What part did the Vietnam War play in the development of the Cold War
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 in the Vietnam war, the investigation evaluates the role played by the United States and its allies as well as the Soviet Union at each stage in the development of the war. The role of the Vietnam war is investigated after the second world war, post-colonial Vietnam and during the resolution of the Vietnam crisis 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, analyzed for their origin, purposes, values and limitations. The investigation, assess the differences in ideologies (communists and capitalism) of the nations involved in the Vietnam war.
Summary of evidence
Prior to the development of the 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 the 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 historian’s knowledge on the impacts of the Vietnam war in USA as well as the cold war. The book values lie in the fact that 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 the 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 the Vietnam War can justify the development of cold war in Asia between the two superpowers. 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.
The 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 nations. 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, 1642
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)