Vietnam History

Running Head : VIETNAM HISTORY

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Date A look at the cordial relations between the United States and Vietnam today might be mistaken to mean that this has been the situation for long . However , a journey through the memory lane to a few decades back exposes animosity and war whose wounds are still being nursed to date It would reveal national shame of such great enormity that few in the American leadership would like to revisit . The Vietnam War that took place from 1965 to 1975

left the Americans baffled as well as the Vietnamese wallowing in a miasma of death and human suffering that has not been unrecorded in the history of mankind since then . In the wake of its conclusion , the United States army had been rendered a blunt blow by the communist regime forces but not without the demise of more than two million civilians

The United States entered the war amidst growing opposing sentiments by thousands of protestors especially from students . The Vietnamese had by 1945 , been fighting the yoke of French colonialists that would result to a division of the country into two regions the North and South Vietnam North Vietnam was controlled by the communists who were all along yearning for the unification of the two regions to form a formidable one nation that would be over seen by the communist leadership . The southern part of Vietnam was under the control of Vietnam French collaborators and apparently enjoyed great western and United States support . The United States was stepping in to ensure that South Vietnam did not collapse in the wake of the Northern Vietnam communist led upsurge (John S . Bowman , 1995

The Geneva peace accords between the French colonialists and the Vietnamese in 1954 had given a go ahead to the re-unification of Vietnamese in conformation to the communist 's wishes . The then United States secretary of states , John Foster Dulles was opposed to the accord believing that it favored the communists . They would support militarily the South Vietnam against any onslaught from the north . From then hence forth the events that would take place , would have devastating effects both in Vietnam and America politics . President Kenney was waging an attack in the midst of contrary advice from his close allies . Many thought that the war was a dead end alley ' as it was near impossible to quell the growing hold of the National Liberation Front

The initial strategy by the American administration was to institute a limited onslaught on the Vietnam and then frighten them with a possibility of unleashing more artillery . Johnson resorted to bombing the major communication transport and fuel facilities but the North Vietnam forces did not relent in their efforts . The tide was against the United States forces for the complications brought forth by the presence of civilians . The aerial bombings were resulting to unexplainable collateral damage . The Tet offensive for example resulted to the demise of more than 500 civilians and turned the public 's...