As you know, this week we begin our study of the Vietnam War. As we will discuss in class, the Vietnam War has been the most controversial event in American history, and the controversy lives on. As I researched this assignment, my original plans had to change. Here's why: as opposed to the Civil War and the World Wars, there are very few notable web sites devoted to Vietnam. I had hoped to give you some exposure to the "reaction at home" but the websites that covered the anger and bitterness all contained objectionable material. It occurs to me that most of you have seen Vietnam portrayed or at least referenced in books, movies, and TV shows. Because it is still fresh in our nation's mind, the war is still a source of emotional debate. So, rather than sending you to do research, this week I'd like to ask a series of questions:
1. Was Vietnam worth it? The years, the tens of thousands of lives, the fortune that was spent?
2. Did the US lose the War in Vietnam? Our enemies didn't defeat us in the field of battle, yet we left and our allies were destroyed. What does this question mean for Americans today?
3. Could another "Vietnam" occur again? Would Americans be willing to sacrifice as much, regardless of the cause? (For perspective, remember that by the late 1960s about 500 American soldiers were dying every week in Vietnam).
4. How did this happen? Should the US policy (Truman Doctrine) have been different?
I look forward to your answers. Please remember that the requirements for this assignment are a minimum of 200 words, and at least two responses to the posts of others (responses must total 150 words minimum). Thanks and God bless!
Hi ☺
ReplyDelete1) No. No war is worth it, it is not worth to see all the damage in the countries and the people that participated in war, their families and the whole World suffering just because some countries don’t like each other.
2) I don’t know what this war means for Americans really but whenever there is a war, i don’t think there is a winner. Sorry but everybody that participates in war is a loser, since when destroying countries and killing people make you a winner?
3)Hopefully it never happens again but we just don’t know nor we can control what happens but i’m sure the government can make agreements and pacts to avoid war. I think this country is really well prepared to have a war. I think some Americans are kind of obsessed with war and very into it, alot of young people join the army and are passioned and willing to fight for their country. My question is why?
4)USA was completely against communism and they would not accept any communist country so when communism was ready to take place in Vietnam the US was involved.
Daniel González.
Oh my gosh, this is an awesome job! I think the same way, some of the Americans are really involved in patriotism and they believe that go to war it's like "save your country" for some reason. Anyways really good job! When Josephine and I read it we were like "ohhhhhhh" and this explain everything lol Can't wait to read your next post, I hope you are gonna continue like that! (((:
DeleteGreat job on your essay, Daniel! It was written well and very informative about your opinions on the questions above.
DeleteTill next week,
Lydia
1. Was the war worth it?... No I don't believe it was, the mass loss of lives and the outrageous amounts of time, money, and effort that went down the drain. I mean like you said we were not "defeated" in the field of battle but mentally most men were forever defeated and are still at war with themselves today.
ReplyDelete2. It's hard to really just sit back and determine whether or not the U.S. was truly defeated. But I'm sure the lasting effects of the war that still have an impact on today could be counted as a form of defeat. I'd say it's just all in the way you look at it.
3. When confronted with the question of could this happen again you become forced to step back at look at the situation that America is in now as a country. Could it happen again... Yes I believe so, but I think defeat would come at somewhat a smaller cost because I'm not sure that we can really afford to sacrifice to awful much right now.
4. Something like this happens when one group of people has very strong opinions against another group of people... And that's just to state it plainly. The U.S. is no pleaser of people it seems that it's our way or no way atleast in this case and when Vietnam was faced with this we stuck ourselves right there to put in our 2 cents worth, was it worth it? I couldn't imagine how, but I guess it still stands that EVERY freedom must be fought for.
Good job Jessi, I completely love it! I like how you put your ideas in here! And I completely agree with you! I think that no one will agree with getting in a war and kill millions of prople for no reason! Really good job! I can't wait to read your post next week! ((:
DeleteGreat job on your essay, Jessi! It was written well a always.
DeleteTill next week,
Lydia
1. I don't think that is was worth it. There is not a really cause for the beginning of this war. A twenty years old with thousands and thousands deads. Milions of innocent people that finish to live just because two country (for some reason that we don't know) are fighting against each others..
ReplyDelete2. Actually America lost but I totally agree with Daniel! If you kill a lot of people why should you win? In USA and in Italy too kill a person is really really bad and you go to jail for that! And what about Christian?! Don't kill is one of the ten commandaments so why should you do it? A man after a war bacomes a hero and he takes all the glory.. for what? for killing people and than is back when it was in the beginning?! Sorry, but this is stupid.
3. I hope that it will never happened again. In this period the crisis is really bad and spend money for these stupid wars are ridicoulus!!! let's focus to save all the countries with the money problems!
4. The Truman doctrine was a idea from President Truman. He was all the way against the communism and when he saw that in Vietnam was starting forming Communism they ran to they to stop it. I think that Truman should try to do his "Docrine" in his state.
Thank you,
Marta Civettini
You did a really good job on your essay Marta. I enjoy your firm point of view and the way you're thinking is just great. I like the way you stated your point of view with different backgrounds such as the ten commands (in which one sais you shouldn't kill). And great idea: Focus on the countries with money problems instead of spending so much money on war! So true! We should start to focus on countries in help and then help them without war. So good job!
DeleteGreat job on your essay, Marta! It was written well and it was cool to rea about your opinions!
DeleteTill next week,
Lydia
1. No, the war certainly wasn’t worth the aftermath. So many lives were lost in a war against Communism which turned out to be fought in vain. Even the veterans of that war suffered psychological trauma for many years after the war ended, and the United States also suffered monetary and economic loss and difficulties.
ReplyDelete2. There is no official ruling for the Vietnam War as to whether or not the US won or lost, but to me it seems that we lost. The reason we entered the war in the first place was to stop communist North Vietnam from taking over the rest of Vietnam, and in the end we left and allowed them to take over. All of that money was spent, all of those men died, all of the people that are still suffering trauma, it was all thrown away when the US removed troops from Vietnam.
3. It is very possible that another war like this could occur, but I hope that it never will. In the economic and financial situation that America is in right now, a war with that much cost would be completely ridiculous. As far as an army I think that the US is fairly prepared for a war in another country, but we couldn’t finance it for very long.
4. The US opposed Communism so strongly that they jumped right in before they really looked at what they were getting into. I think the US was unprepared as far as traveling in the terrain and facing the Vietnamese war tactics. The Truman Doctrine is very reasonable, but the US should’ve thought it through before taking action.
Oh wow, you're so right in what you're saying! Really good job, Caitlin! You didn't only mention the losses of money and men but you really included the consequences such as the physical trauma, the costs and economic difficulties. And I like your opinion on question 4 that the USA shoud've thought before taking action!! "Cogito ergo sum" - "I think therefore I am". Just as the french philosoph Rene Descartes already said! Awesome! :)
DeleteI really enjoyed your essay. I think that your opinions are pretty solid. Good job!
Delete1. As the others I agree that actually no war is worth it. As soon as there is one dead man the war is lost in my mind. On the other hand I guess it's kind of important to make sure to (as a country) show your attitude on things and not be blind for them. So if you find a solution in e.g. a peace conference a war possibly be worth it. I mean... If people in a country suffer because of a bad leadership, do you just want to do nothing until the country expands its power like Germany during the second world war? No, I don't think you can do that. You could talk to the leaders of the country and try to convince them to go another way or try doing something without going to war but as we know people just usually don't work like that. If it would, we could have avoided many wars. So actually I guess I'm really undecided on that question.
ReplyDelete2. I guess the goal of war is changing the way of handling things of the other country which America didn't get. So yes, I guess America lost the war.
3. Yes, another Vietnam could happen again. I mean history repeats on and on. Sure I don't want it to happen again. I guess nobody would really WANT war. But being realistic everything could happen again. People making mistakes, and doing them again. Though I don't think that at our times the USA would sacrifice that much, regardless of the cause.
4. The enormous loss of things (such as lives...) was because of the wish to destroy communism whatever it takes. And I don't think idea of destroying communism was bad. The idea of the “whatever it takes” was bad. The leaders of the USA had to ask themselves the question: What's more important? Winning this war or loosing thousands and thousands of lives? And they decided with winning the war. This was the bad part about it. If they would've changed that way of thinking I guess the Truman Doctrine would've been more gracious.
Was Vietnam worth it, I suppose it was worth it. Losing all of the lives weren’t but it had to be done and I think we may have benefitted from it anyway. The fortune that was spent may have not been the best thing but you have to buy supplies and firearms anyway. It was going to happen anyway and I suppose it was for the best.
ReplyDeleteFor the United States, the war ended in the withdrawal of American troops and the failure of its foreign policy in Vietnam. Then again I don’t think it was all worth that to not even win.. So, nobody won this War. I don’t think we should have done that because it wasn’t helping us it really just hurt us and wasted lived and money.
Ah I don’t think so. I don’t think people want to do that again especially to lose all of those lives and lose all of that money and were in debt badly enough and we shouldn’t make it much worse. The united states could solve these problems by just not doing any thing like overspending on war and junk and losing lives for no reason.. but its their problem lol
1) I believe that we should only be involved in wars that affect us. At the end of the Vietnam War we gained nothing and lost much so investing in that war might not have been the wisest decision.
ReplyDelete2) No one won the Vietnam War. This question has importance to Americans today because you have to think about what our economic condition would be if we hadn’t been in another expensive the war.
3) I believe a ”Vietnam” could happen again because we still have tension with places like North Korea with their recent testings with bombs, but it would be very disliked in the sight of Americans(In a way like the 60s, but we wouldn’t hate the soldiers.).
4) The Truman Doctrine was put in place for the stopping of Communism. This gave the U.S. a reason to fight in the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War was seemed almost useless, but some of our fights against Communism have been for the better and saved many peoples from various nations from a life of Communism.
Lydia, good job on your essay. I really enjoyed it. I like how you mentioned how now days we would have more respect for the troops even though the war would be unpopular.
Delete1) Was Vietnam a success? No, after so many people had died in vain I do not think that anyone won could have called the war a success. If the Vietnam conflict had been handled differently from the beginning, the outcome would have been a lot different.
ReplyDelete2) Yes. Even though we were not defeated, Vietnam was still a great loss for the U.S. military. Thousands of lives were lost for nothing.
3) Although hopefully not, it is possible that the United States might see another Vietnam. Since the Vietnam war other similar conflicts were the U.S got involved have taken place, like the Persian Gulf War, but the U.S. government has been pretty good at keeping these conflicts from becoming like the Vietnam War.
4) The Vietnam War happened because of the Truman Doctrine which said that the United States would do whatever takes to stop communism. If this policy was different, there probably would not have been a Vietnam War, or at least it would have become the missive conflict it did. Another thing that should have been different was the draft, we should not have had Americans being forced to go die overseas in a war that doesn’t even directly affect America.
The Vietnam War, questions:
ReplyDeleteWas Vietnam worth it?
In my opinion the Vietnam war was not worth the cost of lives and money. There were too many lives lost and way too much money spend. I didn’t really help anybody since the U.S. retreated later. Although the intervention there was necessary to show the world how the U.S. treats communism it was not a very profitable step and also damaged the reputation of the U.S. around the world.
Did the US lose the War in Vietnam? I think the US lost the Vietnam War, the Vietcong forced the US to retreat without defending the freedom in the country. The primary objective seemed to be the stop of communism in Asia and the US couldn’t accomplish that.
Could another “Vietnam” occur again?
I do not believe the people today would be willing to sacrifice so much for any cause. I think the American public would only do something like this again if the US is under direct attack by a foreign aggressor. I do not think the US would sacrifice that much again, for the freedom of another country.
Should the US policy have been different?
I believe that the Truman doctrine was good during this time, because it kept the Soviet Union from getting more ground with intervention in other countries. If the US would have won this war, it would have been better, but even with a loss, the US showed that it would oppose communism wherever it occurred.
@ Booby
ReplyDeleteI really liked to read your essay. You have a very interesting opinion. I really like your opinion about the draft, because I agree with you on that. I believe it is harder to fight good when you are not motivated to fight for a cause or a country. Good job Booby!
@ Lydia
You did a very good job with your essay! I especially like your answer of the Truman doctrine. Although I do not agree with you on question number 3, it is a very interesting view on the subject.
@ Amanda
I like your essay Amanda, you have a good view on the subject. I do not know if nobody won the war, it might be not and official lost, but the US failed to complete its primary objective( stop the spread of communism) and the Vietcong managed to reunite the whole coun
I don’t think the Vietnam War was worth it, at least not for the USA. America had no reasons to get involved in the war, instead they lost a lot of money and people, and an American defeat was added in the American history.
ReplyDeleteI Think that what we lost, was a political war. I think that Vietnam was in a civil war, and as I mentioned before, I don’t think there was any reasons for America to get involved in it. And I don’t know what Americans think about this war, but I know, that I always thought that America was the big unbeatable nation, but now that I know about the Vietnam war I kind of changed my mind. But for Americans, I think they are more careful when they choose to go to war. I know that they still are in a lot of wars and helping other countries out, but I hope for every American that the government won’t put the American nation through another Vietnam War, mostly because they don’t want to lose all those people and all that money again, and because it was a kind of unnecessary to go to war.
I guess it happened because America was so against communism… I couldn’t see any other reason to why the USA would have gone to war. But if it was worth it? Maybe, I Think it might have taught people a lesson about war… Especially all the Americans.
Daniel: This was AMAZING ! I really enjoyed his essay, and I agree. I don’t think there is a winner either. Maybe in some wars like in WW2… I think, just like him, that there was way to many life’s that was lost in this war, and I don’t think anybody should have been put through the horror that it look like the soldiers had been in during that war.
Marta: I agree in what she said about the Christianity, but as an argument, I don’t think, as a Christian, that you have a choice to do anything in a war. If you are a Christian, you would not join the army if you know that you are going to kill innocent people, but if you were fighting for the freedom of the innocent people. And maybe you would try to convince the government that the war is not right and is not supposed to happen…
- Josephine Pedersen.
1) Vietnam was most defiantly not worth all the years of pain of suffering. There are still people today that suffer with the effects that Vietnam had on them, so many people with hard ships and pain. So many people who make up screaming in the middle of the night because of what they encountered while fighting in Vietnam. So many families have been broken about and the men were in a lot of physical and emotional pain.
ReplyDelete2) I think that there is no way really choose a winner, look at all the pain and suffering this war caused for everyone I wouldn’t say the US won at all. I think that when a war was a terrible as Vietnam there can never really be a winner, who could walk away from such a thing and call themselves a winner?
3) I don’t think there is anyway that we could ever predict the future and say it will happen, but there is defiantly a great chance for another Vietnam to occur in our generation.
4) This happened because the US strongly dislike communism, I think personally that the US should have thought before they chose to attack, I think that the Truman Doctrine was very reasonable.
Personally I do not believe that the Vietnam War was worth the cost it cost America, but what war is worth the sorrow the death of a loved one, one who was healthy and should have many more years to live? Many in office today have gotten to the point where they don’t see the sacrifice these men and women are giving to go and fight overseas, and I think they and all of us take them for granted.
ReplyDeleteI don’t believe they defeated us, I think we might have defeated ourselves a little. I think letting them get in our heads and them saying they beat us get on nerves, we did exactly what they wanted and then we ended up retreating. But I also think that was the best decisions our leaders could have made for our country.
Of course every time we have a war to some it’s another Vietnam Fathers leave their children, brothers their siblings, sons their mothers, and daughters their fathers. In every war there is sacrifice, and in every war there is loss.
Like I said before War is a natural occurrence in this sin-fallen world and due to our sin nature there cannot be peace, and thus I don’t believe that the war had anything to do with the administration at the time, I just believe that it was the right circumstances to get the right people mad at each other.