For more than 30 years America had been involved with Vietnam, but in those 30 years they turned to suffering for both the Vietnamese and Americans and many more countries. The fighting lasted for 8 years and mainly only happened in Vietnam where land, air, and water battles took place. Bombings, chemicals, and killing turned into a game for many soldiers which led to lasting suffering even after the war ended. Once the war was over, America had just finished their most unsuccessful war to date. That time gave America important lessons to be learned from the many erroneous things that had been done. Learning from the mistakes made are crucial for America if the country wants to win another war in the future. Many lessons were learned …show more content…
The Vietnam war was the most unsuccessful war to date as countless mistakes were made. With this, it caused the American people to hold distrust towards the government. U.S. morale, self-confidence, trust of government was destroyed after that war. Many lost almost all trust with the government concerning the war when the Mai Lai Massacre occurred. American soldiers went to kill Viet Cong in a town but it turned out that the people who were there were innocent civilians. American soldiers killed the innocent lives anyway. The Massacre is one of the many ways Americans had tried to fix Vietnam but the only effect was creating a negative atmosphere towards the war. Similarly, when the United States used chemicals to try to defeat the Viet Cong it made lasting negative effects to future and present lives of not only the Vietnamese but Americans too. Because of chemicals known as Agent Orange and ____, Veterans are known to be sustainable to many different diseases and cancers. Today, Vietnam children are growing up with birth defects because of the chemicals used by the United States trying to win the war. Not only were people lives hurt more almost half of the rainforest in Vietnam was melted by the chemicals. Water, food and animals were all contaminated. Even though the war showed to destroy many lives it also showed that even if you don't like what the …show more content…
Trying to fix all problems and not integrating all three branches when discussing moves in the war is one of the many causes that cost the loss of the Vietnam war and if repeated could lose many more. America should avoid these problems and learn from their experience, as it would let American win future wars. Learning from the mistakes made from the Vietnam war will greater the chance of winning and knowing what not to do in time of war greaters the chance of succeeding. During the Iraq War, the United States toppled Hussein Saddam but after a couple of years went past with no peace insured, the president took out the troops with no plan on what would happen after American troops were gone. Now, there are many terrorists there causing threats to the United
The Vietnam War was the first major war American’s had suffered defeat. The Vietnam war was a war of confusion, competition and biasness. The outcome of the war was far greater than an upset American nation, but a severe breakdown of the Vietnamese culture, economy, environment and government. It also had a tremendous impact on American society even up to present day. It was unclear from the beginning of the war if the American’s should even be involved. It was a war between Northern and Southern Vietnam but the U.S saw it as an indirect way to challenge the USSR’s sphere of influence in Southern Asia and to prevent the domino effect and the further spread of communism. The Vietnam War completely changed the way the United States
The Vietnam War was, and continues to be, one of America's darkest moments, one that nearly tore the nation apart. In order to stop the spread of communism in Europe and Asia, the United States aided French imperialists and their reoccupation of Vietnam. At first, the U.S took a position of neutrality to both countries, but by early 1947, they began fighting in support of France. This war, lasting over 20 years, became the longest and most unpopular war in the 20th century. Overall, the Vietnam War was detrimental to the United States because it caused a massive debt from the 1960s to the 1990s, turned the American people against their government, and many troops were neglected and despised upon their return.
During the time the United States was in a war, the American public was sharply divided creating another war among its people. The war had transformed America to a different place with its defeat. It had far-reaching consequences and impact on most aspects of American life from the economy, culture to domestic politics and foreign policy. The Vietnam war created a time of uncertainty because so many had lost their trust in the government. With the end of the Vietnam war, the United States left with a humiliating defeat and shockingly high casualties.
The Vietnam war brought many changes to the United States in the 1960’s and the 1970’s. Some of the changes were for the better of the country, take the rediscovered Women’s Rights movements and the ever growing Free Speech movements inspired by New Left, while most of the other changes brought on tensions between government and their people. The Domino Theory pushed our leaders to the edge. In order to stop the Domino Theory in Vietnam, the U.S. invaded. The war was useless for the American government to get involved with. Even Robert Kennedy described our presence in Vietnam as ‘... sending a lion to halt an epidemic of jungle rot.’ (Doc E) From new groups forming to rebel, to inflation and loss of trust in the Government, from 1960’s to
The Vietnam war was an absolutely brutal time in American history. The war lasted for the majority of the 1960s and left many young men dead. The short story “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien and the film Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam give us just a glance into the war by giving using the three themes of fear, pressures, and blame/guilt to embody the concept of war and how it absolutely changes a person. War not only destroys countries, but it destroys people.
The Vietnam War was one of the most deadliest wars in America, many were killed and even more injured. The war began because of America’s efforts to stop the spread of communism. The Vietcong may of won the war but America showed that we will not let communism spread, the domino theory come into effect, and America’s faults in our war program and way to attack the Vietcong. The war was lost but from a overview of the war America learned from their lose.
differs for its scale, duration, and changes which it brought to American public in long-term
The Vietnam War was a long war that was devastating to the United States as well as Vietnam. The war was a total disaster for the South Vietnamese and was also a political and social disaster for the United States. During this time, chemicals were used during times of war and were detrimental to the people on the receiving end. One instance of this was the United States’ use of Agent Orange in Vietnam. Agent Orange’s use by the United States affected Vietnam in a negative way economically, demographically, and ecologically.
The Vietnam War was one of the most traumatic military experiences that the United States has participated in thus far in its short history. Over the course of the entire conflict, the U.S. lost almost 60,000 lives and in the end could not prevent the North Vietnamese communist regime from spreading to the South and unifying the country under an oppressive ideology. In addition to Vietnam falling to a communist regime, revolutions took place soon after the conflict in Laos and Cambodia. Every presidency in the Cold War feared this “domino effect” which drove U.S. interests abroad until the demise of the Soviet Union.
Anais Moss The Vietnam War was a very devastating war. There were many negative aspects that came along with this tragedy. Figuring out whether or not your against or for the war. The war on vietnam started in 1954 and ended 1975.For the United States of America the Vietnam War lasted for 11years. The United States originally got involved to help stop the spread of communism. Can you believe it saw two presidential terms? During this war the Civil Rights Movement was going on full force. African Americans were volunteering to go fight for a country that wasn’t even willing to give them basic rights. Such as getting de-segregation abolished, non- discrimination, and the right vote. Despite how America felt they were still willing to risk their lives. There were many aspects that came along with this war. A lot of people supported the war out of ignorance. They didn’t know the full intentions and actions that were taking place. Violence was a major downside to the war, many lives were lost during this period. With the Guerilla Warfare tactics that were taking place--the dropping of Napalm on the Vietnamese civilians was devastating because this toxic chemical was being dropped regardless of if there were men, women, children or enemy soldiers being involved. The use of unrestricted force and violence, gave Lyndon B. Johnson authority to do as he pleased when passing the Tonkin Gulf Resolution. The amount of American Soldiers lost to this war is an unimaginable number. Young
During the Vietnam War, between 1955 and 1984, fifty-eight thousand Americans lost their lives, as well as over three-million Vietnamese lost theirs. The financial cost to the United States comes to over one hundred-fifty-billion dollars. The causes of the Vietnam War were derived from the symptoms, components and consequences of the Cold War. The Vietnam War revolved around America’s belief that communism was a threat to expand all over South East Asia. With this being said the Vietnam War was both a nationalist and communist movement, unsuccessful in America’s regards, comparable to the war in Iraq, a poor man’s war, led to the downfall of Lyndon B. Johnson, and overall stood as an unpopular war. Let’s take a look at what damage the
The Vietnam War was a conflict, which the United States involved itself in unnecessarily and ultimately lost. The basis of the conflict was simple enough: Communism vs. Capitalism, yet the conduct of the Vietnam War was complex and strategic, and brought repercussions which had never been seen before. The struggle between North and South had an almost inevitable outcome, yet the Americans entered the War optimistic that they could aid the falling South and sustain democracy. The American intentions for entering the Vietnam conflict were good, yet when the conflict went horribly wrong, and the resilient North Vietnamese forces, or Viet Cong' as they were known, refused to yield, the United States saw they were fighting a losing battle.
“The failure of the United States against North Vietnam was due to their inefficient use of military machines” (Gibbons, 2014:107). These tactics used by the US soldiers included bombs that the soldiers did not use efficiently, because if they used the military advantage that they had, this would have been a victorious war for the US. However, due to their use of these military machines inefficiently, they were left in humiliation. “The US threw bombs on Vietnam and was equipped with every existing kind of weapon, engaged in the longest and most brutal war” (Buttinger, 1977:169). The US army should not have bombed strategic routes of the Viet Cong because they wanted to get back at them, but they should have attacked with bombs and weapons on the battle once the Viet Cong had started attacking. Their lack when to use their tactics led to their failure. “One of the US’s mistakes which led to their defeat was the bombing of Laos when they launched the defoliant Agent Orange which destroyed homes” (Kaiser, 1973:412). Due to this action, the US lost not only the support of Laos citizens but also the rest of the Vietnamese people, because this was evidence that the only important factor for the US soldiers was to win the war against the Viet Cong and not the lives of the Vietnamese
The Vietnam War was marked by brutality, death, protests, and psychological tolls. No war caused such great division among the American people like the Vietnam War. The war was extremely costly, and it left long-term effects on people all over the world. As a whole, the American people agree that the Vietnam War was a waste of time, money, and life.
The Vietnam War was one of the most influential wars in American History. The United States did not actually lose, but ending with a cease fire was considered a loss. When all of the troops returned they were looked upon by the American public scornfully. This caused both the troops and the American citizens to dislike the government. Many riots took place and many public displays happened. "...in response to a drive by the North Vietnamese forces into the South, President Richard M.