The Vietnam War - Essay Example

The Vietnam War The Vietnam War was a very long and costly armed conflict against the communist regime and it started in 1965 and ended in 1973. This battle began when the north launched guerilla attacks against South Vietnam and it ended when Saigon failed. US forces directly participated in this battle with the aim of destroying communist rule and prevent it from spreading. This battle happened in today’s Vietnam, Southeast Asia. Ideally, this war is a manifestation of a successful attempt to bring together all Vietnamese under communism by the North Vietnam. Literally, Vietnam War involved the tension between the northern and southern regions of Vietnam with the south receiving support from America. North Vietnam faced strong opposition from South Vietnam who were received support from the United States. This divisive war led to massive loss of lives with more than fifty eight thousand Americans being killed in the conflict. More so, about two million Vietnamese lost their lives in the process and many disabled. Vietnam War took place during the Cold War and so it is perceived as an indirect conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States with every state and its allies backing one side to defeat this war. This paper provided an in-depth discussion on the Vietnam War stating the possible causes and consequences of this war. Indeed, this was one of the longest battles in US and it was fought by the US and South Vietnam against North Vietnam and Viet Cong (Willbanks, 2013). This war dominated thirty years of Vietnam’s history and it all started with communists fighting French colonial power. Americans and other westerners refer to this conflict as the Vietnam War while the Vietnamese refer to it as the American war because it involved US military intervention since 1965 until 1973 (Lawrence, 2010). The communist forces in North Vietnam emerged victorious over France in 1954 leading to the separation of Vietnam into two. Peace negotiations were promised but never succeeded and after some time, the communist launched a guerilla war on the south. US soldiers were sent to assist in fighting the communist in unsuccessful war that increased international instability and domestic civil unrest. Fear of the spread of communism is what forced America to get involved on this battle. From 1968, efforts of ending the conflict via diplomacy started and the war ended with the withdrawal of U.S forces in 1973 based on the reached agreement, and the release of the US prisoners of war. North Vietnam emerged won the battle forcing South Vietnam to surrender hence the unification of Vietnam under the control of communist by 1975. There were many forces that triggered the commencement of Vietnam War, first and foremost, the war started after the division of Vietnam into two following the agreements during Geneva conference. The country was separated into northern and southern parts with a demilitarized zone (Tucker, 2011) having communist and democratic systems respectively. The North initiated and headed a guerilla attack against the south with the aim of bringing together all Vietnamese under communist system. However, this move did not make Americans happy and so they decided to participate in the war by supporting South Vietnam against the north and assisted in combating the guerillas because they were afraid of the fast spread of communism. Therefore, one major cause of Vietnam War was to stop communism from spreading. The United States was afraid of the spread and domination of the communist system based on the domino theory for Vietnam (Tucker, 2011). According to this theory, if one country in the region joined communism, all others would follow and this was the major worry of Americans, as they feared the expansion of communist empires. This way, American involvement also serves as another causal factor of the Vietnam War. More so, it can be argued that the invasion of Vietnam by the French after the Second World War also contributed to the conflict in Vietnam because by exploring the country, French established an imbalance in the cultural lifestyle of the Vietnamese. Accordingly, some of the factors that contributed to the warfare in Vietnam include individuals’ perception about the idea of Vietnam becoming an independent country. The civil conflict that occurred between French and Viet Minh is also another factor that caused Vietnam battle. Some scholars have argued that Vietnam War was the second Indochina war and was a continuation of the first Indochina war, which began due to France’s refusal to comply with Vietnam’s demand for independence from the French colonial rule. This war ended in 1954 when the French was defeated and so they assented to the demands of Vietnam calling for Geneva conference where Geneva Accords was drafted and stated temporary separation of Vietnam until confederacy elections were to take place in 1956 (Willbanks, 2013; Tucker, 2011). Unfortunately, the peace brought by Accord did not last for long as South Vietnam refused to embrace communism and this led to a prolonged battle between the north and south of Vietnam. This is what certain scholars describe as the Second Indochina War (Lawrence, 2010). Furthermore, some people have claimed that civil war between North and South Vietnam was also a major cause of the war. Notably, the Vietnam War began even before the involvement of the United States as the war was fought between the two regions due to the conflicts and in Vietnam along with overseas participation in the country. Vietnam War negatively influenced individuals’ lives including those who were involved and others. Firstly, this battled led to massive loss of lives including fifty eight thousand Americans approximately and over three hundred thousand casualties (Willbanks, 2013). More so, Vietnam War led to approximately one to two million deaths in Vietnam. Many Americans were largely affected by this war as many of them lost their lives and quite a good number were wounded. In addition, Vietnam War had great and prolonged impacts on the American veterans and this forced some of them to form a group against this battle. American veterans established an association called Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) and their major aim was to oppose the idea of allowing the service people to return to the continuing war in Indochina. This group grew rapidly and attracted many members to join and it revealed the ugly truth about the U.S involvement in Southeast Asia. Moreover, many Americans who served in the Vietnam War suffered symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. American soldiers who fought in the war received cold reception upon their arrival at home and this made them feel alienated. Some of them became permanently disabled and many lost their lives during the battle. Some of these associations such as VVAW were established because of the increased post-traumatic stress disorder cases that were recognized among these veterans. Further, Vietnam War involved chemical warfare and this adversely affected many veterans, environment, crops and forests among others. For instance, during the war, the United States used a chemical called Agent Orange, which was very harmful to veterans’ health. Reports reveal that about twenty million gallons of herbicides were used in Vietnam War in order to remove unwanted plants and leaves that could otherwise cover up enemy forces during the battle. After participating in the Vietnam War, some veterans had many health complications and concerns due to the exposure to Agent Orange and other herbicides. Most of them returned home with the fear of developing a disease. These chemicals greatly affected the local population and today, many people suffering from serious diseases such as cancer and disabilities. Many children were also the victims suffering from malformations and other defects. In addition, a good number of American veterans were stereotyped after their participation in Vietnam War. For instance, there was a common negative perception of Vietnam veterans as being psychologically devastated, homeless, and drug addicted individuals among others. This made it hard for them to successfully readjust to the society. Moreover, Vietnam War adversely affected Vietnamese as well but South Vietnam in particular. For example, North Vietnam emerged the winner and so South Vietnam was forced to submit to the communist rule of the north. More so, the victorious communist government facilitated the implementation of land reforms in the south as those in the north. Lastly, congress formulated the war powers act in 1973 whereby the presidents had to receive congressional approval before sending American forces to any battle. Concisely, Vietnam War was a conflict between the two regions in Vietnam with the southern part receiving full support from U.S. North Vietnam aimed at uniting and imposing communist system in the entire country but South Vietnam failed to comply with this move. This forced Ho to launch a guerilla attack on South Vietnam who in turn received support from the U.S to combat the guerillas. The war ended when U.S withdrew its forces and U.S prisoners of war released, North Vietnam won forcing South Vietnam to surrender hence the unification of the country. The major causes of Vietnam War include the effort to stop communism from spreading and the U.S involvement; the civil war between North and South Vietnam; and France’s refusal to comply with Vietnam’s demand to gain independence among others. Accordingly, Vietnam War had many negative consequences on individuals including the veterans, children and local people as well as the South Vietnamese. The war affected American veterans in a very negative way as most of them lost their lives, many were wounded and some of them had permanent disabilities. They also faced stereotyping as they came back home in America making hard for them to cope up and re-adjust to the society. The chemical used by Americans during this battle adversely affected people including children. Until today, children in Vietnam are affected by the chemical operations done by the U.S to destroy vegetation so as to expose the enemy force. Overall, Vietnam War is still famous because of how it affected the lives of many people throughout the years. References Lawrence, Mark A. (2010). The Vietnam War: A Concise International History. Oxford University Press. Tucker, S. (2011). The encyclopedia of the Vietnam War: A political, social, and military history. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO. Willbanks, J. H. (2013). Vietnam War: The Essential Reference Guide. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO  Read More