Chocobo_Blitzer
Active member
It has always bugged me that, by and large, that most people misunderstand the Vietnam war. Both in it's purpose and execution. The victories and the defeats. And the consequences, the shift in political thinking, not only in Asia, but around the world too. So I would like for you all to shed some light on this dark era in American/Vietnamese history.
People often put much emphasis on the fact that the US, the great super power, lost to a poor country, sparing much life and suffering in the proccess, for absolutely nothing. While I'm hard pressed to challenge the latter with a hard arguement, I have some serious issues with the first.
What defines a lose? When the faction's goals are not met? A free south Vietnam was the goal of the US. This goal did not hold indefinately. Quite simply because of one undeniable reason: The south Vietnamese would not fight for themselves, they would not challenge the great red threat that was consumeing them. It's true some south vietnamese wanted to stay democratic, but the majority would just as easily bend, or even convert.
The US military did it's job in Vietnam, it kept the country from turning communist by military force the entire span of their occupation. But as the war dragged on, and the guerilla war strategy of Mao Zedong of China was takeing it's toll on the US military. Thus, we quickly turned to another strategy: Vietnamization. This strategy was working well, and more and more US troops began comeing home, without major communsit takeover. And finally, in March 1973, the US withdrawls the last of her troops from Vietnam. The North signed a agreement with the US and the South, ending the war.
However, the communist violated this treaty in January 6th, 1975, and ignited the war once again. The US, while Nixon gave his word the US would come back if the North invaded again, Nixon had resigned by then, and obviously the US had confidence the South would win. We were wrong, as history plainly accounts, the south gave a weak hearted resistence. They nearly gave themselves up.
So did the US win the war? No, the South Vietnamese lost it.
The question now remains of the fruition of both sides:
Vietnam was taken by communism, and enjoyed it's true brutality for a good decade or so. It still does, just not as harsh.
The US haulted communist advancement for a mild amount of time. However, I would appreciate it if someone could perhaps explain to me the longstanding effects on the regions acceptence of communism. Was the domino theory false? Was it correct, and the Vietnam conflict was the model of which communism was thereafter percieved?
Thank ya'll for reading!
People often put much emphasis on the fact that the US, the great super power, lost to a poor country, sparing much life and suffering in the proccess, for absolutely nothing. While I'm hard pressed to challenge the latter with a hard arguement, I have some serious issues with the first.
What defines a lose? When the faction's goals are not met? A free south Vietnam was the goal of the US. This goal did not hold indefinately. Quite simply because of one undeniable reason: The south Vietnamese would not fight for themselves, they would not challenge the great red threat that was consumeing them. It's true some south vietnamese wanted to stay democratic, but the majority would just as easily bend, or even convert.
The US military did it's job in Vietnam, it kept the country from turning communist by military force the entire span of their occupation. But as the war dragged on, and the guerilla war strategy of Mao Zedong of China was takeing it's toll on the US military. Thus, we quickly turned to another strategy: Vietnamization. This strategy was working well, and more and more US troops began comeing home, without major communsit takeover. And finally, in March 1973, the US withdrawls the last of her troops from Vietnam. The North signed a agreement with the US and the South, ending the war.
However, the communist violated this treaty in January 6th, 1975, and ignited the war once again. The US, while Nixon gave his word the US would come back if the North invaded again, Nixon had resigned by then, and obviously the US had confidence the South would win. We were wrong, as history plainly accounts, the south gave a weak hearted resistence. They nearly gave themselves up.
So did the US win the war? No, the South Vietnamese lost it.
The question now remains of the fruition of both sides:
Vietnam was taken by communism, and enjoyed it's true brutality for a good decade or so. It still does, just not as harsh.
The US haulted communist advancement for a mild amount of time. However, I would appreciate it if someone could perhaps explain to me the longstanding effects on the regions acceptence of communism. Was the domino theory false? Was it correct, and the Vietnam conflict was the model of which communism was thereafter percieved?
Thank ya'll for reading!
.... An American Soldier during Vietnam once said, and i quote "We lost to a bunch of peasants" 
