Essay On The Vietnam War

THE VIETNAM WAR

Did you know about 1.5 million people died during the Vietnam War, which was more than the population of New Mexico in the 1960s? Vietnam, which is relative in size to New Mexico, is a country in Asia that borders the Gulf of Tonkin. The Vietnam War was a result of people in Vietnam wanting independence from France. The US supported the French so that all of Vietnam would not become a communist country and so this would not lead to other countries following in their footsteps. What were the causes and effects of the US joining and leaving the war? This war left a big imprint on US history and we continue to remember it to this day. Overall, the Vietnam war ultimately changed America in many ways and the causes and
effects of us joining and leaving the war really showed us where our true beliefs lie.

The US sacrificed a lot for this war, but how did this whole confrontation start? The war started out on the day WWII officially came to an end. Ho Chi Minh, the Viet Cong’s leader, declared independence from the French and sought to unite all of Vietnam along with support from Russia and China. The US wanted to stop the message about communism that Ho Chi Minh was spreading. They thought that if Vietnam fell into the path of communism, it would lead to other countries becoming communist. The Viet Cong, AKA North Vietnam, especially enraged the US when they fired on a ship of ours in the Gulf of Tonkin. All of our anger and our belief that Ho Chi Minh’s Administration was corrupt, evil, and communist led to us entering the Vietnam War. President Johnson made the final decision in March of 1965. He decided to send our troops into battle to stop the Viet Cong and help South Vietnam reunite the country.

Now that the US had joined the war there would be many resulting effects. The US would sacrifice a lot to try stopping the Viet Cong. The French had backed out of the war 11 years before this due to their defeat on May 7th, 1954. Now the US was fighting the war alone. We started small by sending a few thousand soldiers. But, our troops stationed there kept asking for more reinforcements. As a result of this, by November 1967, we had over 500,000 troops stationed in Vietnam! Because of all the coming support from other countries both sides had huge amounts of firepower and were ready to fight for what they believed in. By now, the US had a lot of their troops stationed in Vietnam now due to constant calls for reinforcements. Both sides were ready to fight. Seeds of conflict led to all out war. Both sides bombed one another and sent constant waves of soldiers. Many innocent people in Vietnam died during the war due to battles residing in Vietnamese cities and towns. Battlefields were littered with the dead and this later traumatized soldiers from the battles too. This war certainly had bloody consequences.

At a point the US had to leave the war. Why did we leave? Many reasons include the fact that although we outnumbered them, the Viet Cong Guerilla tactics were much more sophisticated than ours leading to them winning a great number of battles against us. Their soldiers were uniformed, full-time, and were equipped for large scale offensive attacks. They also operated within their own districts but, could come together at a moment's notice. All their tactics led to win after win. The Viet Cong also had the much valued help from the Soviet Union and China who sent the Viet Cong a lot of supplies and weapons which may have helped them win the war. Many Americans also started to oppose the war due to pictures of the desolate battlegrounds and piles of the dead. “Hey LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?”, became a popular protest chant. This was also a main factor that convinced the government to take us out of the war. Finally our government had enough and they officially withdrew the US from the war on March 29th, 1973.

The war was lost now even after we put so much into stopping the Viet Cong.
There were many effects that occurred within the US after we left the war. The US was very weakened. But, instead of greeting soldiers with joy and patting them on the back, Americans were angered and shamed them. Many Americans thought that the soldiers were slaughtering innocent citizens on account of some newspapers that spread falsehoods and the pictures that were shared. It didn’t really help that their supporters still viewed them as losing the war. They were seen as committing a crime. All the soldiers were trying to do was spread liberty and justice around the globe. In fact, “According to a survey by the Veterans Administration, some 500,000 of the 3 million troops who served in Vietnam suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, and rates of divorce, suicide, alcoholism and drug addiction were markedly higher among veterans.” (History.com Staff). This was mainly because of the poor treatment soldiers were given after sacrificing so much for their country. Soldiers also suffered physical damage from a chemical dumped on Vietnamese forests called herbicide. The war also ended the myth that the US was invincible due to the fact that the Vietnam War was the first war that we lost. Finally, in 1982, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was unveiled in Washington DC. We had lost about 58,200 soldiers during the war so the US thought it was only fitting that we honored our veterans
for their sacrifices even though we lost. We had sacrificed a lot trying to stop the Viet Cong.

Overall, the US sacrificed a lot for what they believed in. We had sent in soldiers because of our anti-communist beliefs and lost the war. Then, when our soldiers came back, we greeted them with hate. Vietnam had to rebuild itself and was finally named The Socialist Republic of Vietnam in 1976. The US was heartbroken from their devastating loss and their death toll of soldiers. Russia and China had also exhausted many of their resources to help North Vietnam win the war. But, communism will always be a problem. We have been anti-communist before, during, and after the war and we always will be. Will this battle ever end? The world may never know. All we need to remember is that the battle of communism may never be over and we must remember our soldiers for what they sacrificed to try to stop it. There were many unique causes and effects of the US joining and leaving this war. I think we can all say that this war truly left a huge footprint on America. After all, I honestly think this was a very fine time in American history where even though we failed, we still stayed firm in our beliefs. -Erik Nielsen WORKS CITED
"Why Was the Vietnam War Fought?" Reference. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2017.
"The Causes of the Vietnam War." The Causes of the Vietnam War. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Mar. 2017.
"The History Place - Vietnam War." The History Place - Vietnam War. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Mar. 2017.
History.com Staff. "Vietnam War History." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 2009. Web. 02 Mar. 2017.
"Richard Nixon Quotes." Richard Nixon Quotes. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2017.