The United States in the Vietnam War
Many soldiers have been lost in the different wars that the United States has been involved. Although there have been many wars only one is unique from the others, it is known as the war that was never won or lost. The Vietnam War started out as a conflict but soon escalated into a full-fledged war. Many soldiers have been lost in the Vietnam War. The United States sent many soldiers into the jungles of Indochina trying to stop the spread of communism from the North Vietnamese. It all seems clear-cut, with the motives and sides easily seen but as the war lagged on, it seemed that the United States became involved, and essentially needed a draft. The United States involvement in the Vietnam War became greater as the drudgery of the war progressed. With more increased support it seemed as though the United States was making a difference, but many thought it was a lost cause.
The United States became involved in the Vietnam War as early as the Geneva Accords in 1953. The Geneva accords basically stated that Vietnam was to hold elections to unify the country. These were drawn just after the Korean War. The French were initially involved and requested the support of the U.S. When the conflict began the U.S. sent in mostly ground troops and officers, it was a limited amount. "According to the terms of the Geneva Accords, Vietnam would hold national elections in 1956 to reunify the country"-Brigham, 1. The French and the British were both ready for the treaty to be signed and the conflict finally ended -Hess, 47. The Eisenhower administration used SEATO only as a way of stalling. They had basically, through the work on SEATO, created a whole new country out of the remains of the old Vietnam -Br...
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...sed his popularity in office -Hess, 117.
The United States had many fallen soldiers in the Vietnam War. Many people think that it was not the United States’ place to go into Vietnam and prevent the spread of communism from the North to South. Many French troops were stationed in the Jungles of Indochina and it was believed that they could take care of the crisis that was growing in Asia. What started out as a relief campaign, only sending minimal forces to Vietnam turned into a war with over 550,000 United States troops. The gradual introduction of troops to Vietnam, the Tet offensive, and Vietnamization were all major aspects of the war that the United States was drawn into. It is still considered by many as the war that no one has won, and maybe if the Eisenhower administration had not sent troops in initially, a lot of American soldier’s lives would be saved.
The Vietnam War was one of many. One reason some people argue the US should have been in the Vietnam War is because of the belief the US was trying to help establish a democracy there. The Vietnam war helping America win the cold war was another reason people believe the US was justified in the Vietnam war. Others believe that the US should not have been there because they were supporting a corrupt government, another reason is that American warfare was excessive and abusively killed many innocent civilians and ruined the land. While it appeared that the US was trying to spread democracy and win the cold war, but in truth, the US was supporting a mini Hitler, and our strategy had little chance of
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 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.
miles away from them, and so they felt they had to be involved in a
If America decided to let Vietnam be rather than intervening and going to war, Vietnamese men and women would not have experienced the tragedies that they experienced and America would not have such a defined division. This war caused many arguments and there were a variety of protests all around the country in which there were a number of arrests and minor injuries. All of this commotion could have been avoided. However, the United States ended up going to war and thus, as Senator Eugene McCarthy pointed out in 1967; Vietnam became a military, political, and moral problem (Handout page 17).
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.
The war effort in Vietnam was quite possibly one of the most controversial the United States has ever been involved in. Almost the entire country was divided over their thoughts, with the majority being against this war. The people of the United States weren’t always opposed to involvement in Vietnam, that is until the truth started leaking to the public. Over the course of roughly twenty years somewhere between one and two million Vietnamese lives alone were lost (Overview of the Vietnam War). The Vietnam war has become widely known as an American mistake. Over time the general population began to see the war for what it was: one of the deadliest, most corrupt, and hardest wars to fight that we’ve ever been involved in.
The true answer to why the United States got involved in Vietnam lies in part in the Truman Doctrine. This statement is true for two reasons. First, the Truman Doctrine set forth a policy that was applied the international spread of Communism. Second, the Truman Doctrine was brought up when the conflict in Vietnam was increasing. The first United States involvement in Vietnam began in the late 1940's, long before it escalated to include the United States Military. Because of the basic terms or the Truman Doctrine, the United States was drawn in the Vietnam conflict. The Truman Doctrine dealt with fears of Communism, the domino theory, and a feeling there was a need for containment. All of Vietnam was in danger of falling into the hands of Communism.
The Vietnam War took place in between 1947- 1975. It consisted of North Vietnam trying to make South Vietnam a communism government. The United States later joined this conflict because of the stress North Vietnam was putting to South Vietnam to become a government that America did not want. The main reason why America joined was because of a theory called the Domino Effect. America and Russia were going through what has been dubbed the Cold War. The Domino Effect is the theory that communism will spread form one country to another. United states does not want this because our government is a democracy and communism opposes everything we stand for. America fearing communism was growing, stepped into Vietnam with America’s interest in mind, instead of Vietnam’s. There are several reason why American should have not gotten involved with this war. The most important reason was that America government officials made to much of a big deal about communism. This might sound cynical, but America to a certain degree did over react. Let it be said that it is much easier to say this after the fact. By looking back at McCarthyism, we can see the silliness of this fear. There is a serious side though. Thousands of people dies for a government that has no impact of their daily life. What regime Vietnam was going to change over to had no effect on the every day cycle of the United States. So truly, one can say, this can not one thing to do with America, its government and people.
The Vietnam war started in December of 1956, and lasted until April of 1975. The war was between the U.S., and Vietnam. This war was a very gruesome, and tragic war. In Vietnam their leader Ho Chi Minh came back after a 30 year trip to explore around the world. When he returned his country was occupied by two major countries, Japan and France. Ho Chi Minh had a plan to run them out of his country, but he needed the U.S. for it to work. U.S. was still in the Cold war with Russia and there was fear of communism there. So the U.S. decided not to help Vietnam and send military aid to help the French and Japanese forces, in order to stop communism. Thus begun The vietnam war!
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 was a war that changed America forever. It was a long, costly war between Communist North Vietnam, with the aid of the Viet Cong, and Capitalist South Vietnam, aided by the United States. It was a controversial war at the time, but today, it remains embedded in America's history as a war to be remembered.
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).
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.