Escalation of American involvement in Vietnam
Discuss the escalation of American involvement in Vietnam from 1960 to 1968. Why did the USA ultimately fail to defeat the North Vietnamese and Vietcong. In 1960, Kennedy was elected as the new president of the United States. As the Cold War raged, Kennedy had ascended to power with the attitude that Americans would "pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and success of liberty." Kennedy was not one to back down from a fight or to allow the name of his country to be soiled. After a failed attempt at invasion in the Bay of Pigs, the movement of Laos from capitalism to communism, and the creation of the Berlin wall, Kennedy decided to use Vietnam to prove the strength of the United States. Kennedy and his young advisers believed that not to resist communism in Vietnam would be another example of weakness. The American involvement had 4 main stages: Indirect involvement, financial support, political involvement and military involvement. In 1961 military advisers were sent to South Vietnam to train the South Vietnamese army. American involvement developed through a series of escalations, as the South Vietnamese regime proved increasingly unable to defeat the Viet Cong by themselves. At first (1956) there were 700 American advisers. In 1959 President John F. Kennedy increased the number to 16,000.
Why did America lose the War in Vietnam?
Why did America lose the War in Vietnam In America, the Tet Offensive was deemed a huge success in preventing the Vietnamese from rising up in 1968. However, within five years, President Lyndon Johnson had announced that he was withdrawing from Vietnam and would not stand for re-election. This stark reversal in fate could have been caused by a number of reasons; the most important being that the Americans did not succeed politically or militarily in Vietnam. The reason for this was both the internal and external cost the war had on America. The internal elements are to do with the fact that the United States lost the public support for the war because of the number of casualties, mistaken government policies and the activist of the anti-war movement. The external costs have to do with the nature of the war itself which required guerrilla tactics which the soldiers were not trained in and the mistaken assumptions that the United States carried into the war. These assumptions included the American notion that they were fighting against Communism, obeying the idea of the domino theory, rather that the independent struggle by the Vietnamese which it actually was, and it was for this reason that America lost the war in Vietnam. One reason why America lost the war was that the soldiers carried with them strong preconceptions on how to fight; fierce head on battles with a clear
Why did the USA withdraw from Vietnam by 1973?
Why did the USA withdraw from Vietnam by 1973? There are several factors involved in the withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam and in this essay I shall be discussing the following: political, economic, social and military as well as discussing these in relation to American forces defeat. I shall also be exploring the American involvement in Vietnam and the differences between the American and Communist strategy, the South Vietnamese government and the American home front and examining why it took so long for America to withdraw from Vietnam. The first factor I will be investigating is military. Some say that a reason for America's withdrawal was that their tactics were inappropriate and brutal; their technology was advanced and they were using weapons that caused mass destruction. One of their tactics was to repeatedly bomb the enemy. They believed that this could destroy the economy and morale of the communists. Between 1969 and 1970, America dropped an average of 100,000 tonnes of bombs a month on South Vietnam. The Americans used mother bombs, napalm, white phosphorus and Agent Orange, all of which were extremely destructive. In 1968, a tactic was introduced called 'Operation Phoenix'. Tens of thousands of Vietcong (VC) were sought out and interrogated. The VC were tortured and killed. Another tactic was to move peasants away from their homes and
How was opposition to the Vietnam War portrayed in contemporary literature, film and popular song?
How was opposition to the Vietnam War portrayed in contemporary literature, film and popular song? In 1967 a national movement against the Vietnam War had developed. Opposition to the war came from all different people. Some were socialists or radicals who had sympathy for the Vietnamese who were trying to get an independent and unified Vietnam. Some were pacifists and religious groups who believed the war was wrong and unchristian. Then finally there were those who simply felt the war was not worth fighting due to all of the young men losing their lives. The real opposition began after the Kent State University incident, when four students were shot dead by National Guards when protests took place. This sparked off 400 protests and strikes in more universities. Opposition to the Vietnam War was portrayed by many in a variety of different ways such as massive demonstrations, campaigns and protests across the country. One way opposition was shown was through Contemporary Literature. Magazines and Newspapers reflected the opinion of the time and were influenced by the authors and owners rather than the public. In the 1960s and early 1970s a slogan known as "Flower Power" was commonly used by hippies as a symbol of passive resistance and non-violence ideology. The slogan was created in order to protest against the Vietnam War in a non- violent way. Its followers wore
How Useful are sources A to C to explain why the United States became involved in the war in Vietnam
Did the power of television force the United States to leave Vietnam? Is there sufficient evidence in sources D to L to support this interpretation? By: Reem Berhane Firstly, not all the sources D to L include sufficient evidence to support the interpretation; did the power of television force the United States to leave Vietnam. Also, all the sources are quite biased, and only show one point of view. Source D, is a North Vietnamese poster from the time showing the problems faced by the Americans fighting a guerrilla war. It shows the American troops, not knowing what they're doing in Vietnam. Also, don't know they're being watched. The Vietcong knew their jungle, very well, as they used guerrilla tactics [booby traps]. The Vietcong, tactic of attrition [kill as many Americans as possible [until surrender], was demoralising the US soldiers. The American tactics search & destroy; [operation rolling thunder-strategic hamlets] did not work as the Vietnamese civilians hated them even more and became Vietcong. The intended audience for this poster were the Vietcong and the innocent civilians, as they have no uniform like the NVA. This is a biased source because, it's a North Vietnamese cartoon poster showing the US, troops as if they don't have a clue what they're doing, and because they don't know they're being watched. This source has its limitations because it's a cartoon
Explain why the United States became increasingly involved in the war in Vietnam?
Explain why the United States became increasingly involved in the war in Vietnam? There were several factors, which caused the United States to become increasingly involved in the Vietnam War, but the key contributory to the growth in US activity in Vietnam was their fear of the country being ruled by a Communist party. I will go into greater detail of these causes during my piece of coursework. Vietnam had been ruled by France since the late nineteenth century. However, the Japanese (Germanys ally in the Second World War) took advantage of France's defeat to Germany in World War Two, claiming the country for themselves. Japan was unable to maintain control of the country as an anti-Japanese party (Viet Minh) was formed and led by Ho Chi Minh who fought back against Japan and declared Vietnams independence. France returned to Vietnam in an attempt to reclaim the country in 1945. Ho Chi Minh did not disclose his communist intentions until 1949 therefore countries like the United States were sympathetic to Vietnam believing the country was just struggling for it's independence. However the United States view on events in Vietnam soon changed in 1949 when China declared it was now ruled by a Communist party led by Mao Tse-tung, who began to give help to Ho Chi Minh. In the USA, at the time, people strongly believed in the Domino theory where if Vietnam were to fall to
How Useful Are Sources A to C To Explain Why The United States Became Involved In The War In Vietnam?
How Useful Are Sources A to C To Explain Why The United States Became Involved In The War In Vietnam? Sources A-C gives us some insight into why the USA fought and got involved in Vietnam and reveals a number of reasons about Vietnam. I shall be reviewing each source from which I have stated above. Sources A, B and C. Source A is a primary public speech made by President Johnson (Lyndon Baines Johnson) in April 1965 just one month after the start of 'Operation Rolling Thunder' helping to stop communism according to the provenance. In the speech Johnson is stating in the source, I quote "We fight in Vietnam because we have a promise to keep". By this statement indeed Johnson did want his opinions to be heard and notified by his fellow American citizens, so they shall believe every word that comes out of Johnson's mouth. This was due to a promise being made by President Eisenhower when he was elected president in the year of 1953. Lyndon Johnson wishes all the Americans to trust in what he is saying to be 100% truthful and is trying to carry on regarding the promise made by Eisenhower and earn everyone's respect. The 'Truman Doctrine' was also mentioned about. This is a list of every American President who had been elected in year 1948 to agree with a various amount of promises which they written then had to sign. Truman Doctrine was a promise they were fighting for "promised
Did The United States Lose On The Vietnam War Home front Or Battlefield?
Did The United States Lose On The Vietnam War Home front Or Battlefield? In this essay I will discuss whether America lost on the battlefield or the home front. People are still arguing about the war even though it finished over thirty years ago showing it is still an important issue today. It is clear that both sides have made a big impact on the outcome of the war. Like the Iraq war now, it was an unpopular guerilla war due to the amount of soldiers who lost their lives . As the Vietnam War was unpopular, the home front weren't very supportive of the soldiers. Soldiers who struggled on the battlefield unable to cope with different the environment and the use of guerilla tactics. From when the first combat troops got sent to Vietnam in 1965, the public were quite supportive. The army were somewhat arrogance and optimism, the U.S soldiers very much understated the Vietnamese abilities at this point. Although some people had pride in America's involvement in the war, there were far more people who didn't agree with the war. People who didn't agree with the war would usually went to more drastic measures to get their opinions heard, e.g. the Black Panthers, . The Black Panthers believed that black people should not be forced to fight in the military service to defend a racist government that does not protect the black community. They said they would not fight and kill other
How Effective Were The Tactics Of Search And Destroy And Defoliation During The Vietnam War?.
How effective was the Tactics of Search and Destroy and Defoliation. Throughout the Vietnam War, there were many tactics used by the USA and General Westmoreland such as Search and Destroy and Defoliation. Throughout all, the tactics of Search and Destroy proved to be the most controversial. These tactics were primarily used to force the end of the war and force the spread of communism away and win ‘Hearts and Minds’ of the Vietnamese people. Search and destroy was mainly used to seek out the enemy and to eliminate its forces within the area. Many of these missions took place as General Westmoreland believed that, if they were able to lower the enemy forces and moral by a substantial amount it would win them the war. This he thought could be achieved by the USA’s superiority of firepower including intensive aerial bombardment and the uses of helicopters and tanks. Similarly, he used to the advantage of the huge amount of soldiers available in the USA. He already had approximately 16,000 men, but in1964 the troop number topped almost 500,000 men. However, these men were not adequately trained for the terrain and situation in Vietnam. Most of these men had been through only 12 weeks of training. This was hardly enough to ensure their survival. This made it extremely difficult for the soldiers as the enemy (Vietcong/Vietminh) and NVA were more trained to fight in this
The USA should have been successful in Vietnam because of its technological and military supremacy. However the USA failed to use this supremacy efficiently to defeat a smaller less advanced enemy? Do you agree or disagree with this interpretation?
Vietnam Coursework; Question Two. The USA should have been successful in Vietnam because of its technological and military supremacy. However the USA failed to use this supremacy efficiently to defeat a smaller less advanced enemy? Do you agree or disagree with this interpretation? Explain your answer using sources D-K and knowledge from your studies. I agree that America failed to use its supremacy to defeat a smaller less advanced country, Vietnam. We can see this from the fact that the US was able to help defeat the Nazis, the Japanese and Koreans before Vietnam, and those countries were much more developed than Vietnam. In this essay I will express my feelings on the Vietnam War using facts and my own opinions to prove that the US failed to use their supremacy effectively. Firstly, Source D shows us a bar chart showing the amount of US Troops in Vietnam, we can say it is reliable because it is based on fact and is very similar to ones in our text books, however it has no details showing where it comes from so it cant be useful in that sense, but we can easily double check and see that it is aligned with other charts of the same standing. We can see that after the 1968-69 Tet Offensive, a lot of Us Troops came to Vietnam to support the NVA and we can see the dramatic fall of troops after the Offensive going down from 500,000 to a mere 20-40,000 range. This source is one