Effective Against The National Liberation Front example essay topic

Wars of National Liberation and the End of Colonialism National liberation is a concept that has been justly and unjustly idealized for many generations. Freedom and independence are rights that every person deserves, and, sadly enough, war is often the only means by which to obtain these basic human needs. Most Americans living today know close to nothing about dictatorships, tyranny and how many people don't have these rights, which most American people commonly ignore. National liberations are a defensive measure taken by people of a nation against an imperial power who have / are moving in on their nation. Oppressive regimes are generally the cause of a national liberation movement, Vietnam being a perfect example.

The Vietnamese people have been struggling for independence from France ever since the First Indochina War, which resulted in a temporary division of Vietnam into Northern and Southern sections. Northern Vietnam became controlled by Vietnamese Communists, opposing France, whose long term goals involved a unified communist rule of Vietnam. The United States did not favor this plan, in fact, it feared that Communism would gain popularity and eventually spread into all of Southeast Asia, a belief known as the "Domino Theory". U.S. troops were sent to South Vietnam to prevent the collapse of the government, but ultimately, this effort failed, and caused the death of 3.2 Vietnamese, 1.5-2 million Lao and Cambodians, and nearly 58,000 Americans. In the beginning of the Vietnam war, the United States troops were only sent in to keep the South Vietnamese government from collapsing, but with the fall of Diem, the new ruler who had deposed Bao Dai, the former emperor, a more active involvement was required of the U.S. So under president Johnson, the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) was formed, but was proven to be less and less effective against the National Liberation Front, the NLF. The NLF was assumed to be the communist in South Vietnam therefore the US took drastic measures to subdue this group. For instance, In January 1963, 2,000 ARVN encountered a group of 350 NLF soldiers at a village called Ap Bac, south of Saigon in the Mekong River Delta.

The U.S. was far better equipped and prepared, yet the losses suffered by the ARVN were over 20 times that of the NLF. Despite all this evidence, President J.F. Kennedy believed that the ARVN would be effective. Some people say it was because the NLF fought with more at stake than just their lives, they were fighting for their families and their nation existence. Many other events like this had taken place making it seem almost impossible for the National Liberation Front to go anywhere else but a bloody end. As we know, Nixon took office and tried to make peace with his "Vietnam ization" plan. With this came failed peace negations and more bloodshed.

National liberation movements have been dubbed terrorist, but this is for the uninformed to use, because as we can see from countless examples national liberation happens when a country has been stripped of its basic rights. Freedom, independence and the right to govern their own people. The US has tried and still continues to "help" the oppressed, and the result has been blood shed plus hatred towards us. Some ask is it the end of colonialism, and obviously this is not the case, just look around to the middle east. The wars of national liberation in many little countries have stopped and / or postponed the colonialism of their nations from bigger nations, but it still goes on, even if its called something else.

Bibliography

" Vietnam War" Microsoft. Encarta Online Encyclopedia. 2005.04/22/05. S luka, Jeff. "The Fourth World-Nations Without a State" Massey University. 04/22/05.