Lessons Learned by the American Experience of the Vietnam War

Vietnam War

The lessons from Vietnam War

The quest for independence in Vietnam m was widely violent and involved factions arming themselves to face the other. Ho Chi Minh who was a communist activist by 1941 sneaked back to Vietnam after 30 years in exile and helps put together Vietnam Independence League. Immediately after World War II, Ho Chi Minh sent his guerillas to help free some captured American pilots from the Japanese. The year 1945 was an action packed year in the history of Vietnam. It was the year of the global World War II and the issue of global influence was the agenda for every country. Vietnam was drawn into the global event in 1945 since it was during this year that rumors about an imminent American attack of Japan that Japanese ousted the French colonialist so as to have control over Vietnam and installed Bao Dai as the Japanese puppet in 1949. It is at this point that it is said globalization drew Vietnam into the struggle for independence since every country that was a colony at that time pursued freedom.

One major factor that influenced the rapid changes, in Vietnamese fight for independence was the WWII

since the ousting of the French was facilitated by the Japanese (the major antagonists in WWII) so as to use Vietnam as aground to launch their offensive.

Then the British French alliance came into play in order to disarm the Japanese troops operating within Vietnam. It was a war that was clouded by various interest and alliances and shifting alliances with changing war dynamics. It is apparent that the decolonization war of Vietnam is different from those of most colonies since it attracted global attention and participation, with globalization playing a key role in contest for influence and supremacy in Vietnam. The country was also sharply divided between the communist North under the support of the Soviet Union and the South under the U.S. support.

The Vietnam situation was an interesting piece of history in the struggle for self rule which they achieved in 1954 and beyond with a myriad of countries like Republic of china, Britain, the U.S., French, Soviet Union and others getting involved at different levels at time as shown above. Finally Vietnam came to have their own constitution in April 15, 1992 which was much later on after independence. This was delayed due to the 30 year war that took place in Vietnam after independence. Because of fear of communism spilling from North to South Vietnam and spreading to Japan, the United States decided to send its troops to Vietnam. In August, 1964, Johnson got the Congress approval and officially waged war in Vietnam where millions of Vietnamese civilians and soldiers died. At least 58-000 Americans died (Miller & Maier, n.d.). The Vietnam War that followed the sending of the troops had a lot of implications to the U.S. In terms of the diplomatic circles, presidential leadership as well as cultural/social context.

Diplomatic negotiations

During the war, there were ties that were formed with allies in the war like the strengthening of the relations between U.S. And South Vietnam, with Australia and other friendly troops (Australian War Memorial, 2013). The relations with these countries took the form of financial aid, war artillery and even troops that fought on the ground. The U.S. had to also form new alliances as the war progressed for intake the diplomatic developments between the U.S.A. And Cambodia that saw the U.S. troops that were fighting in Vietnam use the Cambodian soil to wage attacks in 1970 under president Nixon (Anderson D., 1999). In 1972, President Nixon also travelled to China and USSR with the aim of fortifying the diplomatic ties that would see the isolation of Hanoi. Another milestone diplomatic development that came from the Vietnam War was the peace deal that was signed among the U.S., North Vietnam and the South Vietnam on January 27, 1973 that saw cooperation among the three countries and a massive withdrawal of troops from the war fields, the treaty was known as the Paris treaty.

Presidential leadership

The Vietnam War was also a central focus in the presidential campaigns and also official agreements and commitments that were made by various presidents that ascended to power during the war period. Of greatest significance was the agreement by JF Kennedy to send the initial troops in 1961 also known as the U.S. Army Special Forces or the Green Berets. By 1962 Kenned has seen over 9,000 of the Special forces go into Vietnam to cushion the South Vietnam from the intimidation and propaganda by the Vietcong. This won him great admiration among the U.S. citizens and almost guaranteed him a second round with little opposition, until that vision was cut shot upon his assassination. Upon the assassination of President Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson inherited the Vietnam dilemma and he equally reaffirmed the mission of the National Security Action Memorandum (NSAM) 273 which indicated that the U.S. was still committed to aiding the South Vietnam in this war.

In 1964, Johnson once more used the incidents at the Gulf of Tonkin to win his second term in office. This was after he was authorized by the congress to use possible force to protect the U.S. army and citizens within the gulf taking into account the increased war and violent activities that were taking place between the North and South Vietnam at the Gulf of Tonkin and even the firing at the Maddox which was a destroyer on a fact finding and intelligence collection mission (The History Place, 1999). Johnson exercised maximum restraint in this occasion that led to minimum casualties and admiration from the U.S. citizens back at home hence giving him an easy win in the elections of 1964. This is an indication that war can dictate the direction of politics as it did in the case of the two presidents.

Cultural/social disruptions

The Vietnam War totally destroyed the communal and societal mesh that bound the people of Vietnam together. This is however not restricted to Vietnam as even the families in the U.S.A. suffered extensively, particularly the families that had their own volunteers to the war who lost their lives or terminally injured in the war. They live in pain and at antagonism with the state each day with a deep feeling that the war should not have started in the first place and that the compensations were not adequate for the pain they go through.