The Vietnam War was a conflict between the Vietnamese government that was under French administration and the pro-communist Vietnamese citizens who were fighting for independence from foreign influence. The United States’ armed forces entered into the conflict in support of the colonial administration in an attempt to stop the spread of Chinese and Soviet influence and communism in the region. The Vietnam War is arguably the longest war, lasting 11 years, from 1964 to 1975, and costing the lives of more than 58,000 Americans and countless numbers of Vietnamese. U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War came about when communist North Vietnam sought to unify an anti-communist South Vietnam (Benson, Sonia, et al., 2009). As the war escalated and the
The Vietnam War was fought between the North and South Vietnamese over Communism. The North pushed for a communist regime while the South favored a more democratic government. During the time of this war, the U.S. was pushing towards containing Communism, and vowed to support any nation resisting communism. Although America’s policy of containment had good intentions, this often led to the support of corrupt leaders and governments. President Ngo Dinh Diem of South Vietnam was Catholic and did not lead well.
The Vietnam War was one of the deadliest and long lasting wars of the 20th century; lasting 20 years from November 1955, ending in April 1975. Initially, the Vietnamese fought for independence from France and won in 1954 though the country was split into two ideologies, the communist North and the republican South. North Vietnam supported the Viet Cong insurgencies in the South resulting in the start of the war. The United States, Australia and other nations were directly involved in the fighting to defend South Vietnam from the Viet Cong and North Vietnam. The war eventually came to a stalemate until the North Vietnamese launched a surprise attack known as the Tet Offensive which proved to be the pivotal and decisive moment of the war.
The war escalated and North Vietnam increased its support to the Vietcong. By the end of 1968 the number of American troops was
The Vietnam war was a troubling war that lasted from 1955 to 1975. It was located in Vietnam and was fought by the U.S., as well as North and South Vietnam. There was bloodshed from both sides and many innocent lives lost. The Vietnam war was not only a troubling time in Vietnam, but also for the United States. Richard Nixon was the United States president at the time of the war and was the one that pushed America into joining the war, but realized he only cared about winning.
The Vietnam conflict began long before the U.S. became directly involved. Indochina, which includes Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, was under French colonial rule. In 1946 communists in the north started fighting France for control of the
On March 8th, 1965 the United States officially entered the Vietnam War. A war that was supposed to be fought between the North and South side of Vietnam. The war lasted between 1955 to 1975, with over 58 thousand US soldiers being killed, 2 Million Vietnam civilians being murdered and over a million Vietnamese and Vietcong soldiers also dying. The Vietnam War heightened social and political tension in the United States from 1964-1975.
November 1, 1955 marked the beginning of the conflict in Vietnam. The Vietnam War was a fight against the Domino Theory, or the idea of the spreading of communism. Northern Vietnam was a communist territory, and the United States government feared that Southern Vietnam would soon become a communist state as well. In order to prevent this from happening, the US government drafted many young Americans to fight against Northern Vietnam. At first, many Americans supported the country’s involvement, though as time went on, many people became weary of the country’s involvement in the battle.
The Vietnam War has been a subject of much debate throughout the years, whether or not the United States should have gotten involved, and if the United States won the part of the war they were involved with. The Americans were involved in the Cold War, against the Communist regime. So, it was not a big surprise that the United States got involved in Vietnam, trying to stop North Communist Vietnam from overtaking by force South Vietnam. After the Vietnamese fired torpedoes at an American ship on August 2, 1964, in the Gulf of Tonkin, President Lyndon Johnson had Congress declare that the United States could use military force against Vietnam. However, Congress never officially declared war against Vietnam so the American presence was not sanctioned.
Although the wars weren’t far apart at all, the receptions of the two were vastly different. The wars were fought a generation apart. For the most part, the parents of those who were draft eligible in the Vietnam War served in World War II. However, the people weren’t as keen on going to war. It wasn’t all the people’s fault though, the government wasn’t all that trusted at the time.
American involvement occur because American officials supported the domino theory, which was the belief that a communist victory in South Vietnam would cause non communists governments to fall to communism. “American officials believed in the domino theory, which held that a communist victory in South Vietnam would cause noncommunist governments across Southeast Asia to fall to communism like a row of dominoes. To prevent such a disaster, the United States stepped in to shore up the Diem government” (page 797). America became more involved in the Vietnam War after Diem’s death, the United States started working with ruling generals to defeat the threat from communist rebels. “After Diem's death, the United States became more deeply involved
The Vietnam War was the most controversial war in American history. The United States promised to help any country who was threatened by communism. In the beginning, many Americans supported the United States getting involved and helping South Vietnam. When the truth started coming out and people realized the war was not almost over, people’s feelings changed toward the idea of war. Many Southern Vietnamese people were killed because the American soldiers couldn’t tell who was who.
I was a veteran in Vietnam War, and have been released from active duty. I opposed the Vietnam War and the U.S. involvement in it. I spent 2 years in Vietnam, and have been wounded many times, and have had saved my crew many times. I have received 3 purple hearts, a bronze star, and a silver star. Yet despite all of this, I realize that the United State’s involvement in Vietnam is not only not beneficial to the U.S. economy or U.S. troop morale, but just plain wrong.
The Vietnam War Background The communist regime of North Vietnam and its southern allies, known as the Viet Cong. The North Vietnamese government and the Viet Cong were fighting to reunify Vietnam as a communist nation. As a colonial war and a continuation the First Indochina war against forces from France and then the United States. The Vietnam War began in 1954 the war was fought between the North and was supported by the Soviet Union and other communist allies.
The Vietnam War was a war the United States should have never been involved in. The “Domino Theory” was a direct cause of the war. The war resulted in much death; innocent civilians and young Americans were killed. The Vietnam war also resulted in rioting, distrust for the United States government, and the loss of many lives. 58,000 Americans were killed and 300,000 were wounded.
