Going to War in Vietnam
Thesis:
When protecting the nation against perceived threats, the government had a responsibility in Vietnam to consider the opinion of its citizens and other nations and parties involved in its international relations.
Context
People should be able to have a say in the running of their government even if that means going against the government's fear of perceived threats. Communism was perceived as a threat to the democratic government that the United States had established and fought to protect. America lost the Vietnam War and many Americans opposed sending troops over to fight for a cause that did not directly threaten America.
Geography: The fighting landscape of Vietnam highly benefitted the North Vietnamese and the Vietcong. The U.S. adjusted their fighting strategies and resorted to guerilla warfare. The U.S. was not used to fighting in the forests and trees with uneven landscapes. This made it very difficult for them to fight. They eventually had to drop explosives on the terrain to level it out. The strategies used to fight this war increased U.S. casualties and supported the American citizens' claim that the troops never should have been in Vietnam. |
http://angiesdiary.com/articles/politics/french-indochina/
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Political:
Fear of communism was the main drive of the Vietnam War. The U.S. decided to enter Vietnam and aid the French so that communism would not spread. The American government believed that if Vietnam fell to communism, the rest of Southeast Asia would soon follow. The U.S. felt threatened by communism and its social impacts. Indochina was the region including Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Burma, Thailand and Peninsular Malaysia. The French had taken over Vietnam. The ruler of Vietnam was Ho Chi Minh. He became an advocate for communism and helped start the Indochinese Communist Party. Japan then seized control of Indochina causing the United States to help the Vietminh. Japan later surrendered to the allies and Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam an independent country. The French did not want the Vietnamese to be free from their colonial empire. They returned to Vietnam. The French convinced the United States government to help them in the war because the French wanted to maintain their colonial empire. The united Staes agreed to help the French because the United States felt that communism had to be stopped. |
Economic:
The economic situation in communistic nations and America differed greatly. Communism's goal is to minimize the difference of classes and spread the money and property evenly. In America, the class differences are highly pronounced and evident. Money nor property is distributed evenly and the system allows smaller businesses to thrive and competition to prosper. |
http://www.amazon.com/Vintage-Cold-War-Films-Laissez-Faire/dp/B000JYZ8WC
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Historical Connections
The Vietnam War had many connections to other crucial eras of our history. People's support and trust in government shows many patterns over time as does the fear of foreign ideas affecting our democratic society.
http://www.bubblews.com/news/3238681-overview-of-american-becomes-a-world-power
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U.S. as a World Power
The U.S. began emerging as a dominant force in world affairs after World War II. Some people feared America had become too involved and felt it should not exercise its power as frequently. The U.S. in the beginning was strictly an isolated country and would not for any reason involve itself with foreign countries. Gradually this changed as wars brought in revenue and other countries threatened the United States. The U.S. was not isolated in the Cold War and Vietnam War and it frequently used it's power to it's advantage. The first time that the U>S. exerted its power was the Spanish American War. |
Progressive Era
During the progressive era, the American people were asking their government to take on a bigger role because they felt that the free market would not be able to resolve issues on its own. They also wanted their government to be more democratic as opposed to the communist regime that was overtaking Southeast Asia. The government took on a larger role in Vietnam as well. |
https://www.youtube.com/all_comments?v=IaQanbEyucY
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http://graceuniversity.edu/iip/2014/02/14-02-22-1/
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World War I
World War I and Vietnam were similar because of Imperialism. Imperialism is the increase in a country's power through military force or diplomacy. In both wars, military force was used to increase America's power. Another large factor in both wars was the home front. Generally, the American people supported the soldiers who fought in World War I. Generally the American people supported the soldiers who fought in World War I, both economically and in principle. The overall employment swelled. The Vietnam home front was in sharp contrast. Many citizens did not support the war and therefore chose to ignore it. Others actively protested against it. Soldiers returned home without welcome and felt rejected and ignored. This portrays the U.S. government not heeding the protests of many people who opposed the war. This separation between the people and government created a divided nation. |
The Roaring '20s
During the '20s, people were afraid of other cultures and nations as well as the ideas that came along with them. One fear in particular was communism, a fear that never diminished. This fear of foreign ideas led the U.S. and other countries involved in Vietnam to make quick decisions regarding the deployment of troops and involvement overseas. These controversial decisions impacted the Vietnam War drastically because many Americans were conflicted over whether communism really was a threat to the United States.
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http://theroaringtwentieshistory.blogspot.com/p/events-of-twenties.html
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http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-02-05/warnings-of-the-great-depression-in-the-business-week
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The Depression and the New Deal
During the great depression hope and the American people's trust in their government faded rapidly. The stock market crashed and many people lost their life savings. Unemployment skyrocketed as corporations could no longer afford their workers because demand for goods fell. The market bottomed out and there was no hope in sight. The support for the government fell during this time, just as it did during the Vietnam War. There were many protests against the Vietnam War and many Americans felt that their country had made a big mistake by sending troops to Vietnam. Unlike the U.S. government, those Americans did not perceive communism as a threat to the United States. The government soul have listened to the people and if the did many deaths could have been avoided. |
Specific Events
Many French and American people did not support their governments' roles in the Vietnam War. Many Americans did not view communism as a real threat, because communism had not yet adversely affected the United States. Many Americans opposed sending troops to Vietnam to fight for something that was not absolutely necessary to America's security. However, the government was willing to ignore the dissatisfaction of many Americans because the government feared communism.
The French Appeal to the U.S.
France wanted to reclaim control of Vietnam and reestablish itself as a dominant world force and empire. The Vietnamese people fought back against the French and regained control of many land areas. This caused the French government to appeal to the United States for help. This left the United States with a difficult decision. The United States was against colonialism, and supported smaller countries gaining independence from colonial empires. However, in Vietnam, the independence movement and the communist movement had become entangled. The U.S. perceived communism as a threat and therefore decided to help the French although in so doing the American and French were promoting colonialism. American officials feared the domino theory - the idea that once Vietnam fell to communism the rest of Southeast Asia would soon follow. |
http://www.postershop.co.uk/p/Motif-Science-Geography/Map-of-Vietnam-South-East-Asia_i4321298.html
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"You have a row of dominoes set up, you knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last is the certainty that it will go over very quickly. . . . Asia, after all, has already lost some 450 million of its peoples to Communistic dictatorship, and we simply can't afford greater losses." - President Eisenhower, quoted in America in Vietnam
http://kalw.org/post/wednesday-may-72014-1
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Defeat at Dien Bien Phu
The French military struggled against the Vietminh even with the aid from the U.S. The Vietminh fighting style was different and hard for the French and Americans to cope with. The Vietminh used hit-and-run ambush tactics. Their fighting style was guerrilla warfare, which involves military troops blending with civilian populations, and therefore making them more challenging to fight. The war had become unpopular in France because of the mounting causalities. Most French people did not think that France should be fighting in Vietnam. The French government would have been wise to have more seriously considered the opinions of their people. A French commander and his troops took control of a mountain town, Dien Bien Phu. Taking over this town was devastating to the Vietnamese army because it cut off their supply lines and forced them into open battle. The Vietnamese army however, still managed to defeat the French causing them to make peace and withdraw form Indochina. |
The Geneva Accords
The Geneva Accords created a divider between Vietnam along the 17th parallel. North Vietnam was controlled by Ho Chi Minh and the Vietminh. The pro-Western regime was in control of South Vietnam. The Accords also officially recognized the independence of Cambodia. The French left soon after the Accords were made official. This left the U.S. with the primary job of protecting the South Vietnamese government. South Vietnam was led by Ngo Dinh Diem. He was pro- Western and anti-communistic. He welcomed North Vietnamese people who were moving south to escape the rule of Ho Chi Minh. The Geneva Accords also stated that an election would be held in 1956 to reunite the country under a single government. These elections never happened. Diem refused to allow the elections to take place because he felt that Minh may win them. His actions were approved by President Eisenhower and American assistance was increased to South Vietnam. |
http://genevaaccords.blogspot.com/2011/12/geneva-accords.html
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President Kennedy Takes Over Office
Kennedy continued the same support for South Vietnam as former American presidents did.They all viewed Vietnam as a critical country in the battle against communism. |
http://activehistory.co.uk/updates/key-stage/igcse-gcse-history/the-vietnam-war-kennedys-own-words-on-the-subject/
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http://consortiumnews.com/2013/10/25/dangerous-history-of-regime-change/
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The Overthrow of Diem
American officials believed that the reason behind the constant growth of the Vietcong was Diem's corrupt government. They encouraged him to make it more democratic. He eventually introduced some limited reforms to help Vietnam's peasants, but the reforms had little effect. He became less popular when he discriminated against Buddhism. He didn't keep the people's opinion in mind and because of this, Buddhists protested and caused Diem's police to kill 9 and injure 14. Americans watched horrific scenes back home of a Buddhist Monk drenching himself in gasoline and setting himself on fire. If the South Vietnamese government had fulfilled it's responsibility to listen to the opinions of the governed, many protests and unnecessary setbacks could have even prevented. Several Vietnamese officials were plotting to overthrow Diem and eventually executed him in 1963. The dictatorship inflicted by Diem negatively impacted the country and ultimately caused rebellion. |
Significance
Knowing history is important because it prevents us from making the same mistakes and allows us to learn from our mistakes. Governments still neglect the importance of having the support of the governed. A unified nation will have the government take on the role as the voice of the people. One example of the government not having the people's full support when reacting against a perceived threat is the War on Terror. Sometimes the government does not have full support from the people because the threats are in fact perceived, and not reality as of the current moment. This lack of reality to a perceived threat is a link that connects the War on Terror and the Vietnam War, contributed to the lack of home front support for the Vietnam War and contributes to the lack of enthusiasm for the War on Terror.
Much like the Vietnam War, the U.S. government in the War on Terror tried to protect its people from what it perceived to be threatening. In this case, America sent troops into Iraq to search for weapons of mass destruction (WMD). After 9/11, the U.S. became suspicious that Iraq was preparing lethal weapons. The home front situations in the Vietnam War and the War on Terror are similar because of the American people's lack of support for their government's actions. President Bush encouraged Americans to go on with their lives and not let the war effect them. If the wars were more welcomely received, the home front situations for both may have been different.
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