Contexual Research - Vietnam War.

When was the Vietnam War?

The Vietnam War started in the 50's and lasted two decades, finally ending in the 70's. More specifically, starting in November 1st 1955 and ending April 30th 1975, reuniting North and South Vietnam as one country once again. Over time countries like, The United States, France, China, The Soviet Union, Cambodia, Laos and even more countries would become involved in this lengthy war which evidently claimed millions of lives.

What was the objective of the Vietnam War?

The main intent of US involvement was to restrict the communist domination that was present in  the government of Vietnam as it would soon lead to neighbouring countries adopting the same. This would result in a change of balance in power throughout Southeast Asia. The Domino Theory was a Cold War policy that the US government use to justify their involvement in the Vietnam War and it's Support for it's non-communist dictator in South Vietnam. By assuming Ho Chi Minh was a pawn of the communist giants, Russia and China, American policymakers failed to see that the goal of Ho and his supporters was Vietnamese independence and not the spread of communism. In the end, even though the American effort to block a communist takeover failed and North Vietnamese forces marched into Saigon in 1975,communism did not spread throughout the rest of Southeast Asia. With the exception of Laos and Cambodia, the nations of the region remained out of communist control.

What was the TET Offensive?

The Tet Offensive had a strong role in weakening the U.S. public support of the Vietnam War.
In late January 1968 the North Vietnamese and Communist Vietcong force, launched a coordinated attack against a number of targets in South Vietnam during the lunar year (or Tet) holiday. A lunar year is a measure of the Moon's rotation around Earth, a lunar year has 354 days in it, in comparison to a solar year which has 365 days in it. It was Ho Chi Minh's intent to attack major cities in hope of forcing the U.S into negotiation or even withdrawal. It was a political expediency that the Hanoi leaders attacked during the celebrations of the Tet holiday as it is traditionally a time of armistice. It would also leave the South Vietnam vulnerable as Vietnamese civilians would be travelling to visit relatives at this time so this provided cover for the movement of the North Vietnamese.
There were three phases to the Tet Offensive, however the first phase proved most effective and psychologically damaging. The assault began on the last two days of January, the North Vietnamese simultaneously attacked major populated areas and places with heavy troop presence, for example Saigon.The third phase lasted six weeks, The U.S and South Vietnamese reclaimed the towns that the North had secured. By the end of the Tet Offensive, both sides claimed victory although both endured major losses and casualties. The response of the South Vietnamese completely wiped out the North Vietnamese however the Tet Offensive revealed to the American public that an Overall victory in Vietnam was not going to happen.

What were the major protests against the War?

The anti-war movement began mostly on college campuses, as members of the leftist organization Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) began organizing “teach-ins” to express their opposition to the way in which it was being conducted. Though most of the American population still supported the administration policy in Vietnam, a small but outspoken liberal minority was making its voice heard by the end of 1965. This minority included many students as well as prominent artists and intellectuals and members of the hippie movement, a growing number of young people who rejected authority and embraced the drug culture.

The launch of the Tet Offensive by North Vietnamese communist troops in January 1968, and its success against U.S. and South Vietnamese troops, sent waves of shock and discontent across the home front and sparked the most intense period of anti-war protests to date. By early February 1968, a Gallup poll showed only 35 percent of the population approved of Johnson’s handling of the war and a full 50 percent disapproved (the rest had no opinion). Joining the anti-war demonstrations by this time were members of the organization Vietnam Veterans Against the War, many of whom were in wheelchairs and on crutches. The sight of these men on television throwing away the medals they had won during the war did much to win people over to the anti-war cause.

What was some of the military tactics?

What were the mental effects on the military?

Psychological Effects:

PTSD is a development of characteristic symptoms following a psychologically distressing event.  "It begins with an event in which the individual is threatened with his or her own death or the destruction of a body part, to such humiliation that their personal identity may be lost. Vietnam veterans who experience PTSD have a feeling of helplessness, worthlessness, dejection, anger, depression, insomnia, and a tendency to react to tense situations by using survival tactics.  Combat experience remains the variable most often linked to PTSD among Vietnam veterans.  The frequency of PTSD was a lot higher among those with high levels of exposure to combat compared to the noncombatants.  PTSD was not taken seriously until the 1980's when many Vietnam veterans were complaining of similar symptoms.  These symptoms had been noticed after previous wars but there were only a couple of cases.  In some cases, veterans did not experience their symptoms until a year after they returned.  Thus, it was very easy for the government to ignore the effects of PTSD because it had such a delayed reaction.

Drugs and alcohol played a major role in the lives of the American soldiers during the Vietnam war.  In the beginning of the war, marijuana was the main drug of choice.  However, news that American soldiers were using drugs came back to the U.S., which resulted in immediate action by the military to suppress drugs, especially marijuana.  After marijuana was banned, many soldiers turned to heroin in order to get their "high".  Many soldiers enjoyed heroin better than marijuana because it sped up the perception of time, whereas marijuana slowed it down.  Because marijuana, heroin, and alcohol were so abundant and inexpensive in Vietnam, veterans used them to ease the stress and sometimes to forget what they saw on the battlefield.  As they returned to the states, drugs were not as easy to obtain.  Some of the veterans were too young to legally buy alcohol.  Other veterans actually stopped using drugs and alcohol, because it was hurting their marriage or relationships with others.  These were usually the men who had left a stable home and were a little older.  However, those young men who came back between the age of 19 and 23 had a much harder time adjusting to society.  One of the tragic effects of the Vietnam drug situation was that some men were refused employment because they had served in Vietnam and employers considered this evidence of drug addiction.  Since veterans had many problems adjusting to society, some continued to drink alcohol and do drugs not only to forget what they saw in Vietnam but to cope with the frustration and anguish of not being accepted into society.

The media had an immense effect on many individuals during the war.  The public were informed about the war's progress through the media, television, and newspapers.  Consequently, much of their opinions and beliefs about war and American soldiers were shaped by how the media viewed the war.  Photographers were very influential in forming, changing, and molding public opinion.  Some photographers were interested in showing the suffering and anguish of the soldier, whereas others wanted to emphasize the dignity, strength, and fearlessness of the American soldier.  Those at home had no experience of how the soldier lived or what he had to deal with during the war.  The media built up a stereotype of the soldier's life.  These stereotypes are formed, directed, and censored for military and political reasons, which were designed to build up morale at home or show that there was progression and production of the war.  When the soldier returned home, he was confused and annoyed to have seen that his family and friends did not understand what he had experienced and how he had changed.  What the people at home had learned and discovered about the war, they had seen mostly through the media.  Thus, whatever the media portrayed was what the public believed, but this didn't necessarily agree with what the soldier actually experienced.  Psychologists found that it was important not only to prepare the veteran for the necessary process of adjustment, but it was also important to prepare the people at home. They have to learn through the media, that the man whom they await will be somebody different from what they imagined him to be. In order to have facilitated the process of re-adjustment for the veteran, the public should have been told the truth as to what these men endured.

How did the War end?

The U.S combat troops left Vietnam as part of the Paris Peace Accords in March 1973, on the 29th.The U.S. could not stand the constantly increasing loss of American lives and the economic burden the war carried on its people and was eventually forced to leave Vietnam before the war ended. Without its direct support, South Vietnam surrendered to the North Communists and disappeared from the world map not long later. On April 30, 1975, as acting President General Duong Van Minh and his cabinet surrendered to the Communist forces unconditionally in the Independence Palace, Saigon, the Vietnam War which had lasted for nearly 20 years eventually came to an end. Objectively, North Vietnam – the communists – who achieved their goals of reuniting and gaining independence for the whole Vietnam won the war whereas South Vietnam under the U.S. support lost the war. The fact is the U.S. failed to stop the spread of Communism throughout Vietnam which led to its spread to Laos and Cambodia in 1975. However, it is arguable that the effects of the war in Korea and Vietnam that the U.S. had involved in did help the rest of South-East Asian countries such as communism. In short, in the picture of Vietnam, the U.S. failed to defend South Vietnam against the North Communists and probably lost the war politically rather than militarily as Vietnam was far from the war of major battles. In the bigger picture of containment, the U.S. did achieve their initial goals to a certain extent. It is noticeable that every party participated in the war suffered heavy losses. North Vietnam suffered approximately 1.1 million military deaths while South Vietnam had around 230,000, together with an estimated 2 million Vietnamese civilians’ deaths on both sides. As for the U.S., around 58,000 American forces were killed in action while more than 2,000 went missing during the war. The adverse effects of the war were even felt in the U.S. Some $140 billion (equivalent to around $950 billion in 2011 dollars) were spent. Its role and support for South Vietnam in the war carried a heavy burden on the country’s human and economic resources. Moreover, there were massive countrywide protests against the war wherein a few students lost their lives… At the end of the day, these losses, together with many war crimes such as massacres, rapes make one wonder if the war was worth fighting