The Korean and the Vietnamese War

Foreign Policy

Korean War

It can be argued that the Americans won and lost the Korean War. When the war broke out in 1950, the U.S. entered the war to curb the spread of communism in Asia. North Korean Army had attacked the South to an extent of taking over Seoul from the South. The U.S.-led army was able to protect South Korea and drive North Korean army to the North. This meant that the U.S. was able to prevent the spread of communism to the South. General Douglas MacArthur had succeeded in pushing the Korean army out of Seoul and to the other side of the 38th Parallel[footnoteRef:1]. [1: James Callanan, Covert Action in the Cold War U.S. Policy, Intelligence, and CIA Operations (London: I.B. Tauris, 2010)]

However, when the American troops crossed the border and reached the border between North Korea and China, China was provoked that their territory would be under threat. It was after this that Chinese army was sent to North Korea to counter the U.S. However, Gen. MacArthur sent messages to the Republicans on the argument that there should be no substitute for victory. The General wanted to wage war on China, but his move was against the policy of President Truman. The General was fired as a result[footnoteRef:2]. [2: . Ibid, 90]

The replacement of General Ridgway initiated the path towards the end of the war. In particular, he embarked on a counter-offensive especially after the Chinese entered the war. He also called for talks to end the war, which was convened on several occasions. The U.S. did not win the war completely as all their demands were not met during the negotiations. On the same note, the Korean Peninsula was left divided with the North remaining a communist stage and antagonistic to the U.S. to date. This shows that despite the fact that the U.S. was able to protect South Korea, it was not able to defeat the communist forces.

The Vietnam War

A critical look at the U.S. involvement in Vietnam can reveal that the war was not justified at all because the U.S. not only lost the war but it was built on the foundations of opposing the nationalist movements that had driven the French out of Indochina. The U.S.A. had exaggerated the influence that Communism had in the country and underestimated the actual power of nationalism. The domino theory was used as the foundation of the U.S. foreign policy in the 1950s, argued that the victory of communism in any nation in the world would lead to various reactions and communist takeovers in the states that neighbor the nation. This came from the change of tactics of the Soviet Union on how to spread communism. The Soviet wanted to use the Wars of National Liberation argument to spread communism. This entailed the creation of communist revolutions in the Third World countries. The U.S. was ready to use a counteroffensive in order to deal with this issue finally[footnoteRef:3]. [3: David E Kaiser, American Tragedy: Kennedy, Johnson, and the Origins of the Vietnam War (Cambridge, Mass: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2000)]

The U.S. did not win the war on communist after its involvement in Vietnam although the spread of communism was dealt a major blow. The country was united as a communist state two years after the withdrawal of the U.S. troops from Vietnam. Similarly, there were also emergencies of some communist groups in the neighboring countries such as Cambodia after the withdrawal of the U.S. troops from Vietnam. Despite supporting the South Vietnam, the entire Vietnam was finally united as a communist country and the southern capital was named after Ho Chi Minh, who had been involved in the nationalistic wars to drive the French out of Vietnam[footnoteRef:4]. [4: Ibid, 56]

War on terror

It is true that the war on terror clearly diverges from the previous conflicts that the world has seen. In today's world, the war on terror can be said to be an attack against the Islamic States in the Middle East. Terrorism has been because of the U.S. involvement in matters concerning the Middle East that led to the formation of the terrorist groups. The U.S. involvement in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Iran has led to the rise of the terror groups that aim at attacking the U.S. and her allies. Terrorism has been a new theme that emerged since the U.S. has always adopted a conservative approach in the Middle East where it used allies ensures there is a flow of oil and the U.S. has stable and secure allies.