Korean War Veterans Memorial

In retrospect, the US should not have become so deeply involved in Vietnam because many American lives were lost and many US dollars were spent, and South Vietnam ultimately fell to Communism when North Vietnam captured Saigon on April 30, 1975. As Kennan intended with the introduction of "containment", Vietnam was not one of the five industrial and military centers (the US, Great Britain, Germany and Central Europe, the Soviet Union, and Japan), so attention, troops, and money should not have…

In paragraphs 24 to 28 in Chapter I of On War (1976) by Carl von Clausewitz, the author presents two very relevant concepts for U.S. policymakers to understand. The first is that objectives of both policy and war need to match up. The second is that, when determining policy, the “triad” of the people, the military and the government are inherently interconnected and cannot be considered in isolation. By fully understanding and abiding by these concepts U.S. policymakers would ensure that only…

post-war period, countries were either peacebuilders or warriors. If they were peacebuilders they would help other countries maintain peace, order, and a ceasefire. If they were a warrior they would help other countries fight. In the post-war period, Canada was a warrior. The Korean War, Persian Gulf War, and the War in Afghanistan are three examples of Canada being a warrior in the post-war period. The Korean War lasted from 1950-1953. The Persian Gulf War took place in 1991-2001. The War in…

The Korean War: A History by Bruce Cumings offers a new look at the history of the Korean War. The book seeks to provide an alternative to the typical military history of the Korean War and challenges the reader to critically think about their previous presumptions of what happened in Korea. A major theme in The Korean War is memory and the idea of how war is remembered. Cumings’ main argument is that the common idea among scholars and the general public that the Korean War should be remembered…

To the American public this war was unnecessary and meant having to ship their sons off to risk losing their lives. In response, many song writers wrote songs about the worthlessness and repercussions of warfare; for example, Edwin Starr and his song “War”. In his song, Starr’s lyrics often coincide with themes from Tim O’Brien’s book, The Things They Carried. Throughout the book the motif of mortality and death are constantly suggested. When Starr sings the lines, “War can't give life it can…

the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and presidents Truman and Eisenhower and the United States were engaged in a cold war that ranged from Europe to Asia. The USSR was out to instill it’s influence and to spread Communism throughout Asia whilst preventing the United States from stopping their flow and instead putting forth capitalism as the way for Asian countries. A war of influence raged on between both superpowers as they went back and forth to who should reign in Asia. Even though both…

The Korean War was a war between North and South, the US had a UN force that fought for South Korea, and China fought for North Korea, who was also assisted by the Soviet Union. The Korean War was three different conflicts from the perspective of the disparate groups who fought in it. For North and South Korea, the conflict was a civil war, a struggle with no possible compromise between two competing visions for Korea’s future. To the North was a coalition led by three dictators Josef Stalin,…

Making of Postcolonial Vietnam, Mark Bradley departs from the conventional explanation of the catalysts of the Vietnam War as a product of Cold War tensions and fears. Instead, through his extraordinary and unprecedented use of Vietnamese primary sources, he draws attention to the popular perceptions that the Vietnamese and Americans held of one another following the end of World War II. This work is obviously thoroughly researched; nearly one-third of the book is dedicated just to his…

history is more misunderstood than the Vietnam War. It was misreported then, and it is misremembered now. Rarely have so many people been so wrong about so much. Never have the consequences of their misunderstanding been so tragic" –Nixon. My Lai, a small village in Southern Vietnam, is the site of a mass killing of around 347 to 504 unarmed civilians. The victims included men, women, children, and infants. After the horrific events, the support for the war in Vietnam dropped significantly. On…

The Effects Of The Vietnam War On The US The Vietnam War had a big effect on the US both at the time of war and afterwards due to the US not thinking carefully enough in thinking about joining The Vietnam War even with the public’s outcry against the government and the war having been an unwise choice. Interestingly, Vietnam was under Chinese rule for about a thousand years until 938 A.D. and the war started because of countries wanting to take the other half of Vietnam for either side. Since…