Cold War and Vietnam

Cold War in Vietnam

It has been more than 45 years since the Vietnam War, but still it is an on-going dilemma for the historians of American foreign relations. The Vietnam War occurred between 1945 and 1975, and it took place in Vietnam Laos and Cambodia. It was a War fought for the independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DMV) formally the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, which was divided into North and South Vietnam after the first Indo China War against France in 1954. However, it can also be termed as a Civil War between the communist and anti-communist ideologies. Various Nations were involved in it, and the War ended resulting in the freedom for North Vietnam in 1975. The war was fought between the Communist North Vietnam with support from its Communist Soviet allies, and the Government of South Vietnam supported by the United States, and other members of the SEATO (South-East Asia East Asia Treaty Organization) (Finkelman, 2009).

The American administration's role in this war was initially to restrain the communist take-over of South Vietnam as part of their foreign strategy of containment against communism. The U.S. soldierly advice took place in 1950s. However, their involvement extended during the 1960s and an extensive military combat mission began in 1965. The U.S. involvement was at its peak in 1968 resulting into a Tet Offensive, prohibiting America from further aggression (Nojeim & Kilroy, 2011). A seize-fire peace treaty was signed in 1973 by all the countries. Despite the efforts for peace, the War continued and time period of the War prolonged. The American troops over stayed in Vietnam, but despite the costliness and controversial status of the War, America failed to achieve most of its objectives (Earnst, 2007).

Right after the advent of the first Indo China War, the then-Prime Minister and President of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) Ho Chi Minh, initiated efforts for improvising relations with America in 1947 (Huynh, 1993), to win approval of the American President Harry S. Truman which resulted in little impact. Nonetheless, as a consequence of the Anti-war Movement, the U.S. was forbidden from any further military intervention as a result of the Case Church Amendment in 1973, passed by the U.S. Congress. North and South Vietnam was merged in 1976 (Billingsley, 1990).

The American efforts to invade communism, also left its own citizens in the war struck areas exposed to hazards and threats. The U.S. troops deployed in Vietnam went through extensive emotional and psychological turmoil as they could not differentiate between the suppressor and the captive. Between the power struggles of the two giants, innocents were killed and fatalities skyrocketed including a majority of women and children. The psyche of the soldiers of America was demarked forever, and the War also created a negative sentiment among the American citizens against their administration. The post-war traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), was most common for the soldiers, and veterans of the civil War. It was also tumultuous for the U.S. citizens in general as nearly 58000 Americans died in this war (Dean, 1997).