The Reasons Why the Vietnam War Lasted So Long
It is said that the U.S. has never gotten over the Vietnam War and it is still a controversial war, these are the reasons why the Vietnam War lasted so long.
In 1973, the United States and North Vietnam signed a treaty called the Paris Peace Agreement; this was the beginning of the withdrawal of all remaining U.S. forces from Vietnam which was mandated by the treaty ("Vietnam War," 1991). Also in the agreement was the return of U.S. prisoners of war, and a cease-fire (1991). The war was not over though until 1975 when the North Vietnamese stormed Saigon (1991). While the war ended, the bad feelings would linger. One example of this is the continued relevance in respect to whether or not candidates "served in the military, or dodged the draft, or smoked pot, or dabbled in radical politics, or engaged in the more promiscuous activities of the sexual revolution" (McDougall, 1995, p.478). Some say that men were put into harm's way without thoughtful consideration.
Vandemark (1995) claims that from the outset, the U.S. was doomed. It would never complete the mission successfully and Johnson and his cronies knew this (Vandemark 1995). If that is the case, it would explain why there are still conflicting ideas about Vietnam. And while there were people who knew that the U.S. would not win, and that too many of the nation's sons would be lost, there were many who were idealistic, who thought themselves to be freedom fighters and who fought for freedom. It was a pie in the sky idea, a glimpse of the future that saw a free world without the blood, and without the body bags. It was a war that never should have been fought.
While much of this has been supported by the literature, the United States withdrew its forces from Vietnam in 1973. Some wonder why it took so long to withdraw and why this did not happen earlier. It is a difficult question to answer, but the Vietnam debacle was not something quick or clear. It was a situation that mushroomed. The actual goal was to preserve an independent, noncommunist government in South Vietnam, but by April of 1975, the communist Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) ruled the entire country ("Vietnam War," 1991). The mission was not accomplished but the goal did emanate from paranoia about communism and a fear of the domino effect.
In conclusion, I think that the United States became increasingly involved in the Vietnamese War because of the policies they had made as a promise to fight communism, and because they had sorely underestimated Vietcong’s ability to fight back using Guerrilla warfare. They refused to pull out of the war in fear of losing face before the world, but this pride factor scored them massive losses in the war. In the end, with both side sustaining heavy losses, the US were still seen as mutilators in the war, with advanced showing what their intervention had costed, and Vietnam was still fully taken over by Communism – they had achieved nothing and lost a lot.
The Vietnam War was known for the thousands of lived that were lost and the billions of dollars in debt that destroyed the US economy. To this day, it is debatable as to whether or not US involvement in the war was worth the devastation it caused to the country.
The Vietnam War was America’s longest war, lasting about 8 years, the number of deaths in the war were one of the highest compared to the number of deaths in previous wars.
The initial policy decision made by President Lyndon B. Johnson was to “Americanize” the Vietnam War (Tindall and Shi, p. 1341). This meant that American troops would be sent to Vietnam in large numbers to fight. The goal was to keep South Vietnam from falling to Communism, and
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.
United States involvement in Vietnam has been surrounded by controversy since the 1960s. Many felt that controversy would end with the withdrawal of US troops in the 1970s. The troops came home and were not welcomed with the fanfare that surrounded veterans of previous wars. Was the controversy surrounding Vietnam a “dead” issue now that the troops were home? The answer is no. The controversy continues to this very day. The issue of whether or not the US should have gotten involved with Vietnam is still undecided. The even larger issue, on the other hand, is that of exposure to Agent Orange.
The United States was ultimately doomed to lose in Vietnam. Unable to gain enough public support, the war dragged on as the anti-war ideas further circulated and festered in the homes, TVs, radios, and newspapers of the U.S. public. The United States military was unprepared to fight a guerilla war against a highly nationalistic, motivated enemy. The massive tank and air arsenal, and tactics developed to defeat the Soviets proved ineffectual against the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army and their advanced network of tunnels, and booby trap weapons. Inescapably so, the United States of America was defeated in Vietnam due to egregious errors in political and military judgment by the United States government, lack of popular support from the U.S. public, and egregious unpreparedness in the preparations to fight the North Vietnamese.
“It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder,” Albert Einstein. The Vietnam War was a war that America did not need. America believed they were doing good. They believed that they were protecting the people of Vietnam. America did not realise that they were only making a bad situation worse. America stopped nothing. They didn’t stop communism; they didn’t save the people of Vietnam. America caused the number of casualties in Vietnam to increase and had their own people killed. They caused diseases and destroyed the environment with the help of Agent Orange. America sent soldiers on a mission with a result of hundreds of civilians murdered. America did not help anyone. America sent people out to murder others and to be killed in the line of duty.
Many people did not think the war effort was worth it, considering Vietnam fell to communism anyways. This war was unexpected in all aspects, but especially to the soldiers who fought against the Viet Cong. This war was unlike any other war we’ve ever fought because it wasn’t fought like any of the others. The communist Viet Cong used tactics such as guerilla warfare, traps, and the soldiers were merely everyday villagers and children. The mental toll it took on soldiers was immense and unforgiveable in the eyes of many. Today, Americans are still rumored to be prisoners of war in Vietnam. The Vietnam era was a time of change and chaos in America, it destroyed millions of lives but it also brought about much needed change and activism amongst the American
The Vietnam War is known to be one of America’s toughest wars, starting in November of 1955 and ending with the “Fall of Saigon” in March of 1975. In 1973 all American combatant troops had departed Vietnam due to a peace treaty which only left a couple thousand Americans for humanitarian aid with only a handful of Marines for their protection. The North Vietnamese knew that with American military forces withdrawn, taking over South Vietnam would no longer be a challenge. As the North Vietnamese Army started migrating south the remaining Americans relied on the U.S. Government to develop a plan to safely extract the remaining personnel without involving U.S. combatant forces.
The Vietnam War is one of the most controversial subjects in American politics. The US went to the war under the guise of the domino effect, as they believed that if Vietnam fell, the surrounding countries would fall as well. President Johnson said “If you let a bully come into your garden, the next day he’ll be on your porch, and the day after that he’ll rape your wife” One thing that is not controversial is that we lost the war. Lots of different factors contributed to the United States unsuccessful trip to Vietnam. Among many reasons, one of the two biggest factors in the lose of the war was America’s foreign policy how and how bad the US underestimated how important freedom and independence was to the people of Vietnam. On top of that the US used the wrong military strategy, instead of focusing on limiting collateral damage the US used heavy artillery that killed citizens and alienated would be supporters. There was political corruptness in South Vietnam governments, which meant that they could not build an alternative to the NLF. At home, the public opinion of the war was decreasing at a constant rate and demonstrations were at an all time high. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong, and these problems all contributed to a Vietnam tour that went horribly wrong and an attitude among the American people that was growing ever doubt full of their government.
The Vietnam War has had its effects on America, both good and bad. We can ridicule it, we can deny it, we can say it was for the best, we can say we shouldn't have even gotten involved, but the one thing we can't do is ignore it. Because it's become an unforgettable part of history, and we all need to remember Vietnam.
The Vietnam War was one of the longest and most expensive wars in American history. It started from 1955 till April 30, 1975. This war lasted for almost 20 years. According to the article "How the U.S Got Involved In Vietnam" by Jeff Drake the U.S attacked Vietman and this wasn't supposed to happen. This war could have been avoidable. The 58,000 Americans didn’t have to die, nor did the 2,000,000 Vietnamese. The U.S government was responsible for their deaths. What the government told the public from the very beginning was that they were going to war because they had to stop the communist menace in Vietnam or other countries would follow suit; that they had to defend the democratic South Vietnamese government against the gathering Red hordes. While other people say it was an attempt by the U.S to suppress a heroic Vietnamese national liberation movement that had driven French colonialism out of its country (Drake, 1993).
In order to fight, they had to learn how to speak the Vietnamese language and they learned how to use the weapons that they were using (Friedel).The United States had to work hard in order to fight in Vietnam. The United States was in favor of South Vietnam (fallstrom).They wanted to help them beat the North (Friedel). The United States believed that Vietnam shouldn’t be a communist country. President Johnson was tired of the war and believed bombing North Vietnam would help end the war (locker). But indeed it didn’t end it. The war didn’t end up ending until two years after the United States left the war (fallstrom). At the end of the war there was about 58000 Americans that had died (fallstrom). Many soldiers came back with “physiological trauma” and had to go to therapy for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Vietnam syndrome (freidman). The causes of the war led to very emotional times for not only the families and loved ones but by the soldiers who had to face the horrific war. All-in-all despite the horrible outcomes for the soldiers with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or Vietnam syndrome, the United States helped South Vietnam and North Vietnam become unified into one
In Vietnam, friendly fire was common. The United States soldiers often shot innocent civilians. When the U.S viewed the brutality of the war and the torture of countless Vietnamese citizens through journalism, the President knew the public’s reaction was to such a point that he would never get re-elected, therefore he didn’t run, and his party lost the election.