Antagonists – North Vietnam
Ho Chi Minh
Vo Nguyen Giap
US – South Vietnam
Lyndon B Johnson
Richard M Nixon
Nguyen Van Thieu
William Westmoreland
The Blog
Vietnam War: People Involved
Vietnam War: Cease Fire – End of War
The Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) was disorganized due to the low morale of it’s leaders and their singular interest in personal gain. Therefore the US had a great deal of difficulty in holding the army together in South Vietnam and saw only one solution, that was to start taking care of things for themselves. By 1950 the US began sending their first troops, firstly in an advisory role, which slowly escalated into a full blown commitment.
The large-scale involvement of the US came under the tenure of President Lyndon B. Johnson and his Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. Johnson had replaced John F. Kennedy after he was assassinated in Dallas, Texas 1963. As president, he was torn between the differing strategies the US had for Vietnam. The increasing involvement and the escalation of troop involvement meant there were more casualties and more problems at home. But Johnson, who was always concerned about his image, and as president, held the power to halt the war in Vietnam, could not face the thought of being regarded as the first president in US history to loose a war.
The pressure around him grew so intense, that he was only left with one option and that was not to run for a second term. Basically, he handed the hot potato to Richard M. Nixon.
The top US commander in Vietnam was General William Westmoreland; he had to face an army full of young men placed in an environment that was totally alien to them. There was no clear front to the conflict and basically, the enemy could be hiding anywhere and everywhere. Life in the jungle was tortuous and there were no home comforts. Drugs and other stimulants filtered their way into the daily routine of many servicemen and morale quickly started to fall. For the first time, people in the US resisting the draft were given acceptance although still not by the majority of citizens. Riots and demonstrations against the war became the norm in the US, with numerous veterans taking part in the efforts to stop the war, strengthening the issue. Finally, the US government saw that it was in a no-win situation and began making plans to withdraw.
After great efforts by the US to withdraw, and the establishment of a cease-fire on January 27th, 1973, American soldiers began leaving Vietnam for good. The North Vietnamese finally conquered South Vietnam in early 1975, totally ignoring the cease-fire and on July 2nd, 1976, North and South Vietnam were officially united as a single communist state. It had cost an estimated 2 million lives and the injury or disablement of many millions of others.
Vietnam War : Continued.
With the cold war at its height, the US leaders were worried that an attack on North Vietnam by the US would create tensions with the Chinese and Russians that would, in turn, lead to a larger conflict and possibly WW III. This created a difficult situation for the US and would eventually lead to many internal conflicts, which ultimately prevented the US from forming a firm policy for the region. The US was also faced with a number of cultural differences between the two countries, and what was considered corrupt by the US government was considered legitimate by South Vietnamese standards. It was difficult for the US to portray South Vietnam as a hard working, hard fighting democracy; corruption was widespread among officials and the armed forces.
Apology
I sincerely apologize for my last post. Due to the way I wrote it it was published with errors. The lines have broken in between on shifted to next lines. I would take care in future to prsent my content in a better way.
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Vietnam War: Introduction
Please note the below contents are not my own words. I have gathered the data from many sites and placed it here for your information. At the end of every war story I would be placing links to the respective sites related to that particular war.
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In the 1950′s, the United States began to send troops to Vietnam,
during the following 25-year period, the ensuing war would create some
of the strongest tensions in US history. Almost 3 million US men and
women were sent thousands of miles to fight for what was a questionable
cause. In total, it is estimated that over 2,5 million people on both
sides were killed.
For much of Vietnam’s history it has been under foreign rule, primarily
by the Chinese. In 1860, France began its domination of the area and
had, by the late 19th century, implemented its colonization in a number
of regions around the Gulf of Tonkin. During WWII, the Japanese
government took control of much of the area and set up a puppet regime
that was eventually forced out by the Vietnamese at the end of that war
in 1945.
After WWII and until 1955, France fought hard to regain their former
territories in the region, but with a poorly organized army and little
determination among the troops, their efforts soon collapsed. The
French were finally defeated at Dien Bien Phu on the 8th of May 1954 by
the communist general Vo Nguyen Giap. The French troops withdrew,
leaving a buffer zone separating the North and South and set up
elections in order to form a government in the South. The communist
regime set up its headquarters in Hanoi under the leadership of Ho Chi
Minh. Many North Vietnamese left the country and fled south where the
self-proclaimed president, Ngo Dinh Diem had formed the Republic of
Vietnam.
Between 1955 and 1960, the North Vietnamese with the assistance of the
southern communist Vietcong, tried to take over the government in South
Vietnam, and in November 1963 President Diem was overthrown and
executed. The following year, the North Vietnamese began a massive
drive to conquer the whole country aided by China and Russia.
Fearing a communist takeover of the entire region, the United States
grew more and more wary of the progress of Ho Chi Minh and the
Vietcong. Communism had become the evil menace in the United States and
with expansion of Soviet rule into Eastern Europe, Korea and Cuba, the
Americans were bent on stopping communism from spreading any further.
Vietnam War : Introduction
Hello Friends,
I have started this blog to write about wars. But due to other work and personal problems I could not add any content to this blog. I’m not writing about war because I like war blood or other things that one can imagine if the word war comes in their mind. But I’m writing this war to give people more information about some of the greatest war, and the reason behind them.
I would start with the “Vietnam War”. Which is the greatest mistake of America. Just to make this blog I would name each of my post with the War name at first and then the name of a particular topic related to that war. Ex.: Vietnam War : Introduction
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Check out my new website
Hello Guys,
Well its been a really long time that i din write in my blog. I was making a new website for myself since finding clients is hard I decided to use my free time to make a site for myself.
The thing that seperates this new site from my earlier website ( www.dreamsonline.net ) is that this one does not have a professional look but an artistic one. I also added flash animation for fun and have kept the page size less to load faster. And yes please dont get annoyed by lot of text because its just to get good ranking in Search Engines.
Anyways the link to my new website is : www.harish-chouhan.info
Have a look and send me feedbacks and comments at this blog. Dont try to fill the forms on my site because they are not working. I will fix them soon.