The Cold War: Analysis of the War in the Vietnam - Assignment Example

The Cold War Name Course Date Vietnam War The war in the Vietnam was an extended struggling among the nationalist forces who were trying to unite the Vietnam country under the United States of America and a communist government. They were seeking support from the South Vietnam as they were attempting to avoid the expansion of communism. They were involved in a battle that was viewed by many as having no means of winning. The leaders from the U.S. A. didn’t have the public support for this battle from his people. Vietnam is believed to have taken place between 1959 to 30th April 1975. Vietnam war is also referred to as Vietnam conflict, War against American while saving the country, American battle in Vietnam or the Second Indochina War. There had been infighting in the nation of Vietnam for several decades prior to the Vietnam battle. The Vietnamese had been suffering under the French colonization for almost six decades when Japan country attacked parts of Vietnam nation in the year 1940. It is in 1941, when the Vietnam nation was having two foreign authorities dwell in them. The communist Vietnamese revolutionary boss Ho Chi Minh got back to Vietnam after using about thirty years as he travelled around the world.1 Immediately Ho was back in the nation of Vietnam, he came up with headquarter in one of the caves in the north of Vietnam and he also established the Viet Minh. The most important aim was getting rid Vietnamese of the occupiers from France and Japan. 1Jane Hamilton, Tragic Mountains: The Hmong, the American, and the Secretive Battle for Laos, 1942–1992 (Indiana University: Indiana University Press, 1999), 337. The Viet Minh proclaimed the establishment of a Vietnam, which was independent, on September 2, 1945 with a new authority known as the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. Nevertheless, the French weren’t ready to surrender their colony that easily thus they had to fight back. For a long duration of time, Ho had attempted to invite the United States to back him up against the French government. He had also incorporated the supply of military intelligence to the U.S.A. pertaining the Japanese in the periods of the Second World War In spite of this support, the United States of America was committed fully to the Cold War foreign guiding principle of suppression. The U.S. policy was an assertion to avert the spread of socialism. This horror of the spreading of socialism was magnified by the American’s "domino theory," which was asserting that in case one country in the Southeast Asia had fallen into Communism subsequently the surrounding nations would definitely soon fall. To assist stop Vietnam from being a communist nation, the U.S. opted to help France to defeat Ho and all his innovatives through sending of French armed support in 1950.2 In the year 1954, the French made a decision of pulling out of Vietnam after they had suffered a decisive crush at Dien Bien Phu, in the 1954 Geneva Conference, many nations had a meeting to resolve on how the French could withdraw calmly. The concurrence that arose out of this conference (i.e. Geneva Accords) prearranged a come to an end fire for the calm withdrawal of 2Jane Hamilton, Tragic Mountains: The Hmong, the American, and the Secretive Battle for Laos, 1942–1992 (Indiana University: Indiana University Press, 1999), 342. French troops and the provisional dissection of the Vietnam beside the 17th parallel. This ultimately led to the partitioning of the nation into the socialist North Vietnam and non-socialist South Vietnam. Also, a common democratic election was then to be held in the year 1956 that was to bring back together the nation under one government. United States of America reject to concur with that election, as they were afraid that the communists could have won.3 Vietnam was temporarily divided at 17th parallel. Also under the provisions of Geneva Accords, civilians were allowed to move freely between these two interim states for a period of 300 days. Elections all over the country and were intended to be held in the year 1956 to create a united government. Approximately one million northerners, mostly minority Catholics, had to flee to south, because they were afraid of being persecuted by the socialists following an the U.S. propaganda campaign by means of slogans like " Virgin Mary is moving to the south", and supported by an American funded $93 million replacement program, which involved the ferrying of these refugees using the Seventh Fleet. With full support from the America, the Southern Vietnam held the elections only in the South Vietnam instead of nationwide. After doing away with most of his adversaries, Ngo Dinh Diem was then elected. His ways of leading his people, however, turned to be so awful that he got killed in the year 1963 in a coup that was facilitated by United States. Because Ngo Diem had separated a lot of South Vietnamese during his era, communist partisans in the South Vietnam had to establish National Liberation Front (NLF), in 1960 and use guerrilla combats against the South Vietnamese.3 3Jane Hamilton, Tragic Mountains: The Hmong, the American, and the Secretive Battle for Laos, 1942–1992 (Indiana University: Indiana University Press, 1999), 352. As the battle between Viet Cong and South Vietnamese progressed, the U.S. was also sending more advisers to the South Vietnam. But the North Vietnamese directly shot at two American ships in the international waters on 2nd and 4th August in the year 1964, a Congress reacted using the Gulf of Tonkin declaration. The resolution granted the President with the power to increase the U.S. participation in the Vietnam. Consequently, President Johnson Lyndon instructed the first U.S. army to Vietnam in the year 1965.4 President Johnson's objective in involving the US in the Vietnam wasn’t for the U.S. victor. The main agenda was bolstering the South Vietnam's defenses till South Vietnam was able to take over. By engaging in the Vietnam War with no aim of winning, President Johnson was setting the stage for upcoming public and troop disappointments when the Americans got themselves in a deadlock with the Northern Vietnam and the Viet Cong.4 From the year 1965- 1969, America was rarely involved in the war in Vietnam. But, there were some above ground bombing of the Northern Vietnam. President Johnson sought the war to be restricted to South Vietnam. By restricting the fighting factors, the U.S. forces couldn’t carry out a serious ground attack to the North to assail the communists straightforwardly nor could there be any big effort to interrupt the Trail of the Ho Chi Minh (i.e. the Viet Cong's delivery pathway that was running via Cambodia and Laos). U.S. troops were fighting a jungle battle, generally against the Viet Cong, who were well-supplied. The Viet Cong could attack in the waylays, could also be setting up booby entraps, and fled via 4Jane Hamilton, Tragic Mountains: The Hmong, the American, and the Secretive Battle for Laos, 1942–1992 (Indiana University: Indiana University Press, 1999), 381. complicated underground channel networks. For the American forces, even just locating their enemies was very difficult. Because the Viet Cong were usually hiding in the thick brushes, the U.S. troops dropped Agent Oranges or napalm bombs which could clear the place by making the leaves and twigs to drop off or burn away. In all the villages, the U.S. forces had trouble on how to establish which of the villagers were their enemies because some women and children were building booby traps or were housing and feeding the Viet Cong. Most of the U.S. soldiers became irritated by this war conditions while in Vietnam. Most of them became demoraled, became annoyed, and some started using drugs.5 On 30th January 1968, the North Vietnamese shocked both the U.S. and South Vietnamese forces when they orchestrated a well-coordinated attack with the Viet Cong to about a hundred South Vietnamese towns and cities. Though the U.S. troops and the South Vietnamese forces were capable of repelling the attack referred to as the Tet Offensive. The of guard attack from these enemies proved to Americans that these enemies were stronger and good schemers than they had been thinking. The Tet Offensive was the turning point in this battle since President Johnson, was then faced with an unhappy American community and bad rumors from his armed forces leaders in Vietnam, opted no to escalate the battle.5 In the year 1969, Richard Nixon was elected as the new American President and had his personal plan of terminating the U.S. participation in the Vietnam. President Nixon sketched out a scheme called the Vietnamization. This was a process of removing U.S. troops from the 5Jane Hamilton, Tragic Mountains: The Hmong, the American, and the Secretive Battle for Laos, 1942–1992 (Indiana University: Indiana University Press, 1999), 412. Vietnam at the same time handing back the war to the South Vietnam. The abandonment of U.S. army began in July 1969. To bring a faster termination to these hostilities, President Nixon also extended the battle into other nations, like Laos and Cambodia. This was a decision that created numerous protests, in particular on college campuses, in America. New peace negotiations kicked off in Paris on 25th January 1969.6 After the U.S. withdrawing a good number of its troops from the Vietnam, the North Vietnam staged an extra massive assault, referred to as the Easter Offensive on March 30th , 1972. North Vietnamese army was crossing over the demilitarized zone (DMZ) in the 17th parallel and invading the South Vietnamese. The left behind U.S. army and the South Vietnamese forces had to fight back. On January 27th, 1973, the peace negotiations in Paris lastly succeeded to produce a cease-fire agreement. Then the last American troops left Vietnam on March 29th , 1973, being aware that they were abandoning weak South Vietnamese who would not be in a position to withstand an additional main communist invasion from the North Vietnam.6 After the America had withdrawn most of its army, the battle still continued in Vietnam. In the early 1975, the North Vietnam made another huge shove south which consequentially toppled the government of the South Vietnam. The South Vietnam had to formally surrender to the communist North Vietnamese troops on April 30th, 1975. Later On July 2nd , 1976, the whole Vietnam was brought back together as a communist nation, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. 6Jane Hamilton, Tragic Mountains: The Hmong, the American, and the Secretive Battle for Laos, 1942–1992 (Indiana University: Indiana University Press, 1999), 450. Bibliography Jane Hamilton. Tragic Mountains: The Hmong, the American, and the Secretive Battle for Laos, 1942–1992. 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