The Vietnam War and its Impact, An Essay with Editing Notes

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Recommended: The Vietnam War’s controversy spurred a great many sources of protest

The Vietnam War was a violent and turbulent time in America. Generally hated from its beginning, many still perceive it as a loss. When one looks over the causalities in the war, it is noticeable that 58,000 members of our military lost their lives tragically in a ten year period.(cite) However, Communist Vietnam reported losses in numbers close to a million. Although many people see Vietnam as horrific stain in the legacy of America and its military, the war and its repercussions had a significant effect on America and its future.

When analyzing the losses of the Vietcong and North Vietnamese compared to American casualties, one notices remarkable numbers. The government of Vietnam reports an estimated 1,100,000 combatants were killed and or missing in action from 1965-1974.(CITE) During this time America only lost about 58,000 out of the nearly 550,000 troops deployed.(CITE) These casualty numbers create an overwhelming American to Vietnamese death ratio of 19 to 1.(CITE)

In the 10 years of battle during the Vietnam engagement, the United States never lost a single battle. In the two largest engagements of the Vietnam War, the Tet Offensive of ‘68 and the Easter Offensive of ’72, the North Vietnamese and Vietcong forces lost over 45,000 and 53,000 troops.(CITE) Just in those two battles alone, more Communist forces were killed than American lives lost in the entire ten year span of the war. Although many call the war a loss, the stats show a different story in which U.S. forces continuously overwhelmed a very determined NVA and Vietcong enemy.

In this War, ultimately, statistics meant nothing. Ho Chi Minh recognized that all he had to do was outlast the Americans, not defeat them, and make their stay in Vietnam a living h...

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...a loss. The protests that shook America right to its bones caused the government to alter its focus effectively changing the wars outcome. Vietnam served as a lesson to many during its time, and even today affects the decisions of our leaders, who still feel the sting of the war’s damage. The positive outcomes are often overlooked due to some of the war’s more bloody events. Because of this, I believe that more people need to see the positive effects to fully understand the war and its significance.

Works Cited

"www.history.com." . A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 17 Feb 2014. .

Barringe, Mark, and Tom Wells.http://www.english.illinois.edu/. The Oxford Companion to American Military History, n.d. Web. 17 Feb 2014. .

(Barringe, and Wells)

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