By 1968, however, over half a million US soldiers and marines were fighting in the jungles of South Vietnam and there had been thousands of US casualties. The Vietnam War turned into a major American defeat and helped change US policy in containing Communism. The United States entered the war to stop the spread of Communism in Southeast Asia. American leaders feared that Communist forces would gain control of Vietnam. After that, nation after nation might fall to Communism.
When the war started many American people was against it and want this to end son as possible. They were against it because United States didn´t have any trade with Vietnam or something like that. Many people give their opinions about the war in Vietnam. In the next paragraphs I am going to talk about two American groups fell about the war, the two groups are the American public and the soldiers. The first group the American public at the beginning of the war agreed with the fact that Us was helping South Vietnam, this because the president of the united States in this year told the people that they need to go to war and they have to go even if they don´t like the idea.
A war between the two immediately broke out. In 1964, the USA entered the Vietnam War. The inconclusive war in Vietnam cost many American and Vietnamese lives, devastated the country, and achieved nothing but misery for anyone caught up in it; including the Cambodians. Cambodia had become part of the Vietnam battlefield. During the next four years, American B-52 bombers, using napalm and cluster-bombs, killed up to 750,000 Cambodians in their effort to destroy North Vietnamese supply lines.
Canyon Breazeale Mr. Tarrillion English II- 4 2/20/12 The Vietnam War More than three million people were killed during the Vietnam War, and more than half of the casualties were Vietnamese civilians ("Vietnam War"). The Vietnam War began in 1945 and ended in 1975; however, the United States did not get directly involved until 1955 (Schomp The Vietnam War 70). Throughout this relatively short time period more than one hundred and twenty billion dollars were spent all focused on furthering the war effort ("VietnamWar"). Also this large sum of money was primarily spent on one main mission, stopping the spread of communism and preventing the effects of the "Domino Theory" from becoming a reality (Mason Chickenhawk 60). During the Vietnam
From 1861 to 1865, approximately 620,000 soldiers' lives were cut short, not to mention the 50,000 civilian lives that were also claimed. Soldiers lost during that time exceeded the combination of soldiers lost from the Revolutionary War, both World Wars, the Korean War, the Mexican War, and even the Spanish-American War. In comparison to today's population, six million people would die in four years or two percent of our population. The impact of death on the human capital grew in importance. It became familiar in fact, a part of daily life for Americans at that time.
Vietnam War Carrie E. Christ (McManus) DeVry University Contemporary History Professor Jones Fall 2013 Vietnam War Thesis The Vietnam War is significant to American History because the United States participated in this war, as allies, with South Vietnamese, against North Vietnam and their southern allies, the Viet Cong. This war began because of a dispute that began in 1954, and was the cause of over three million deaths, half of which were Vietnamese civilians, and included the deaths of 58,000 Americans (A&E History). American citizens, divided on their thoughts in regards to support of this war, did not give the respect, nor honor to the veterans that they deserved, many of them shamed. The government, whom gave resolution to enact the war, did not provide support for the wounded veterans, and many suffered physical, emotional, as well as psychological injuries. Many Vietnam Veterans still suffer today because of this war; many whom have never spoke about it since returning to America.
Mr. Cogan also states that in 2008 an estimated 30 percent of soldiers took their own lives while on deployment and that another 35 percent committed suicide after returning home. Mr. Cogan will also go on to say that the Veterans Affairs (VA) has only treated around 400,000 of the 1.7 million men and women who have served and that the numbers might be far worse than the VA actually knows about.
This evidence shows that the way people saw the war was changing. The people didn’t want to see their husbands, kids, friends, or their neighbors fighting in such a horrifying war. The media coverage changed the way people saw the war because it made them realize that there were thousands of Americans dying overseas in a war that they didn’t need to be involved in. The Vietnam changed people’s view about the war, “The Vietnam War was the most extensively covered war in history. This coverage was thought to have had a powerful influence on public opinion and therefore on political decision making”.
Many of the cities were occupied by Vietcong for many hours, or days. The US and South Vietnamese showed victory in regaining all the cities back, but they suffered many losses and lost almost all the American public support. The TET Offensive showed the American public the truth of Vietnam, and not what the Military wanted the people to hear. To many, the war was a lost cause, a waste of money and resources. Later, in March of 1968 the My Lai Massacre devastated a town of North Vietnamese citizens.
Xxxxx Xxxxx Ms. Xxxxxx Xxxxx HST221-E1 7 April 2009 In Country (1989) Vietnam Myths It’s difficult to have a discussion about the Vietnam War without invoking statistics. The fact that it was our longest military conflict and almost 60,000 Americans died there is common knowledge. The four to six million Vietnamese and Laotian deaths are not as well known. Unfortunately, other bits of common knowledge are erroneous and have even solidified into damaging myths: most American soldiers were addicted to drugs, guilt-ridden about their role in the war, and are a danger to society. In reality, according to Harris, there was and is no difference in drug use between Vietnam Veterans (VV) and civilians, the vast majority are proud of their service (most would even serve again knowing what they know now) and most importantly, VV have for the most part, made a successful transitions back into society and are less likely to be in prison (1980).