Civil War Between North And South Vietnam example essay topic

Causes and effects of the Vietnam War War is hell. Imagine how most every family in the United States was effected some way or another during the Vietnam War. Parents lost sons, wives lost husbands, sisters lost brothers, and children lost their daddies. A total of over two million lives were lost, and for what In this paper I am going to tell you why some people lost their loved ones for a few years and others lost them forever. Many people believed that the Vietnam conflicts started in the 1960's. Those many people are wrong.

The conflicts the United States had with Vietnam started in 1946 with a sequel to the struggle between the French and the Communist-led Vietminh. The Communist-led Vietminh was also known as the League for the Independence of Vietnam. The League was founded in 1941 and was headed by the revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh. The League wanted their independence fromthe French. On September 2, 1945, Ho Chi Minh announced their independence from France.

The French opposed their independence from 1945-1954. The French Expeditionary Force tried to prevent the Vietminh from entering Laos where it led them to Dien Bien Phu on May 7, 1954. The French weren t very careful and this battle allowed the Vietminh to cut off their airway to Hanoi. After fifty five days of fighting, the French surrendered and Ho Chi Minh had won the war against France. In 1954 a political conference was held in Geneva and ended the period of colonial rule in what had formerly been the French Indochina. The conference compiled that Vietnam was to be divided into two parts along the seventeenth parallel.

North Vietnam was mainly Communist and supported Ho Chi Minh. South Vietnam was supported by the United States and the French. Some Communist supporters were still within South Vietnam. These were known as the Viet Cong. South Vietnam's ruler was Ngo Dinh Diem who was an anti-Communist. North Vietnam failed to respect the Geneva settlement They were still trying to force Southern Vietnam to become a communist dominated country.

Northern Vietnam seemed unwilling to negotiate to most countries. They didn t want to negotiate when it seemed to them they were winning and they didn t want to end up losing. As far as Americans views were concerned, the Vietcong had no independent standings. The responsibility for negotiations weren t the Southern Vietnam, but with Northern Vietnam. After Northern Vietnam decided not to negotiate, the United States and its South Vietnamese allies had made plans to take a step further through a pair of heavy bombing raids on a North Vietnam supply depot and a naval base.

North Vietnam requested that they unify North and South Vietnam military force. The United States feared the spread of communism in Asia so John F. Kennedy provided economic and military aid to South Vietnam to prevent the takeover by North Vietnam. The United States were not yet officially involved. The war was still considered a civil war between North and South Vietnam. Americans felt that peace efforts had hit a dead end. Many wanted the United States to pull the forces out of Vietnam and bring their loved ones home.

Many Western countries weren t interested in the spread of communism in Asia but more with ending the war itself. The idea of starting negotiations to end the war and pave the way for American withdrawal already relieved a growing popularity throughout most of the world. Washington had doubts about neutralization agreements with Communist powers. In the fall of 1964, it was believed that North Vietnam was only interested in easing the United States out of Vietnam but had no intention of lifting its own aggression or discussing a peace based on earlier international agreements. Throughout all of last year, the general attitude of the Communist world was that they might consider some devices to save the will upon South Vietnam. Out attitude was and is that we are not interested in saving face but in saving South Vietnam.

(Secretary-General Rusk) This conflict wouldn t have been so important if only 33 million Vietnamese were included but it included all of the world. Australia had previously sent 83 military advisors to work with the South Vietnamese forces announced in January that this limited assistance would be increased. After declining, New Zealand decided in to send its own artillery battery of 120 men who would cooperate closely with the Australians. Of all the Western countries, only Australia and New Zealand had taken the Vietcong challenge seriously enought to join actively in combating it.

Formosa (Taiwan) was being held by the Republic of China as an anti-Communist country. The United States was not eager about the idea of sending Chinese Nationalist troops to fight in Vietnam. The first responsibility of these troops was the defense of Formosa. The United States felt that the islands were subject to regular Communist assault and could become the object of a sudden invasion attempt. Korea had a direct appeal from President Johnson but decided to send 2,000 troops to South Vietnam for noncombat duty. South Korea was preparing to send a combat force of 15,000 men to South Vietnam, they had no other negotiations beside with the United States.

Laos and Thailand had no position to join directly in the Vietnamese fighting had also shown an appreciation of the serious consequences that a Vietcong victory had for them. Laos was normally a neutral government had gone so far as to obtain the assistance of U.S. aircraft in occasional bombings of Communist supply routes within Laos. Laos had a stable understanding with the United States. Thailand, an American ally, had welcomed a significant number of American troops and airmen to its territory. Thailand was in almost as vulnerable a position as South Vietnam. Thailand was said to be lending its cooperation in the anti-Communist air war over Laos and over Vietnam as well.

Even though the details of this activity were kept secret, the American military forces in Thailand were said to be as many as 6,000 fighting men, together with 100 aircraft distributed among four Thailand bases. The Vietnam Memorial is a sight that was made in memory of all the Veterans that fought and died or Veterans who were still missing in Vietnam. Thememorial got started when Jan C. Scruggs, a veteran himself, just couldn t forget the pain he faced. He had often wondered why the living and the dead were never thanked or even remembered.

He wanted to make the people remember the ones who fought for their country and the country of others. His first idea for memorial was to show the names of every American soldier who died or was missing in Vietnam. Second, he wanted something every American would accept. Then he decided he wanted it to be built without government money. Last he wanted it to bein Washington, D.C. where he thought it would be a true memorial. Scruggs set up a place where donations could be sent.

After several weeks of receiving donations only one hundred and forty four dollars was collected. Scruggs thought his idea was just a dream. After veterans themselves started seeing the struggle, they even started helping. The veterans helped start the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Foundation. They set goals for their foundation. First, was to find a place for the memorial.

Then to find a design. Last was to set the dedication for November 11, 1982, Veterans Day. By the end of 1979, over nine thousand dollars had been raised. Even withal l the money raised they knew they would never have enough to buy a piece of land from the government. Senator Charles Mathias introduced a bill for 2 acres for the site of the memorial. The bill was passed on June 30, 1980 for the 2 acres between the Lincoln and Washington Monuments.

The only problem they faced now was their design for the memorial. Nobody could decide on just one design. The Veterans decided to hold a contest where anyone could send in their thoughts for the design of the memorial. Maya Ying Linton with her design of a low, black, chevron-shaped wall. After the Veterans decision many people fought for a design change.

After a lot of controversy, theydecided to add to the wall. A statue and some American flags would be added to make the wall less deathlike. Construction began on March 16, 1982. Scruggs had doubts that thememorial wouldn t be done on time for the dedication date they had set. Theydecided to hold the dedication to the following weekend, November 13-14. Beforethe dedication ceremony, many veterans lined the streets together again and walked in the parade led by retired General William Westmoreland.

The whole week beforethe dedication volunteers held candles outside the National Cathedral and recited the names of the 58,156 Veterans killed and missing in action, one-by-one. Thousands of Vietnam Veterans along with friends and families of the dead came to help dedicate the memorial. Some veterans showed their war wounds. Some came in suits, others in combat gear. They all gathered in the Constitution Gardens in Washington, D.C. to hopefully be able to face their pain and say goodbye to their loved ones. Though many people will never forget their days in Vietnam, they will always be remembered for the way they helped the United States fight.

Many of them could even tell you they would be happy to fight again for our country, but then they might also tell you, War is hell.