“Know the enemy, know yourself; your victory will never be endangered. Know the ground, know the weather; your victory will then be total.”(Sun Tzu) War is like any other game, it takes great strategy and is always is affected by outside factor. The Vietnam War was no exception; in fact, the result was especially influenced by the environment in which this death game was played out. Terrain, weather, and vegetation were all essential elements in the conflict. The United States got involved in Vietnam primarily due to the Geneva Accord in 1954 that split Vietnam into two territories at the 17th parallel. Although in 1956 both North and South Vietnam had agreed to create a single standing Vietnamese government, the South Vietnamese leader refused …show more content…
When the drops stop dropping then the storm starts stopping.”(Seuss) Weather has always been a key factor in warfare since the dawn of time, Vietnam was no different. But how does the weather affect our war efforts? The humidity adversely effected electronics, causing them to malfunction or not work at all. The heat is unbearable to any who are not accustomed to it. The rain causes all sorts of discomfort, namely from the wear, wet clothing takes on your body, and to add onto this discomfort the insects come out shortly after the rain, this combination takes its toll psychologically on even the hardened soldier, and most of our men on the ground were young and as green as the jungle surrounding them. Poor weather makes bombing runs impossible; landing strips become invisible in the downpour. Imagine heat so intense that planes have issues taking off. Helicopters weren’t immune to these effects either, in the poor conditions they could carry only reduced payloads. These conditions took its toll on our minds, body, and technology, making victory less and less likely with each …show more content…
For those who are not familiar the Ho Chi Minh trail is a logistical system running through the Annamese range of mountains in central Vietnam that was used to supply both manpower and materials to the front. The trail began during the first Indochina war as a primitive system of footpaths through dense unpopulated jungle and was maintained and used to great success by the National Liberation Front during the Vietnam War. The trail ran through neighboring Laos and Cambodia prohibiting most types of formal intervention against it. According to the United States National Security Agency 's official history of the war, the Trail system was "one of the great achievements of military engineering of the 20th
The Vietnam War: A Concise International History is a strong book that portrays a vivid picture of both sides of the war. By getting access to new information and using valid sources, Lawrence’s study deserves credibility. After reading this book, a new light and understanding of the Vietnam war exists.
This paper will examine how a unwavering adversary and difficult terrain combined to negate the effects of American technology. The Battle of Hamburger Hill was a battle of the Vietnam War which was fought by the United States and South Vietnam against North Vietnamese Forces from May 10–20, 1969. The battle took place on Ap Bia Mountain in the rugged, jungle-shrouded mountains along the Laotian border of South Vietnam. Ap Bia Mountain anchors the northwest corner of South Viet Nam's A Shau Valley. The valley has been a major infiltration route for Communist Forces from the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos to the coastal cities of Northern I Corps since1966. Ap Bia Mountain dominates the northern valley, towering some 937 meters. Official histories of the engagement refer to it as Hill 937. The American Soldiers who fought there dubbed it "Hamburger Hill", suggesting that those who fought on the hill were "chewed up like a hamburger" (E-History, 2012).
Tim O’Brien’s book, The Things They Carried, portrays stories of the Vietnam War. Though not one hundred percent accurate, the stories portray important historical events. The Things They Carried recovers Vietnam War history and portrays situations the American soldiers faced. The United States government represents a political power effect during the Vietnam War. The U. S. enters the war to prevent a communist takeover of South Vietnam. The U.S. government felt if communism spreads to South Vietnam, then it will spread elsewhere. Many Americans disapproved of their country’s involvement. Men traveled across the border to avoid the draft. The powerful United States government made the decision to enter the war, despite many Americans’ opposition. O’Brien’s The Things They Carried applies New Historicism elements, including Vietnam history recovery and the political power of the United States that affected history.
	The novel illuminates light on the situation not just during the Vietnam era, but also rather throughout all history and the future to come. Throughout mankind’s occupation of earth, we have been plagued by war and the sufferings caused by it. Nearly every generation of people to walk this earth have experienced a great war once in their lifetimes. For instance, Vietnam for my father’s generation, World War 2 for my grandfather’s, and World War 1 for my great-grandfather’s. War has become an unavoidable factor of life. Looking through history and toward the future, I grow concerned over the war that will plague my generation, for it might be the last war.
The Vietnam War was the longest war in America's history of involvement. Twenty years of hell, land mines, cross-fire, and death. Vietnam was divided by the Geneva Accord. The north being communist run by Ho Chi Minh. The south being anti-Communist run by Ngo Dinh Diem. Before Vietnam was separated, it was run by France. France had ruled most of Indochina since the late 1800s. The Vietnamese were unhappy with the way the French were controlling, therefore, many of them took refuge in China. When in China, they began to follow the lead of Ho Chi Minh, who wanted to model the Vietnamese Declaration of Independence as that of the U.S. version. In the 1940s, Japan had taken over Vietnam which upset Ho Chi Minh and his revolutionaries when they had returned a year later.
(4)The U.S. used realpolitiks in The Geneva Conference because the United States negotiated with a communist country over another country. (5) On April 27, 1954, the Conference produced a declaration which supported the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Indochina thereby granting it independence from France. In addition, the Conference declaration agreed upon the cessation of hostilities and foreign involvement (or troops) in internal Indochina affairs. Northern and southern zones were drawn into which opposing troops were to withdraw, to facilitate the cessation of hostilities between the Vietnamese forces and those that had supported the French. The Viet Minh, awaited unification on the basis of internationally supervised free elections to be held in July 1956. Most of the French Union forces evacuated Vietnam, although much of the regional governmental infrastructure in the South was the same as it had been under t...
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 the war that he wrote the book “The Things They Carried,” that showed how important the role of story telling was to soldiers. The role of stories was important because it gave them an outlet and that outlet was needed both inside and outside the war in order to keep their metal state in check.
The Vietnam War was one of the most prolonged wars in US history. Although there were no exact dates, it is believed that US involvement lasted for around 20 years. The US went into this war hoping they could stop the spread of communism and defeat the northern Vietnamese. The battles were like nothing they had seen before and it was very difficult for the soldiers to differentiate between the enemies and civilians. To make it even more difficult for the soldiers, their “information was based on faulty intelligence”. Võ Nguyên Giáp, a northern Vietnamese general, believed that the US and the southern Vietnamese had an unstable relationship. He hoped that through the Tet Offensive the US would believe they were no longer worth defending. Fighting was done using guerrilla warfare which blurred the lines of legitimate and illegitimate killings and this had effect of bringing peoples morales down. Support for the war had always been split but this battle caused even the government to reconsider their involvement. The Tet offensive changed the US's attitude towards the Vietnam war by leading to further anti-war protests, a credibility gap in America, and for President Johnson to negotiate peace and not seek reelection.
It is understandable that some Americans strongly opposed the United States getting involved in the Vietnam War. It had not been a long time since the end of World War II and simply put, most Americans were tired of fighting. Mark Atwood Lawrence is one of the people who opposed our involvement in the Vietnam War. In his essay, “Vietnam: A Mistake of Western Alliance”, Lawrence argues that the Vietnam War was unnecessary and that it went against our democratic policies, but that there were a lot of things that influenced our involvement.
The world’s history is majorly shaped by mega wars that happen both inside and outside the boundaries of individual nations. Almost every sovereign state in the world had to forcefully liberate itself from its colonizers and oppressors mainly through warfare. For instance, America had to fight a long and exhausting revolutionary war against the British before it could attain its independence in 1783, likewise is the fate of many other nations. It is important to understand the two distinct types of wars that exist and their implications. Guerrilla warfare and the conventional military warfare are two types of war that are very different in their execution and military approach. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the similarities and differences existing between the American war in Vietnam and the American Revolution (Vetter, 1997).
The conflict in Vietnam for the United States started when President Dwight D. Eisenhower went along with the domino theory and sent in military advisors in South Vietnam to stop the communist movement from taking place in South Vietnam. The Vietnam conflict was between the communist’s and the United States. North Vietnam was led by Ho Chi Minh, and Ho Chi Minh led the Viet Cong, a guerilla group to help spread communism. The United States were supporters of the South Vietnam because they wanted them to maintain their government rather than falling to the domino theory of communism. After Eisenhower’s term ended, John F. Kennedy became president and took control of the situation in Vietnam.
The Vietnam War was a lengthy and fairly costly armed conflict involving the communist North Vietnamese regime known as the Viet Cong, South Vietnam and the United States. The war began in 1954 although the area was in Conflict since the mid-1940s after North Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh and his political party; Viet Minh took power during the Cold War. During the escalating standoff between the democratic United States and the communist Soviet Union; and at the end of the Red Scare, the United States attempted to stop the spread of Communism. The Vietnam War was never officially declared a war by Congress, but rather deemed a “conflict.” The “Conflict” began as a “proxy war” under President Eisenhower and Kennedy, but fully escalated under Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon. Although the American people wanted end the spread of Communism, the Vietnam War received a vast amount of opposition in the States, along with tons of media coverage and journalists reporting on the war. Unfortunately the Vietnam War was perceived as a failure due to many contributing factors such as the numerous unnecessary casualties inflicted on both sides (History.com).
Gilbert, Marc Jason. "Vietnam War." World Book Student. World Book, 2010. Web. 21 March 2010.
Vietnam was a struggle which, in all honesty, the United States should never have been involved in. North Vietnam was battling for ownership of South Vietnam, so that they would be a unified communist nation. To prevent the domino effect and the further spread of communism, the U.S. held on to the Truman Doctrine and stood behind the South Vietnamese leader, Diem.