Table of ContentsIntroductionAmerican InterventionDiem – Persecution of BuddhistsRolling ThunderVietnamizationConclusionIntroductionThe years following World War II were full of turmoil for Vietnam. The Vietnam War, which began simply with what appeared to be civilians trying to gain independence, became more of a common ground for the superpowers to express their influence in the Cold War. This essay is influenced by a few works that present very similar information and critiques of events during the Vietnam War. Through them, I will criticize the events that occurred and show how, in the long run, the Vietnam War continued for a long time due to the involvement in the Cold War and that the struggle for independence was not considered the main cause. but a catalyst for the situation. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay The Vietnam War basically took place between 1945 and 1975. It all started with Vietnam becoming a French colony after World War II, where Vietnam went to war against the French for the fight for independence, which lasted eight years. This shows how the Vietnam War began as a struggle for independence where it was not about being pro or against communism but rather about fighting for national liberation. The effects of the Cold War were revealed after the Japanese surrendered on August 14, leaving no effective government in place in Vietnam. American intervention The return of the Japanese gave way to the start of a guerrilla war inspired by Mao. The tactics of the guerrillas were to strike when possible, to strike and run, and with this mentality, outlast the opponent. This is due to the Geneva Accords, which officially ended French imperialism, but divided Vietnam in two; being the North and the South, where it was thought at the time that elections would follow in 1956, they would reunite. The problem was that North Vietnam was communist and the South was anti-communist. This prompted the United States to intervene and block the election, as it understood that the Viet Minh leader in North Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh, would win; ultimately making Vietnam a communist country. This could be considered the first intervention of the United States in the war. What should be criticized is that Vietnam would have been reunified and the question of independence would have been resolved. However, with the involvement of the United States, it shows how this was only a means to prevent the spread of communism and that the war was prolonged because of the United States. Other reasons historians believe the United States became involved were military vows and the commitment it had previously made to Vietnam. However, it is criticized that America could have easily broken the promises it had made and pulled some strings to recover from possible humiliation. Therefore, the United States' entry into the Vietnam War was due to Cold War concerns, and the destruction of communism seemed to be a more serious goal for the United States in allying with South Vietnam. . A continuing domino effect would hit Asia if one country became communist, leading the next to also become communist. Vietnam therefore became, in later years, a site of "civil" war, as it was primarily seen as an American war, as historians have noted.describe against communism, with “commanding Asian puppets”. The entrance to the village of My Lai is an example of American involvement that does not benefit the needs of the population. Military troops had massacred between 400 and 500 Vietnamese civilians. As one historian writes, “the use of indiscriminate air attacks and artillery fire harmed and alienated the very people these operations were intended to protect”; it shows how this incident became a microcosm of the American way of waging war in Vietnam solely to put on a show against communism. Diem – Persecution of Buddhists During the early years of the war, the United States had sent the French resources and advisors with huge investments to support the Southern government. Critics believe that the leader, Ngo Dinh Diem, was corrupt and trying to make peace with the North and was therefore assassinated by the ARVN, or Vietnam Public Army. Diem had angered civilians on several occasions. For example, when the incident of persecution of Buddhists occurred. Although the majority of villagers were worshipers of the ancestors, there were many Buddhists in urban cities like Saigon. Being Catholic was considered repression when it was forbidden to wave flags on Buddha's birthday. President Kennedy forced Diem to make amends, but relying on empty promises, Diem failed to address the situation, making matters worse. In June 1963, a Buddhist monk named Thich Quang Duc set himself on fire as a sign of rebellion against Diem's ​​policies. Several suicide rituals followed. This caused Diem's ​​brother-in-law to attack the pagoda, capturing many monks and killing around thirty. Kennedy believed that support for Diem had declined significantly, which was an essential part of winning the war, creating a strong government, and stopping the communist rebellion. It is incidents like this that remind us that the Vietnam War was essential for its people, but then realizing that their leaders themselves wanted to reject the public, so the fight for independence seemed to come from the individual of a Vietnamese civilian. Historians argue that Buddhists were a minority and that raising flags should not have been a concern during the civil war, and that these people isolated themselves, but others believe otherwise. Again, it would seem that America would like to criticize Diem for his actions as a corrupt leader, but it only cared about the support of the people to tear down communism. From here we can see that Vietnam really did experience a civil war, but alongside and within the "American War." What really turned the war around was the famous Gulf of Tonkin incident in 1964. This was a way for the United States to become more directly involved in the war. Many believe, however, that the American intervention and its ideas against communism were put forward against communism after Japan's withdrawal. This shows how much influence the Americans had over the war from the start. However, for the United States to officially enter the war, it had to be approved by Congress. The South and the US military were involved in an incident where it was stated that there had been two confrontations in the waters with the North when in reality there was one and at that time the The plea for Congress to accept actions to go to war and do anything to stop communism from spreading had already passed. It seems that there have been changes in the facts, and what must be criticized is thatThere is virtually no account of this event from the North Vietnamese perspective, which makes the incident and events seem unsustainable and an excuse to do whatever the United States wants to do . Then.Rolling ThunderShortly after the Tonkin Incident, U.S. President Kennedy was assassinated and the next President Lyndon B. Johnson used the Tonkin Resolution as a means to find his solution to the war. This was due to fighting two difficult enemies of the same alignment of communist ideas - namely the well-trained communist soldiers from the North and also the guerrilla members located in the South known as the Viet Cong who were not in uniform, which made it very difficult for them to be killed. The North was supported by the communist USSR and China as a way to align Vietnam with them and compete with each other to see who has a better communist way of life. Previously, it was simply the American foreign policy of "containment" that was expressed in the Vietnam War, but the communist powers also became indirectly involved in the war by supplying tons of weapons to help the North. In an attempt to cripple the North, the United States launched a decade-long bombing campaign known as Rolling Thunder, during which it dropped tons of bombs per day. It became the indirect incident that was part of the Cold War. Western opinion on the war and its commitment changed around 1967-1968, when the Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara, felt that they had made a terrible mistake and so he resigned because he thought that the The goal was to contain communism, not necessarily to win. The Tet Offensive disrupted the White House and the military because they “assured the public that the war was coming to an end.” The scale of the offensive dashed those claims and led many Americans to question the continuing costs of the war. The Tet Offensive was an event in which Northern soldiers infiltrated South Vietnam, taking control of the American embassy and many towns. The United States eventually recaptured the cities, but the "ragged" military strike was carried out with such effectiveness that it dealt a major blow to America's sense of being the ultimate power incapable of being defeated. This reduced their “arrogance” of being the “superior” against the USSR. What is criticized here is not seeing the enemy directly attacking the United States, but only seeing the other superpower behind the scenes causing trouble. What the United States failed to consider, given that it was so consumed with the idea of ​​communism ultimately controlled by the Kremlin, was that the North Koreans themselves were a new enemy, and so turning a blind eye to that really brought the Americans down. They could have won the war they wanted to fight, but they didn’t know how to fight the war they were asked to win,” Hanson says. He goes on to say: “Tet is such a symbolic and paradoxical event that its meaning remains as obscure and controversial as the war of which it was part.” This caused Johnson to retire, and the new President Nixon promised to end the war honorably, with an emphasis on the Vietnamization of the war. To even think of “Vietnamizing” the war meant the very fact that Americans also believed that the war waged by the South was ultimately in American perspective and control. “Vietnamize” meant that countries and people manage the situation. Many argue that this should have been the case from the start and that the Americans should not have intervened because it.