The actual ground war in Desert Storm lasted about 6 weeks and Vietnam lasted well over 10 years. In Desert Storm the American military was well prepared and had superior weapon technology and training. In Desert Storm there was an easily identified “bad guy”. Saddam Hussein Iraqs’ leader wanted to control the oil in the middle east. The American military helped Kuwait to gain an ally to keep Iraq from controlling the middle east oil industry.
This is the same day that pearl harbor was being decimated by the Japanese. At that moment Indianapolis was assigned to a task force with the mission to find the Japanese carriers responsible for the attack, however the mission was unsuccessful. Throughout WWII the USS Indianapolis was involved with numerous Naval battles in the pacific including crucial battles of Okinawa and Iwo Jima. The Indianapolis was imperative in these clashes providing support for the landing. During the Pre-invasion of Okinawa on 24 March 1945 the Indianapolis bombarded the beach defenses for seven days.
The results of these operations are often cited as one of the turning points of World War II. The Battle of Stalingrad was the bloodiest battle in human history, with combined casualties estimated to be above 1.5 million. 8) Battle of Midway: The Battle of Midway was a major naval battle, widely regarded as the most important of the Pacific Campaign of World War II. It took place from 4 June to 7 June 1942, exactly six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor. The Japanese operation, like the earlier attack on Pearl Harbor, was aimed at the elimination of the United States as a strategic Pacific power, thereby giving Japan a free hand in establishing its Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.
This invasion starts to turn the tide of the war for the United States and its allies against the Germans. D-Day remains the largest seaborne invasion in history (D-Day, 2009). The operation D-Day codenamed Overlord lasted from June 6, 1944 to June 30, 1944. The invasion was not a success until the Allied forces established a strong foothold in Normandy France (D-Day, the Battle of Normandy, 1999). There is no official casualty figure for D-Day but it is estimated that more than 425,000 allied and German troops were killed, wounded, or went missing during the battle (Allies prepare for D-Day, 2011).
One interesting fact to remember is that we put Saddam Hussein into power back in the 1070's when he opposed the soviets. So we gave him millions of dollars, weapons, and tactics to defeat the soviets. Hussein however used this power, weapons, and money to make himself a dictator figure over his people in Iraq and a long period of oppression ensued. All of the problems we have spent $4 trillions dollars on were caused by none other than ourselves back in the cold war. The Bush administration underestimated how long the Iraq War would take, and the administration expected only a two year operation and a price tag of a little over $100
The United States led a coalition of over 30 different Nations into a battle with Iraq in order to liberate Kuwait from the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein. The conflict between Iraq and Kuwait began because Iraq was accusing Kuwait of drilling oil across the Iraqi border without permission. The United Nations made the decision to get allied forces together and begin the Gulf War (VFW Post 6298. n.d.). The war in the Persian Gulf had less than 100 hours of actual land and air actions before Kuwait received their oil rights back and Iraq was defeated. Many military veterans who served in the Gulf War have been said to have obtained unexplainable health problems which are now known as Gulf War Syndrome.
Battle of 73 Easting The Battle of 73 Easting was a battle fought in Iraq approximately 50 miles east of Al Busayyah between United States Army’s 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment and the Tawakalna Division from the elite Iraqi Republican Guard during the Gulf War period. The battle occupied the date of 26 February, 1991. The battle didn’t last very long but compared to the intensity it seemed like days. The main unit involved on the U.S. side was Eagle Troop, 2nd Squadron, 2nd ACR, but other 2nd ACR Troops, Iron, Killer, and Ghost Troop, had joined the fighting at 73 Easting as well. I chose this battle because Major General H.R.
1a: Explain why the Tet Offensive was a military defeat but psychological boost to the North Vietnamese forces (1000 - 1500 words) The Tet offensive brought about the first major signs to the general public that the U.S government were fighting an un-democratic war. In early 1968, on the Vietnamese lunar New Year a surprise communist groups resisting the South Vietnamese regime launched attack. Being led away from Saigon with false tip off as to the point of attack, the majority of American troops had been sent to the west of Vietnam to the borders of Cambodia. Whilst the American troops sped back returning faster than the NLF had anticipated Their estimated 84,000 troops (Lawrence, 2008) had stormed Saigon and for a brief time a small group held the American embassy, being seen by cameras waving the north Vietnamese flag from the roof. It was only a few days until the NLF troops had been beaten back and the American troops once again occupied Saigon and their own embassy.
Battle of the Somme The Battle of the Somme took place in 1916. But before the Canadians joined in the ill-fated operation they were engaged in local offensives, in the southern part of Ypres Salient, intended to keep the Germans occupied. At the battle of St. Eloi the second division received it's “baptism of fire” in a battlefield of water-filled mine craters and shell holes. The Canadians, wearing the new steel helmets which had just been introduced, suffered 1 373 casualties in thirteen days of confused attacks and counter-attacks over possession of six water-logged craters and the dominating land on which they sat. For the third division, the initiation to battle was even more devastation.
He had blamed Iraq to be holding terrorists, he had made America believe that Iraq had been under Saddam Hussein’s clutches and that whatever he had to say was law. President Bush had stated in his speech that, “Saddam Hussein is harboring terrorists and the instruments of terror, the instruments of terror of mass death and destruction, and he cannot be trusted. The risk is simply too great that he will use them or provide them to a terror network”. He had made Americans believe that Hussein was creating weapons and developing a nuclear weapon so that he could “blackmail” the world. President Bush had not trusted Saddam Hussein and he didn’t want rest of America to either.