The Anti-War Movement - source related questions and answers

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Vietnam Coursework – Part Two

The Anti-War Movement

Question 1-

Source A is telling the story of what happened in ‘My Lia’ and stating that the soldiers were young and inexperienced. It also states that as soon as these young soldiers started to gain a bit of experience, they were sent back home.

This source is from a book called ‘Four hours in My Lai’, by Michael Bilton, published in 1962. It is written in a casual style and by the name of this author we can tell that he was not Vietnamese. This source may have been written to give an account of ‘My Lai’ and the reasons why the alleged atrocities took place. The main reason he gives us is that the soldiers were young and afraid.

I know from my own knowledge that the American soldiers in the Vietnam war were young, some were as young as 18. I also know that there was a very high casualty rate and the source confirms this as it states, ‘Soldiers were most likely to die in the first month’. However, the limitations of this source are that it does not give us enough information on the events of ‘My Lai’ and does not mention the older officers there to assist the young soldiers. It also does not say that the American soldiers did not win the hearts and minds of the Vietnamese people as they did not know the language and their way of life whereas the Vietcong did.

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In conclusion, I do think this source is an accurate interpretation of the problems faced by American soldiers in Vietnam only to the extent that it supports my knowledge that the soldiers that took part in the war were very young. However, this source does not give enough information about other problems faced by the soldiers in Vietnam such as their unpopularity with the Vietnamese people.

Question 2-

Sources B to F are all useful in some way for explaining why there was an anti-war movement in the United States during the 1960’s and early 1970’s.

Source B is ...

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