Course
Institution
Date
What part did the Vietnam War play in the development of the Cold War
Plan of investigations
Investigation assesses the part played by Vietnam war in the development of the cold war. In order to evaluate the part played by the Vietnam war, the investigation evaluates the role played by United States and its allies as well as the Solviet union at each stage in the development of the war. The role of Vietnam war is investigated after second world war, post-colonial Vietnam and during the resolution of the Vietnam criss by both US and Soviet Union. My method of investigation consists comparing various opinions that historians have concerning the role played by opposing powers during Vietnam war. The investigation uses five books and three web sites which are then evaluated, analysed for their origin, purposes, values and limitations. The investigation asseses the differences in ideologies (communists and capitalism) of the nations involved in vietnam war.
Summary of evidence
Prior to development of Vietnam war, The French colonized the regions of Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam from the mid – 1880s. However, the Germans invaded the French in 1940 during the second world war (Hagopian,8). This weakened the French dominance in Vietnam. The people of Vietnam wanted political independence from French (Halberstam, 17). Vietnam anti-colonial movement developed taking advantage of the French military and political weakness after second world war (Burgan, 2). The Viet Minh took over power in August in 1945 and established the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. However, in 1946 the French returned to Vietnam to re-colonize it.
The soviet union and the Chinese helped the Viet Minhs forces to resist the French power. In the First Vietnam War of independence, the Minhs forces defeated the French in 1954. They called for the withdrawal of the French troops and granting of political independence to Cambodia and Laos (Holsti, et al, 10). However, the region was divided between the south and the north along the demilitarized zones. The north was communist under Viet Minh while the south was anti-communist (Burgan, 9). The United States and France, set South Vietnam as a new country in 1954 to prevent the spread of communism in southeast Asia. They formed, the southeast Asia treaty organization in 1954 and signed South Vietnam as a formal member (Hagopian, 4). The U.S installed their preferred president, Mr. Ngo Dinh Diem as the leader of the republic of south Vietnam in 1955. Moreover, the United States assisted the republic of south Vietnam to form the army of the republic of south Vietnam (ARVN).
In order to reunify the south and north Vietnam, the two opposing sides decided to hold a presidential election. Nevertheless, presidential election never took place in Vietnam (Lawrence,et al, 12). This is because, the two opposing sides never came to agreement on the terms of the elections. This led to the two regions to form armed forces that would engage in battles. This civil war was referred to as a second Indochina war.
The US became involved in the Vietnam war, but significant military action began in1964 after the Tonkin gulf declaration by congress (Burgan, 19). The resolution gave the United States president the power to wage war against the communist in the north. Consequently, the U.S. military presence increased in Vietnam reaching 500, 000 in 1968.
The Vietnam War was an unusual form of war. This is because it was not fought on traditional battlefields with clearly identified soldiers seizing new territory. The war was fought with different weapons, and markers of success. The military officers decided to strategically attack their enemies in the hope of achieving early success. Both sides ultimately settled for war of attrition (Holsti, et al, 15). The war of attrition was a relatively small battles designed to deplete the resources of the other side. In addition, the war of attrition, aimed to weaken the morale of the soldiers and weaken the public support of the war so that they willingly surrender. This led to the development of the cold war as the two sides were relatively suspicious of the each other.
Evaluation of the source
The Vietnam War In American Memory. Compiled by Hagopian, Patrick is an in depth account of the development of cold war during the Vietnam war. The Vietnam war in American history as written for the purpose to greatly enlarge the historians knowledge on the impacts of Vietnam war in USA as well as the cold war. The book values lies in the fact tat it provides a new information during the Vietnam war. However, the limitations of the book are that it is based on oral historical perspective of soldiers involved in Vietnam war considering that the war ended more than thirty years ago. Therefore, the soldiers could not really recall the events accurately.
Cold War Axioms In The Post-Vietnam Era, by Holsti, Ole R, and James N Rosenau is a discussion of the development of cold war from 1955 to 1975. The book also discusses the telephone conversation between US president Johnson and his defense secretary. It values gives the reader reasons why the US government decided to initiate military forces in Vietnam in 1965. There are limitations in the book because it does not discuss all the telephone conversations between the president and US defense secretary.
Analysis
The progress of Vietnam War can justify the development of cold war in Asia between the two super powers. United States of American involved itself in the war from 1950s to assist French in Vietnam. The French decided to re-colonize the colony, but their forces were defeated during the first Vietnam War. In addition, the Soviet Union and China posed a great threat to America and its western allies because it was advocating for expansion of the communist policies. The French and the United States were long-time allies (Holsti, et al, 9). The United States was also committed to the containment policy to control the spread of communism in the world. (Burgan, 10). Soviet Union and china officially recognized the Viet Minh as the leader of Vietnam and they decided to assist him.
In order to reunify the south and North Vietnam, the two opposing sides decided to hold a presidential election. Nevertheless, presidential election never took place in Vietnam (Lawrence,et al, 12). This is because; the two opposing sides never came to agreement on the terms of the elections. Furthermore, the U.S. and French believed that Mr. Minh (communist) could easily win the election because of his popularity (Holsti, et al, 11). This led to the two regions to form armed forces that would engage in battles.
Western allies formed the Southeast Asia treaty organization in 1954 and signed South Vietnam as a formal member (Hagopian, 4). The U.S installed their preferred president, Mr. Ngo Dinh Diem as the leader of the republic of South Vietnam in 1955. Moreover, the United States assisted the republic of South Vietnam to form the army of the republic of south Vietnam (ARVN). Diem was unable to contain the insurgency of communist in the south. Ngo Dinh failed to acquire the support of the local people in South Vietnamese as Viet Minh had done in the north. By 1963, his rule had deteriorated such that his generals overthrown and assassinated him. Three years later US president J.F. Kennedy was also assassinated, which increased tensions between the two warring sides. The USA increased her troops in Vietnam, but due to political instability in South Vietnam, it led to losses to the north Vietnam soldiers.
The gulf of Tonkin resolution provided the The US president’s powers to increase the military presence and wage war against the communist in the north (Burgan, 19). It hoped to defeat the northern Vietnam through massive bombing campaigns such as Operation Rolling Thunder (Hagopian, 10). In 1969, the US began bombing campaigns in sovereign nations neighboring countries of Laos and Cambodia in order to attack the communist soldiers hiding in these neighboring nation. In addition, the U.S. military forces initiated search and destroy mission to kill their enemies hiding in these countries.
The Viet Cong and North Vietnamese army employed guerrilla warfare, which advocated for hit and run attacks and surprise ambushes over full-scale military conflict. They perfected in killing and maiming the U.S soldiers using traps, mortars and rocket propelled grenades as well as anti-aircraft artillery from China and the Soviet union (Burgan, 20).
In 1969, president Richard Nixon designed a different military action which advocated for policy of vietnamization. This policy advocated for gradual reduction of military presence in Vietnam while increasing South Vietnamese military (Lawrence,et al, 19). The U.S. government began secret peace talks with the North Vietnamese in Paris. This eventually led to a peace treaty in 1973. The public support for the Vietnam war in the united states declined tremendously. (Hagopian, 16). This forced president Nixon to withdraw his troops in Vietnam while the South Vietnamese forces continued to fight.
Conclusion
The Vietnam war led to the development of the cold war between the capitalist and communist powers. The war took place from 1955 to 1975. The communist powers supported the Viet Cong armies in the north, while the United States powers supported the army of South Vietnam. This followed the first Vietnam war when the French forces were defeated by the Minhs forces. The rise of Minhs and his communist party in the North Vietnam at the time continued cold war tensions between the world superpowers i.e. U.S and the soviet union. Following the second world war, these two superpowers were suspicious over one another and this made the Vietnam war inevitable continued to fight. However, the war came to an end in 1975 when the South Vietnamese forces fell to the North Vietnamese forces.
Word count, 1629
Works cited
Burgan, Michael. The Vietnam War. 1st ed. Chicago, Ill.: Heinemann Library, 2004. Print.
Hagopian, Patrick. The Vietnam War In American Memory. 1st ed. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2009. Print.
Halberstam, David. War In A Time Of Peace. 1st ed. New York: Scribner, 2006. Print.
History.state.gov,. ‘U.S. Involvement In The Vietnam War: The Gulf Of Tonkin And Escalation, 1964 – 1961–1968 – Milestones – Office Of The Historian’. N. p., 2014. Web. 10 Jun. 2014.( history.state.gov/milestones/1961-1968/gulf-of-tonkin)
Holsti, Ole R, and James N Rosenau. ‘Cold War Axioms In The Post-Vietnam Era’. (2010): n. pag. Print.
Lawrence, Mark Atwood, and Fredrik Logevall. The First Vietnam War. 1st ed. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2007. Print
Sparknotes.com,. ‘Sparknotes: The Vietnam War (1945–1975): U.S. Involvement And The Cold War Context: 1947–1955’. N. p., 2010. Web. 10 Jun. 2014.(www.sparknotes.com/history/american/vietnamwar/section3.rhtml)
Www2.sunysuffolk.edu,. ‘The Cold War’. N. p., 2014. Web. 10 Jun. 2014.(http://www2.sunysuffolk.edu/westn/coldwar.html)
Conclusion
The Vietnam war led to the development of the cold war between the capitalist and communist powers. The war took place from 1955 to 1975. The communist powers supported the Viet Cong armies in the north, while the United States powers supported the army of South Vietnam. This followed the first Vietnam war when the French forces were defeated by the Minhs forces. The rise of Minhs and his communist party in the North Vietnam at the time continued cold war tensions between the world superpowers i.e. U.S and the soviet union. Following the second world war, these two superpowers were suspicious over one another and this made the Vietnam war inevitable. The peak of this war was in 1969 when the U.S. sent more than 500, 000 troops in Vietnam conflict . This led to the rise of anti-war movements in the united states, which led to bitter divisions among the Americans. President Nixon therefore withdrew his troops in 1973. However, the South Vietnamese army continued to fight against the North Vietnamese until 1975 when the war came to an end.
Origin of Vietnam war
The French colonized the regions of Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam from the mid – 1980s. This colony was known as Indochina. In addition, it had set its administrative center in Vietnam. Vietnam people had suffered forced labor, high taxes and limitation of rights. However, the Germans invaded the French in 1940 during the second world war (Hagopian,8). This weakened the French dominance in Vietnam and it gave up its dominance in Indochina colony. The people of Vietnam wanted political independence from French. Consequently, Japan overthrew the French in power in Vietnam and it established a Japanese empire (Halberstam, 17).
However, the Japanese rule lasted for six months when it surrendered during the end of second world war. The U.S atomic bombs in 1945 weakened the Japanese therefore, they could not administer the Vietnam colony (Holsti, et al, 5). Vietnam anti-colonial movement developed taking advantage of the Japanese military and political weakness after atomic bombs (Burgan, 2). The Viet Minh took over power in August in 1945 and established the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. Moreover, the emperor of the South Vietnam turned over the power to Minh. However, in 1946 the French returned to Vietnam to re-colonize it.
The cold war
Unlike the second world war, which was fought between the Allies (soviet union, Britain and U.S) and the Axis (Japan, Germany and Italy), the cold war involved the U.S and Soviet Union as the major antagonist. Both the soviet union and U.S believed hat Vietnam was a strategic area for the development of their ideologies (Halberstam, 17). After the Vietnam revolutionary war in 1945, the leader of Vietnam revolutionary movement, Mr. Viet Minh, sought help from the United States in order to control the French recolonization. However, Viet Minh was a communist and the French and the United States were long time allies (Holsti, et al, 9). The United States was also committed to the containment policy to control the spread of communism in the world. France, got funds and other resources from the U.S in order to re-establish its colony in Vietnam. The United States, established the military advisory group of Indochina in 1950. Consequently, the soviet union and China, established its existence in Vietnam in the same year (Burgan, 10). They officially recognized the Viet Minh as the leader of Vietnam and they decided to assist him. Since 1950, the US had committed huge amounts of resources in southern Vietnam to fight the communists in South Vietnam (Hagopian,17). It also sent its troops in Korea to fight the spread of communism in Korea region. In Korea, the US fought on behalf of South Korea against China in North Korea. This led to the division of Korea into South and North Korea along the demilitarized zones.
The soviet union and the Chinese helped the Viet Minhs forces to resist the French power. In the First Vietnam War of independence, the Minhs forces defeated the French in 1954. They called for the withdrawal of the French troops and granting of political independence to Cambodia and Laos(Holsti, et al, 10). However, the region was divided between the south and the north along the demilitarized zones. The north was communist under Viet Minh while the south was anti-communist (Burgan, 9). The United States and France, set South Vietnam as a new country in 1954 to prevent the spread of communism in southeast Asia. They formed, the southeast Asia treaty organization in 1954 and signed South Vietnam as a formal member (Hagopian, 4). The U.S installed their preferred president, Mr. Ngo Dinh Diem as the leader of the republic of south Vietnam in 1955. Moreover, the United States assisted the republic of south Vietnam to form the army of the republic of south Vietnam (ARVN).
In order to reunify the south and north Vietnam, the two opposing sides decided to hold a presidential election. Nevertheless, presidential election never took place in Vietnam (Lawrence,et al, 12). This is because, the two opposing sides never came to agreement on the terms of the elections. Furthermore, the U.S. and French believed that Mr. Minh (communist) could easily win the election because of his popularity (Holsti, et al, 11). Therefore, the two antagonist sides decided to involve south and north Vietnam in civil war in order to determine which side would form the government in post-colonial Vietnam (Halberstam, 19). This led to the two regions to form armed forces that would engage in battles. Fighting took place in Cambodia and Laos. This civil war was referred to as a second Indochina war.
The US became involved in the cold war, but significant military action began in1964 after the Tonkin gulf declaration by congress (Burgan, 19). The resolution gave the United States president the power to wage war against the communist in the north. Consequently, the U.S. military presence increased in Vietnam reaching 500, 000 in 1968.
The Vietnam War was an unusual form of war. This is because it was not fought on traditional battlefields with clearly identified soldiers seizing new territory. The war was fought with different weapons, and markers of success. The military officers decided to strategically attack their enemies in the hope of achieving early success. Both sides ultimately settled for war of attrition (Holsti, et al, 15). The war of attrition was a relatively small battles designed to deplete the resources of the other side. In addition, the war of attrition, aimed to weaken the morale of the soldiers and weaken the public support of the war so that they willingly surrender. This led to the development of the cold war as the two sides were relatively suspicious of the each other.
American military strategy
Their aim was to demoralize the communist soldiers and compliment their soldiers. It hoped to defeat the northern Vietnam through massive bombing campaigns such as Operation Rolling Thunder (Hagopian, 10). For instance, the Americans began to drop millions tons of bombs in the north. In 1969, president Richard Nixon began to apply a different tactic in order to defeat the communist forces (Halberstam, 29). He began bombing campaigns in sovereign nations neighboring countries of Laos and Cambodia in order to attack the communist soldiers hiding in these neighboring nation. In addition, the U.S. military forces initiated search and destroy mission to kill their enemies hiding in these countries.
The U.S also employed another tactic of spraying Vietnam with chemicals and other dangerous pesticides in order to deplete the food supply of the military (Hagopian, 11). This tactic destroyed forests, and farmyards as well as exposing the Americans and other civilians with dangerous chemical. In addition, they sought the support of the local people so that they could not aid the communist soldiers.
Vietnamese communist strategy
The Viet Cong and North Vietnamese army used a different approach, but with a similar goal. The goal was to put consistent pressure to weaken the American forces so that they can negotiate for peace accord that favored their side (Hagopian, 14). They employed guerrilla warfare, which advocated for hit and run attacks and surprise ambushes over full-scale military conflict. The Vietnamese soldiers did not wear uniforms, hence the Americans were unable to differentiate between the soldiers and the civilians. This posed a major challenge to American soldiers (Halberstam, 31). The Vietnamese soldiers used inferior weapons as compared to military technology.
However, as the war developed they perfected in killing and maiming the U.S soldiers using traps, mortars and rocket propelled grenades as well as anti-aircraft artillery from China and the Soviet union (Burgan, 20). Moreover, the communist also re-used over 20, 000 tons of explosives to manufacture homemade grenades from chemicals dropped by U.S planes. They also used underground tunnels that enabled the easy transport of food and medical aids. In addition, the civilians helped the Vietnamese with food and support across the south Vietnam.
In 1969, president Richard Nixon designed a different military action which advocated for policy of vietnamization. This policy advocated for gradual reduction of military presence in Vietnam while increasing South Vietnamese military (Lawrence,et al, 19). The U.S. government began secret peace talks with the North Vietnamese in Paris. This eventually led to a peace treaty in 1973. The public support for the Vietnam war in the united states declined tremendously. More united states citizens increased pressure on the Nixon administration to end the war (Hagopian, 16). Anti-war movements increased in eastern block countries to end the war. This forced president Nixon to withdraw his troops in Vietnam while the South Vietnamese forces continued to fight. However, the war came to an end in 1975 when the South Vietnamese forces fell to the North Vietnamese forces.
Conclusion
The Vietnam war led to the development of the cold war between the capitalist and communist powers. The war took place from 1955 to 1975. The communist powers supported the Viet Cong armies in the north, while the United States powers supported the army of South Vietnam. This followed the first Vietnam war when the French forces were defeated by the Minhs forces. The rise of Minhs and his communist party in the North Vietnam at the time continued cold war tensions between the world superpowers i.e. U.S and the soviet union. Following the second world war, these two superpowers were suspicious over one another and this made the Vietnam war inevitable. The peak of this war was in 1969 when the U.S. sent more than 500, 000 troops in Vietnam conflict . This led to the rise of anti-war movements in the united states, which led to bitter divisions among the Americans. President Nixon therefore withdrew his troops in 1973. However, the South Vietnamese army continued to fight against the North Vietnamese until 1975 when the war came to an end.
Sources
The bibliography consists of five books and three website sources. The books can be accessed in libraries or google books sources online.
At the end of the internet sources, a link provided at the end of the source. It will direct the instructor to the content used for the purpose of ascertaining the credibility of the sources.
Works cited
Burgan, Michael. The Vietnam War. 1st ed. Chicago, Ill.: Heinemann Library, 2004. Print.
Hagopian, Patrick. The Vietnam War In American Memory. 1st ed. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2009. Print.
Halberstam, David. War In A Time Of Peace. 1st ed. New York: Scribner, 2006. Print.
History.state.gov,. ‘U.S. Involvement In The Vietnam War: The Gulf Of Tonkin And Escalation, 1964 – 1961–1968 – Milestones – Office Of The Historian’. N. p., 2014. Web. 10 Jun. 2014.( history.state.gov/milestones/1961-1968/gulf-of-tonkin)
Holsti, Ole R, and James N Rosenau. ‘Cold War Axioms In The Post-Vietnam Era’. (2010): n. pag. Print.
Lawrence, Mark Atwood, and Fredrik Logevall. The First Vietnam War. 1st ed. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2007. Print
Sparknotes.com,. ‘Sparknotes: The Vietnam War (1945–1975): U.S. Involvement And The Cold War Context: 1947–1955’. N. p., 2010. Web. 10 Jun. 2014.(www.sparknotes.com/history/american/vietnamwar/section3.rhtml)
Www2.sunysuffolk.edu,. ‘The Cold War’. N. p., 2014. Web. 10 Jun. 2014.(http://www2.sunysuffolk.edu/westn/coldwar.html)