Pros And Cons Of The Vietnam War

The Second Indochina War, or more commonly known as The Vietnam War, was a long, expensive and troublesome clash that was due to the conflicted beliefs of the communist administration of North Vietnam against South Vietnam and its important partner, the United States. The contention was heightened by the continuous Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. An excess of 3 million civilians were slaughtered in the Vietnam War, and the greater part of the dead were Vietnamese civilians. Resistance to the war in the United States intensely separated Americans to the point where turmoil began to arise away from the actual fighting in the heart of the country. The war produced intense controversy as its incessant progression gave no

clear answer if the war would ever come to a close. Many beliefs rose as to why the war was being fought in the first place, and whether it was the right decision to participate in a war that seemed to serve no clear benefits to the United States.

I believe it sprouted many instances that resulted in more harm than good being brought by America.

Vietnam has had a long history of being under rule of foreign powers. My belief is that after the Second World War, the Soviet Union with its major part that was played in the war rose as a superpower with strong impacts over Eastern Europe, including parts of Asia. Furthermore, the United States and its Western partners saw communism as the paragon of the USSR which was considered the highest rival opponent and post-war risk to their majority rules system and private enterprise in their beliefs of democracy. During 1887 to 1954, Vietnam was seen as a French Colony. With the French’s coercion and power, they introduced and forced their cultures and religions onto the Vietnamese so they could gain the cooperation to exploit Vietnam for a multitude of resources. A communist faction originating in Vietnam called the Viet Minh began a national movement to force the French out of Vietnam. With the United States fearful of the spread of communism that was derived from what I believe was the Cold War, they wholeheartedly supported the French by spending millions in order

to support them. The battle lasted until 1954 to the point where French citizens began to open their eyes to the Vietnam conquest, not understanding the reasoning for the fighting in such a small irrelevant nation. After the surrender at Dien Bien Phu, the French renounced their authority over Vietnam. Under the terms of the 1954 Geneva Accords, the fighting was brought to an end and peace was restored. Vietnam was divided into North and South Vietnam, led by Ho Chi Minh and Bao Dai later to be replaced by Ngo Dinh Diem respectively. However, with fear of communism influencing spreading through the general elections, the accords did not please the United States. They believed that if the communists won in Vietnam, communism would pervade throughout Southeast Asia and become a major threat to the United States. By early 1955, Diem had solidified his control over South Vietnam. He moreover propelled numerous political restraints and anti-communist campaigns over the nation. Diem further went to take action to prevent the upcoming election that was to unify Vietnam under one government. President Eisenhower supported this effort, as he was afraid Ho Chi Minh would win the election and declare Vietnam a communist nation. However, Diem’s politics and attacks on Buddhist communities made him extremely unpopular. Taking advantage after realizing the increasing unpopularity of Diem, some South Vietnamese rebelled by forming a fighting force known as the Viet Cong which gained the support of the North Vietnamese. Ignoring the strenuous efforts put forth against the Viet Cong, Diem did not prove to be competent enough to defeat the communist insurgency. On November 2, 1963, Diem and his brother Nhu were assassinated in a coup. On November 24, 1963, Lyndon B. Johnson who succeeded J.F. Kennedy as President after Kennedy’s assassination, emphasized that strength and determination must be upheld in the battle against communism, which confirmed his intent on continuing American involvement to support South Vietnam. A year later, the Gulf of Tonkin incident occurred involving three North Vietnamese boats and the U.S.S. Maddox naval ship where it was claimed to have been fired upon by the North Vietnamese multiple times. Johnson used this as leverage to ask Congress for use in military action. On March 8 1965, 3,500 U.S. troops are sent to South Vietnam, marking the start of American ground war. As American troops rose rapidly to 200,000, it signified the beginning of a long lasting war that revolved around the simple belief held by America that communism was threatening to expand all over Southeast Asia that worked on the domino theory, which believes that if one Southeast Asian country fell to communism, many other countries would follow.
The U.S. war effort was led largely under the command of General William Westmoreland, who pursued a policy of attrition, aiming to kill as many enemy troops as possible and win by high body counts rather than trying to secure territory. However, even as enemy body counts mounted gradually, Viet Cong troops refused to surrender. By November 1967, the number of American troops in Vietnam approached 500,000, and casualties had reached high numbers. The public began to be introduced to the horrific images of the war on their televisions that could be viewed every morning. Americans at home began to turn against the war, producing many protests and riots. Since the beginning when the United States first started to deploy troops to Vietnam in 1965, Americans were never quite sure what to make of the war that transpired in a region that wasn't that well known by a lot of the people. However, in the eyes of many Americans, it seems likely that it would only be a matter of time before the United States, considered a world superpower, would prevail. Then came the event that was to be known as the Tet Offensive which i consider to be the turning point of the war in terms of public opinion shifting against the war. It was a surprise attack by the Viet Cong during the day Vietnam celebrates the lunar new year. Thousands of Viet Cong fighters waged a series of assaults on big cities across the provincial areas and regional capitals across South Vietnam. The war progressed, continuing to be beamed every night in the American living rooms during the evening news; beginning to affect the public much more negatively. Shocking visions were shown during these casts: U.S. officials defending themselves at the embassy. American planes decimating villages. The South Vietnam national police chief walking down the street, shooting and executing a suspected Viet Cong officer with what seemed like an ordinary task. The U.S. news media and televisions reporters captured much of the war’s bloodshed with these vivid images and narrated broadcasts. Tet became a turning point, not militarily, but in terms of public political opinion back in the United States. Tet would become a absolute political disaster for President Lyndon Johnson and his administration. The incident began to plant profound doubts about the war’s course, magnifying the apparent truth that in spite of large American presence in Vietnam, the three years of fighting and casualties had yielded nothing more than a stalemate stained with blood.
After a bitter 1968 election drowned with violence, Republican Richard Nixon won the presidency. Nixon’s goal was to decrease anti-war movement by appealing to the “silent majority” of Americans who he viewed as supporting the war effort. He announced a plan called Vietnamization that involved handing military duties to the South Vietnamese in an attempt to limit American casualties and to comfort the warry American public by leaving with peace and honor. The next few years brought on more carnage that included the horrifying event that involved U.S. soldiers mercilessly slaughtering more than 400 unarmed civilians in the Village of My Lai in March 1968, and Nixon’s new controversial plan. In 1970, Nixon announced a operation to invade Cambodia, believing it to be the home of many influential enemy supply bases. This invasion sparked a new wave of immense protests on college campuses across America. During one said event on May 4, 1970, at Kent State University in Ohio, National Guardsmen quarrelled with a group of protesters who retaliated after their initial methods of removal. It resulted in them opening fire and killing 4 students and injuring many others. The mission to prevent the Viet Cong from using Cambodia has a supply haven also helped to create a communist insurgency within Cambodia called the Khmer Rouge. They battled the Cambodian military for control of the government. In January 1973, the United States and North Vietnam agreed on a peace resolution, ending hostilities between the two nations. However, war continued between the North and South who were left with the responsibilities and training from the U.S. It continued until April 30, 1975, when Vietcong forces captured Saigon, renaming it Ho Chi Minh City, with the war finally coming to a close.
The war was costly for the U.S, sprouting discontent and psychological scars, with the war destroying the American ideal that America was an invincible nation that couldn't be shaken.

Personally, I think the fear that stemmed from the danger that the United States believed was exaggerated. The United States actions were blinded with fear that communism would spread, possibly ignoring any earlier actions or routes that may have resulted in an earlier resolution to the war that would have avoided the massive discontent that it caused which resulted in the acrid dividing of America. There were additionally many instances that the U.S. could of differed in their strategies to evade astringent repercussions such as the incident with Cambodia that caused the Kent State shootings and the emergence of a dangerous faction that would culminate to plague Cambodia for a long time to come. I believe that the American mindset was steeped in a apprehensive matter that stemmed from the Cold War. In their minds they probably thought that a defeat anywhere in the world could unleash domino effects, irrevocably damaging American credibility, and invite larger wars. To defy this conventional understanding, categorically at a time when thousands of Americans had already died to uphold it, would have required exceptional astute and political stoutheartedness that none seemed to have at the time to visually perceive things a bit more clearly. If the United States eyes were not clouded by the fear

of thinking that communism might engulf the war, I believe they could of avoided the war entirely if they cleary saw the option of recognizing the independent Vietnamese regime proclaimed by Ho Chi Minh, keeping back French imperialism and ensuring that the region tried to live peacefully without any turmoil from then on. The prospect might not have avoided conflict entirely, but it could have avoided all the wounds that America inflicted onto itself by going to war.