American History

Vietnam is a country in the South-East Asia neighboring Thailand, Cambodia, China and Laos. The Vietnam War pitted American forces against the Chinese and Soviet backed Vietnam forces in the jungles of Vietnam. It is the war that does not agree with Americas military supremacy as the worlds leading power. The war which the US lost was carried out at the height of Communism between 1959 and 1974.  The war is said to have had a considerable impact on Americans in many ways, thus, it has caused numerous discussions and reviews over time. The discussions have centered on the choice of going to war and reviewing of alternatives to war that were available then. However, Rotter (1999) notes that the US did not get involved in the war as a result of a single occurrence, but rather an accumulation of events, which justifies Americas involvement in the Vietnam War.

For a long time, Vietnam had remained a colony of China and later a colony of Japan and then France in the late nineteenth century. The Vietnam people did not appreciate colonialism and constantly struggled for their independence and applied even to the international community. Consequently, the liberal minds in the country formed the League of Independence of Vietnam (Viet Minh) under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh. On the 2nd of September 1945, Ho Chin Minh declared Vietnam an independent country much to the resistance of the French they were not willing to give up their protectorate that first and thus repressed the independence calls with much hostility up to 1954 (Schulzinger 23). Ho Chi Minh originated a resistance mood with a speech that borrowed heavily from the American declaration of independence and said that All men are created equal. The Creator has given us certain inviolable Rights the right to life, the right to be free, and the right to achieve happiness (Katsiaficas 7)

A struggle therefore followed between the Vietnamese people and the French forces which were trying to restore their hold of the country. On May 7th, 1954, a major battle took place at Dien Bien Phu near the Laos border pitting the Viet Minh against the French forces. A strategy mistake by the French forces that saw them being cut off from supplies forced them to surrender. The US was keenly following these events silently. The war thus necessitated a conference in Geneva that divided Vietnam into North and South with Laos and Cambodia being made independent states (Katsiaficas 25). The south was where the French had their base with the support of the US which had so far taken a neutral stand. The North was Viet Minhs stronghold which was largely communist and was led by Ho Chi Minh. The South on the other hand was led by the self declared president Ngo Dinh Diem. However, many civilians who did not support communist policies and found themselves in the North fled to the South. Nevertheless, South Vietnam had also a relatively small, but active communist movement called Viet Cong (The wars for Vietnam).

The Northern Vietnam, through the encouragement and support of Viet Cong, showed interest in forcibly uniting the North and the South. The north was receiving military and economic aid from China and the Soviet Union where the aid was also secretly shipped to the Viet Cong. As such, the Viet Cong grew more powerful and in 1963 overthrew and executed southern Vietnams president Diem. This was followed by massive efforts to exert the Communist influence in the whole of the South where the US and France had set up a base. This required an immediate reaction from the two governments to protect the people of the South Vietnam and also the American and French interests in the country (The wars for Vietnam).

These events in Vietnam were not taking place in a time cell, as the rest of the world was facing the same challenges pitting combined the communist and socialist forces against the capitalist forces. Despite the execution of the South Vietnams President, the US and France restrained attacking the North. There was fear that an attack on the North would trigger a far reaching conflict between China and Russia, on one side, and the US and its allies on the other side. As such, the US opted for diplomatic solutions to the problem (Lawrence 43). In addition to economic aid, the US supported the South Vietnam with governance issues. The US aimed at establishing the South as a stable democracy that could withstand the pressures of communism. Unfortunately, this was not to be the case as there were a number of limiting factors such as cultural differences, corruption, and suspicion among many others. This resulted into the US sending in military personnel for advisory purposes at first but then reconsidered it and deployed the forces there ready for war.

The Domino theory, as a way of thinking in explaining expansion of communism propelled the US to protect the South Vietnam by invading the North as a way of protecting neighboring countries, namely, Japan, India, Thailand, Philippines among others. This theory hypothesized that once a particular country fell to communist forces, the neighboring countries would follow. As such, the domino theory called for preemptive containment strategies. John F. Kennedy, then a senator, supported President Eisenhowers idea of domino theory and campaigned for the invasion of the Northern Vietnam as a way of protecting the people of Vietnam and the neighboring countries that would be affected if the domino theory was to take effect (Katsiaficas 197).

Change in the government was another issue that precipitated and even accelerated the course of the Vietnam War. A change in the administration implied a change in the foreign policy depending on the personality of the president and his advisors. John F. Kennedy, a strong believer in the Domino theory and the American supremacy, took over from President Eisenhower and set on an ambitious plan that would sought to demonstrate the American superpower position. His reasoning toward Vietnam was not aimed at helping the people of Vietnam, but rather avoiding the presumed adopting Communism in the neighboring countries. While he was aware that the Soviet Union was responsible for the spread of Communism, he vented his frustrations on the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. This was highlighted by a bitter disagreement between the two during the Vienna talks over the North Korea and South Korea issue (Rotter 1999).

Other developments, such as the Cuba issue, the construction of the Berlin wall and the failure of the Bay of pigs invasion pointed to the US failure in strategically employing its containment program. As the president, John F. Kennedy felt indebted to reinstate the US at the right place by stumping authority on the global arena Vietnam represented the best opportunity (Lawrence 71). The president was also driven by the need to reinstate credibility with the US allies and also make his own reputation.

All in all, the US entered the Vietnam War poorly prepared and there was low morale among the forces. The military men were accused of drug abuse while in the battle fields. But most importantly, the jungle terrain was the most challenging for the fighters given that their opponents were used to it and were resistant to some of the jungle illnesses that weighed heavily on the American soldiers. Collaboration with the local Vietnam forces was poor as the American soldiers looked down upon the jungle men who had inferior weaponry and the so called war tactics. In the end, America lost the battle that greatly dented the American image and reshaped the cold war.