what happened in Vietnam?

Question

this is not a homework question i just want to know cuz pepol keep relating what happned to what will happen in Iraq

Answer 1

we went to vietnam because we can't keep our noses out of other people's business...in vietnam we lost thousands of soldiers only to change nothing...nobody even won that war. it was a constant slaughter with no end in sight, which is (in every aspect of what i just said) what is happening in iraq. what's going to happen next? the CIA will give heroin to the troops, just like in vietnam. keep 'em stoned and quiet.

Answer 2

We went there to help as the French were leaving. We just about had the problem fixed when the political pressure here got to be to much for some .At 1 time we had the harbor blocked and we were forced to reopen we had the Ho Chi Mien trail blocked and the same crap again . People say we lost but in reality the Innocents lost to the Commies. We fought China and Cambodia , and the V C .Get the movies the Hanoi Hilton and the Killing Field thats about as close as you can get to some of the crap . U S M C Semper Fi

Answer 3

The Vietnam War was a proxy war. It was basically us against the communist bloc. We entered into a treaty, SEATO (Southeast Asia Treaty Organization), and vowed to defend any SE Asia nation against the communists. As now, we were meddling in other nations affairs around the world, supposedly to protect our interests. When the French were defeated at Dien Bien Phu in 1954, we moved in to offer help to the struggling South Vietnamese government. We "installed," through coup or assassination, a pro U.S. government, which called on us to provide more military and financial aid. Being the magnanimous people we are, we sent more troops. Then, in 1964, two American ships were supposedly attacked in international waters by the North Vietnamese. As it turned out, no one could prove that this happened, but....... President Johnson and his staff, prepared, and promoted the Tolkin Gulf Resolution, which authorized Johnson to essentially wage all out war against North Vietnam.
That is what we did for the next X number of years.
When, in the year that I was in Vietnam, the death rate for American GI's reached over 45 a day, the people of the U.S. had had enough. However, it took another 8 years for the war to end. I recall that Nixon had a "secret plan" to end the war in 68 and again in 72. Who knew that his plan was to declare victory and get the f**** out?

Answer 4

During the war, China and Russia were both assisting the North Vietnamese (which in turn were supplying the insurgents in South Vietnam), and the U.S. did nothing about it. Laos and Cambodia were allowing the North Vietnamese to move supplies and men through their countries (despite agreeing not to get involved, and despite a treaty that the NV signed agreeing not to enter those countries), effectively tying our hands and forcing us to go after the Ho Chi Min trail using covert methods. And people with little or no idea about what the world were the ones screaming the loudest in this country about pulling out, in the mistaken belief that surrendering will ensure peace in our time. It only ensured our loss of face in the world and the senseless deaths of millions of people in Southeast Asia.

Answer 5

The links will show:

1. History from 1941 -1975

2. A Vietnamese perspective.

3. Data about who served.

In short the US was determined to not let communism spread. US involvment grew over the years. S. Korea was first foreign help in S.VietNam. The US sent combat troops in May 1965. Austrailia and New Zealand supplied combat troops, the Philipines sent non-combat personel. By the Fall of 67 N. VietNam had lost an entire generation of men. TET 68 was a MAJOR military loss for the VC and NVA and a MAJOR political win as the US press claimed them the victors. They were pretty surprised as they were hauling azz for Laos and Cambodia. Public opinion forced our leaving in early 1973. A Democraticly controlled Congress cut off funding to the South in late 1974 and now Siagon is Ho Chi Minh City. ALWAYS call it Siagon when in the presence of adult Vietnamese. You might get spit on saying the current name.
In April 75 the NVA took control of Siagon and the war was over. Let the murder, rape, suicides, re education camps, property confiscation begin.

They loved the new gov. so much.........

Dai got out in 78 after her parents had both died. She floated for 2 days on a ship until it ran aground off a Malaysian Island. She swam ashore carrying her baby over her head. Spent 2 years in Refugee camp before getting here.
Her brother in law (Major ARVN 1955-1975) escaped prison and lived in the jungle for 2 years before his family made it over land thru Cambodia to Thailand. His niece Linh walked the same route in the early 80's by herself at the age of 12. Do not know the stories of all the others but they are similar. When she visits her sister in Siagon I am not to mention anything political on the phone, people still disappear in the night for political reasons.
Last but not least do not mention Jane Fonda or John Kerry in front of Vietnamese old enough to have lived thru the war, this like the mention Ho can get strong reactions.

Answer 6

in the end, what happened was that thousands of American soldiers and South Vietnamese were dying, and we couldn't make progress because the North Vietnamese and many supporters of North Vietnam were fighting guerilla attacks (kind of like terrorist roadside bombs in Iraq) against our troops and it was hard to fight back

many more people died in Vietnam then have died in Iraq, but we continue to have tens of thousands of civilians dying along with almost 4,000 of our own troops with no end in sight. Also, like Vietnam, most people see no reason to be in the war... except Vietnam was more justified, in my opinion. In any case, the United States eventually had to admit that the communist insurgents had real control of the country and had to evacuate, and South Vietnam fell without our support.

Vietnam seems like a nice place nowadays, though

Answer 7

We were not allowed to fight the war as a war. Instead we let people die needlessly. We were there way too long with no way to pull our troops out. We finally pulled them out in the mid 70's after way too many names were added to the wall that is in Washington D.C.

Answer 8

56% of imported oil to Hawaii is from Vietnam.

Answer 9

the Military didn't get to fight the war the way it should have been fought.
our enemies had safe havens in neighboring countries.
we didn't understand the mind set of our enemies.

so.. we lost.