FREE ESSAY ON VIETNAM WAR

VIETNAM WAR

By the late 1960s, the conflict in Vietnam had escalated to a limited war involving
approximately half a 
million military personnel and billions of dollars a year. The American presence in
Indochina had steadily 
increased from the Truman administration to Kennedy's decision to initiate greater
American involvement in 1961. 
The peak of 543,000 American forces was achieved in 1969 and was the culmination of US
aid to the nation of 
South Vietnam. The US policy since the beginning of the Cold War had been containment of
Communist 
aggression and advances. US intentions of ensuring democracy throughout the world had not
changed, however 
the US did not support the right of self-determination in Vietnam in scheduled elections
in 1956. Rather an 
incorrect analysis of the Vietnam situation: inaccurately identifying it with the
previous Korean quagmire and the 
overall attitudes of indiscriminate fear of any communist movement, regardless of
circumstances, prevailed over 
American foreign policy and helped begin an ill-advised escalation of American
involvement into the Vietnamese 
civil war. 
The brief excerpts from The Arrogance of Power address these sentiments. J. William
Fulbright discusses the 
reasons for American involvement in Vietnam as stemming significantly from previous
American experiences, 
namely Korea and McCarthyism. Both factors created an environment where all communist
movements were 
viewed with fear and hostility. More forthright American involvement was initiated in
these prejudiced times, with 
indirect military assistance to the French in Indochina in 1950, disregarding important
considerations of 
nationalism and anti-colonialism. America's involvement in Vietnam violated the terms of
the Geneva Agreement 
of 1954 and American intervention was also justified by the American recognition of the
demarcation line 
between North and South Vietnam as a valid political boundary, contrary to the Geneva
Agreements specific 
statement that the line was strictly provisional. To find a solution, Fulbright declares
that we must recognize that 
nationalism is the strongest political force in the world and we must therefore adjust
our priorities accordingly, to 
accommodate the possibility of a communist influenced nationalist movement. We must allow
a communist 
influence in the government instead of attempting to repress a genuinely nationalist
revolution, which is the case 
in Vietnam. In conclusion, Fulbright states that the Vietnam War drains valuable
resources, which could be better 
spent on improving the general status of our country. 
Because American policy prioritized anti-communism over sympathy for nationalism, this
created a dangerously 
erroneous view that the conflict was simply another incident of communist aggression that
had to be contained at 
all costs, like Korea. Furthermore, the US violated the scheduled elections in 1956 by
supporting President Ngo 
Dinh Diem in his refusal to hold the elections provided for in the Geneva Accords,
presumably because he feared 
that the communists would win . . . This not only showed a fundamental problem with US
policy, but also the 
rejection of self-determination, which contrarily Johnson had stated as one of the
reasons for US involvement in 
Indochina. According to Johnson, the US was in Vietnam, sacrificing lives to support a
world where each people 
may choose its own path to change. Yet, the US simply violated the Geneva Accords with
increased American 
support and intervention. 
Although the US military intervention had bolstered Diem's government, it did not solve
the 
fundamental problem of establishing a viable and stable nation in South Vietnam. In
addition, US strategy 
proceeded not only in ignorance of the local circumstances, but apparently didn't even
have a clear plan to 
establish a lasting government or to effectively defeat the communists. This was
compounded by the fact that the 
US would not tolerate an unfavorable outcome of national elections, particularly a
communist victory, and 
self-determination as a right appeared all but non-existent. 
The US was in a complex situation with no clear-cut path to victory; however Fulbright
suggests that 
we must recognize the fundamental problem with our foreign policy. He says that we must
accept a government 
elected and supported by the people, even if it is communist because American interests
are better served by 
supporting nationalism than by opposing communism. Basically, the US needs to rethink
their foreign policy in 
general and formulate a response in Vietnam and elsewhere according to all the factors of
the local situation, 
such as recognition of the power of nationalism and the recognition that not all
revolutionary movements are 
solely communist oriented. 
This is not the only instance where US intervention was justified on the basis of
defending freedom 
against communist movements. Intervention in the Dominican Republic in April 1965 and as
recently as the 
American invasion in 1983 of Grenada were just a few examples of American suppression of
self-determination 
and support of repressive, undemocratic regimes, strikingly similar to US support of Diem
and the other regimes 
that followed in South Vietnam. The US needs to seriously reevaluate its stance on
foreign policy and to stop 
wasting money on anymore open-ended wars.
Bibliography
Fulbright, J. William, The Arrogance of Power. (1966)
Johnson, Lyndon B. Our Duty in Southeast Asia (1965)
William A. Link et al., American Epoch: A History of the United States since 1900
Affluence and Anxiety 1940-1992, 
Volume II (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1993)
In the early 1960's, North Vietnam wished to unify North and South Vietnam
through military force. Since the United States feared the spread of communism in Asia,
John F. Kennedy provided economic and military aid to South Vietnam to prevent the
takeover by North Vietnam. At this time, this was still a civil war. The United States
were not yet officially involved. 
The North Vietnamese resented this intervention by the United Sates and so, three
Vietnamese torpedo boats fired on the U.S. destroyer,  Maddox  on August 2nd, 1964.
The  Maddox  had been in the Gulf of Tonkin ( international waters ), thirty miles off 
the coast of Vietnam. On August 3rd, 1964, President Johnson gave the right  to attack
with the objective of destroying attacking forces . Retaliation air attacks began on
August 3rd. Their aim was to destroy North Vietnam's gunboat capability. As two more
United States destroyers were supposedly sunk, more air and sea forces were sent. Up
until now, the U.S. had refrained from direct combat. This is when the United States
formally entered the Vietnam War. The U.S. did this for two reasons. We wished to
maintain the independence of South Vietnam and we had to prove to allied nations that
we would help them resist Communist takeover. As Congress was about to vote whether
or not to allow the combat to move into North Vietnam, the North Vietnamese attacked a
major U.S. airbase at Bein Hoa. On February 7th, 1965, Johnson ordered retaliation
bombing on North Vietnam. Rolling Thunder was the name of this operation. It's purpose
was to put pressure on Hanoi and convince them that Communism could not and would
not win.
At the end of 1965, one hundred and eighty thousand Americans were in South
Vietnam under General William S. Westmoreland. The U.S. mainly depended on
superior firepower and helicopters. The Viet Cong and North Vietnamese depended on
surprise attack and concealment.
The United States soldiers realized that the war would last for many more years
and wondered if the U.S. war effort could succeed. At the end of 1968, The number of
American troops in South Vietnam reached it's peak of 542,000 men. The Viet Cong and
North Vietnamese launched a major invasion against the United States called the Tet
offensive from January 30th to February 25th, 1968. At the Khe Sanh U.S. firebase, there
was a major ground battle. There was a siege from January 21st to April 14th. It was
thought to be the  American Dien Bien Phu . The United States turned it around 
however, with their victory at Hue. By 1969, combat decreased rapidly and American
troops began to return home.
The role of Communism was extremely important in this conflict. Communism
was one of the main reasons of why the United States entered the war in the first place.
The U.S.  had  to enter the war to stop the spread of Communism in Asia since North
Vietnam was Communist. Had North Vietnam succeeded in converting Vietnam into a
Communist country, it could become very powerful and go on to  persuade  other
countries to become Communist. The U.S. believed that Vietnam could become
powerful. They were amazed that France, an Allied power, had been beaten by the
Vietnamese.
North Vietnam was a Communist country. The man who had proclaimed
Vietnam independent, Ho Chi Minh, was a Communist. During the war with the French,
Ho Chi Minh took refuge in northern Vietnam and settled there with his followers. He
founded the Indochina Communist Party and the Viet Minh. He became the president of
North Vietnam from 1945 to 1969. North Vietnam was a poor area and was cut off from
the agricultural benefit of South Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh was forced to ask assistance
from major Communist allies - the Soviet Union and China. Both aided North Vietnam
before and during the war. 
The North Vietnamese invaded South Vietnam. They wanted to use military
tactics to force unification. The United States did not allow their unification. The
U.S.
knew that the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese wished to establish one ruling
government, the Communist Party. This led to the Vietnam War and U.S. intervention.
On January 27th, 1973, South Vietnam Communist forces ( Viet Cong ), North
Vietnam, South Vietnam and the United States agreed on many things during the Paris
peace talks. The talks lasted over two years before any agreements were made that suited
all of them. The forces involved agreed that U.S. troops would gradually withdraw from
Vietnam and all prisoners of war would be released. They also agreed that South
Vietnam had the right to choose their own future, whether or not to unite with North
Vietnam. North Vietnamese troops were given the right to remain in South Vietnam but
they could not be reinforced. President Nixon finalized the accepted treaty and began to
remove United States troops.
After the peace talks, fighting continued between the North and South
Vietnamese. North Vietnam went against all that was outlined at the peace talks after
the
majority of American soldiers left.
The military involvement in Vietnam is directly related to the political management of
the military throughout the war. The military controlled by the politicians. The micro
management of the military by the White House for political gain is the primary reason
for both the length and cost, both monetary and human, of the Vietnam War. One of the
largest problems was the lack of a clear objective in the war and the
support to accomplish it. The politicians controlled the war in Vietnam. It was to be a
limited war. The military was never allowed to fight the war how they thought that they
needed to in order to win it.
To conclude on the Vietnam War, the political management of the war made it unwinnable.
The military was at the mercy of politicians who knew very little about what needed to be
done militarily in order to win the war. There is an enormous difference between
political judgment and military judgment. This difference is the primary reason for the
outcome of the Vietnam War.
Vietnam War, military struggle fought in Vietnam from 1959 to 1975. It began as a
determined attempt by Communist guerrillas (the so-called Vietcong) in the South, backed
by Communist North Vietnam, to overthrow the government of South Vietnam. The struggle
widened into a war between South Vietnam and North Vietnam and ultimately into a limited
international conflict. The United States and some 40 other countries supported South
Vietnam by supplying troops and munitions, and the USSR and the People's Republic of
China furnished munitions to North Vietnam and the Vietcong. On both sides, however, the
burden of the war fell mainly on the civilians.
The war also engulfed Laos, where the Communist Pathet Lao fought the government from
1965 to 1973 and succeeded in abolishing the monarchy in 1975; and Cambodia, where the
government surrendered in 1973 to the Communist Khmer Rouge.
This article is concerned primarily with the military aspects of the war; for further
discussion of the historical and political issues involved, see Vietnam: History.
Vietnam 
(1945-54). The war developed as a sequel to the struggle (1946-54) between the French,
who were the rulers of Indochina before World War II, and the Communist-led Vietminh, or
League for the Independence of Vietnam, founded and headed by the revolutionary leader Ho
Chi Minh. Having emerged as the strongest of the nationalist groups that fought the
Japanese occupation of French Indochina during World War II, the league was determined to
resist the reestablishment of French colonial rule and to implement political and social
changes.
Following the surrender of Japan to the Allies in August 1945, Vietminh guerrillas seized
the capital city of Hanoi and forced the abdication of Emperor Bao Dai. On September 2
they declared Vietnam to be independent and announced the creation of the Democratic
Republic of Vietnam, commonly called North Vietnam, with Ho Chi Minh as president. France
officially recognized the new state, but the subsequent inability of the Vietminh and
France to reach satisfactory political and economic agreements led to armed conflict
beginning in December 1946. With French backing Bao Dai set up the state of Vietnam,
commonly called South Vietnam, on July 1, 1949, and established a new capital at Saigon
(now Ho Chi Minh City).
The following year, the U.S. officially recognized the Saigon government, and to assist
it, U.S. President Harry S. Truman dispatched a military assistance advisory group to
train South Vietnam in the use of U.S. weapons. In the meantime, the two main adversaries
in Vietnam-France and the Vietminh-were steadily building up their forces. The decisive
battle of the war developed in the spring of 1954 as the Vietminh attacked the French
fortress of Dien Bien Phu in northern Vietnam. On May 8, 1954, after a 55-day siege, the
French surrendered.
On the same day, both North and South Vietnamese delegates met with those of France,
Great Britain, the Soviet Union, the United States, Communist China, and the two other
Indochinese states, Laos and Cambodia, in Geneva, to discuss the future of all of
Indochina. Under accords drawn up at the conference, France and North Vietnam agreed to a
truce. It was further agreed to partition the country temporarily along the 17th
parallel, with the north going to the Communists and the south placed under the control
of the Saigon government. The agreement stipulated that elections for reunification of
the country would be held in 1956.
Neither the U.S. nor the Saigon government agreed to the Geneva accords, but the U.S.
announced it would do nothing to undermine the agreement. Once the French had withdrawn
from Vietnam, the U.S. moved to bolster the Saigon government militarily and, as asserted
by some observers, engaged in covert activities against the Hanoi government. On October
24, 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower offered South Vietnam direct economic aid, and
the following February, U.S. military advisers were dispatched to train South Vietnamese
forces. American support for the Saigon government continued even after Bao Dai was
deposed, in a referendum on October 23, 1955, and South Vietnam was made a republic, with
Ngo Dinh Diem as president. One of Diem's first acts was to announce that his government
would refuse to hold reunification elections, on the grounds that the people of North
Vietnam would not be free to express their will and because of the probability of
falsified votes (although Diem and other South Vietnamese officials were also accused of
fraudulent election practices).
Introduction
The American Civil War was probably the most important period of arms development in
history. The Civil War was appropriately called "the last of the ancient wars and first
of the modern wars". This was because many revolutionary breakthroughs occurred in this
war, yet the military still relied on some of its old weapons and techniques. In this
report, I will elaborate on some of the guns and ammunition used during the civil wars. I
feel that the weapons are the most important part of a war.
Weapons are the key element of war. They can determine who wins or loses. When it comes
down to it, wars do not depend on the quality of fighting, they depend on the development
of arms. Whoever develops the most advanced weapons will most likely be successful. This
has been proved throughout history.
The rifles and pistols used in the Civil War were basically more advanced versions of the
ones used in the Revolutionary War. The rifles and pistols were more accurate, had a
longer range, and were more powerful. The guns were much more efficient to use also. The
Civil War introduced the world's first rifle and pistol cartridges and the first
repeating rifles. This made reloading much easier and gave the soldier the ability to
shoot faster. This was greatly improved from the 2 minutes it took to load in the
Revolutionary War. All of these improvements in weaponry placed the odds greatly against
the soldier. In fact, more people died in the American Civil War than in all of America's
wars put together. 
The rifle, once again, played the greatest role in this war. It was the most used weapon
in the Civil War. Rifles of the Civil War were the first to use cartridges and were very
accurate. This made a battle shorter because many accurate bullets could be fired in a
short time. 
The first sniper style rifles were used in the Civil War. They were known as Benchrest
Rifles. Now armed with a rifle which could fire a round accurately up to 1,800 yards,
long range riflemen became a real threat. Benchrest rifles were so named because they
were so heavy that they were easiest to fire with the barrel resting on a bench or other
support. Before the war, primarily target shooters and sport hunters had owned these
specialty muzzle-loaded rifles. With an average length of about 50 inches, a benchrest
rifle weighed up to 40 pounds, making it an impractical choice for standard infantry
duty. The very tight fit of the bullet and the bore needed for range and accuracy made
the weapon very slow to load and put the user at a disadvantage on the battlefield. These
guns usually were used with the long-tube telescopic sight. Morgan James invented this
sight in 1848. It only had a mere 4x magnification, but for a good marksman, this was
sufficient for an accurate shot. The Benchrest rifle was not only a rifle, but also a
status symbol. Only the best sharpshooters were allowed the Benchrest rifle. Any soldier
with one of these rifles were highly respected as a trusted soldier.
The first machine-gun type weapon ever used in combat was built for the Confederate War
Dept in Sept 1861 by Confederate Captain R.S. Williams. The Williams rapid-fire gun was
first used in May 1862 at the Battle of Seven Pines and worked so well that the War Dept
ordered 42 more of them. The gun was actually a crank-operated, very light artillery
piece that fired a one-pound projectile with a range of 2,000 yards. It was manned by a
crew of three and could fire at a rate of 65 rounds per minute. One operator aimed and
fired the weapon by turning the crank, the second placed a paper cartridge into the
breech, and the third placed the percussion cap. There was one problem with this gun,
though; it was very prone to overheating.
The weapon whose invention possibly had the greatest impact on the future of war was the
Gatling gun. The Gatling gun was a crank-operated rapid fire gun. It did not have the
overheating problem of the Williams gun and could fire an amazing 1,200 rounds per
minute. The balls were fed into the gun by gravity through a hopper mounted on top of the
gun. The inventor was Dr. Richard J. Gatling of North Carolina. He invented the weapon to
curb man's desire for war by making a device which would make war too horrible to
contemplate. His philosophy obviously did not work, but he did make a large contribution
to future wars. Variations of the Gatling gun are still used today. Unfortunately, the
Gatling gun was unable to make an effect on the civil war because the U.S. government
didn't approve of it. When it was finally used, it was during the battle of Petersburg
which was too late in the war to make a large impact.
Pistols also had an impact on the Civil War. Probably the most effective was the LeMat
percussion Revolver. It was unique because it had two barrels. A cylinder that held nine
rounds fired through the top barrel and the bottom barrel harbored a charge of buckshot.
It was a foreign gun, invented in France by Dr. Jean Alexandre Francois LeMat. When the
Civil War began, the Confederate army made contracts with Dr. LeMat for a large number of
these pistols. The LeMat Percussion Revolver was a very effective and reliable weapon,
which made it very popular during the civil war.
Cannons, mortars, and howitzers were widely used. While these three weapons are similar,
there are distinct differences in their style. Cannons were used for firing straight into
something. Mortars are usually in a fixed position and fire at their target in an upward
arc. They are not very accurate and were usually aimed by the amount of gunpowder used.
Howitzers arc their shells onto a target, similar to a mortar. They can also be used to
fire straight into a target like a cannon. They were the perfect combination
between a cannon and a mortar.
The weapons of the Civil War were state of the art for their time. They pave the way for
the weapons used today. Although the Civil War was one of the bloodiest wars in history,
a lot of good came out of it. Weapon technology was greatly improved; we would not be
where we are today if it had not been for the Civil War. The greatest accomplishment of
this war was the abolition of slavery. Slavery was a terrible thing that had to be
stopped, and weapons made it happen. Without weapons and the Civil War, we may still have
slavery in this country today.
Bibliography
in the term papers