America's Involvement in Vietnam
analytical Essay
831 words
America's Involvement in Vietnam
From the early 1800’s up until 1931 Vietnam was controlled by France,
Frances rule was then ended as they were forced to pull out of Vietnam
due to the start of WW2, France left a ‘puppet ruler’ named Emperor
Bao Dai. This left Vietnam vulnerable to invasion which was an
opportunity Japan could not refuse and took advantage of Vietnam’s
situation by invading. This sparked the return of a well known
Vietnamese communist, Ho Chi Minh who was an exile during Frances
rein, but thanks to WW2 was able to stage his return and help battle
the Japanese and regain Vietnam’s freedom. The Marshall Plan was the
main way in which the United States for the reconstruction of Europe
following WW2. Between 1948 and 1951 the USA contributed $13 billion
(equivalent to nearly $100 billion in 2005) to 16 European Countries.
This followed President Truman’s speech in 1947.
On March 12th 1947 Harry S Truman gave his famous Doctrine speech
which proposed that the United States shall be able to offer financial
and economical support to free people who are resisting attempted
subjection by armed minorities or outside pressure. In 1949 China fell
victim to the spread of communism which was a huge blow to France and
America. America continued to provide support and aid to the French in
the form of money and weapons up until 1954 when America refused to
sign the Geneva agreement as they believed it tilted the power of
balance towards communism.
In 1954 the French suffered a humiliating defeat to the Vietminh. The
battle occurred on the top of a hill were the French had positioned
themselves at a fortified location called ...
... middle of paper ...
...965 at an American
base in Pleiku. It was infiltrated and attacked by the Vietcong. Eight
US advisors were killed and hundreds wounded. President Johnson now
had his excuse to attack Vietnam, and on the 11th February he did so
with ‘Operation Rolling Thunder’.
During 1954-1965 America became increasingly involved in the affairs
of Vietnam. This was due to a large number of factors, but mainly due
to its huge objection to communism and paired with its own interests,
such as sustaining its trade with Vietnam and varies other financial
reasons, which will have been of great value. Another less but still
very convincing and valid reason for their increased involvement was
the embarrassment of being beaten by such an unworthy advisory, which
then increased their great fear and hatred of the communist threat
spreading.
In this essay, the author
- Explains america's involvement in vietnam from the early 1800’s up until 1931. frances rule was ended due to the start of ww2, leaving vietnam vulnerable to invasion.
- Explains that the marshall plan was the main way in which the united states for the reconstruction of europe following ww2.
- Explains harry s truman's doctrine speech, which proposed that the united states shall be able to offer financial and economical support to free people who are resisting attempted subjection by armed minorities or outside pressure.
- Explains that america continued to provide support and aid to the french in the form of money and weapons until 1954 when america refused to sign the geneva agreement as they believed it tilted the power of balance towards communism.
- Analyzes how the french underestimated their enemy and assumed that the vietminh would not be able to reach them as they were positioned on higher ground.
- Explains that the geneva agreement proposed that vietnam would be split in two and elections to determine who would run the country. america refused to sign as it believed it was to the benefit of communism.
- Analyzes how bao dai abused his position and appointed his family and friends with the most beneficial positions. he introduced new laws and taxes which upset the peasants.
- Narrates how diem's assassination led to an increase in american involvement. the domino theory suggested that asian countries would fall victim to communism like dominoes.
- Explains that eisenhower provided weapons and sent 17 advisers to train the arvn. the americans were keen on preventing the spread of communism and formed the south-east asia treaty organisation (seato).
- Explains how america increased their advisors to 685, which was secretly increased to 16,000 by jfk. the'strategic hamlet programme' was introduced in 1962.
- Explains that the peasants were moved into a new village in areas under south vietnamese control. this strategy failed as they were reluctant to move and resented working without pay to protect themselves from people who didn't threaten them.
- Narrates how president johnson was reluctant to send in troops as it would be unpopular with the public and hard to justify. the us destroyer ‘maddox’ was fired on by 3 north vietnamese torpedo boats.
- Explains that the usa's involvement in north vietnam was increased due to "repeated acts of violence against the armed forces", but was no doubt related to america’s objection to communism
- Explains how the us became increasingly involved in the affairs of vietnam during 1954-1965 due to its objection to communism and paired with its own interests.
Related
- explanatory
- narrative
- analytical
- opinionated
- United States' Involvement in Vietnamexplanatory essayUnited States' Involvement in Vietnam The background to Vietnam has been influenced by religion, French missionaries were sent in to convert the Vietnamese population, who was mostly Buddhist, to Catholics, the reason for this was to 'divert' their loyalty to God rather than there Emperor, the Vietnamese never took lightly to these Missionaries convert the people and most of all de-valuing their Emperor, the ruler of their country. A few Vietnamese people, or movements, felt threatened by this and a few priests ended up dead. In 1847, because of the murders and violence towards the French priests/missionaries, the French sent combat troops into Vietnam to protect their people.
In this essay, the author
- Explains how the united states' involvement in vietnam was influenced by religion. french missionaries were sent to convert the vietnamese population to catholics to 'divert' their loyalty to god.
- Narrates how the french sent combat troops into vietnam in 1847 to protect their people. after much discussion, the chinese signed over control of vietnam.
- Explains that vietnam proved profitable to france, as they earned a lot of money from imports/exports. the vietnamese had no choice but to adapt to their new way of life.
- Describes how ho chi minh embraced communism while living in england and trained as a pastry chef.
- Narrates how ho chi minh funded the vietnamese communist party in hong kong. in september 1940, the japanese invaded indochina, so he formed vietminh.
- Explains that ho chi minh's group, the vietminh, received ammunition and weapons from the soviet union, and soon after pearl harbour was bombed, they also received supplies from america.
- Explains that the cold war was a war against two ideologies, capitalism and communism.
- Explains that america's negation to share nuclear secrets, and also for russia spreading communism through the world, was a big one, because america traded with other countries and communist countries never traded, they where self sufficient.
- Explains that britain, joseph stalin and harry truman met in potsdam for a meeting on the outcome of germany and vietnam. stalin wanted economic help because of the 31,000 factories destroyed.
508 wordsRead More - United States' Involvement in Vietnamexplanatory essayUnited States' Involvement in Vietnam The end of World War Two was the beginning of America's worries about Communism. They feared that it would spread throughout the countries of the world. Because of this President Truman made the Truman Doctrine.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that the end of world war two was the beginning of america's worries about communism and the truman doctrine.
- Explains that america saw it as their duty to help and protect the other countries, which could be in the threat of communism. the marshall plan accompanied the truman doctrine.
- Explains how the 'domino theory' was used to explain the way countries could be influenced by their neighbouring country/ies.
- Explains why the united states became increasingly involved in the war in vietnam. france ruled vietnam, but during world war two france became occupied by germany.
- Explains that france had a weakness in vietnam and the japanese took advantage of the weak points. the vietnamese had not liked living under foreign rule.
- Explains that the united states sent money and supplies to boost france's economy, but did not help in any other way. the vietminh didn't like having french influences back again and guerrilla warfare was used against the french.
- Explains that the vietminh dressed as peasants to disguise themselves and used their local knowledge to make it difficult to detect attacks in the jungle.
- Explains that the usa backed up a geneva conference, which said that vietnam be divided up into the communist, north vietnam and south vietnam under the rule of the ngo dinh diem.
- Explains that the usa is slowly advancing into vietnam and becoming more involved with what is going on there. in 1956 vietnam was to have an election to decide how the country would be ruled - either communist or capitalist.
- Explains that communists in south vietnam started to revolt, as they wanted the election to take place. they sent spies from the north and were causing trouble.
- Explains that many south vietnamese didn't like him because he favoured his family by giving them all the good jobs. these problems caused the usa to become more involved and they sent in more advisors.
- Analyzes the tension between america and russia, which built up to the cold war, where no actual fighting went on, it was just indirect conflict.
- Explains that the vietnamese couldn't tell the difference between a member of the public and an guerrilla. between 1961 and 1964, the number of guerrillas in south vietnam rose from 20,000 to 100,000.
- Explains the reason for america's involvement is that they notice that the communist part of the country has the upper hand with many more supporters and 100,000 guerrillas.
- Explains that america was sending their advisors into vietnam to stop north vietnam gaining control, turning vietnam into a communist country, and endangering other countries.
- Narrates how a buddhist monk set fire to himself to protest against the treatment of the buddhists.
- Explains that ngo dinh diem tried to win favor by telling the army not to attack the vietcong, which america disapproved of. president kennedy was assassinated and johnson took over.
- Explains that president johnson sent more advisors to vietnam until the 1964 gulf of tongking incident changed things.
- Explains that the usa had a valid reason to go to war, and the ho chi minh trail was bombed.
- Describes how the vietcong attacked the american airbase at pleiku in 1965, resulting in the loss of 10 aircraft, the death of 8 advisors, and injury of 100 us personnel.
- Describes operation rolling thunder, which targeted bridges, roads, army barracks and railway lines. by 1968, the usa had 500,000 men in vietnam, a massive increase compared to just 12 years earlier.
- Describes the two reasons why america became involved in the vietnam war. the short-term reasons were that they were first helping france with their position in vietnam and were trying to stop guerrilla warfare.
1297 wordsRead More - United States' Involvement in Vietnamexplanatory essayUnited States' Involvement in Vietnam Vietnam is a small country in the south of china (Vietnamese means "non-Chinese people of the south"). In the 17th century French missionaries arrived in Vietnam. The catholic priests began to convert the Vietnamese people to Catholicism and in the process rid themselves of their Buddhist ways and pledge their loyalty to god and not their Emperor. This led to the Vietnamese feeling hostility towards the Christian missionaries and there were several cases of priests being murdered. Some Vietnamese adapted to the French way of life and worked with the French government to control the 30 million people living in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, an area that France now called Indochina.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that vietnam is a small country in the south of china. in the 17th century, french missionaries arrived in vietnam and converted the vietnamese people to catholicism.
- Describes how vietnamese adapted to the french way of life and controlled the 30 million people living in vietnam, cambodia, and laos, an area that france now called indochina.
- Explains that troops decided they were unable to protect their empire so they surrendered to the japanese, who took control of all vietnams resources. the vietnam revolutionary league was established under the leadership of ho chi minh.
- Describes how the vietminh began a guerrilla campaign against the japanese. ho chi minh marched into hanoi and announced the formation of the democratic republic of vietnam.
- Describes the full-scale war between the vietminh and france, which lasted for 8 years. at the end of world war 2, the usa and ussr emerged as superpowers.
- Explains that the ussr was angry at the usa for not informing them of the use pf the atomic bomb to end the war with japan.
- Explains that 10 hollywood writers and actors were put on trial and imprisoned for failing to comment on their political stance. eisenhower had a military background and fought in ww2.
- Explains that harry truman's policy was that communism mustn't spread outside the ussr. eisenhower supported the domino theory.
- Explains that diem was against communism and was unwilling to be a puppet ruler. he rejected their advice and made decisions that upset the south vietnamese people.
- Analyzes how john f. kennedy was elected president of the usa in november 1960. he argued that if south vietnam became a communist state the whole non-communist world would be at risk.
- Explains that kennedy agreed with his advisors that the usa could prevent a nlf victory in south vietnam. he arranged for the south vietnamese to receive the money necessary to increase the size of their army from 150,000 to 170,000.
- Narrates how lyndon b johnson became the new president of the united states after john f. kennedy's assassination. he believed that the us defence was dependent on the vietcong never gaining victory in south vietnam.
- Explains that johnson was unwilling to take unpopular measures like sending troops to fight in a foreign war until after the 1964 presidential elections.
784 wordsRead More - USA's Involvement in the Vietnam Warnarrative essayUSA's Involvement in the Vietnam War The USA had a colossal hatred for the strong spread of communism that seemed to sweep across Eastern Asia. Although Vietnam, part of Indochina in South-East Asia was many thousands of miles away from the USA, due to obsessive paranoia and the threat of its national interest, America felt threatened adequately enough to fight a war there. The USA’s suspicion that the communists were taking over the world was exceptionally strong. Their explanation for their most paranoid attitude lay in the Korean War, the communist take-over of China, the Cold War and also the communist success over the French in Vietnam.
In this essay, the author
- Opines that emperor bao dai to run vietnam in the french way. in the 1930’s ho chi
- Opines that 1949 was a terrible year for the usa.
- Responds to the defeat of the french by the vietminh at dien bien.
- Narrates how a bully can come into your front garden one day, the next day he’ll be up on your porch, and the day after that rape your wife in your home.
1797 wordsRead More - The Involvement of the United States in Vietnamanalytical essayThe Involvement of the United States in Vietnam The single most important factor in understanding the United States involvement in Vietnam is fear. In the years leading to the Vietnam Conflict the United States was immersed in paranoia toward Communist Russia and the communist movement as a whole. This paranoia has its roots in the depression of the nineteen thirties and was fueled by the exploits of men like MacCarthy and other politicians who saw this as an opportunity to further their careers or push policies. This paranoia was the most important factor in the entrance of the US into the conflict in Southeast Asia.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that fear is the single most important factor in understanding the united states involvement in vietnam.
- Explains that the united states was one of the two most powerful nations in the world during world war ii. this position placed americans at odds with their rival country, the soviet union, on almost all fronts.
- Explains that there are now two great nations in the world, which starting from different points, seem to be advancing toward the same goal: the russians and the anglo-americans. each seems called by some secret design of providence
- Analyzes how the rise of these two nations as leaders and rivals was seen as early as tocqueville, but this vision was not realized until the end of wwii where the two countries developed as ideological opposites.
- Analyzes how the american mistrust of the soviet union began during the march on berlin during war. roosevelt's letter to stalin on february 6, 1945, said that if we cannot get a meeting of minds now, how can we get an understanding on even more vital things in the future?
- Explains that the growing mistrust of the relatively new communist nation led to the eventual fear of a global conflict between the two ideologies.
- Analyzes how the ussr's arms build-up and consolidation of new soviet-bloc nations reinforced the fear of communism. politicians at home played on this fear with rhetoric and speeches such as the 1950 republican party slogan.
- Explains how senator maccarthy began hearings on communism and hunted down those who he felt were communists living and working in the us.
- Explains that they have a list of 205 names that were made known to the secretary of state as being members of the communist party and who are still working and shaping policy in the state department.
- Opines that senator mccarthy's words set off a period of political hysteria.
- Analyzes how the fear that gripped the american public now had influenced government to the point where innocent people were being deprived of jobs and having their reputations ruined.
- Explains that the fear of communism spreading and destroying the american way of life manifested itself in things such as the domino theory.
- Describes how vietnam's revolution was waged against a failing french colonial government that was unable to provide for its people. the leader, ho chi min, asked for the support and recognition of the united states and the western world.
- Analyzes how the revolution could have been seen as a way to stop or disprove the domino theory, and gain an ally in the heart of what was becoming an communist portion of the globe.
- Explains that the second world war was a time of prosperity and growth for the united states. the depression, the threat of the communist soviet union, and nuclear warfare caused mass panic in the american people.
1233 wordsRead More - U.S Involvement in the Vietnam Waropinionated essayU.S Involvement in the Vietnam War "No new taxes." This is a quote that most all of us remember from the 1992 presidential election. Along with it we remember that there were new taxes during that presidents term in office. There are a myriad of promises made and things done in a presidential election year that have questionable motives as to whether they are done in the best interest of the people or in the interests of the presidential candidate. These hidden interests are one of the biggest problems with the political aspects of government in modern society.
In this essay, the author
- Opines that baker thought that they needed to win it.
- Opines that there was very little about what needed to be done militarily to win the war.
- Opines that they had no doubt we would bomb iraq if they were going to be bombed.
- Opines that it would be ludicrous not to fight the war in the air as much, if not more, than on the ground.
- Describes the two conflicts and explains that one fact can be seen very clearly.
- Explains how the gulf war helped the military in achieving its goals.
- Opines that if we do not learn from these lessons that are so.
- Opines that one of the largest problems was the lack of a clear objective in the war.
- Describes the painful lessons learned during the vietnam war, which were still fresh on the minds of many of those involved in the war.
1473 wordsRead More - U.S. Involvement in the Vietnam Warexplanatory essayU.S. Involvement in the Vietnam War Although it was called the Vietnam War, the U.S. was primarily involved and participated in most of the warfare to defend democracy. South Vietnam's government and army were not well organized. The U.S. fought most of the war, then when it turned the war over to the South Vietnamese, they couldn't fight the North. Ngo Dinh Diem, prime minister of South Vietnam, was opposed in South Vietnam. Buddhists grew inpatient since Diem's government had long offered benefits to Catholics, and in May 1963 protests were held in the city of Hue since Diem refused to allow Buddhists to fly Buddha's flag on the anniversary of his birthday (Detzer 69-71).
In this essay, the author
- Explains that the u.s. participated in most of the war to defend democracy. south vietnam's government and army were not well organized.
- Explains that ngo dinh diem, prime minister of south vietnam, was opposed by buddhists in hue, and his brother, nguyen nhu, imprisoned or killed virtually anyone who opposed him.
- Explains that the u.s. didn't fight for vietnam right away, sending military advisors and goods to vietnam. the army of the republic of vietnam (arvn) was mostly helicopters, and armored personnel carriers.
- Describes how the u.s. was running two operations in the tonkin gulf: oplan 34a, desoto, and the maddox.
- Describes how the 1st infantry division prepared the arvn for the eventual departure of u.s. combat troops. the 199th brigade instituted training programs for regional and popular force units.
- Analyzes how the junta wrestled with one another in saigon and in the provinces, resulting in political turmoil.
- Explains that the tonkin gulf resolution pulled the u.s. further into the vietnam war.
- Narrates how nixon signed the paris accords with le duc tho, nguyen van thieu, and nixon. the north attacked the south but gerald ford and congress did not want to get involved in vietnam.
- Cites butterfield, fox, casey, michael, and michael. the vietnam experience: the army at war.
- Cites dougan, clark, and lipsman's the vietnam experience: a nation divided. doyle, edward, maitland and kendrick, alexander.
1139 wordsRead More - U.S. Actions in Vietnamopinionated essayU.S. Actions in Vietnam The two viewpoints in the book, “Opposing Veiwpoints in American History” were about the US actions in the Vietnam. Were they justified or not? According to Lyndon B. Johnson U.S. actions were justified. Johnson became president after the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
In this essay, the author
- Describes the us actions in vietnam. were they justified or not?
- Explains that young hum kim, from the university of san diego, has a different viewpoint about the war.
- Explains that the object of war is "total conquest", and the outcome is the works of peace.
- Opines that breaking that promise is like putting this little nation in the hands of their enemies.
- Analyzes how kim felt that the u.s. was egotistical about their power.
- Opines that no leader in his right mind would even think of asia.
- Opines that the united states had all the intention to help out the people of south vietnam.
- Opines that if the u.s. were to back out on this war, other nations would see that their promise meant nothing, and they would not have any confidence in the us.
- Opines that johnson wanted the people in vietnam to go their own direction in life. some thought that if they stopped fighting things would improve, but that would only lead to china going from one country to another.
- Opines that the response to the attacks on south vietnam by making air attacks was only because what they were doing before was not doing any good.
- Opines that the only way out is a peaceful exit. the confidence of the people in south vietnam, as well as to convince the leaders of north vietnam.
- Opines that kim felt the u.s. put the containment wall in regions of asia which were bound to fail, and that the united states did not take vietcong along with north vietnam’s strength seriously enough.
- Analyzes kim's view that the u.s. did not see anything all right with being neutral.
- Opines that kim feels that the u.s. sent troops somewhere where they weren't needed that bad. they also see president johnson's point when he says that "we will not break a promise..."
- Opines that president johnson has more things that make sense than kim. kim is a person that feels strongly against war that he has to make things bigger.
639 wordsRead More - The Differing Reactions to United States' Involvement in Vietnamanalytical essayThe Differing Reactions to United States' Involvement in Vietnam Everyone in America had a different reaction to the Vietnam War. Some people supported the war because they feared Communism. They were afraid that if they did not stop the Communism in Vietnam, that type of government would affect all other countries. This was according to the Domino Theory. They thought that stopping the Vietnamese would be the correct and easy thing to do, but they were wrong.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that america had different reactions to the vietnam war. some people supported the war because they feared communism.
- Explains that others did not support the war because they didn't want the usa to be involved with something that was not their business. these reactions were caused by different events in history.
- Explains that the american public knew that they were winning the war, but when the vietcong attacked and held the south vietnamese cities and towns, the americans began to question whether it could be won.
- Analyzes how the americans struggled to win the guerilla war. president johnson didn't seek re-election and richard nixon started 'vietnamization'.
- Explains how the american community came to terms with the my lai massacre in 1968, which hit the government's support for the war.
- Explains how the mission unfolded into a massacre killing over 300 unarmed civilians including women, children, and the elderly. the commander of the troops ordered his men to enter the village firing, although there had been no report of opposing fire.
- Explains that the investigation on the my laimassacre found a lot of mistakes in the army, including widespread failures of leadership, discipline, and morale.
429 wordsRead More - United States' Involvement in the Vietnam Warexplanatory essayUnited States' Involvement in the Vietnam War Source Based Source A is about US fear of communism. The nature of this source is a presidential speech to the US public. It is clear that source A is a primary source as it says on the bottom 'president Lyndon B Johnson speaking in April 1965.' That shows that the source is a primary one. There is a great possibility that the US presidential advisors produced this source to give president Lyndon B Johnson a speech to publish in front of the US public, one month after operation '
In this essay, the author
- Explains that source a is about us fear of communism. the nature of this source is a summary
- Opines that as this source is a photograph it is quite easy to tamper with it.
- Asks, should you kill all or none of them?
- Explains that they do not know who their enemy is, which proves the war has no enemy.
2939 wordsRead More