US and the Vietnam War
The American's defeat in the Vietnam War Why couldn't the United States of America succeed in the Vietnam War? By: Chia Ni Wu Word Count: 2564 Table of Contents Table of Contents.........................................................................................................2 A. Plan of the Investigation.......................................................................................3 B. Summary of Evidence.............................................................................................4 C. Evaluation of Sources............................................................................................6 D. Analysis...................................................................................................................7 E. Conclusion...............................................................................................................10 F. List of Sources.........................................................................................................11 A. Plan of Investigation The focus of the study is on the reasons why couldn't the United States succeed in the Vietnam War (1959-1975). This study focuses towards the end of the Vietnam War, where after thirteen years of war, United States was surprised by the fact that, how could such a developed nation with all the military power, not win in a war against an
Vietnam - reasons the US lost the war.
VIETNAM PAPER- Why did we lose? Top of Form The United States involvement in Vietnam started when the Vietnamese were fighting the French for independence. From the year 1945 up until 1975 the United States had a role in lives of many Vietnamese and Americans. This war was consisted North Vietnam, South Vietnam and the Americans after the French decided to give up to Vietnam. According to the United States we decided to go to war to stop communism from taking over Asia, also known as the "Domino Theory" and its freedom from attack. The Vietnamese had another reason to continue fighting the United States. First, the people were nationalists and they loved their country and believed in independence. This is what allowed them to win the war with strong confidence. Today many people still question, what were the reasons for the United States fiasco in Vietnam? The United States did not succeed politically or military in Vietnam due to internal and external cost. The internal elements have to do with the fact that the United States lost public support for the war due to number of casualties, mistaken government policies and the activists of the anti war movement. The external costs have to do with the nature of war itself which was more of guerilla war and with the mistaken assumptions that's the United States carried into the war. These mistaken assumptions includes the belief
Explain Why The US Became Increasingly Involved In The Vietnam War
Explain Why the US became increasingly involved in the war in Vietnam. Vietnam in South East Asia had always been a desirable country wanted for its many resources of rice, corn, coal and rubber . Since the 19th century, it was ruled by France and called Indo China. Apart from one rebellion in 1930, France had total control of the country until they surrendered to Germany in the Second World War (1940). Japan, Germany's ally, took control of Vietnam and the resources in it, such as coal, rice, rubber, railways and roads. An anti-Japanese resistance organisation, which was called the Viet Minh and led by Ho Chi Minh - a communist - was formed. At the end of the war, the Viet Minh controlled the North Vietnam and had dreams to control the rest. Japan had gone when they entered Hanoi in 1945 and declared Vietnamese independence. When war broke out between France and Vietnam in 1946 because the French wanted to take control of Vietnam again the Viet Cong, which was a communist-supporting group against the Americans set up in the South of Vietnam, used guerrilla tactics against the French which proved very successful. These involved hit and run raids and other tactics that the French hadn't experienced before and made them almost impossible to beat. To begin with, the USA was sympathetic towards the Viet Minh because they viewed the situation as Vietnam wanting to have
Why the US became increasingly involved in the war in Vietnam
Why the US became increasingly involved in the war in Vietnam America became increasingly involved in the war in Vietnam, mainly because of the domino theory, the fear of the spread of communism. If South Vietnam fell to the communist the US feared that communism would spread throughout Asia and to neighbouring countries. The influence of the previous presidents also caused another main reason for the US to become more involved in Vietnam. But there is one underlining fact; if the 'French had not left, America would not have become involved in Vietnam at all. There are many more reasons for America to increase involvement in Vietnam, and all of these can be listed in long and short-term reasons, such as Domino theory being long term and Gulf of Tonkin being short term. Some of the reasons have higher influence in the increase in involvement in Vietnam, while others being less important (for example the Gulf of Tonkin incident). The most important factor for America's involvement was the Domino Theory, conceived by President Eisenhower, which was originally President Truman's Theory of Containment (Theory evolving into Domino Theory).The theory of containment was the idea of not actually stopping communism but containing it within a country to stop communism from spreading. This theory was used in the Korean War( 1950-53) and had succeeded in containing communism in North
Vietnam War.
Vietnam War, military struggle fought in Vietnam from 1959 to 1975. It began as a determined attempt by Communist guerrillas (the so-called Vietcong) in the South, backed by Communist North Vietnam, to overthrow the government of South Vietnam. The struggle widened into a war between South Vietnam and North Vietnam and ultimately into a limited international conflict. The United States and some 40 other countries supported South Vietnam by supplying troops and munitions, and the USSR and the People's Republic of China furnished munitions to North Vietnam and the Vietcong. On both sides, however, the burden of the war fell mainly on the civilians. The war also engulfed Laos, where the Communist Pathet Lao fought the government from 1965 to 1973 and succeeded in abolishing the monarchy in 1975; and Cambodia, where the government surrendered in 1975 to the Communist Khmer Rouge. This article is concerned primarily with the military aspects of the war; for further discussion of the historical and political issues involved, see Vietnam: History. Vietnamese Independence Struggle (1945-1954). The war developed as a sequel to the struggle (1946-1954) between the French, who were the colonial rulers of Indo-China before World War II, and the Communist-led Vietminh, or League for the Independence of Vietnam, founded and headed by the revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh. Having emerged
Vietnam war
Vietnam Research Project Introduction The Vietnam War was the longest and most unpopular war in American history, the toll they paid wasn't just monetary, it cost the people involved dearly physically and mentally. Causing suffering, sorrow, and national turmoil because of bad press meant that Americans were divided. Which is why this project will be split into questions, which means I can concentrate on one aspect of the Vietnam War at a time. I shall endeavour to delve into to these questions, answering as best I can (with the help of varied historical resources from the Internet, books etc). Which leads me on to tell you the aims of this project, which are: . To RESEARCH, SELECT and PRESENT information from a variety of historical sources: narrative accounts, maps, photos, eyewitness accounts; government documents, statistics, etc. 2. To make critical use of historical sources to answer specific historical questions. 3. To understand and be able to explain the causes, key features and consequences of the Vietnam War for America, and her status as a superpower. 4. To recognize and explain different interpretations of the conflict. Why did the USA become involved in Vietnam? Vietnam was originally a French colony, during the Second World War it was taken form the French, and consequently after WW2 it was returned to the French.
Vietnam war
* Total U.S. bomb tonnage dropped during: World War II = 2 057 244 tons Vietnam War = 7 078 032 tons (3.44 times as much as WWII) * Bomb tonnage dropped during the Vietnam War amounted to 000 lbs. for every man, woman and child in Vietnam. * An estimated 70 000 draft evaders and "dodgers" were living in Canada by 1972. * A Cornell University study placed the over-all total U.S. cost of the Vietnam war at $200 Billion * 30 April 1969 - Peak US troop strength 543 000 * Approximately 12,000 helicopters saw action in Vietnam * 9,087,000 military personnel served on active duty during the Vietnam era (August 5, 1964 - May 7, 1975). * 8,744,000 GIs were on active duty during the war (August 5, 1964 - March 28, 1973). * Married men killed: 17,539. * 61% of the men killed were 21 or younger. * Hostile (VC, NVA) deaths: 47,359. * Non-hostile (US, ARVN) deaths: 10,797. * POWs: 766 (114 died in captivity). * Total draftees (1965-73): 1,728,344. * Draftees accounted for 30.4% (17,725) of combat deaths in Vietnam. * Twenty-five (25) percent of the total United States forces serving in Vietnam were draftees * 76% of the men sent to Vietnam were from lower middle/ working class backgrounds * 82% of veterans who saw heavy combat strongly believe the war was lost because of lack of political will * (1993) Nearly 75% of the public agrees it was a failure of political
Vietnam War.
VIETNAM WAR For much of Vietnam's history it has been under foreign rule, primarily by the Chinese. In 1860, France began its domination of the area and had, by the late 19th century, implemented its colonization in a number of regions around the Gulf of Tonkin. During WWII, the Japanese government took control of much of the area and set up a puppet regime that was eventually forced out by the Vietnamese at the end of that war in 1945. After WWII and until 1955, France fought hard to regain their former territories in the region, but with a poorly organized army and little determination among the troops, their efforts soon collapsed. The French were finally defeated at Dien Bien Phu on the 8th of May 1954 by the communist general Vo Nguyen Giap. The French troops withdrew, leaving a buffer zone separating the North and South and set up elections in order to form a government in the South. The communist regime set up its headquarters in Hanoi under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh. Many North Vietnamese left the country and fled south where the self-proclaimed president, Ngo Dinh Diem had formed the Republic of Vietnam. Between 1955 and 1960, the North Vietnamese with the assistance of the southern communist Vietcong, tried to take over the government in South Vietnam, and in November 1963 President Diem was overthrown and executed. The following year, the North Vietnamese
Explain why the US withdrew its forces from the Vietnam War in 1973
Explain why the US withdrew its forces from the Vietnam War in 1973. In the early 1960s, the American president, John F. Kennedy pledged financial and military aid to the struggling South Vietnam. As political unrest grew the support from a war in North Vietnam grew and 1963, and with John Kennedy's assassination in 1963, President Johnson felt that, to keep in with the U.S. foreign policy of containment, he would have to send a vast amount of young soldiers into Vietnam to help fight the rising influence of the Viet Cong. For over ten years, the U.S. pledged thousands of young troops and billions in financial aid until public opinion and guerilla tactics forced the U.S. to withdrawal from Vietnam, claiming that they hadn't been defeated but that they had left in their own right. But in reality, a tiny, lesser economically developed country had successfully defeated a new super power. This was due to many reasons, both short and long-term, such as the political unrest in the U.S., fighting conditions, military tactics and lack of trained unity within the U.S. forces, all of which will be dealt with in this essay. In the mid-1800s, Vietnam was colonized by French forces, which imposed dramatic political and cultural changes on to the country. And though they helped boost the country's economy, fuelled by exports, the French government often ignore calls for self-government
Vietnam War
Document Based Essay Topic: Vietnam War In 1954, Vietnam brutally defeated France in the battle of Dien Bien Phu, thus ending a nine year war. The US had supported France under the policy of containment, and began their involvement in Vietnam. As the United States got progressively more involved, it got worse and worse, and eventually turned into what is now called the Vietnam War. Support of the policy of containment quickly diminished, as Americans questioned the validity of their presence in Vietnam, due to bad media which caused nation wide anti-war movements and lowered the morale of American troops, causing the inevitability of American defeat. The policy of containment had been in use for many years by that time, and Americans felt it was their duty to stop the spread of communism. In the beginning of the war, many people believed the United States was doing what was morally right by entering Vietnam. Barry Goldwater backed this up in his speech by saying, "we are at war in Vietnam and we must have the will to win that war....the security of all Asia hinges on this crucial battle" (F). Americans, however, did not obtain this will due to the lack of support. Goldwater goes on to say that the United States was at risk of "committing to communist domination its resources and its people" (F). Vietnam and its surrounding countries were vital traders of important raw
