The Cold War was a prolonged period of political and military tension between countries on the side of democracy and those on the side of communism, the major players being the United States belonging to the former and the Soviet Union belonging to the latter (Westad). While the Cold War was known as such because there were no direct wars between the two major powers, there was large scale fighting in Vietnam. The Vietnam War (1954-75) is thought of as a historical consequence of the Cold War and hence a proxy war between the socialist and capitalist blocs, although many historians provide a second perspective, which is that the war was simply a nationalist struggle for national independence and reunification. While the latter argument acknowledges that external factors played a part, it states that the deciding factor that led to the Vietnamese people fighting for their independence was their nationalism and patriotism (Marr). However, it is clear that from the moment after the Democratic Republic of Vietnam was recognized by communist powers China and Soviet Union and America’s subsequent direct intervention in the war in Vietnam that the Vietnam War was no longer a nationalist fight against the French colonialists’ re-conquest, but had become a part of the Cold War. The Vietnam War started off as a nationalist struggle before turning into a class struggle as foreign powers became involved in the war. However, it is the view of many Vietnamese scholars that see the conflict as mainly a nationalist struggle for national independence and reunification (Marr). Although the role of exogenous factors is acknowledged, it is, according to this view, the force of Vietnamese nationalism and patriotism that motivated and encouraged th... ... middle of paper ... ...tnamese people and the colonial ambitions of the French; it had become an ideological conflict between the two blocs of the Cold War. The war in Vietnam became not only a part but a focal point of the Cold War. A Cold War political mindset had already set into Vietnamese politics. Works Cited Lawrence, Mark Atwood, and Fredrik Logevall. The First Vietnam War: Colonial Conflict and Cold War Crisis. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 2007. Print. Marr, David G. Vietnamese Tradition on Trial: 1920-1945 / David G. Marr. Berkeley: University of California, 1981. Print. Olson, Gregory Allen. Landmark Speeches on the Vietnam War. College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press, 2010. Print. Westad, Odd. The Global Cold War: Third World Interventions and the Making of Our Times. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007. Print.
The escalation period of the Vietnam War, which lasted for a decade (1955-1965) reflected the Cold War conflict in which the US and USSR avoided direct combat and thus avoided the possibility of nuclear war. Instead, the two superpowers battled though puppet forces. While the US backed South Vietnamese government was weak and corrupt, the USSR backed North Vietnamese government was a proud and group of nationalists willing to fight fiercely for Vietnamese unification and against foreign influence. The US faced an enemy that believed deeply in its nationalist as well as communist cause and hated US, and for that matter any foreign intervention.
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.
E-History (2012, N.d.). Retrieved March 25, 2012, from http://ehistory.osu.edu/vietnam/essays/battlecommand/index.cfm.
The aim of this book by Bui Diem with David Chanoff is to present the Vietnam War told from a South Vietnamese perspective. The large-scale scope of the work concerns the fighting between North and South Vietnam over which party would run the country and wanting to become an independent state free from the Western powers. Diem's memoir contains in-depth details about his life and politics in Vietnam in 1940-1975. The book serves as a primary source in documenting the events in Vietnam during the war and as an autobiography of Diem's life. The purpose of this book is to give insight of the war through Diem's eyes and how it affected his life.
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 Cold War was a series of global conflicts connected by the common goal of self determination. The global war which spanned from the 1940s to the 1990s was not solely based on the differing ideologies of communism and capitalism, but rather stemmed from the opportunity after World War II to alter the international system. Countries like the USSR, US, and the global south engaged in conflicts in order to defend their self determination. During the Cold War period self determination could be described as having the ability to make independent decisions within the international system, such as by determining its own statehood, government, and treaties. In the first part of the Cold War, ranging
The Vietnam War, a counter-insurgency conflict waged between North Vietnamese Communist forces and their South Vietnamese opposition, was one that many of its participants are not like to forget.
In his article, “To Be Patriotic is to Build Socialism”: Communist Ideology in Vietnam's Civil War, Tuong Vo challenges a standard view of the civil war between North and South Vietnam – the war is power struggle between the two camps. Based on newly available documents and other primary sources, Vu argues that “[V]ietnamese communists never wavered in their ideology loyalty during the period when key decisions about the civil war were made (1953–1960)...a modernizing socialist ideology rather than a mere for national unification was driving the Vietnamese civil war from the north” (Vu 2009, 34–35). In the same vein, Zinoman in his forthcoming article, Nhân Văn–Giai Phm and Vietnamese “Reform Communism” during the 1950s: A Revisionist Interpretation, challenges a well established view about the NVGP movement, a surge of domestic political protest that peaked in the Democratic Republic of Vietnam during 1956 that takes its name from two incendiary journals – Nhân Văn [humanity] and Giai Phm [masterworks]. He points out that foreign scholars and local intellectuals interested in the NVGP affair succeed “in conveying a plausible image of NVGP as a robust movement of political dissent against the party-state” (Zinoman forthcoming 2011, 3).
The Vietnam War was the longest and most expensive war in American History. The toll we paid wasn't just financial, it cost the people involved greatly, physically and mentally. This war caused great distress and sadness, as well as national confusion. Everyone had that one burning question being why? Why were we even there? The other question being why did America withdrawal from Vietnam. The purpose of this paper is to answer these two burning questions, and perhaps add some clarity to the confusion American was experiencing.
miles away from them, and so they felt they had to be involved in a
“We declare openly that our ends can only be achieved by the forcible overthrown of all social conditions.”- Karl Marx. This famous philosopher and socialist Karl Marx was well recognized for his famous book titled “The communist manifesto”. But who would of known that years after his death the world would be experiencing major rivalries and conflicts upon the restoration of Marx’s communistic ideas. Communism brought unexpected dilemmas, time consuming arguments and most importantly it lead to one of the most heartbreaking and nastiest wars of all between different nations. The Cold War occurred between the period of 1947 and 1985, just two years after the termination of World War II. This war was a struggle between the United States and the
It is impossible to accurately describe the major events that occurred during the cold war without mentioning the war in Vietnam. From its start, this war has been very controversial concerning its purposes and effects on the countries involved. Both sides of this war lost a great number of soldiers and most of these men and women were not even sure why they were fighting. To this day, there is still a lot of uncertainty about the events that took place during this heated time in south Asia. One of the biggest questions raised is why the United States felt it was their responsibility to ever got involved and what were they trying to gain by sending in their troops. A look at the history of the cold war and its relation to the Vietnam War can answer a lot of these uncertainties. Many of the decisions made by the officials involved in this war would not have been made if it were not the cold war and its effects on the countries involved.
“In July 1965, Lyndon Johnson chose to Americanize the war in Vietnam.” Although Johnson chose to enter America into the war, there were events previous that caused America to enter and take over the war. The South Vietnamese were losing the war against Communism – giving Johnson all the more reason to enter the war, and allowing strong American forces to help stop communism. There were other contributing factors leading up to the entrance of the war; America helped assist the French in the war, Johnson’s politics, the Tonkin Gulf Incident, and the 1954 Geneva Conference. President Johnson stated, “For 10 years three American Presidents-President Eisenhower, President Kennedy, and your present President--and the American people have been actively concerned with threats to the peace and security of the peoples of southeast Asia from the Communist government of North Viet-Nam.”
The Vietnam war was essentially a surrogate war for the Cold War with the Communist Russians supporting North Vietnam with the anti-Communist United States supporting the South Vietnamese. The war in Vietnam was initially widely supported by the people of the United States. The overwhelming support or apathy of the American people can be seen as Anderson writes “opinion polls demonstrated that about 80 percent supported bombing the North, and the same percentage thought it was “very important” to prevent a Communist South Vietnam” (Anderson 59). Initially there was what appeared to be great support for the war, but this great support was more likely a stronger sense of American apathy towards the United State’s foreign policy. Anderson’s book goes on to mention that “surveys also revealed that two-thirds of the public either had not followed or had no opinion of LBJ’s policy, and a fourth did not even know U.S. troops were in Vietnam” (Anderson 59). It was abundantly clear that there was a lack of awareness on the part of the American people regarding this war, and the appearance of support was not due to an actual approval of policy, but a blindness to what that policy actually was. This support would not be long lasting, however, as people would slowly become aware of what the United States was actually taking part in within this war. The start of this war was
f you are able, save for them a place inside of you and save one backward glance when you are leaving for the places they can no longer go. Be not ashamed to say you loved them, though you may or may not have always. Take what they have taught you with their dying and keep it with your own. And in that time when men decide and feel safe to call the war insane, take one moment to embrace those gentle heroes you left behind. David Giffy (Vietnam veteran)