United States' Involvement in Vietnam
explanatory Essay
784 words
United 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 September 1940, during the Second World War the Japanese army
invaded Indochina. With Paris already occupied by Germany, the French
troops decided they were unable to protect their empire so they
surrendered to the Japanese, who took control of all Vietnams
resources. During the war a strong resistance movement known as the
Vietnam revolutionary league (Vietminh) was set up under the
leadership of Ho Chi Minh. In 1930 he founded the Indochinese
Communist Party, which inspired the Vietnamese to fight for an
independent Vietnam without the French. Under the military leadership
of general Vo Nguyen Giap, the Vietminh began a guerrilla campaign
against the Japanese. In September 1945, Ho Chi Minh marched into
Hanoi and announced the formation of the democratic republic of
Vietnam. France refused to recognise the democratic republic of
Vietnam that had been declared by Ho Chi Minh and fighting soon broke
out between the Vietminh and the French troops. This led to a
full-scale war in 1946 between the Vietminh and France, which lasted
for 8 years. The Geneva Convention divided Vietnam into north
(communist) and south (anti-communist).
At the end of World War 2 the USA and USSR had emerged as the two
superpowers. A 'cold war' started which is a war where no fighting
takes place. It was a war between capitalist USA and the communist
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.
Related
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- 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 - 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. 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 - USA's Withdrawal From Vietnamopinionated essayUSA's Withdrawal From Vietnam The USA withdrew from Vietnam for a variety of reasons. The very fact that the largest super power of the time withdrew from this largely unheard of region proves that there can be no substitute for careful planning prior to a major conflict including money. The Failure Of American Tactics There were many ill thought out and sometimes barbaric tactics used by the USA which all contributed to withdrawal and the failure of American tactics in Vietnam. One of the major contributing factors for this was that right from the very start the American government believed that it could succeed in its mission in this campaign, simply by ploughing billions of dollars of the US tax payers money into what eventually proved to be a worthless cause, as a pose to spending time in careful preparation planning necessary action that could have been taken before committing countless young prosperous American lives to the on going conflict. This however, was by no means the only failing of the U.S government during the Vietnam conflict.
In this essay, the author
- Opines that the u.s did not make the task of locating them a hard one for the v.c.
- Opines that events such as the mai lai massacre, as it is now known, show that the events of the massacre have a significant impact.
- Opines that vietnam would be seen as a country 9000 miles away from vietnam.
- Explains that this was a modern war and was broadcast 24 hours per day 7 days per week.
2120 wordsRead More - Why the United States Became Increasingly Involved in the War in Vietnam "I am not going to be the president who saw South East Asia go the way China went"- LB Johnson. In the 1960's there was a spreading fear of communism in the East. Having already spread through China and Russia, there was a strong alarm that it would carry on spreading. This was known as the "Domino Theory".
In this essay, the author
- Explains how the united states became increasingly involved in the war in vietnam. in the 1960's, there was a spreading fear of communism in china and russia.
- Explains that the vietminh set up the national liberation front (nlf) in 1960, which had strong communist policies and ideas.
- Explains how the nlf gained support by giving land to the peasants and involving them in the running of their villages. this worried the usa.
- Explains that the nlf was supposed to be southern based, but it was actually run from hanoi. the arvn were against it with greatly contrasting ideas.
- Explains that america was involved in paying 70% of the arvn's costs. president kennedy famously claimed he was a sausage after the berlin wall went up.
- Analyzes how the tyrant's actions in vietnam led to his involvement in america and the vietnam situation.
- Analyzes how the cia set up a situation in which the north looked like it was actively attacking the south.
423 wordsRead More - Why the United Sates Became Increasingly Involved in the Vietnam Warexplanatory essayWhy the United Sates Became Increasingly Involved in the Vietnam War The United States became involved in the war in Vietnam for many reasons. The main reason of which is the Cold War. No fighting between the two countries actually took place due to both countries owning nuclear weapons which were used as a deterrent but got at each other by involving themselves in the issues of other countries that had a knock on effect on each other. The Cold War was a war that initiated between the US and Russia after World War two. The war started because after the war Russia took over Eastern Europe and turned all of the countries under its control communist.
In this essay, the author
- Explains why the united states became involved in the war in vietnam for many reasons, including the cold war. both countries owned nuclear weapons as a deterrent, but got at each other by involving themselves in issues of other countries.
- Explains that the cold war was a war initiated between the us and russia after world war two. the us wanted europe to stay capitalist and take over the west of europe.
- Explains that communism is the idea that the workers rule the world; there are no divisions in society and everybody being equal.
- Explains that the us used the marshall plan to stop the west from turning communist.
- Explains the domino theory, which was the belief that if one country fell to communism then all of the surrounding countries would also fall, like a line of dominoes.
- Explains that the us president harry s truman pledged to help any country fight a communist takeover with us military and governmental support.
- Explains that america's containment policies were used to prevent a communist takeover in the world, as well as in asia after china fell to communism.
- Explains that the war that america involved itself in was actually a civil war in which they had no right to interfere. ho chi minh was the leader in vietnam.
- Narrates how ho chi minh helped the us defeat the japanese by using us weapons and strategies to defeat them, but the victorious countries didn't help them to gain independence from french rule.
- Analyzes how the battle of dien bien phu caused the french to move back and loose more of vietnamese territory to the north.
- Explains that at the geneva conference, it was decided that the french had to slowly reduce the number of troops it had in vietnam and then in two years there was to be a national election to unite the two halves.
- Explains how the us involved communist groups in vietnam by appointing corrupt puppet governments to take control of the south of vietnam.
- Explains that he was a catholic and the majority religion in vietnam is buddhist. he oppressed the buddhists by not allowing them to celebrate buddha's birthday.
- Explains that diem thought that this would stop a guerrilla advance into the jungle but he was wrong. when the war came, the fighters gained access by working in the day and fighting at night.
- Explains that he became more unpopular due to corruption in government, and that the voice of the majority was not being heard.
- Explains that diem's army generals assassinated him in november 1963, just one month after president john f kennedy was murdered in dallas, texas.
- Explains that john f kennedy was the us president when the build up to this conflict started. he was known as a dove.
- Analyzes how jfk tried to solve the war by providing the south with military and economic advisers. his policy was to "vietnamise" not "americanise." this was evidence of president truman's doctrine being put into play without using excessive force.
- Explains that jfk was assassinated in dallas, texas in november 1963, which made way for a new president, lyndon baines johnson.
- Explains that lbj was willing to increase us involvement to win the war over communism and add another 'victory' over russia in the cold war.
- Explains that the us government passed the gulf of tonkin resolution, which gave lbj a 'blank cheque' and allowed him to wage an all out war against north vietnam.
- Describes how lbj 'americanized' the vietnam war by sending 500,000 us troops to replace the south vietnamese army in fighting the war against the north.
- Explains that lbj wanted to end the war quickly so that the usa could 'keep face' and not lose their title as a super power due to loosing to such an underdeveloped country.
- Opines that the us lost to the north vietnamese in the cold war because they could only win a conventional war.
1376 wordsRead More - Why America Became Increasingly Involved in the Affairs of Vietnam Between 1954-1965explanatory essayWhy America Became Increasingly Involved in the Affairs of Vietnam Between 1954-1965 America became increasingly involved between 1954-1965 with Vietnam, although very far away and at the start without the American public backing as they believed Vietnam was too far away to fight a war in and they were just getting over WW2. America fought a ruthless war with Vietnam all due to their fear of Communism. In this essay I will explain the reasons why America became involved in the affairs of another country that, on the face of it, had little to do with the USA. After 1893 Vietnam was made part of the French empire. The Vietnamese peasants were exploited and forced to pay high taxes.
In this essay, the author
- Explains why america became increasingly involved in the affairs of vietnam between 1954-1965. america fought a ruthless war with vietnam due to their fear of communism.
- Explains the reasons why america became involved in the affairs of another country that, on the face of it, had little to do with the usa.
- Explains that ho chi minh wanted freedom, independence, and equality for all the vietnamese people. the guerrilla group forced japan, which had invaded vietnam during ww2, to rid themselves of foreign domination and announced the formation of the democratic republic of vietnam.
- Explains that the peasants had no money and were forced to work for extremely low wages and sell their land. stalin, roosevelt and churchill had other ideas about vietnam and divided vietnam into two parts.
- Explains that the vietminh wanted the whole of vietnam to be communist. america was becoming increasingly worried, as half of vietnamese was communist. after ww2, france refused to recognise vietnam.
- Explains that the vietminh had five times more men than the french, and the geneva peace conference was held to solve the ever-present problem of vietnam.
- Explains that at the 17th parallel, it was decided that elections would be held to decide who would rule the whole of vietnam.
- Explains that ho chi minh knew that the public would elect a communist government to lift them out of poverty. eisenhower believed it was up to america to stop communism spreading.
- Explains that the soviet union was communist, while america was capitalist, and declared an ideological war on the capitalist nations of the west during the cold war.
- Explains that president truman's doctrine stated that if any country was threatened by a communist takeover, america would send money, advice and equipment.
- Explains that eisenhower was a strong believer in the domino theory. he knew if he wanted to stop communism spreading, follow the truman doctrine.
- Describes how the'military advisors' mounted a propaganda campaign to persuade people to vote for capitalism in the forth-coming elections. they produced fake documents to turn people against communism.
- Explains that strategic hamlets were one of the many schemes thought up by the americans and diem.
- Explains how the cold war with the soviet union influenced the usa's actions in vietnam.
- Analyzes how kennedy felt bitter towards the soviet union and eventually communism, which made kennedy even more determined to rid vietnam of communism.
- Explains that americans considered enough effort. diem was assassinated by the arvn, america did nothing, and ironically, president kennedy was killed three weeks later.
- Explains that johnson was against communism and a firm believer of the domino theory. he needed an excuse to get the public behind him when the us destroyer 'maddox' was fired upon.
- Explains how maddox retaliated and sank a north vietnamese torpedo ship. the vietcong bombed the us airbase in pleiku in 1965.
- Describes how johnson's attack on north vietnam changed the course of the war and dragged the usa as far as she would go.
- Explains that america became increasingly involved in the affairs of vietnam between 1954-1965, for a number of reasons, but principally because of its fear of communism.
- Explains that vietnam became communist after the french wars. the truman doctrine brought america into the affairs of vietnam, and the cuban missile crisis added tension to the problems.
1182 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