Invasion Of Vietnam Essay

The 1960’s through the 1970’s was a time filled with hardship for many Americans because of the unproductive invasion of Vietnam. In an attempt to contain and defeat communism, the United States, oblivious of the enemy capability and filled with pride, invaded Vietnam at a cost of large financial expense and human lives. The U.S. should not have invaded Vietnam until they were aware of the forces of the North Vietnamese.
As with most other countries in the world, Vietnam has a history of being colonized by European powers. The territory that occupies modern-day Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia, was part of French-Indochina, as one of France’s collection of many colonies. During World War II, France had to concentrate all of their forces in Europe. …show more content…
The North requested this ceasefire in order to celebrate the Vietnamese New Year, “Tet.” Unfortunately, the U.S. was unprepared for this attack and lost nearly 2,000 men. Afterwards, in Chicago, 1968, during a National Convention, people rioted in the streets. Although this event was not actually a battle, the occurrence was known as the “Battle of Michigan Avenue.”6 The riot was so widespread, 27,000 police officers were called to Chicago to end this riot. Despite this broad opposition to the war, President Johnson was over-confident in the army and did not change the course of the war. This is an example of American arrogance, which led to the failure of the U.S.’s operation. If the U.S. was patient and waited until they were aware of the fighting forces of the Vietnamese, the civilians of the U.S. would not have held these riots. The U.S. is a country where the supreme power belongs to the people. Since the citizens wanted the army to retreat from Vietnam, the U.S. officials should have listened to them. Ultimately, a war should never be started if the people are not in favor of doing so. Once the damage had become obvious, the U.S. was ludicrous not to retreat from Vietnam