StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...

The Vietnam War - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
THE VIETNAM WAR (A 20th Century Experience) Name of Student (author) Name of University Introduction The Vietnam War had started innocently enough, and its intent was in pursuance of the so-called domino theory during the Cold War in which democratic nations and their communist counterparts fought proxy wars in various parts of the world…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER95.8% of users find it useful
The Vietnam War
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "The Vietnam War"

Download file to see previous pages

It was an expensive war in terms of men, material, and armaments, with consequent long-lasting damage to the environment due to the use of defoliants to deprive the enemy of forest cover which was well-suited in guerrilla war. This was the only war that America lost. This paper is a re-examination of perhaps one of the reasons why America lost in Vietnam due to the ROE and grossly inflated body counts (Moss, 2010, p. 383). Discussion The Cold War started during the term of Pres. Dwight Eisenhower as a competition of two contrasting ideologies – democracy (and capitalism) against communism (and central planning).

American involvement in Vietnam was initially kept secret and utilized military advisers without any direct fighting by American soldiers. However, things soon got out of hand and escalated to the point that thousands of American soldiers were eventually involved and fighting a war many had thought is not America's war but a war between the Vietnamese people themselves. Former Pres. John F. Kennedy was against direct American involvement, but when his successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, became the president, the full-scale war began.

Assumptions – one of the most controversial aspects of the Vietnam War was a concept known as rules of engagement (ROE). This particular set of rules placed several constraints on many soldiers fighting the enemy; it is like fighting a boxing match with one hand tied behind the back. In essence, the ROE required American soldiers to observe rules of conduct when fighting in order to comply with international humanitarian laws pertaining to combat. This includes the idea of avoiding collateral damage or, in plain language, civilian casualties.

When this is enforced, it is a difficult job of fighting the Vietcong because these guerrilla warriors hide among the people. It frustrated a lot of American soldiers that they cannot go after their enemy hiding in the populace. Individual soldier (infantry in the field) – the ROE prevents him from pursuing enemies in the heat of battle, enemies who retreat and hide in the village. This was one source of great frustration in which an enemy could have been neutralized or captured but the ROE does not allow it.

This same enemy survives for another day and could possibly be able to kill him tomorrow. The ROE put unnecessary limits when prosecuting a war that was unconventional in its nature. Battalion commander – his primary concern is carrying out his orders, which are almost always mission-specific in terms of objectives – for example, attacking an identified enemy area. This ROE ensured that discipline is always maintained despite the chaos on the battleground and kept in touch with the higher-ups in the chain of command.

ROE focused the battalion commander on his mission order and nothing more than that; there was hardly any room for discretion. Division commander – the ROE reminded the commander of the larger objectives of its war in Vietnam, especially of the political aspects of the effect of warfare on the local populace. It put him on the defensive at times, because the Vietnamese people could be offended. Gen. William Westmoreland – as the direct overall commander of the entire theater of a war, it was incumbent on him to ensure victory.

However, despite superiority in war materials, it was a war that was bound to be lost,

...Download file to see next pages Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“The Vietnam War Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1”, n.d.)
Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/history/1451948-vietnam-history-a
(The Vietnam War Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 Words - 1)
https://studentshare.org/history/1451948-vietnam-history-a.
“The Vietnam War Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 Words - 1”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/history/1451948-vietnam-history-a.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF The Vietnam War

Perception of The Vietnam War

Perceptions of The Vietnam War Class: Days/Times of Class: Date: The Vietnam War occurred between North and South Vietnam, with the North Vietnamese being inferior in terms of firepower, and instead balanced the tables through the use of guerrilla tactics.... Lasting for twenty-five years, The Vietnam War was a painful time for both sides of the conflict, and many of those that survived bear deep physical and emotional wounds2.... This article focuses on the perceptions of The Vietnam War as portrayed in these three sources and argues that to understand the way that The Vietnam War occurred, and its true cost, it is important to examine many different perspectives....
6 Pages (1500 words) Essay

Monkey Bridge and the Vietnam War

… The context of The Vietnam War is central to Cao's novel.... Just as the Vietnamese oscillated between the roles of soldiers, farmers and parents during the war, the novel investigates the quotidian, social and historic contexts of the protagonists' lives.... Besides living in constant fear that her painful experiences in vietnam shall rematerialize in her American present, Mai also shares her mother's grief for the presumed abandonment of her grandfather....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

The End of the Vietnam War

The End of The Vietnam War Name Instructor Class May 21, 2012 Introduction When President Richard Nixon stepped into office, he inherited a war from erstwhile President Lyndon Johnson, The Vietnam War.... Nixon declared in 1969 that he would prolong the American involvement in The Vietnam War, in order to conclude the conflict and acquire “peace with honor” for the United States and for its partner, South Vietnam (U.... Nixon held secret negotiations with Vietnam in the spring of 1968 in Paris and soon the public knew that Americans and Vietnamese were discussing how best to end the protracted and expensive war....
3 Pages (750 words) Essay

The Vietnam War and America's Involvement

Name Instructor Course Date The Vietnam War: American Involvement The Vietnam War remains one of the most humiliating military debacles in the history of the United States.... hellip; The Vietnam War (1954–1975) originated in the nationalist struggle against French colonialism.... American involvement and defeat in The Vietnam War was the result of America's Cold War ideology, support for Ngo Dinh Diem, and anti-war public sentiment....
3 Pages (750 words) Research Paper

The Vietnam War affected America

Date The Vietnam War and its Effect on America The Vietnam War fought between 1955 and 1975 remains one of the most terrible long-term conflicts during the period of Cold War between the US and the USSR.... Effect of the War on America Economy The Vietnam War had several significant effects on the US ranging from heavy economic expenditure during the war to loss of substantial number of solders in the military combat.... This situation led to widespread inflation in the US, leading to economic problems in the country because of The Vietnam War....
5 Pages (1250 words) Essay

Culture's Portrayal of the Vietnam War

he vietnam war presented America with a foreign policy, a military action, and a public response that certainly had plenty to be critical of.... The movie Good Morning Vietnam (1987) chronicled the vietnam tour of Armed Forces Radio disc jockey Adrian Cronauer, and was one of the more accurate versions of the war from the soldier's point of view.... To be clear, there was no one singular experience for the vietnam veteran.... However, the barrage of pop culture images that stereotyped the vietnam veteran as a ticking time bomb has had a significant negative impact on these...
8 Pages (2000 words) Essay

Cultural Texts on the Vietnam War

In his book he elaborates on various myths about The Vietnam War, including the existence of American POW/MIA in Vietnamese prisons decades after the war ended.... hellip; The researcher states that Franklin's book is an apt description of the hypocritical American culture industry that has distorted the history of The Vietnam War, which was the first televised war in the world, in the sense that images of atrocities were telecast by television journalists as much as print journalists reported....
5 Pages (1250 words) Book Report/Review

Viewpoints Regarding the Vietnam War

The paper "Viewpoints Regarding The Vietnam War" discusses the courage that King shows, to stand up, against the administration of his own country, in an attempt to defend the basic rights of people living on the other side of the earth is worthy of great admiration.... hellip; Martin Luther King's views regarding The Vietnam War and its effects was something that was motivated by the concerns that he held close to his heart, Christian and race-related.... Though King's speech is a clear articulation affirming the value of human life and liberty, my analysis would attempt to both analyse and question his perspective regarding The Vietnam War....
8 Pages (2000 words) Research Paper
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us