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What was the Vietnam War? When looked at with the perspective of time, the Vietnam War was a war of enlarged egos, nationality, and stubbornness. Vietnam “is an epoch, a paradigm, a memory… a mistake” (Evans). At this time in US history, containment of communism was seen as a must and the US saw their involvement in the War as their duty to protect weaker countries. Joining and participating in the Vietnam War was truly one of the most personally and politically devastating choices that the US has ever chosen made.
Prior to US involvement in the Vietnam War, tensions were high among all nations. The Cold War was in full swing and the US was trying it’s hardest to prevent communism from spreading. Through economic aid and the use of military advisors, the US thought that they could prevent communism from spreading to southern Vietnam. US Politicians were afraid that if Vietnam fell to communism, then communism would quickly spread to other countries in Asia and beyond. ...
President Kennedy died in 1963 (Timeline 1945-1963) right before the US dove into the war. ... He could: a) withdraw all of the US troops or b) refuse to step back from involvement in South East Asia and pour in thousands of soldiers into Vietnam. ... He chose to escalate the war and in 1964 an additional 44,000 troops were sent into Vietnam to assist the 16,000 Advisors that were already present in the country. After this, tensions heightened and the US involved itself even more in the conflict (The Origins of the Vietnam War).
The opposition to the war was very strong. The longer the US was involved in the war, the more opposition there seemed to be. Much of the opposition to the war was because the American public could not relate to it. ... (Kent State forever linked with Vietnam War era). The National Guard was later blamed for the tragedy at Kent State, and the US began to experience much more internal resistance to the War. ...
During the War, thousands of depressed and angry soldiers wrote home expressing their concerns about the war. ... Troop morale fell, and the US had a harder time motivating soldiers to fight in a war that they did not want to be in. Soldiers in Vietnam began to protest the war by wearing peace symbols or refusing to obey superior officers orders.
Numerous atrocities occurred during the Vietnam War. One of the most well known slaughters occurred in the small village of My Lai, Vietnam. ...
As the War progressed the US kept losing more and more skirmishes. Unable to beat guerrilla forces, the US began to systematically remove it’s troops from Vietnam in 1972.
Approximate Word count = 2216
Approximate Pages = 8.9
(250 words per page double spaced)
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