Vietnam War Essay

Consequently, war arose as divisive conflict pitted against the communist government of north Vietnam and south Vietnam. Majority of Vietnamese leaders strongly held to communism and believed that the fight against United States and south Vietnam would have a huge benefit internationally. The war has been branded varying titles by inhabitants and political leaders. Some of the phrases used include American War, Second Indochina War, War of Liberation, Anti-U. S War of National Salvation and Vietnam Conflict. Opposition to the war in United States divided the Americans even after president Nixon ordered the withdrawal of the US military in 1913. Communist forces ended the war by seizing control of south Vietnam in 1975 and the country was unified as the socialist republic of the Vietnam in the following year.

The Roots of Vietnam War The Vietnam conflict began long before the United States became directly involved. Indochina which includes; Cambodia and Laos were under French colonial rule since 19th century. During world war II, Japanese invaded Vietnam to fight for their freedom from the French. Little amounts were allocated to education and social welfare programs thus the quality of life of the predominant rural population continued to deteriorate. The south Vietnam armed forces were given American weapons to allow them fight invaders from north Vietnam. Main focus was the war rather than the uprising that was being experienced in the country. The national liberation front, also known as Viet Cong, was a guerrilla group who supported the communist north Vietnamese and opposed to the Diem rule.

Furthermore, president Diem feared not to be re-elected and thus failed to conduct the expected elections. The national federation movement was mainly comprised of the rural people who never benefited from the ruling government. They continued to dwell and languish in poverty as the central government spent much of its resources to fund the military engagement in war. This made it easy for the ruling powers to lose control over the rural part of the southern Vietnam in the mid-1961. People who rose against the government fought using the weaponry that was left behind by the France fighters during the second world war. At this instance, the reigning president, Diem, failed to heed to the united states advice to engage in meaningful reforms so as to ensure security is restored in the nation.

All these arguments gave the United States the drive to fully assist Diem in going contrary to the Geneva covenants. All these took place under the governance of president Dwight D. Eisenhower’s. However, president Diem’s decline to follow the proposals made by the United States’ administration did not deter them from supporting the war. In mid-1961, John F. Unfortunately, the then president of the united states, John F. Kennedy died leaving Lyndon B. Johnson to his succession. The south Vietnam leaders who followed had a challenging time in governing the people because coups were planned and executed every now and then. The North Vietnamese torpedo boats ambushed the U. It gave them a clear opportunity to ambush the united states’ advisers at Pleiku.

The U. S naval base was however protected by the marine to avoid attacks by the north Vietnamese. The united states forces made use of bombs to scare the Vietnamese fighters and deter them from further engagement in the war. They bombed north Vietnam under the ‘rolling thunder’ operation. Thus, Vietnam would become a sovereign state free from external interference that would affect how it runs its national operations. The strike was referred to as General Offensive-General Uprising; and was scheduled to take place during Tet holiday, unbeknown to the American administration. Hanoi and his people objectified that the ambush would make the south Vietnamese to overthrow their government in order to facilitate ceasing of the united states troops. The attacks were channeled towards cities and military bases and the entire operation took place for almost a month at the beginning of the year 1968.

The south Vietnam and American troops fought well making north Vietnam’s operation fail. The twelve operations took place within two months and were known as Cambodian incursions. These undertakings gave time for strategic and successful implementation of Vietnamization and allowed the United States military to withdraw systematically. Furthermore, operation ‘Lam Son 719’ was launched in southern Laos that led to many casualties. It took place in 1971. The following year, Soviet Union supported the north Vietnam forces with weapons in order to strengthen their fight. Hanoi calmed and was ready to engage in talks with the other parties. This came as a result of the Chinese and soviet leaders having an interest of maintain health relations with the united states in order to benefit from the modern western technology.

Moreover, they had already lost many people from their forces which made them prone to losing the territorial boundaries they had already secured in the previous wars. The talks were held in Paris whereby participants signed an agreement but the south Vietnamese president Thieu declined to sign but the covenant was publicized by Hanoi. The president of the united states; Nixon, blamed both Thieu and Hanoi for the deadlock. Saigon ceased in 1975. Finally, the nation of Vietnam became united under communism governance. However, the country was left healing economic wounds, pollution caused by the bomb chemicals as well as loss of lives. Additionally, the united states also faced the effects of inflation resulting from the extensive expenditure in funding the war.