Fear In Vietnam War Essay

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Fear - a powerful emotion. Fear had the power to conquer all other feelings. Uncontrolled fear could be a more powerful weapon than pride, courage, disappointment, or anger. Fear could manipulate it victims in a way no other feeling could. The definition of fear was, “a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined; the feeling or condition of being afraid” (“Fear”). People though they knew what fear was since they experienced it before. However, the small words that are overlooked: real or imagined. Real, “true; not merely ostensible, nominal, or apparent … being an actual thin; having objective existence; not imaginary” (“Real”) and imagined, “a form of mental image of (something not actually present to the senses) … to think, believe … to conjure” (“Imagine”) were easy words to understand, but there was an important distinction to be made. What could be considered as a real fear and an imagined fear? …show more content…
The US and South Vietnam were against North Vietnam and the Viet Cong. The war officially began in 1954 when Ho Chi Minh and his communist Viet Minh party arose to power in the North Vietnam (“Vietnam War History”). Vietnam was very different than other war the US fought. Unlike previous wars, the enemy used guerilla tactics. Even though the US used similar tactics during the American Revolution, they were unprepared. The US became accustom to trench warfare and rushing the enemy during the World Wars. In reaction to their lack of preparedness, the US also used more and more bombing campaigns. These bombing operations were known was Rolling Thunder (“Vietnam War”). After years of no success, President Richard Nixon began to withdraw troops from the country. In 1975, the communist seized Saigon, Vietnam War officially ended, and communist power unified the country as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (“Vietnam War

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