U.S. political and military difficulties in Iraq prompted comparisons to the American war in Vietnam. There are many reasons why some Americans believe that Iraq was turning into the new Vietnam—the two wars are a bit comparable. Even so, there are also many people who viewed the war in Iraq as a separate and completely different war from the Vietnam War. Although the wars are quite similar, I was also able to pinpoint some contrasting points of the two.
The United States had stumbled into another overseas quagmire—history seemed to be repeating itself when, once again, we were led by a group of men who launched wars without exit strategies and fail to understand the nature of their enemy. The United States got involved in order to stop the spread of communism. The belief was that if Vietnam fell, so then would Cambodia, Laos, etc. Vietnam was the longest war the U.S. had ever been it—15 years. In Vietnam, Americans were told that the U.S. was involved because the
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The Iraq war also differed from the Vietnam War in operation standpoints. The United States fought in Vietnam from 1965 to 1973, and yet they never officially declared war in congress. Also, far more soldiers were killed in Vietnam than in Iraq: after 8 years in Vietnam, 58,148 U.S. soldiers were killed, while after 11 years, over 5,000 troops died. The major difference in the number of killed troops helps depict the operational differences.
Another disparity was that Iraq did not have a functioning air force or the helpful air defenses that Vietnam had. The Vietnam War, unlike the Iraq War, had a long drawn out aerial bombing component. From 1962 to 1973, the U.S. Air Force flew almost 550,000 combat planes in South Vietnam alone. In terms of bombs dropped, it was the largest air war in history.
America needs to take a serious look at these wars and examine why we repeatedly get involved in painful and costly conflicts. We attempt to fight these unconventional wars with conventionally-trained
Was US involvement in Vietnam Justified? US involvement in Vietnam was to large extent unjustified. Even though the United States. Even though the United States, and other western countries, alleged that American involvement in Vietnam was morally justified (Source B)
The novel, A Better War: The Unexamined Victories and Final Tragedy of America’s Last Years in Vietnam, written by Lewis Sorley, is an important and influential book that sheds light on the often neglected final years in Vietnam from 1968 to 1975 and revises our knowledge of the war and its conclusion. Lewis Sorley is an American intelligence analyst and military historian. Sorley spent much time interviewing those who have served in Vietnam so that he could gain information on their experiences and how the war truly was for them. This novel includes live stories from those willing enough to share their experiences. Sorely explains throughout the novel that Vietnam may not be as we thought it to be, but actually much more.
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
“I thought the Vietnam war was an utter, unmitigated disaster, so it was very hard for me to say anything good about it” - George McGovern. There are numerous controversial topics dispersed among the subject of American history due to the amount of unethical decisions that have been made in order to improve the lives of the people or keep America out of the clutches of war. Throughout American history, historians have debated the ethical impact that the Vietnam war had on the United States. Although some people may believe that the Vietnam War achieved the goal of avoiding communism and protecting the people, the overarching idea is that it was an unjust war because of the countless lives that were lost from the participating countries, the
Patriotism played a big role in the Vietnam War because of the soldiers that came before them and serving for those people. Also family was a big part because of the beliefs and religion of the family members that came before you. During the Vietnam War, the Hawks and Doves were two groups but some people thought neither were correct or parts of
Taylor Price Tensions of Vietnam The Vietnam War was one of the most protested and hated wars ever fought by the United States. Though the end of previous wars were celebrated by civilians and soldiers alike, the Vietnam War never came to a victorious resolution. The soldiers of previous wars were loved and thanked for their service, while some Vietnam veterans felt ignored and even hated.
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.
The Vietnam War The war in Vietnam was an enduring struggle for independence that lasted twenty years. After being colonized and controlled by Japan, France, and China, Vietnam was ready to revolutionize and gain their independence. Once Ho Chi Minh, the new leader of Vietnam, adopted communism the United States became more worried about Soviet aggression. A communist Vietnam meant that neighboring countries could fall to communism through a theory called the domino theory. As the war began the United States soon found themselves in a state of social, economic, and political turmoil.
Starting from November 1, 1955, the day the Vietnam War began, the war has brought nothing but pain to the lives of the American Soldiers. They were forced to kill, and witness mass murder of friends and innocent civilians of Vietnam. In order to escape these traumatic experiences, soldiers resorted to drugs. Drugs like marijuana, opiates, amphetamines and barbiturates.
One of the most controversial wars in history and a turning point in American foreign policy, the emotions and events surrounding the Vietnam War capture the essence of the era. The rise of rebellious youth culture and anti-war and anti-draft movements were key social aspects of American life leading up to and during the fighting. (Doc 2, 3) On the political side, Congress aimed to control the Chief-Executive with legislation such as the War Powers Act of 1973, requiring the president to remove all unreported troops in Vietnam and report any further sent. (Doc 7) To say the country was divided would be a massive understatement.
Either it being self defense, economic gain or for a political movement, War is influenced by many factors that lead to catastrophic results. Both the Gulf and Vietnam wars are explained by the article, “Military Multiculturalism in the Gulf War and After” and short story “The Things They Carried” that signify the blind eye displayed by humans during these wars. What allows Humans to process traumatic events is to turn the other way around and fill their minds with joyful moments in their life. A couple of ways are displayed in both the short story and article are the soldiers letting their mind escape and thinking about the things they brought with them from home and the public accepting the medias filtered perspective of war by supporting
The Vietnam War began in the year 1957 and did not conclude till the year 1975. However, the United States did not enter the war till 1965, and left by 1973 (Skinner 1). When the U.S. made the decision to go to war, not everyone in the country was pleased. The country was divided over the idea of the U.S. getting involved in a foreign-affair war. Some believed that the U.S. had a responsibility to assist South Vietnam, a U.S. ally.
It is quite difficult to compare two wars that happened 180 years apart from each other, the Vietnam war 1955 to 1975, and the American Revolutionary war 1775 to 1783. Yes, both wars are all that different from each other, in fact I would say that they were the two least similar wars in American history. These wars are very similar because they both used guerilla warfare, a form of irregular warfare that uses tactics such as ambushes, sabotage, raids, and mobility to fight a larger less mobile military force. However a major difference in the wars was that the Revolutionary war was fought to gain independence, while the Vietnam war was fought to maintain independence. Another difference is that the U.S. were ‘Victors’ in the Revolutionary war, and were not so in the Vietnam war.
1. Summarize the reasons that one individual might have been strongly opposed to the Vietnam War while another person from the same family or circle of friends may have supported the war. Many Americans were strongly opposed to the Vietnam war. These Americans had many reasons to resent the war effort occurring in Vietnam. One reason that many, especially young men, opposed the war effort was because of the draft.
The key difference is in the motivations behind the war and how it affects the results. In the