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Recommended: History of vietnam
In the first episode, “Deja Vu”, details Vietnam’s experience with the French in control, the revolutions that took place to change the nation, and the impact of Americans. This episode documents events that occurred from 1858 to 1961. Most of the episode takes place in Vietnam, but at times the setting switches to different locations due to a change in footage and images. During this period in history, Vietnam wanted to become an independent nation and divide the country into north and south. After eight years of fighting in a barbaric war with Ho Chi Minh and his followers, the French were unable to preserve Indochina, which in turn led to the region’s demise. Although Ho Chi Minh and his followers were once the heroes, in my opinion,
they later became inexorable enemies of the Americans. At this point in history, the Americans wanted to take the same path as the French, as the US wanted to create a non communist region in the south of Vietnam (Geneva). Around the time of the Cold War, Geneva was set in place and divided into two zones Many communists from the North disagreed with turning the south into a non communist region, so they sought to restructure the nation. On the other end of the spectrum, American supported the building of a non communist nation and sided with the ideas of Ngo Dinh Diem. Furthermore, Americans played a role in territory and alliances.At the beginning of the episode, Karl, a former marine who fought in Vietnam introduces himself and talks about his friends and the experiences of war. Ken Burns does an amazing job introducing the marine and building an emotion for viewers just in the first few words of the episode.With including an actual marine like Karl, I felt a sense of belief in the events that occurred and the emotions that were felt by those actually being affected by the war. In addition, Ken Burns uses many images that evoke sadness for those who had to experience hardships during that time period. Additionally, the sounds featured in the documentary such as the helicopter choppers really allows the episode to feel realistic and even more moving in a sense.
Herring begins his account with a summary of the First Indochina War. He reports that the Vietnamese resisted French imperialism as persistently as they had Chinese. French colonial policies had transformed the Vietnamese economic and social systems, giving rise to an urban middle class, however; the exploitation of the country and its people stimulated more radical revolutionary activity. Herring states that the revolution of 1945 was almost entirely the personal creation of the charismatic leader Ho Chi Minh. Minh is described as a frail and gentle man who radiated warmth and serenity, however; beneath this mild exterior existed a determined revolutionary who was willing to employ the most cold- blooded methods in the cause to which he dedicated his life. With the guidance of Minh, the Vietminh launched as a response to the favorable circumstances of World War II. By the spring of 1945, Minh mobilized a base of great support. When Japan surrendered in 1945, the Vietminh filled the vacuum. France and the Vietminh attempted to negotiate an agreement, but their goals were irreconcilable.
Mark Atwood Lawrence’s The Vietnam War: A Concise International History shows readers an international affair involving many nations and how the conflict progressed throughout its rather large existence. Lawrence starts his book in a time before America was involved in the war. It starts out with the French trying to colonize the nation of Vietnam. Soon the United States gets involved and struggles to get its point across in the jungles of Indo-China. Much of the book focuses on the American participation in helping South Vietnam vie for freedom to combine the country as a whole not under Communist rule. Without seeing many results, the war drug on for quite some time with neither side giving up. This resulted in problems in Vietnam and the U.S.
In the early 1960s the U.S. began sending military advisors to South Vietnam beginning the Vietnam War, arguably the most controversial war in United States history. This incident followed Vietnam gaining its independence from the French Empire’s Indochina in 1954. The nation soon split, creating a communist North Vietnam, and a noncommunist South Vietnam. In fear of communism spreading the U.S. supported South Vietnam and sent troops. As the incident dragged on it caused a huge anti-war movement and a lot of political turmoil.The troops were withdrawn in 1973, the whole country fell to communism, and the U.S. failed. How did a superpower such as the U.S. take defeat from a small country like Vietnam? Many have wondered and continue to wonder
Until we can learn from our mistakes we are doomed to repeat history. Many historians feel that without knowledge of the past can prevent future conflicts and events from taking the same course of events. This statement is true for the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War occurred before in the form of the American Revolution. In order to understand the validity of that statement one must understand the French and foreign influences, the might of the British and United States, how the wars were fought, geography, and politics used in both wars. By understanding these one can come up with a working definition of revolution and the similarities between the two conflicts which span over 150 years between the two.
“Here’s a little riddle for you. What's the difference between the army and the Cub Scouts? Cub Scouts don't have heavy artillery!” Adrian Cronauer tried to bring a kind of relief to the people of the war through his radio show. Cronauer was a United States Air Force sergeant and radio broadcaster who inspired the movie Good Morning, Vietnam. The Vietnam War, which was by far the longest war the United States has participated in, went on from 1945 until 1975. Even though the United States was involved with the war since the 50’s, by aiding France, they did not send troops until 1965. The Vietnam War began because North Vietnam wanted to combine both parts of Vietnam into one big country, but South Vietnam did not want this. The United States helped South Vietnam from keeping the countries separate and keeping communism out of their country. The war seemed like it would never end so a cease-fire was arranged in January 1973; although the war did not officially end until April 30, 1975. In this war, almost 60,000 Americans died and about 2 million Vietnamese died. The United States only got involved because they wanted to prevent communism from spreading throughout the rest of the world. Good Morning, Vietnam is not historically accurate because it did not portray Adrian Cronauer or the Vietnam War in the correct way.
Vietnam has a very rich and cultural diverse background dating all the way back to 1066 when William the Conqueror invaded and paved the way for English colonization. The French had been colonizing since the 19th century. The French role in Vietnams history is critical; they started out by bringing these simple peasants to the latest technology of farming and hunting (Yancey 37). The French helped these people out greatly in the beginning, but like all stories of occupation go they just got worse. They started forcing rules and laws on the people of Vietnam. Thus started the First Vietnam War, also known as the Indochina War between France and Vietnam. "The French possessed military superiority, but the Vietnamese had already the hearts and minds of the country. (38). Even from the beginning the Vietnamese had the odds to there favor. The French looked at the wars in numbers and how many lost on each side. They gathered from all the battles that they were winning because the Vietnamese casualties far outweighed the French; nonetheless they were wrong. To a certain point the French were fighting a game that they could not win at any cost. The French had the military superiority but the Vietnamese had the manpower and the Guerilla tactics. The Indochina War ended with French loosing terrible at Dienbienphu, where a whole French garrison was wiped out.
Robert S. McNamara's book, In Retrospect, tells the story of one man's journey throughout the trials and tribulations of what seems to be the United States utmost fatality; the Vietnam War. McNamara's personal encounters gives an inside perspective never before heard of, and exposes the truth behind the administration.
Vietnam War (1954-1975) is considered as one of those big wars of the modern world that has been acknowledged and studied by countries in the world. Especially, in regard to the United States, starting and ending war in Vietnam was an unforgettable experience that has left a priceless lesson in its foreign policy, and of course a lot of loss, physically, mentally, and property. “The Legacy of Vietnam” article of George Herring basically summarizes how the Vietnam War led to an end in failure of America and what consequences it left behind.
Most historians view the nature of the Vietnam War as rooted in the history of the French colonies in Vietnam and the growing ethnic, political, and economical division between Catholic and Buddhist Vietnamese. (Brigham, Robert, Hoffman, Kenneth)
After returning, Minh had help from the Vietminh; an organization of communist that wanted freedom from other countries. Their main goal was to turn Vietnam into a self-governed communist country. France wanted none of this non-sense. In 1945 they had moved back into southern Vietnam and ruled most of the cities. Ho Chi Minh swore to fight France to gain control of the whole country. U.S. promised to aid France, and sent almost $15 million worth of financial aid to France. The French fought for four years, being financially aided by the U.S. the whole time. The U.S. spent nearly one billion dollars in order to help France regain control of the tiny country. The only reason that much effort was put into a small area was the fear of the y. Domino Theory. The Domino Theory first showed it's head during a 1954 news conference by U.S. President Eisenhower. The domino theory is the fear of the spread of communism from one country to the next, and so on. Even with the assistance of the U.S. France could not gain the control it once had on Vietnam.
It has been known that the Vietnam War affected many American soldiers who were involved in the war physically and psychologically. The Vietnam War was one of the most memorable wars in history. Many Americans’ lives lost for no objective at all. Chapter 10 informed us about how the Vietnam War started and what really happened during that time. It also gave us background information about Vietnam Veterans and nurses who were involved in the war and what they went through during the war. I had the opportunity to interview a Vietnam Veteran also.
The battle over reconstructing the collective memory of the Vietnam War is a battle over reinterpreting America, and it started even before the end of the war, and continues to the present day. George Orwell summarized the significance of such struggles in his novel 1984: “Who controls the past controls the future; who controls the present controls the past.” Since national leaders invariably assume a leading role in the development of an official memory of traumatic events in a nation’s history, the article begins with Nixon’s efforts in redefining and reconstructing the war.
During the Vietnam War the reality of warfare brought many soldiers back to a home that didn't want them. Their feelings torn by atrocities, the loss of friends, and the condition of loneliness only made the experience worse. Did the issues on the home front affect the issues on the frontline? The novel Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers is a perfect example of the conflict and diversity among other soldiers during the Vietnam War. It shows the reality many soldiers faced and how they dealt with conflicts back home while they were alone and afraid of death creeping up on them. With the reality of war taking its toll, soldiers coming home to a world they didn't know, a world that had changed and left them in Vietnam to fend for themselves. They slept with wives who didn't know even the smallest of their problems. From nightmares to remembering bad memories, Vietnam veterans suffered it all from extreme depression to the worst, suicide. The real world didn't know how to deal with them and just left them alone. The U.S. they left had changed on them. From people to the ways of life everything had changed and they didn't know how to deal with it.
There were many events that lead up the Vietnam War, it started in 1945 with the hostilities between the French and Vietminh. “Geopolitical Strategy, economics, domestic US politics, and cultural arrogance shaped the growing American involvement in Vietnam” (Anderson 1). As a matter of fact, the Vietnam War was several wars, but it was not until 1962 that America had their first combat mission, however, Americans were killed during ambushes by the Vietnamese before the first combat mission. There is much controversy over the reasons for the Vietnam War, supported by the several different books and articles written about the war. “The most famous atrocity occurred in a tiny hamlet called My Lai in March 1968” (Detzer 127). History shows that the reaction of many Americans to the attack by US soldiers on the village of My Lai during the Vietnam War was opposition, and the actions of the US soldiers during the My Lai Massacre will be forever remembered as a significant part of the Vietnam War and American History.
The Vietnam War took action after the First Indochina War, in fact the Vietnam War is also known as the Second Indochina War. This war included the communist North Vietnam and its allies of the Viet Cong, the Soviet Union, China and other communist allies going against South Vietnam and its allies, the Unites States, Philippines and other anti-communist allies. It was a very long and conflicting war that actually started in 1954 and ended in 1975. The war began after the rise to power of Ho Chi Minh and his communist party in North Vietnam. More than three million people were killed during the war, this included approximately 58,000 Americans and more than half of the killed were actually Vietnamese civilians. The Vietnam War ended by the communist forces giving up control of Saigon and the next year the country was then unified as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Many people, including both men and women were directly and indirectly involved within the war itself. Women worked many different roles in the Vietnam War, and they are most definitely not credited enough for all that they actually did.