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The Vietnam War

The Vietnam war was one of the longest wars in United States history. Fighting on one side of the war was the Untied States, the Republic of Vietnam, Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea. On the other side of the war was North Vietnam, the National Liberation Front, and a communist-led South Vietnamese guerrilla movement. This war started because President Eisenhower did not want communism to spread throughout the world and eventually make its way to America. This war took place between November 1st 1955 - April 30th 1975. Most of the fighting was taken place in Vietnam but it also found its way into Cambodia and Laos because they were all so close together. American History Examiner Don Keko, wrote an article called “The Ten Biggest Mistakes in American history”. In this article Keko says that from his point of view the Vietnam War was the second biggest mistake in American History. Its thought to be the second biggest mistake in American history because 58,000 American lives were lost, and it split the nation. Also another major mistake was that the American soldiers did not familiarize themselves with the VietCong’s strategies. The United States government viewed involvement in the war as a way to prevent communist takeover of South Vietnam and part of their wider strategy of containment. The United States entered the war in 1961. The communists take-over of China, the Korean War, and the communist victory over the French in Vietnam all led many Americans to think that the communist were taking over the world and they must be stopped. America was afraid that one day they would become a communist country. President Eisenhower’s foreign policy followed the domino theory. This was the idea that the countries of South East Asia (and other countries) were closely linked together. If one country was to fall to communism, then all the other countries would to. Like a row of dominos. Many Americans opposed the Vietnam War. Anti-War activists opposed the war because of how many American soldiers were losing their lives on the battlefield. Also Anti-War activists opposed the war because the U.S. Was helping with $30 billion a year.
After the terrible war was over North Vietnam and South Vietnam became a united country. But North Vietnam had taken over South Vietnam and they both became communist countries. This is an example of diplomacy. People say U.S. Involvement was pointless because both countries ended up turn over to communism.

Both sides of the war suffered major amounts of casualties. Death records are extremely hard to find or even nonexistent. Many of the casualties could not be accounted for because soldiers were literally blown to pieces by bombs. The estimated amount of American deaths is around 60,000. But, the estimated amount of Vietnamese deaths is around 2 million. The question still remain of who actually won the Vietnam war. Some say the it was North Vietnam. But many people disagree. The Vietnam war ended when the last Americans, ten marines, departed the embassy in Saigon. Once the marines left the VietCong quickly took over Saigon. Overall this was one of the longest wars in The United States history. People today still debate wether The Vietnam War was actually necessary for The United States to get involved in. Plus people are still debating if the Vietnam War has actually ended. Many memorials have been dedicated to the soldiers in the Vietnam War. Such as the memorial wall in Washington D.C. This wall has the names of all of the soldiers that died in the Vietnam War. Family members will come to this wall and trace the names of their loved ones onto a piece of paper. Many American soldiers lives could have been saved if the U.S. did not get involved in the Vietnam War. But America didn’t have a choice because the spread of communism would be a bad thing for everybody in the world. I think that involvement was needed and it was the right choice.