The Vietnam war is known as the longest war in the U.S. history. It was situated in Vietnam, a country located in the southeast of China, during the cold war. Vietnam was a French colony and like in most colonies, the natives (Vietnamese people) were not treated right; Ho Chi Minh, that later became north Vietnam leader, asked for help to western countries, which was denied. The Soviet Union offered to help Vietnam, however, in order to do so they had to become communists, the country was divided into North Vietnam (communist) and south Vietnam (democratic), eventually North Vietnam wanted to take over South Vietnam. The U.S. got involved in Vietnam to keep communism from spreading, thus the country was divided because not all Americans agreed with the participation in this war, and the division between Americans made the U.S. foreign policies to change.
The United states got involved in the Vietnam war to contain communism. In Document 1 president Harry Truman says, when a country is ruled by the minority with a government that uses terror and oppression, the rights of the majority are being violated, and the United States ' policy must aid them. In communism, the basic human rights are not respected by the government, and the United States have
…show more content…
The foreign policies changed after the Vietnam war; as a consequence of the division in the American society and the lives lost in Vietnam, the Congress passed the War Power Acts that stated that only the Congress can authorize the use of the military, and only in a situation where the country is in danger (Document 7). Many congressmen that served in Vietnam were less likely to use the military without the American people 's support (Document 8), and Americans ' trust in their government was going through a downfall after the Vietnam war. Besides, many Americans didn’t know what they were fighting for when they were being drafted. Therefore, for the U.S. to get involved in other countries ' affairs, would be more
However, in a letter sent by the USSR to America shows the Soviet Union’s desire to reach some sort of a treaty stating that “… be coupled with the conclusion of a peace treaty.” (Source L) Likewise, the focused military action by, at that time, the strongest military force in the world on Vietnam, a much smaller, much poorer country. (Source I). The economic resources spent on the Vietnam War by the United States, could have funded a humanitarian effort to provide basic human rights to those affected by the civil conflict.
The motivation behind the invasion was the United States’ tremendous fear of communism. “I mean, now we look back on that and it can seem sort of ridiculous that we ever had a time when we thought the Communists were going to take over the world. But that is indeed what most Americans thought at the time” (Rasenberg 1). The fear communism was more powerful than the desire to respect the sovereignty if other nations, especially one so close to America as
After WWII, there was communism fever in the northern part of the world. This domineering outbreak of communism threatened the US and our capitalist allies. Through the outbreaks, the US took things to drastic measures and did everything in their power to stop communism, causing multiple wars and combat. During June of 1950, North Korea first invaded the Southern part of Korea due to their pessimistic views on communism.
The Vietnam War was one of the longest, and the most costly war in America 's history. Vietnam War was primarily fought in Vietnam from 1959 to 1975 and never reaches United States shores. This disastrous war was fought between North Vietnamese and it allies Viet Cong against the United States of America and the South Vietnamese army. As most war are known to me bloody and cruel, The Vietnam War was especially cruel and devastating, it took the lives of millions of Vietnamese civilians. Civilians who will never get to see their country united under one banner, and unfortunately thousands of Americans solider lives were regrettably taken because of the war, names of those solider are forever written on the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial Wall, a permanent
The Vietnam war lasted almost twenty years while the Iraq war only lasted about eight years. The
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.
Imagine if you lived in a place where you had no freedom, and you were ruled by a man like Joseph Stalin. That is what it would be like in many countries if it weren’t for the United States’ policy of containment. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union wanted to take over other countries and make them have the government system of Communism. The United States didn’t like that, because they thought their governmental system of Democracy was better. As a result, the U.S. adopted a policy of “Containment”.
Walking through the heart filled Jungles of Vietnam, US soldiers fought these Vietnam and North Vietnamese soldiers from the year 1955 to 1975. These American soldiers were drafted from their homes, schools, and jobs to fight a war halfway around the world seem to do nothing with their daily lives. The 1970’s was a decade for the United States and the world of much accomplishment in peace and the cooling of tensions on a global scale, but there were also hardships and awful catastrophes that crippled the US and the World. In the United States, the 1970’s were a time of great economic hardships, stagflation grew and spread amid throughout the country. Stagflation was in latent terms stagnant economy and terrible inflation of the US dollar.
Fearing the spread of communism to Laos, the United States declared an anticommunist containment. This was the first time United States declared said statement as it was a rather bold move. Southern Laos was the home to the Ho Chi Minh Trail, which the United States deemed dangerous, as it connected the South part of Laos to the Northern communist regions, and they sought to destroy it (Vang). The United States also firmly believed Laos couldn’t defend itself. They thought that Laos lacked the economic development needed to get out of its poverty.
Some of the actions that the U.S. took was the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, going into nations that were controlled by the Soviets to fight back, and had the wrong motives. The United States actions during the cold war were not justified, because of the motives that they had behind their actions which were selfish and did not think about everyone else, these actions also caused more aggression. The U.S made the decision to drop a bomb on the city of Hiroshima, Japan. The U.S dropped the bomb because they wanted the fighting to be over in Japan and they wanted them to surrender without having to have any American soldiers step in and lose American lives.
Communism was finally starting to come close to an end on its own, so there was no need for the United States to be involved to stop it, but the United States went to war
Timeline: 1970 - Kent State University Shooting On May 1, 1970, students at Kent State University were protesting President Nixon’s orders to bomb Cambodia. The protest gradually got out of hand, students were throwing bottles and rocks at police officers and lighting bonfires. On May 2, Ohio National Guard was ordered to Kent State to help maintain order. When the National Guard arrived, they discovered that the students had set the Reserve Officer Training Corps building on fire. On May 4, the National Guard fired tear gas at the students during a rally.
The Vietnam war was preceded by a very turbulent time in our history with problems here in the states such as racism, women’s rights, and a president being shot. But in Vietnam they were going through a civil war, which they had done before, but not to this extent, this time they got the U.S.S.R. involved. It was communist Russia and North Vietnam against South Vietnam. The U.S. started to get
The United States was a big role in the Vietnam War. They feel like it is necessary to be involved. A few reasons that caused the United States to be allied with South Vietnam are communism, Truman Doctrine, and reunification. The Vietnam War started in 1954.
The United States believed that it was their responsibility to contain Communism. They wanted to stop the spread of communism across the world. They saw that Vietnam as the start of the spread of Communism so it contributed as one of the reasons of going to war. The Domino theory was a theory that if one country in a region falls to Communism that the surrounding countries would fall to communism as well. The U.S. also saw the Domino Theory in Vietnam.