitan areas such as New York City and Washington D.C. The veterans spoke out against the war because, unlike previous wars, they saw this one as immoral and unnecessary....
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...Vietnam The Vietnam War or conflict as it was known was complex in its origins and followed France’s failure to suppress nationalist forces in Indochina, better known as Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, as it struggled to restore its colonial dominion after WWII. Led by Ho Chi Minh, a Communist-dominated revolutionary movement, the Viet Minh, waged a political and military struggle for Vietnamese independence that frustrated the efforts of the French and resulted ultimately in their leaving from the territory (Bowman, J. S.). Vietnam The U.S. Army’s first encounters with Ho Chi Minh were brief and generally sympathetic. During World War II, Ho Chi Minh’s anti-Japanese resistance fighters helped to rescue shoot down American pilots and supplied information on Japanese forces in Indochina. United States Army officers stood at Ho Chi Minh’s side in August of 1945 as he celebrated in the brief contentment of proclaiming Vietnam’s independence. Five years later, however, in a worldwide sense overwrought with ideological and military confrontation between Communist and non-Communist powers. Army advisers of the newly formed United States Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG), and Indochina, were assisting France against the Viet Minh. With combat rampant in mainland China and Korea experiencing a recent collapse to the Communists, the war in Indochina now became visible to Americans as one...
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...The Vietnam War “Involvement of the United States in the Vietnam War” Aram Mebashar 1202122 January 24, 2015 International History of 20th Century and Beyond Instructor: Andrew Shaben 0 Involvement of the United States in the Vietnam War After the Second World War, fights, clashes, and conflicts had not finished around the world. The Soviet Union was communist and supporting other communist states. In the other hand, the United States was anti-communist and always supported countries, regions, and political parties fighting against communism. In Vietnam as other places a long war happened nearly a decade after the World War Two in 1954 between the North Vietnam communist regime with the support of China, Soviet Union, and other communist allies, against South Vietnam and its essential partner, the United States, also supported by other anti-communist allies. The war was long and costly for both sides, and it left many problems and disadvantages on the United States economy. This essay will argue the following three points, how the United States involved in the Vietnam War, the impact of the war especially on the United States with focus on economics, politics, and culture in both negative and positive aspects, and the US withdrawal of the war. Beginning with the involvement of the United States in the Vietnam War. Firstly, there were many different reasons of the American involvement in the war, but the main reason was prevention of communism spread and expansion...
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...The Vietnam War between USA with South Vietnam and North Vietnam with Viet Cong had lasted about 10 years and had many significant consequences. Therefore, it’s one of the most important wars in the recent years and has possessed many resonances so far. It is an unforgettable war for the USA because it has unexpectedly lost the war. The USA has lost the war against a fragile,undeveloped country which is North Vietnam. USA has lost the war against a fragile,undeveloped country which is North Vietnam. There has been a lot of controversies about this war so far. These controversies are concentrated on the moral dimension of the war. In other words, the experts and the analysts are concerned about whether this war is just or not. The Vietnam War can’t be considered as just war when we evaluate it with the aid of the Jus Ad Bellum critters. It doesn’t meet the 6 critters such as just cause, comparative justice, legitimate authority, right intention, probability of success and last resort. First of all, the USA doesn’t have a just cause to declare a war against North Vietnam and Viet Cong. In this war, USA struggles against communism and wants to terminate the so-called dangerous activities of the North Vietnam and Viet Cong founded by Ho Min Cinh in South Vietnam. USA doesn’t correct a suffered wrong here although it regards communism as great public evil. Western countries which adopt liberalism disapprove communism and they think that communism have to be removed. In this war, USA...
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...Vietnam Protest: Government Against Civilians Brian Garcia Introduction to Comparative Politics Midterm March 19, 2015 Political violence has been experienced in every country throughout history, whether the government in place has been a democracy, monarchy, oligarchy, or a hybrid regime. Political violence, or collective political struggles, includes events such as riots, civil wars, revolutions, and peaceful protest movements (Neil, 2013). In 1965 the Vietnam War sparked one of the largest protests, in the United States, the world has ever seen. The United States citizens rose against their government in a public forum, in order to convey their message against the casualties that had resulted due to the war in Vietnam. After World War I, Vietnam created the nationalist movement, which formed separate states for each nation. During World War II, Japan invaded Vietnam, causing the Vietnamese leader, Ho Chi Minh, to liberate his people. Minh used guerilla warfare, private non-state affiliated men to attack the Japanese (Neil). Upon Minh’s win, he attained the territories once belonging to France and created a new nation under the communist government, a political system that “eliminates individual freedom to achieve equality” (Neil). Because of Vietnam’s government as a form of communism, the United States was not able to help finance them after the revolutionary, instead, President Truman helped fund France and provided them with militarily aid. Eventually after the...
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...the Vietnam War critically impacted the results of the conflict as well as having a decisive impact upon the implementation of policies within the United States and the Soviet Union. Qiang Zhai’s, “Beijing and the Vietnam Peace Talks, 1965-68: New Evidence from Chinese Sources,” showed how the Communist Chinese desired to continue the war in Vietnam for ideological and imperial desires, thus rebuffing any peace overture made from Western powers. Mao Lin’s, “China and the Escalation of the Vietnam War: The First Years of the Johnson Administration”, stated that there clearly was a political struggle between the Soviet Union, Communist China, and the United States in Vietnam. Lin stated that Vietnam simply was another battlefield in the Cold War struggle. Melvyn P. Leffler stated the United States in Vietnam continued to fight to save face and credibility as defender of the free world. During the 1960’s Communist China perceived itself as the defender of national liberation movement, sent aid to the North Vietnamese, and refused to allow them to discuss peace with the United States. Additionally, Communist China wanted to gain influence within Southeast Asia and stamp out any influence from the Soviet Union in addition to the United States. Ideologically driven actions taken by Communist China in Vietnam when tied with events of the Sino-Soviet split had drastic implications upon actions that were taken by the United States in Vietnam. Finally, implications of the Vietnam War touched...
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...The Vietnam War Karthik Rao AP World History 3/28/14 The Vietnam War, fought between 1959 and 1975, was one of the most controversial and debated wars in American history. The war was the prolonged struggle between nationalist forces attempting to unify the country of Vietnam under a communist or democratic government. The Vietnam War was part of the Cold War, during which the United States and the Soviet Union were in a sustained state of political and military tension. U.S. involvement in Vietnam created tension among the America public, leading to debates about some of the horrific acts of war that the United States army committed against the civilian population of Vietnam. Authors Nick Turse and James Westheider, provide very different points of view regarding the war. Turse’s novel, Kill anything that moves: The Real American war in Vietnam, draws upon emotion and particularly sympathy for the Vietnamese civilians. His novel describes the unjust military actions that the U.S. army committed against the Vietnamese public. On the other hand, Westheider’s novel, The Vietnam War, provides a point of view showing sympathy for the United States soldiers fighting a war facing horrid conditions. Overall, both books provide different views of one of the most controversial wars fought in the 20th century. The war in Vietnam was perhaps one of the biggest military failures in the United States. Between 1954 and 1964, the United States was merely providing aid to the forces of...
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...| |Vietnam War | | | | | |Samantha Crofford | |Steven Harn | |10/31/2010 | | | The Vietnam War is considered by some scholars to be a black spot on the United States’ white shirt. There is no doubt that it raised countless controversial issues. There were people who supported the War; there were people who protested the War. A specific group of people who protested the War was college students. During this time period, there was a high level of student unrest. However, there were also other factors that resulted from the Vietnam War....
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...Although the United States never declared an official war on North Vietnam, the United State participated heavily in the war because of the Gulf of Tonkin’s Resolution. In the Gulf of Tonkin, the United States’s ship, Maddox, was being attacked by the North Vietnamese. In response to this, Congress and the House of Representatives passed the Gulf of Tonkin’s Resolution. It allowed the President to combat communism in any way he felt would be appropriate for the situation. (2) In the Vietnam War’s case, it was to help South Vietnam by sending in many American soldiers and helping them financially. Some might argue that the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution could be considered an unofficial and informal declaration of war because of the drafts in 1969. Initially, the United States’s military needed the draft because the United State’s Armed Forces were not big enough to help the Southern Vietnamese and protect the United States. When the number of Americans increased in Vietnam, the number of casualties rose. Since there was an increase in casualties, young American men were not too copasetic on the idea of going to Vietnam, but because of the law they were drafted anyways. Also, the United State’s federal government helped the South Vietnamese by lending them the United States Air Force to drop bombs in North Vietnam. The Air Force was bombing North Vietnam to cut off supplies from North Vietnam to the North Vietnamese soldiers in South Vietnam. The United States wanted to...
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...The Causes of the Vietnam War The Vietnam War is now considered as one of the most distressing moments during the 20th Century. The Vietnam War was caused by many factors that contributed to the war in Vietnam during the years of 1959 to April 30, 1975. This war just prolonged the struggles between nationalist forces attempting to unify the country of Vietnam. Most of the factors that contribute to the war were the beliefs by a lot of people who wanted to prevent Vietnam of becoming an Independent Country. There are many people who suffered a lot due to this war going on and still due to this day people still picturing how they fought the war. What were the causes of the Vietnam War? Why did the United States become involved in this war? Why did the Vietnam War have such a huge impact both on the Vietnam and the United States? What was the impact that Ho Chi Minh had during the War? One of the most important features when describing the Vietnam War was why the United States became involved in the war, and their reasons for conflict amongst the Vietnamese in the North of the 17th Parallel. It is known that the US was involved for many reasons, particularly their belief in the Domino theory where if one country fell to Communism, the rest of South-East Asia would fall along with it. There are many other reasons why the United States became involved in this war. There are many reasons why the United States became involved was them being concerned with Vietnam and that would lead...
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...Thomas Zervas Vietnam Wars 4/29/12 Final Essay Winning The Vietnam War When most people think about winning a war they usually base their opinions on death counts and conquered territories. When looking at the Vietnam War, it is clear to see that the Vietnamese had a larger death count, however this does not mean that the United States was victorious. The United States entered the war to reach an objective, and that objective was to stop communist expansion. The goal was not achieved; therefore, the United States lost the war. True, there were more casualties in the North, but that does not determine whether or not they lost, especially when considering the superior technology and training of United States forces. When looking at the Vietnam proxy war fought between the United States and Soviet Union, the United States was impacted a number of ways, both domestically and internationally. There was a huge lack of public support for the stagnating war effort combined with a lack of support for soldiers that adversely affected the morale of the troops. There were body bag counts on the evening news showing the large numbers of lost soldiers to the population. There were also many protests, which created much tension and heavy scrutiny on the United States government. On a global scale, the United States began to look weaker than the Soviet Union, which created many more issues for the United States. The North Vietnamese won the Vietnam War through a combination of factors...
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...Vietnamese revolution of North Vietnam caught the attention of the United States. The United States made it clear that they would not accepted a unified Vietnam under communistic rule after the Korean War. During the Eisenhower and Kennedy administration, it was believed that allowing Vietnam to be under communistic rule would cause a domino effect, which not only neighboring countries surrounding Vietnam would fall under communism, but more influential countries would be affected and fall under communism as well. It was also believed that if the United States allowed Vietnam to become communist country, then somehow this domino effect would spread as far as into the United States, converting their country to communism as well. For the...
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...1975, South Vietnam was under attack by the North Vietnamese (Document 3). The principle of the war was for Vietnam to decide between two types governments; Democracy or Communism. In the duration of the war, seventeen of the twenty years was fought by averse Americans. Yet, due to the insistence of the Executive Branch and the policy of Containment, the United States was conscripted into the war. This greatly impacted American foreign policy, and furthermore, the American society.United States involvement in the Vietnam War was based mostly on government insistence. United States President, Harry Truman, in his address to Congress about his Doctrine, claimed that "it must be the policy of the United States to support free people who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed...
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...On The Vietnam War My grandfather is a Vietnam War veteran. That alone drove me toward choosing this topic for this research paper. A few months ago, my grandfather had let me read his manuscript that he wrote when he had gotten home from his twelve year service for the United States. This novel he wrote is increasing my interest in the Vietnam War each page I turn. People often ask me whenever we’re talking about the war, which side I’m positioned on. I say that we shouldn’t have “helped” in the war. Because in my opinion, we could have done better for the country if we would have kept our noses out if the excitement but as for people like my grandfather, he opposes that perspective. I do have a firm grip on both paradigms of the war but as you can tell, I want a world with no war possible but honestly, who doesn’t? I guess you can call me a dreamer. But I know I’m not the only one. I thank John Lennon and my Mother for that lesson. I love my mother and my grandfather just as much. But, like I said, because of that, I know and understand two, very different opinions or viewpoints of the Vietnam War. My Mom is somewhat a flower child from when she was just a teenager. That all began because she never really got along with my Grandfather all that well. My Grandfather (my mom’s step dad) was the stereotypical; stern but fair, strict yet loving, harsh yet respectful step-father. Due to that reason my Mom was a rebel to the degree of a flour child. She is always opposing war any which...
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...The role of the media in the Vietnam War Media brought the horrors of the Vietnam War into everyone’s house. It showed people the sensational news that were going on in Vietnam during the war. This caused people to have a wrong opinion about the war, soldiers, and what their country was fighting for. For example, Richard M. Nixon said “No event in American history is more misunderstood than the Vietnam War. It was misreported then, and it is misremembered now”. Even though, the media was broadcasting some parts of the war instead of the whole picture, it was better than it used to be. During fifties, people were able to get visual information about the war only in theaters; therefore, it was mostly based on propaganda and not truth. In early sixties, 90 percent of the United States population had TV in their house and they were able to get information about the war. This caused people to create some effective anti- war movements that helped to bring this horrifying war to an end. Television coverage of the war was not balanced and objective. It was not showing the big picture of the war and the truth about it. Television was broadcasting only some sensational news about the war and that influenced American citizens in a bad way. Media almost never mentioned what communism was; therefore, people did not know what their country was fighting for and why so many innocent people were dying. Moreover, American people did not know what should...
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