Sociology

The Vietnam War is also referred to as the Second Indochina war and was a cold war military conflict which took place in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia from September 26th 1956 to April 30th, 1975. The war was between the communist North Vietnam which also received support from its communist associates and the government of the South Vietnam which also received support from the United States and other anticommunist countries. Many names have been used to refer to this conflict with the most commonly used English term being the Vietnam War. It is referred to as Indochina war, since there were many conflicts in Indochina at the time when it started. The name is coined from the name of their chief opponent to differentiate it from others. The main troops which took part in the war were the Army of the Republic of Vietnam and United States troops which were in support of the South. The North Vietnam got support from the Vietnam Peoples Army and the Vietcong which was a communist army operating from the south (Nelson, 1999).

The lightly armed South Vietnamese communists called Viet Cong were in charge of the common front and used mainly guerrilla tactics to fight the anti communists in South Vietnam. The North Vietnamese troops employed the conventional tactics and at times converted large units into the battle. The United States and the South Vietnamese troops depended on the air supremacy and overwhelming munitions to carry out search and demolish operations, in combination with ground forces, missiles and air strikes (Nelson, 1999).

The United States got engaged in the Vietnam War with a clear objective of preventing communists from occupying South Vietnam which was a part of their wider strategy of control. The military advisors started arriving as early as 1950.  United States involvement in the war started in the year 1960s, with the United States troops starting to arrive in 1961 and the second arrival occurring in 1962. The involvement of the United States combat started officially in the beginning of 1965.  Borders were destroyed with Laos and Cambodia being heavily bombed. United States involvement in the war reached its peak in the year 1968 coinciding with the time of Tet Offensive. The United States ground troops were later removed because of the policy of Vietnamization. Regardless of the Paris Peace Accord which was signed by all the warring parties in January 1973, the war persisted (Schroeder, 2010).

The Case-Church Amendment which was enacted by the United States congress as a reaction to anti war movement barred direct United States engagement in the war unless proved by the congress. The United States military and economic help to South Vietnam persisted up to 1975.  Capture of Saigon by the army from the North brought to an end the war. The country was later united in the following year (Rotter, 1999).

The war led to the loss of many lives from the north, south, Cambodia, and Laos. From both the South and North Vietnam, approximately 3 to 4 million lives were lost, about 1.5 to 2 million Laotians and Cambodians, and 58, 159 united states soldiers perished in the war. Although most American wars normally have causes for example, battles of Lexington, fort Sumter, and the North Korean invasion, the United States involvement in the Vietnam War lack a discrete cause. The United States entered the war progressively between the years 1960 and 1965. In 1950, the then United States president Harry S. Truman legitimized a modest program of economic and military help to the French government who were by that time involved in a war to retain control of Indochina which was their colony and also Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam (Whiteclay, 2000). The defeat of the French troops by the Vietnamese communists at Dienbienphu in the year 1954 resulted in the creation of the communists Vietnam North leaving the anti- communists at the South. The United States did not like the arrangement. The government of president Dwight D. Eisenhower started building the nation from the forged political entity in South Vietnam by fabricating government, distributing military advisors to the south to train the South Vietnamese army, and releasing central intelligence agency to carryout psychological warfare against North Vietnam (Nelson, 1999).

The President John F. Kennedy of the united states later on sneaked in 400 special operations forces which were referred to as Green Berets to south Vietnam to teach their soldiers how to fight in the war which they referred to as counterinsurgency against the communist troops which were based at the south. By the time of assassination of John F. Kennedy, there were more than 16,000 military advisers in the south and approximately 100 Americans had died in the war. President Lyndon B. Johnson became the president who engaged the United States wholly in the war. He managed to secure a declaration from the congress in the war which was termed as the Tonkin gulf revolution. In February and March of the year 1965, the President Johnson officially approved the sustained bombings which were carried out by the United States aircrafts. The bombings were targeted at the north of the 17th parallel.  The United States became officially involved in the war in March 1965 when about 3500 marines were unleashed to the South Vietnam (Schroeder, 2010).

The existence of several dates for the Vietnam War makes it difficult to know exactly the causes of the United States involvement in the war. There are various reasons as to why United States got involved in the Vietnam War and these reasons changed with time. Generally, every American president considered an enemy in Vietnam as an enemy of all their precious possessions. Among the American enemies were the following Vietminh, the National Liberation Front, and the government of North Vietnam which was headed by Ho Chi Minh. They were regarded as agents of global communism. Communists were perceived by the American policymakers and most Americans as aggressive people, undemocratic, humans rights violators, and formed a closed economic states which do not accept trade with capitalist nations. Communists were compared to a deadly contagious disease. The rise of communists party to power in china led to fear among the Americans that Vietnam may follow suit. This became the reason for the support of French which was fighting the Vietminh (Rotter, 1999).

The President Truman also assumed that by supporting the French in Vietnam would to stop developed countries and non communists countries whose destinies were in a way common. World pressure over Vietnam was perceived to result in providing markets for Japan, and reconciling with American help after the pacific war. The engagement of the United States in the Vietnam War relieved the British who related the postwar healing to the revival of rubber and tin industries in Malaya which was their colony and one of Vietnams neighbors. United States help enabled the French to focus their attention on economic recovery at home and rekindled the hope of withdrawing their Indochina officer corps to participate in the rearmament of west Germany, cold war which was regarded by the Americans as very significant. These events are attributed to the second reason why the American got involved in Vietnam War (Nelson, 1999).

With the United States involvement in the Vietnam War in series, most of its objectives were lost. In contrary, sluggishness developed against withdrawing from Vietnam. Washington states regarded American withdrawal from the war as a defeat by the communists.  Americans also imagined that if the elections were held in Vietnam as it was previously planned, Ho Chi Minh would emerge the winner with about 80 of the votes and no American president wanted to lose a country to communists. Democrats like John F Kennedy feared that their withdrawal would result into a right wing counterattack. They could also still remember the accusations they got from the Republicans as being responsible for the loss of china. All the United States presidents gave out their authority that United States should continue supporting their fellow anti communists in South Vietnam. If at all the United States abandoned South Vietnam, it would be considered as unreliable by other governments whether friendly or not. The situation placed United States trustworthiness at loggerheads (Schroeder, 2010).

The wider structural and ideological causes of the war in Vietnam, individuality and temperament of each president influenced to some extent the increasing of the United States involvement. The President Dwight controlled the United States involvement in the war since his experience in commanding troops in battle made him fear that the United States troops could not succeed in land war in south Asia.  John F. Kennedy who was the youngest among the presidents wanted to show his determination to the Americans and his capitalist allies, more particularly because he had made mistakes in most foreign policies early during his reign.   Lyndon Johnson on the other hand viewed Vietnam War as a test of his bravery, as a man and a southerner. He encouraged his soldiers to fight communists tirelessly, linking his success to a hunting mission (Rotter, 1999).

The beginning of bombing the North Vietnam by the United States troops and sending of the marines to South Vietnam made President Johnson believe that he was going to fight a limited war. He and his supporters feared that excessive use of the United States ammunition in Vietnam would encourage the Chinese to enter into war. They also believed that North Vietnam would be crushed by the American military. The United States policymakers failed to include military strategy to the United States objectives in Vietnam. North Vietnam had a decentralized economy therefore bombings by the United States troops had very limited effects. Kennedy liked the counterinsurgency strategy in the south and this was later approved by Johnson. Americans failed to tackle the political side of their strategy therefore they failed to win the people of South Vietnam. The generals in the battle also failed to work hard since they lacked support from the local people (Schroeder, 2010).

The United States became officially in the war in 1965 and only few people were against their action. A voice of dissent was raised from Johnsons administration through the secretary of state George Ball. He stated that South Vietnam was a sovereign country and could not depend on the United States however much they try. There were also formation of anti war groups in most universities and in June, an organization which was named as Students for a Democratic Society resorted to making American involvement in Vietnamese war its main target. The major criticisms were only raised after the year 1966. In the year 1965, the Americans were still in support of their government claiming that they were fighting to prevent spread of communism in south Asia.  The war was not criticized since the people of American were ignorant on the consequences of their involvement in the war (Rotter, 1999).

With the withdrawal of the American troops in Vietnam in 1973 followed by capture of Saigon by the North Vietnam, the bitter exchange on who won resulted. Instead of massive hatred, a collective forgetfulness resulted.  Most Americans hated commenting on the effects of the war on their country and the bitter loss they suffered. General amnesia among the Americans resulted into interest in the war again in1980. Vietnam culture became common in America especially in Hollywood, television networks and even in the music industry. Scholars, journalists, and even Vietnam veterans produced several documentaries and literature on the Vietnam conflict (Sitikoff, 1999).

The defeat of the Americans by the North Vietnam was described by the nation secretary of state as a fourth rate power which resulted in loss of prestige and self confidence in people who believed that United States is indomitable. Remembrances about the Vietnam war is persistently stirred by the veterans memorial which the most visited site in the capital.