While, I think Miss. Cooksey’s poses a fantastic idea of the French forming an agreement for trading with Vietnam to appease a situation that benefits both countries; I would like to challenge the notion of whether this would have been a plausible alternative. Would the French have opted for just a trade agreement with Vietnam? As stated earlier, France’s presumption that they could easily beat the nation of Vietnam would stand in the way of their acceptance of a trade treaty with Vietnam. Even, if some agreement were worked out between the two countries, due to France’s pride in thinking that they were the superior nation, I believe would lead to the country’s reentry into Vietnam (Herring, 10). The notion that an independent Vietnam could bring the various …show more content…
I believe that when evaluating this is an equally important issue that plays a significant role in the nation’s ability to become independent. As South Vietnam relied on farming as their main economic source and North Vietnam’s was based on industry, the joining of the country economies could be a major issue when bringing the country’s various cultures together (Herring, 10). With the bringing of these two economies together, unified Vietnam would rely on both economies that were present in both North and South Vietnam. As the southern portion of the country produced food for the nation’s population, the north’s economy being industrial, would focus on the creation of commodities to export to other countries. The mutual reliance of the two economies would be another factor that could have brought Vietnam together, thus forming a successful independent country. The issue of religion may have been a tougher way for the cultures in Vietnam to cast aside their differences and come together to form a
When Vietnamese revolutionary Ho Chi Minh and his political organization, the Vietminh, seized control of their independence from France United States Politicians saw it as another communist take over. When really Ho was more a nationalist than a communist. All Minh wanted was for the United States to recognize its independence from France and to send aid to help it reach its nationalistic goals. "Before the Cold War Ho and the Vietmin...
The war in Vietnam and the war in Iraq differ in many ways such as; the reason for war, US support, the cost, number of deaths, and the time and place. In this essay I am going to compare the Vietnam War with the war in Iraq describing three ways in which the war in Vietnam differs from the war in Iraq. Three of the ways the two wars differ are the reason for war, number of deaths, and the cost.
Lawrence’s purpose in writing this book was concise and to the point. In recent history, due to the fall of the Soviet bloc, new information has been made available for use in Vietnam. As stated in the introduction, “This book aims to take account of this new scholarship in a brief, accessible narrative of the Vietnam War… It places the war within the long flow of Vietnamese history and then captures the goals and experiences of various governments that became deeply embroiled in the country during the second half of the twentieth century” (Lawrence, 3.) This study is not only about the American government and how they were involved in the Vietnam conflict, but highlights other such countries as France, China, and the Soviet Union. Lawrence goes on to say that one of his major goals in writing this book is to examine the American role in Vietnam within an international context (Lawrence, 4.) Again, this goes to show that the major purpose of Lawrence’s study included not only ...
In the twentieth century many young adults and many other men were chosen/ drafted to enter the war. The Vietnam War started during the time period of 1959 and this brutal war ended on 1975. It started with the United States sending aid and military advisors to the Southern part Vietnam. The U.S helped the southerners of Vietnam because the northern part of Viet was a communist state so the south wanted to end Communism up in the north. Also, this war was said to be one of the bloodiest wars that took place in the twentieth century. It was a very bloody war because more than 58,000 American soldiers had perished in combat. Also, during the decade of direct U.S Military participation in Vietnam, during early time of the year, 1964 the U.S treasury spent over 140 billion dollars on this war. “This was enough money to fund urban projects in every major American city” (history.com). As this war effected the American’s, it affected the Vietnamese people to. This war affected both the American’s and the Vietnamese, because in the year of 1973 the United States began withdrawing troops. This caused the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon to fall to the Northern Vietnamese forces. Just like how the war was long and bloody many characters from the novel The Things They Carried experienced many things that were relatable to people who in reality dealt with the war. The very brutality of war cause indelible psychological and emotional changes in most of its
U.S. political and military difficulties in Iraq have prompted comparisons to the American war in Vietnam. Unfolding events in Iraq have caused some observers to make analogies to the American experience in the Vietnam War. There are many reasons why most Americans believe that Iraq is becoming the new Vietnam, with U.S. troops getting shut down in a bloody war and occupation of a violent area. There are plenty of ways to compare and contrast the Vietnam and Iraq war. Many people have viewed Vietnam as a completely different war from the current one in Iraq. Despite these claims I have still noticed that there are many comparisons that have been made between the war in Iraq and the Vietnam War.
The United States has faced many conflicts throughout history. World War II and the Vietnam War are two of the many wars that the United States has fought. World War II began on September 1, 1939- 1945 when 1.5 million German troops invaded Poland. Germany's superior air power and technologically advanced armored and motorized divisions overwhelmed Polish forces (“World War II, US History in Context” 1). “By September 20, Poland had been overrun by the German blitzkreig (lightening war)” (World War II, US History in Context 1). The United States did not officially enter the war until December 7, 1941 when the Japanese bombed the U.S naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The following day Congress declared war on Japan (“World War II…” 1). The Vietnam War was a continuation of the Indochina War of 1946-1954. The United States first became involved with Vietnam in 1957 lasting until spring of 1975. The Vietnam War began as a battle against the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) supported by the United States and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) according to The Dictionary of American History. The United States supported South Vietnam’s anti- communism (Cosma 1). This resulted in The United States and France joining forces to defeat communist Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh (Buzzanco 1). Although both conflicts involved the United States, both the Vietnam War and World War II can be compared and contrasted by their political, military, economical, and international factors.
After returning, Minh had help from the Vietminh; an organization of communist that wanted freedom from other countries. Their main goal was to turn Vietnam into a self-governed communist country. France wanted none of this non-sense. In 1945 they had moved back into southern Vietnam and ruled most of the cities. Ho Chi Minh swore to fight France to gain control of the whole country. U.S. promised to aid France, and sent almost $15 million worth of financial aid to France. The French fought for four years, being financially aided by the U.S. the whole time. The U.S. spent nearly one billion dollars in order to help France regain control of the tiny country. The only reason that much effort was put into a small area was the fear of the y. Domino Theory. The Domino Theory first showed it's head during a 1954 news conference by U.S. President Eisenhower. The domino theory is the fear of the spread of communism from one country to the next, and so on. Even with the assistance of the U.S. France could not gain the control it once had on Vietnam.
Lawrence makes a lot of observations about the Vietnam War and the way that we handled it. He starts his essay by arguing that many different things influenced the policies that the U.S. had during the time of the Cold War. Interactions with other countries and other governments are what crafted the Western policies of the United States and our allies. He argues that the involvement of the United States in the Vietnam War was not inevitable. This counters what Michael Lind says; he believes that “the war was both moral and necessary” (Hoffman 439). Lawrence says the reasons we started supplying France with war supplies in the first place were that we wanted t...
Most historians view the nature of the Vietnam War as rooted in the history of the French colonies in Vietnam and the growing ethnic, political, and economical division between Catholic and Buddhist Vietnamese. (Brigham, Robert, Hoffman, Kenneth)
After World War II, the French began a fight for their former colony of Indochina, which included Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. The French and other countries failed to see at that time the will and desire of the Vietnamese people to gain independence from foreign rule and to have their country unified. Ho Chi Minh, a Vietnamese nationalist, fought the French and overtook the North Vietnam capital of Hanoi with his followers, the Viet Minh, declaring the area the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. (Anderson, 2002) The French were unwilling to give up their colony and drove the Vietminh from many of the larger cities in the south. The United States entered the Vietnam struggle in 1950 when $15 million in aid was pledged to France in order to fight the Vietminh. (Anderson, 2002) The rationale was to align with France and keep the Soviet Union from expanding in Europe and to keep another country from falling into communist rule.
The Vietnam War was a rough time for many soldiers. Memories of home, loved ones, comfort, happiness, a normal life, everything was left behind to do their duties as soldiers. They carried with them many mementos of their life at home; that way they had some kind of life to hang onto to give them the hope and comfort they needed to keep themselves pushing forward. Though, many others have done the same and kept objects to hold onto to remind themselves that there is hope and that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Despite the Vietnam War and World War I taking place during different time periods, these two wars are extremely similar because of the way they are presented in history.
The French’s began to colonize Vietnam in 1874. The Vietnamese people gave the French a hard time during the “Pacification Period.” During this time the French tried to gain control of Vietnamese rebel groups and the Chinese, who also wanted to obtain Vietnam. The French divided Vietnam into three different parts. The southern part of Vietnam included two regions called Cochinchina and Annam. The northern part of Vietnam included a region called Tonking. Most of the rebellions took place in Tonking and Annam. The French were in Vietnam because of Economic reasons but, Catholic missionaries also wanted to convert all the people of Asia to Catholicism. Also the French wanted to spread their culture within Vietnam and teach the Vietnamese people about French literature, language, and history. After this period of time France focused on modernizing Vietnam and bringing in rail roads, bridges, and highways. They also forced labor and taxed the Vietnamese people.
In addition, Vietnam had and still has a Communist government and a socialist economic model. However, the Vietnamese are trying to move more towards a free market system. Meaning that the Vietnamese want a market economy where the forces of supply and demand are not controlled by the government, nor any other authority. Moreover, every members of the government are elected by Vietnam’s National Assembly. Additionally, Vietnam is one of the fastest growing financial country in the world with, according to bbc.com, a nominal GDP that reached about $170 billions. Also, Vietnam became one of the highest leading agri...
The Vietnam War was the first major war American’s had suffered defeat. The Vietnam war was a war of confusion, competition and biasness. The outcome of the war was far greater than an upset American nation, but a severe breakdown of the Vietnamese culture, economy, environment and government. It also had a tremendous impact on American society even up to present day. It was unclear from the beginning of the war if the American’s should even be involved. It was a war between Northern and Southern Vietnam but the U.S saw it as an indirect way to challenge the USSR’s sphere of influence in Southern Asia and to prevent the domino effect and the further spread of communism. The Vietnam War completely changed the way the United States approached military action and helped establish the role of the United States within the new world order.
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.