Part of The Student Room Group

  • Join over 1.2 million students every month
  • Accelerate your learning by 29%
  • Unlimited access from just £6.99 per month

How useful are sources A - C in explaining why the U.S became involved in the war in Vietnam?

Extracts from this document...

Introduction

How useful are sources A - C in explaining why the U.S became involved in the war in Vietnam? All the sources are useful to a certain extent in explaining why the U.S became involved in the war in Vietnam. They don't explain fully why but they all have useful content that can be linked to the question. All the sources are written by Americans and this could be a reason why the sources aren't completely reliable but we can't be sure until we examine the sources. I'm going to examine the content in the sources and use my own knowledge to answer the question. Source A describes the U.S fears of a Communist victory in Vietnam. ...read more.

Middle

The source was written just one month after the start of Operation Rolling Thunder. Operation Rolling Thunder was a frequently interrupted bombing campaign that began on 24 February 1965 and lasted until the end of October 1968. During this period the U.S Air Force and Navy aircraft engaged in a bombing campaign designed to force Ho Chi Minh to abandon his ambition to take over South Vietnam. Source B is also written by President Johnson but this time the source is taken from a private conversation. The source does not say who the conversation was with but it's still an important piece of evidence that we need to take into account when we are studying the source. ...read more.

Conclusion

From what we can read Chomsky is anti - war and we notice this as the source seems to be one sided. We can't really relate the source to the question because its content doesn't really include information as to why the U.S became involved. As Chomsky is an American critic of the war we expect his information to be biased against America. We also have to take into account that critics only show one side of the argument, what they believe is right. I have come to the conclusion that when the sources are put together with my own knowledge they are a factual piece of information that explains how and why the U.S became involved in the Vietnam War. ...read more.

The above preview is unformatted text

This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our AS and A Level International History, 1945-1991 section.

Found what you're looking for?

  • Start learning 29% faster today
  • 150,000+ documents available
  • Just £6.99 a month

or


Not the one? Search for your essay title...
  • Join over 1.2 million students every month
  • Accelerate your learning by 29%
  • Unlimited access from just £6.99 per month

See related essaysSee related essays

Related AS and A Level International History, 1945-1991 essays

  1. Marked by a teacher

    World War One Sources Question

    3 star(s)

    Also the Germans began to run out of the necessary chemicals. America declared war on Germany on April 6, 1917 as a result of the U-boat attacks on neutral shipping. America's regular army was small, inexperienced to modern warfare and ill equipped.

  2. Vietnam Coursework Sources Question

    This was not good, as the very people they were trying to protect from the Viet Cong did not support them. This was a major failure of the Americans. Source E also shows how the Viet Cong were told to act just like the South Vietnamese civilians, "move like fish

  1. How Useful are Sources A-C to explain why the United States became involved in ...

    without more soldiers, the NLF would take over control of South Vietnam. On March 8, 3,500 US marines arrived in South Vietnam to protect the air bases being used to bomb North Vietnam. By the end of the year there would be 200, 000 of them.

  2. History Coursework - How useful are sources A, B and C in explaining why ...

    All in all I would say that this source is useful in giving us some reasons for the USA's involvement in the war and clarifying that peace must be restored and kept in Vietnam. However as this is taken from a speech it could be unreliable.

  1. How useful are sources A to C to explain why the United States became ...

    the bombing and attacks on Vietnam, and he could just be identifying reasons that will help receive most support from the public for the war. He is speaking after the Gulf of Tonkin incident where two American ships were attacked so he is speaking in the 'heat of the moment'

  2. How Useful are Sources A to C to Explain Why the United States Became ...

    Source A also gives some of the historical context. '...from Berlin to Thailand-there are people whose well-being rests on the belief...' this tells us that people all around the world are relying on USA at that time, which indicates that America was one of the worlds strongest powers a few years after World War 2 had occurred.

  1. How useful are Sources A to C in explaining why the United States became ...

    President Johnson was bitterly anti-Communist, which is one of the main reasons America went into war against Vietnam. Johnson feared a spread of Communism around the world. In the source there is no reference to Communism or mention of any of the causes of this conflict and why war is actually necessary to preserve the peace.

  2. How useful are sources A to C to explain why the United States became ...

    A totalitarian Communist regime also arose in Albania under Enver Hoxha, but without explicit Soviet assistance. In Asia, Soviet forces occupied Manchuria at the end of World War II, and then expanded military aid to allow the Communists under Mao Zedong to regain control over China during the final stages of the Chinese Civil War from 1946 to 1949.

  • Over 160,000 pieces
    of student written work
  • Annotated by
    experienced teachers
  • Ideas and feedback to
    improve your own work