What were the consequences of the Vietnam War for civilians in both the United States and Vietnam following the U.S withdrawal from the war?

History GCSE Coursework

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Vietnam Post 1939

Assignment 1

What were the consequences of the Vietnam War for civilians in both the United States and Vietnam following the U.S withdrawal from the war?

When America had fully pulled out of the Vietnamese War in 1973, civilians of both Vietnam and America were left in devastation. The war was a stalemate due to the Viet Cong’s determination in the war, therefore leaving America no option but to pull out. In the few years after the war, Americans had to learn to deal with losing the war, while the Vietnamese still had a full-scale war on their hands.

There were still Americans who wanted the war to continue, and pro-war Americans were ashamed of their country. Although many Americans were in favour of ending the war, the pain of defeat was still evident, and war-based movies help them get over the loss. Many Americans had lost their faith in the government and not only the American public were questioning their status as a world ‘superpower’. On the other front, in Vietnam, it could be nothing but relief when the Americans left the war. America left nothing but destruction and disease in Vietnam were due to chemical weapons, farmland was contaminated and people in close contact to the chemical Agent Orange (from both sides) were prone to cancer, and bearing deformed offspring.

Many American soldiers returning from Vietnam would suffer psychologically (post traumatic stress), or would have physical disabilities. ‘Veterans’ found it hard to hold down a job, due to mental or physical state and their status as a war veteran. Even worse for the veterans, they had gone to Vietnam to fight for their country, and now were seen as failures. After the war in Vietnam, some Americans, of which some were soldiers, wrote anti-war songs describing their feelings and experiences in the war. These songs give an insight on what soldiers had to put up with, and highlight the ...

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History GCSE Coursework

Candidate Name: Anthony Skeete

Candidate Number: 7104

Vietnam Post 1939

Assignment 1

What were the consequences of the Vietnam War for civilians in both the United States and Vietnam following the U.S withdrawal from the war?

lies being fed to them by the U.S government. On the other hand, to this the North Vietnamese citizens would have been delighted that America had pulled out, yet devastated in the condition their country was left in. Anti-communist South Vietnamese citizens would have mixed emotions about America’s withdrawal from the war. Some would be upset about the condition of the land and happy with the so-called ally’s withdrawal. Others would feel that due to the withdrawal, the communist takeover would be imminent, and wish the Americans hadn’t withdrew.

After the war, America went through a long-term guilt trip, were they made movies about the war. These movies were made to numb the guilt, and are anti-war as the conduct of America in the war is morally seen as wrong. Movies such as ‘Apocalypse Now’ and ‘Born On The Fourth Of July’ were released to help America get over the loss of the war, and to lift the American public’s moral. American politicians feared a loss in votes, if they showed any sort of regard for the war effort, and no monument for the dead was built until years after. This highlights the amount of anti-war support in America.

Anti-communist South Vietnamese citizens and the American public would both share the feeling of America’s involvement being useless, after the fall of Saigon in 1975. All the misplaced bombs and casualties to both sets of people in the end amounted to nothing as North and South Vietnam united under communist control. The post war economic problems were bad enough for Vietnam but to add insult to injury, for both sides, the conflict continues, as Vietnam fight Cambodia (1978), and China (1979). Thousands of Vietnamese began to leave, many by boat (known as ‘the boat people’).

History GCSE Coursework

Candidate Name: Anthony Skeete

Candidate Number: 7104

Vietnam Post 1939

Assignment 1

What were the consequences of the Vietnam War for civilians in both the United States and Vietnam following the U.S withdrawal from the war?

They left Vietnam for Hong Kong, Thailand and Malaysia, although Malaysia rejected them.

Overall the consequences of the Vietnam War for civilians in Vietnam meant either disease, starvation or worse poverty than before. America had gone in, although dubiously, to make conditions better and had ultimately failed, and unlike many Vietnamese they didn’t have to suffer them consequences. In America, it was a different type of sadness. Many Americans regretted their country’s conduct, and the humiliation of losing to such a small nation. It took five presidents over two decades to end the war. All of them promised to end the war, so the American public were feeling bitterly let down by their country’s government. To this day, both sides are still recovering from the war in one way or another, and recently the U.S have lifted their trade embargo on Vietnam in 1993, and re-established full diplomatic relations, more than twenty years after the war had ended.