The Vietnam War was a power struggle between communism and capitalism, North Vietnam against South Vietnam respectively with each party wanting different political system. The United States of America aided South Vietnam while North Vietnam was aided by the Soviet Union and the republic of China. The Vietnam War was fought between 1955 and 1975 which fell in the middle of the cold war which was fought between 1947 and 1991. The United States of America as well as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics used the Vietnam War as a way to indirectly fight each other. The involvement in the Vietnam War was very unpopular in America and many movements were made against it. America was not strong in Vietnam particularly against the North’s army as
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The North Vietnamese became stronger and weakened the American Army substantially and increase the anti-war protests dramatically. In a carefully planned attack the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong attacked 13 cities simultaneously at the end of January in 1968. They attacked more cities every day. The aim of the Tet Offensive was to force the United States to stop helping South Vietnam as well as to break the stalemate in the war and get South Vietnamese to rise up against the Capitalist regime in Saigon. The Tet Offensive did not work out as planned as the North Vietnamese forces were spread too thin but it did mark a turning point in the War. The coverage of the Tet Offensive in America sparked more and intense protests. In the year of 1968, 15 000 American soldiers were killed and 100 cities were targeted in South Vietnam in the Tet Offensive. The biggest fight was in the city of Hue. One of the places targeted in these attacks was the American Embassy in South Vietnam. The Tet Offensive was a big strategic success. It showed that the end of the war was not in sight and despite the massive death toll and the American protests 200 000 new troops were called into South Vietnam. But within the American government there was division as some people thought that the United States should be scaling down their involvement in the war. President Johnson said that he was scaling down on the bombing of North Vietnam. He also …show more content…
This allowed South Vietnam to take more responsibility for the war while still helping them defeat North Vietnam. He slowly withdrew American troops from Vietnam and reduced draft calls. At the same time America was having peace talks with North Vietnam, the Viet Cong and South Vietnam in Paris. In order to get North Vietnam to withdraw from the war Nixon used a concept called the Madman Theory. This theory meant that you would scare your enemy into doing something they didn’t necessarily want to do. America told North Vietnam if they did not sign the peace agreements they will use nuclear weapons against them. North Vietnam did not fall for the Madman theory resulting in the peace talks continuing for a long time. North Vietnam did not fall for it as they were willing to risk nuclear war if it meant they still had a chance of winning. In this time the Viet Cong attacked 110 targets in South Vietnam. Nixon threatened to bomb North Vietnam in retaliation to what the Viet Cong were doing. After a ten day battle at Hamburger Hill in which the United States won, the troops are told to abandon their commander. This allows the North Vietnamese to take back the unguarded hill. This confusion sets off even more political outcry in America as lives were lost for nothing. This causes America to stop using big raids and only do small actions. America offers a peace agreement for both the
The North Vietnamese became stronger and weakened the American Army substantially and increase the anti-war protests dramatically. In a carefully planned attack the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong attacked 13 cities simultaneously at the end of January in 1968. They attacked more cities every day. The aim of the Tet Offensive was to force the United States to stop helping South Vietnam as well as to break the stalemate in the war and get South Vietnamese to rise up against the Capitalist regime in Saigon. The Tet Offensive did not work out as planned as the North Vietnamese forces were spread too thin but it did mark a turning point in the War. The coverage of the Tet Offensive in America sparked more and intense protests. In the year of 1968, 15 000 American soldiers were killed and 100 cities were targeted in South Vietnam in the Tet Offensive. The biggest fight was in the city of Hue. One of the places targeted in these attacks was the American Embassy in South Vietnam. The Tet Offensive was a big strategic success. It showed that the end of the war was not in sight and despite the massive death toll and the American protests 200 000 new troops were called into South Vietnam. But within the American government there was division as some people thought that the United States should be scaling down their involvement in the war. President Johnson said that he was scaling down on the bombing of North Vietnam. He also …show more content…
This allowed South Vietnam to take more responsibility for the war while still helping them defeat North Vietnam. He slowly withdrew American troops from Vietnam and reduced draft calls. At the same time America was having peace talks with North Vietnam, the Viet Cong and South Vietnam in Paris. In order to get North Vietnam to withdraw from the war Nixon used a concept called the Madman Theory. This theory meant that you would scare your enemy into doing something they didn’t necessarily want to do. America told North Vietnam if they did not sign the peace agreements they will use nuclear weapons against them. North Vietnam did not fall for the Madman theory resulting in the peace talks continuing for a long time. North Vietnam did not fall for it as they were willing to risk nuclear war if it meant they still had a chance of winning. In this time the Viet Cong attacked 110 targets in South Vietnam. Nixon threatened to bomb North Vietnam in retaliation to what the Viet Cong were doing. After a ten day battle at Hamburger Hill in which the United States won, the troops are told to abandon their commander. This allows the North Vietnamese to take back the unguarded hill. This confusion sets off even more political outcry in America as lives were lost for nothing. This causes America to stop using big raids and only do small actions. America offers a peace agreement for both the