Vietnam War: Summary

Much of the 20th century was marked by wars, being one of the main the Cold War. This war was a conflict of interest between the capitalist bloc, led by the United States, and the communist bloc, led by the Soviet Union.

Many other wars and conflicts were born out of the Cold War in which both sides had interests, but one of the most famous was undoubtedly the Vietnam War, a battle that became the first American defeat in all history. To know its causes and consequences, in this lesson from a TEACHER we are going to talk about the Vietnam War: Summary of Facts, Causes and Consequences.

Index

1. Context and causes of the Vietnam War
2. Development of the war
3. Consequences of the Vietnam War

During World War II, Japan invaded several Asian countries, some of them being what we call Indochina. This region is made up of Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, all of them colonies of France at that time but in a certain pre-independence situation. Vietnam, due to these events, formed the so-called Revolutionary League, which had a clear and marked communist character and was led by Ho Chi Minh. The Vietnamese wanted independence from the French and

After the Second World War, a confrontation between the men of Ho Chi Minh and the French began, the Vietnamese seeking the separation of the French state in a great decolonization. The French were finally forced to accept the independence of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, signing the agreements of said decision at the Geneva Conference.

But the independence of Vietnam was not entirely correct, since the country ended up divided between North Vietnam and South Vietnam. The North was ruled by Ho Chi Minh and had a clear orientation towards the communism of the USSR, while in the South a capitalist military dictatorship supported by the United States reigned.

There were different approaches between the two regions for unification, but the ideological differences were too relevant and obvious for a definitive union to be realistic. To all this, there are certain actions from the North that were not well seen, such as the fact that They were given weapons to create a movement called the National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam or Viet Cong.

In 1959, the Viet Cong (with support from the Ho Chi Minh government) and the Soviets attacked an American base located in South Vietnam, thus starting the famous Vietnam War. That is why we could say that the main causes of the war were a great ideological clash, the denial of unification between regions and corruption in the South, although in this article of Causes of the Vietnam War you will find a more detailed report of the reasons.

To continue this lesson on Vietnam War: The Summary, we must speak briefly of the development of the war. To do this, we will divide it into a series of phases marked by special characteristics.

First phase

The first phase of the war is the one we find between 1959 and 1964. It is the stage of the South Vietnam War, a phase in which we do not find any kind of direct intervention by neither the United States nor the USSR, with only supply support from both parts. It was a phase marked by the constant loss of territories from the South to the North.

Second stage

This second phase of the war spans from 1964 to 1968 and is characterized by the entry of US troops. The South begins to regain territories thanks to American support, but the Americans are greatly affected by not knowing the battlefield well. North Vietnam begins, around this time, to base its strategy on guerrilla tactics.

Third phase

This is the phase that occurred between 1968 and 1973. Nixon becomes president of the United States and defends the vietnamizationIn other words, he is in favor of giving power to the government of the South so that the Americans can withdraw little by little from the conflict and that the Vietnam war becomes a civil conflict again. But the war is not going well enough and the United States has internal problems, as much of society does not see the war with good eyes.

Fourth phase

The last phase of the war took place between 1973 and 1975. The situation, at that time, became untenable for the Americans and finally, the United States signed a ceasefire in the United States. Paris Agreements, thus losing the first war in its history. Shortly after, the United States withdrew its troops from Vietnam and the war turned into a civil conflict again. A short time later, the North won the battle.

The end of the war was very important to both American and Soviet interests, as it turned out to be a breaking point in the Cold War. The war between both ideologies continued for decades, intervening in many other states, and precisely for this reason it is essential to comment on some of the main consequences of the conflict:

• The war caused a large number of casualties, with almost 3 million deaths Vietnamese. American casualties were much less, but the physical consequences were enormous.
• Opposition to the war increased the Hippie movement all over the United States.
• Appeared the Vietnam syndrome, becoming the way to express the sense of defeat that devastated American society after the conflict.
• Was the first defeat in a US war, which made the country's feeling of unbeaten disappear.
• The war caused serious damage to the Asian country: landscapes and infrastructure were destroyed, something that significantly affected the economy.
• Thousands of American soldiers were traumatized and / or disabled by their experiences during the war.
• The large number of chemical weapons used caused environmental problems in Vietnam, something that received the name of Orange agent. This is said to have affected society, causing abortions and sterility.
• A lots of Vietnamese left in exiles, causing demographic problems.
• Vietnam's victory was not as peaceful as is often thought, as the war continued in Southeast Asia for long years afterward.

If you want to see a more detailed explanation of the Consequences of the Vietnam War, don't miss this other lesson from a TEACHER.

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