Consequences Of The Vietnam War 1955-1975
Jarod Demastus
Vernon Leach
Copeland Grahmann
Hyunjae Kim
English 4
9/1/2017
Cavaiani
On Our Honor
Vietnam War 1955 - 1975
The start of the Vietnam War:
The Vietnam War with the United States started on November 1st 1955. It ended on April 30, 1975. The Vietnam War lasted a long 20 years, killing more than 3 million people. The Vietnam War was called the American War by the vietnamese people. The Vietnam War was fought in North and South Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. The Vietnam War was caused by the actions of consequences of the Cold War. The belief by the United States that communism is threatening to spread throughout Europe and and Asia is one of the biggest causes of the Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War.
The Vietnam …show more content…
has been through a lot, even before the United States got involved. France started its takeover of Indochina, also known as Vietnam in the late 1850’s. France completed their conquest in 1893. The 1884 Treaty of Huế was the start of the French Colonial rule for the next 70 years. During the time of the French Colonial rule, some vietnamese gave opposition to the French rule. For example, the Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng was a political party that sought independence from French rule. They had fought the French on multiple occasions, a memorable revolt was Yên Bái mutiny. This was where vietnamese soldiers uprised from the french rule, they were trying to cause a huge uprising and get civilians on board on the uprising. The uprising was unsuccessful in the end. In January 1950, the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China recognised Viet Minh's Democratic Republic of Vietnam as the legitimate government of Vietnam. The United States got involved when President John F. Kennedy was elected president. He was very against communism. In his inaugural address he says “pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and success of liberty.” The United States has had a hard time stopping the spread of communism in various other parts of the world, so Kennedy made a decision to stop the Communist expansion in Vietnam.
Guerrilla Warfare: Guerrilla warfare is a form of combat used by the Vietnam soldiers during the Vietnam War. Guerrilla warfare is where a small group of soldiers, such as a militia, armed civilians, or use military strategies including ambushes, sabotage, raids, petty warfare, hit and run tactics, and mobility to fight a larger and less mobile military. Vietnam adopted the fighting tactic because they didn’t have a big enough army to fight off the other countries, so they had to find a new strategy in order to defend their country.
The Vietnam soldiers set up traps all over the fighting grounds.
The most painful one was probably the punji sticks which were sharpened spears hidden about five feet underground under a wooden board with leaves over the top of it. On the punji sticks they would usually rub feces on the tips of the spears so when the soldiers fell into the pits they would later get a bacterial infection and die slowly due to the infection with massive amounts of pain. Snake pits were another terrifying way to punish soldiers that stepped onto their land. The pits would be filled with about one hundred angry vipers ready to strike anything that looked like a meal to them. Flag bombs were probably the worst morally, because the U.S takes great pride in the country's flag and they loved to take other countries flags. The Vietnam soldiers decided to booby trap their flag post with grenades and C4’s. So whenever the American soldiers would try and take the Vietnam flags off of the flag post the C4 or grenade would blow up killing whatever troops are around the flag. The Bamboo whip was one of the most painful in terms of long term. One day you could be walking, then the next second you could see a branch of bamboo flying at your body ready to strike. When the soldiers would be walking they would walk over a trip wire causing the bamboo trap to fly at you. If you didn’t die from the hit of the bamboo stick, you would wish it killed you after about a week of being in massive amounts of
pain.
The Vietnamese played dirty during the war because they knew they were outnumbered, so they knew they had to create inventive ways to beat the Americans. Guerrilla Warfare was the best option for them because Vietnam is mainly forest and all of the soldier knew the terrain giving them the upper advantage. Hiding, waiting for the American troops to come by, then jump out and gun them all down and run away and do the same thing three miles down the road.
Middle of Vietnam: By 1965 over half a million US troops were stationed in Vietnam. The United States didn’t have much during this 20 year war, there allies were Australia and South Korea. North Korea had the two strongest communist countries on their side, Russia and China. During and after 1965 was the hardest time in the war. There were a lot of battles and problems that happened in that year. Americans needed help on the front lines and President Johnson authorized Operation Rolling Thunder. Rolling Thunder is an operation that the US had to send bombers to hit the Viet Congs forces.
In April 1965 the US offers North Vietnam’s economic aid in exchange for peace, but the offer was rejected. President Johnson raises American numbers in Vietnam to more than 60,000 troops. Allies from South Korea and Australia also added troops as a sign of support. In April-May of 1966 Operation Birmingham was put into effect more than 5,000 U.S. troops and huge numbers of helicopters, and vehicles. There are small battles on both armies, but over a three week period, only 100 Viet Congs are killed. Most of the battles were dictated by the Viet Cong soldiers. One of the largest air-mobile assaults ever, 240 helicopters sweep over Tay Ninh. Beginning Operation Junction City. Junction City is to destroy Viet Cong bases and the Viet Cong military headquarters for South Vietnam all of which are located in War Zone C. Around 30,000 U.S. troops take part in the mission, also joined by 5,000 men of the South Vietnamese Army. 72 days later Junction City ended. American forces succeed in capturing large quantities of stores, equipment and weapons, but there are no large battles. In January 1969 Richard Nixon takes office as the new President of the United States. President Nixon promised to achieve "Peace With Honor." He aimed to withdraw the U.S. troops from the settlement in Vietnam. while still allowing South Vietnam to survive.
End of Vietnam War:
In January 1973, the United States and North Vietnam concluded a final peace agreement to end hostilities between the two nations. War between North and South Vietnam continued until April 30, 1975, when DRV forces captured Saigon, renaming it Ho Chi Minh City (Ho himself died in 1969). The new President Richard M. Nixon who won the presidential election of 1968 drew American troops from South Vietnam. President Nixon did this to show how much power he had and how much low moral he had. President Nixon promised to withdraw 25,000/543,000 U.S. ground troops in Vietnam by the end of the year.
Towards the end of the war the economy started to crash which put the U.S in debt. On August 15, 1973, The U.S stopped there direct involvement with the war. When the north Vietnamese army conquered saigon the war ended. By the end of the war America ended up losing 47,424 US soldiers and many coming back with PTSD, now causing serious neurological problems for returning soldiers. This condition was heavily diagnosed in vietnam vets because of the traumatic events that happened during the war. As soldiers returned home they also found that it was harder to get respect from citizens unlike other vets from different wars many people opposed the war and treated these vets as if it was their fault for the war. Soldiers from the war had a very tough time returning home and adjusting back into the civilian lifestyle. The country spent more than $ 120 billion on disputes in Vietnam in 1965-73. This massive spending has caused widespread inflation, which was exacerbated by the global oil crisis and surging fuel prices in 1973. In 1982, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was unveiled in Washington D.C., where 57,939 American men and women were killed or missing in the war. Later, the total increased to 58,200.
Sources: https://thevietnamwar.info/how-did-the-vietnam-war-end/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War http://www.dhahranbritish.com/history/A15_Viet5465.htm http://www.vietvet.org/jeffviet.htm
Vernon Leach
Copeland Grahmann
Hyunjae Kim
English 4
9/1/2017
Cavaiani
On Our Honor
Vietnam War 1955 - 1975
The start of the Vietnam War:
The Vietnam War with the United States started on November 1st 1955. It ended on April 30, 1975. The Vietnam War lasted a long 20 years, killing more than 3 million people. The Vietnam War was called the American War by the vietnamese people. The Vietnam War was fought in North and South Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. The Vietnam War was caused by the actions of consequences of the Cold War. The belief by the United States that communism is threatening to spread throughout Europe and and Asia is one of the biggest causes of the Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War.
The Vietnam …show more content…
has been through a lot, even before the United States got involved. France started its takeover of Indochina, also known as Vietnam in the late 1850’s. France completed their conquest in 1893. The 1884 Treaty of Huế was the start of the French Colonial rule for the next 70 years. During the time of the French Colonial rule, some vietnamese gave opposition to the French rule. For example, the Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng was a political party that sought independence from French rule. They had fought the French on multiple occasions, a memorable revolt was Yên Bái mutiny. This was where vietnamese soldiers uprised from the french rule, they were trying to cause a huge uprising and get civilians on board on the uprising. The uprising was unsuccessful in the end. In January 1950, the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China recognised Viet Minh's Democratic Republic of Vietnam as the legitimate government of Vietnam. The United States got involved when President John F. Kennedy was elected president. He was very against communism. In his inaugural address he says “pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and success of liberty.” The United States has had a hard time stopping the spread of communism in various other parts of the world, so Kennedy made a decision to stop the Communist expansion in Vietnam.
Guerrilla Warfare: Guerrilla warfare is a form of combat used by the Vietnam soldiers during the Vietnam War. Guerrilla warfare is where a small group of soldiers, such as a militia, armed civilians, or use military strategies including ambushes, sabotage, raids, petty warfare, hit and run tactics, and mobility to fight a larger and less mobile military. Vietnam adopted the fighting tactic because they didn’t have a big enough army to fight off the other countries, so they had to find a new strategy in order to defend their country.
The Vietnam soldiers set up traps all over the fighting grounds.
The most painful one was probably the punji sticks which were sharpened spears hidden about five feet underground under a wooden board with leaves over the top of it. On the punji sticks they would usually rub feces on the tips of the spears so when the soldiers fell into the pits they would later get a bacterial infection and die slowly due to the infection with massive amounts of pain. Snake pits were another terrifying way to punish soldiers that stepped onto their land. The pits would be filled with about one hundred angry vipers ready to strike anything that looked like a meal to them. Flag bombs were probably the worst morally, because the U.S takes great pride in the country's flag and they loved to take other countries flags. The Vietnam soldiers decided to booby trap their flag post with grenades and C4’s. So whenever the American soldiers would try and take the Vietnam flags off of the flag post the C4 or grenade would blow up killing whatever troops are around the flag. The Bamboo whip was one of the most painful in terms of long term. One day you could be walking, then the next second you could see a branch of bamboo flying at your body ready to strike. When the soldiers would be walking they would walk over a trip wire causing the bamboo trap to fly at you. If you didn’t die from the hit of the bamboo stick, you would wish it killed you after about a week of being in massive amounts of
pain.
The Vietnamese played dirty during the war because they knew they were outnumbered, so they knew they had to create inventive ways to beat the Americans. Guerrilla Warfare was the best option for them because Vietnam is mainly forest and all of the soldier knew the terrain giving them the upper advantage. Hiding, waiting for the American troops to come by, then jump out and gun them all down and run away and do the same thing three miles down the road.
Middle of Vietnam: By 1965 over half a million US troops were stationed in Vietnam. The United States didn’t have much during this 20 year war, there allies were Australia and South Korea. North Korea had the two strongest communist countries on their side, Russia and China. During and after 1965 was the hardest time in the war. There were a lot of battles and problems that happened in that year. Americans needed help on the front lines and President Johnson authorized Operation Rolling Thunder. Rolling Thunder is an operation that the US had to send bombers to hit the Viet Congs forces.
In April 1965 the US offers North Vietnam’s economic aid in exchange for peace, but the offer was rejected. President Johnson raises American numbers in Vietnam to more than 60,000 troops. Allies from South Korea and Australia also added troops as a sign of support. In April-May of 1966 Operation Birmingham was put into effect more than 5,000 U.S. troops and huge numbers of helicopters, and vehicles. There are small battles on both armies, but over a three week period, only 100 Viet Congs are killed. Most of the battles were dictated by the Viet Cong soldiers. One of the largest air-mobile assaults ever, 240 helicopters sweep over Tay Ninh. Beginning Operation Junction City. Junction City is to destroy Viet Cong bases and the Viet Cong military headquarters for South Vietnam all of which are located in War Zone C. Around 30,000 U.S. troops take part in the mission, also joined by 5,000 men of the South Vietnamese Army. 72 days later Junction City ended. American forces succeed in capturing large quantities of stores, equipment and weapons, but there are no large battles. In January 1969 Richard Nixon takes office as the new President of the United States. President Nixon promised to achieve "Peace With Honor." He aimed to withdraw the U.S. troops from the settlement in Vietnam. while still allowing South Vietnam to survive.
End of Vietnam War:
In January 1973, the United States and North Vietnam concluded a final peace agreement to end hostilities between the two nations. War between North and South Vietnam continued until April 30, 1975, when DRV forces captured Saigon, renaming it Ho Chi Minh City (Ho himself died in 1969). The new President Richard M. Nixon who won the presidential election of 1968 drew American troops from South Vietnam. President Nixon did this to show how much power he had and how much low moral he had. President Nixon promised to withdraw 25,000/543,000 U.S. ground troops in Vietnam by the end of the year.
Towards the end of the war the economy started to crash which put the U.S in debt. On August 15, 1973, The U.S stopped there direct involvement with the war. When the north Vietnamese army conquered saigon the war ended. By the end of the war America ended up losing 47,424 US soldiers and many coming back with PTSD, now causing serious neurological problems for returning soldiers. This condition was heavily diagnosed in vietnam vets because of the traumatic events that happened during the war. As soldiers returned home they also found that it was harder to get respect from citizens unlike other vets from different wars many people opposed the war and treated these vets as if it was their fault for the war. Soldiers from the war had a very tough time returning home and adjusting back into the civilian lifestyle. The country spent more than $ 120 billion on disputes in Vietnam in 1965-73. This massive spending has caused widespread inflation, which was exacerbated by the global oil crisis and surging fuel prices in 1973. In 1982, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was unveiled in Washington D.C., where 57,939 American men and women were killed or missing in the war. Later, the total increased to 58,200.
Sources: https://thevietnamwar.info/how-did-the-vietnam-war-end/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War http://www.dhahranbritish.com/history/A15_Viet5465.htm http://www.vietvet.org/jeffviet.htm