FREE ESSAY ON THE VIETNAM WAR

THE VIETNAM WAR

THE VIETNAM WAR
Do you know why the Viet Nam war started, or when it really began?
Well, it may surprise you to know that the war actually began shortly after the end of
World War II. When WWII ended many countries had taken control of smaller countries in
Asia. Vietnam was controlled by the French, but after WWII Vietnam wanted it's
independence. France did not want to give up it's colonies because they needed the extra
income to help rebuild it's country after WWII.
A man named Ho Chi Minh, who declared their independence from the French after the end of
WWII, led Vietnam. His resistance force was first called the Viet - Minh, which stood for
the Vietnam Independence League (DRV). Ho Chi Minh formed a government called the
Democratic Republic of Vietnam, although he was a true communist. Vietnam became divided
into North and South Vietnam, with the French controlling South Vietnam and the DRV the
North. As the French moved into North Vietnam fighting broke out and the French became
involved in a new kind of war. The General in charge of the DRV, a man named Giap used
"guerrilla warfare" to defeat the French. In this type of war the General used small
groups of men to kill or wound French soldiers and then run away into the jungle before
the French could use a large army to fight back.
This fighting lasted for years and the people in France did not like having French
soldiers killed again as in WWII.
By 1954 the French knew that they could not win a war against the DVR. They were defeated
in a big battle at Dien Bien Phu and quickly left Vietnam. After this defeat a meeting
was held in Geneva Switzerland and Vietnam was divided into North and South Vietnam along
the 17th parallel of latitude. This was supposed to last two years and then the people of
Vietnam would vote on whether to reunite the country and what kind of government all the
people wanted.
Well suddenly Dominos decide to help decide Vietnams fate. Yes, that's right, you know
the game of Dominos. Well I'm sure many of you have seen or maybe even tried the trick of
standing Dominos up and making all of them fall over.
The United States thought of the countries in Southeast Asia as Dominos. They thought
that if Vietnam became a Communist country all countries in the region would soon also
become Communist's. 
Worried about the South and the possibility that Vietnam would become another Communist
country the American's began sending food and "advisors or trainers" to help the new
South Vietnamese army train and defend themselves.
About a million people from the North moved to South Vietnam because they were Catholic
and the Communist's in the North did not allow this type of religion. But, an even bigger
and more important reason they moved south was because of food.
Yes that's right food. You see North Vietnam rice fields flood more often then those in
the south because of the rain. Additionally, the rice fields in the south produced enough
rice that they were know as the "Rice Bowl" of Indochina.
Now remember, I told you this all began in 1954. Well, by 1961 the Americans had sent
more than 2,000 "advisors" to train the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN). 
Well as you can expect the North continued its "guerrilla war" against ARVN forces and
their advisors. These North Vietnamese soldiers became the famous fighters from the north
called "Viet Cong". Soon the American's decided they needed more advisors to teach and
defend themselves.
Well you know what happens next. Yep, more and more Americans go to fight in South
Vietnam. From 1961, when the American President actually used an American law to declare
a limited war on the north, until 1975, when the war ended, American's who had fought in
Vietnam was over 2 and ? million. 
How does this entire thing end, well that's a good question? Let me see if I can help you
figure out a good answer.
First, can you imagine graduating from high school given a gun and going to a country
thousands of miles from your home that you have never heard of before?
Well that's what happened in America. As the casualties grow American's began to protest.
You see unlike WWII everyone could watch the fighting and killing live from their TV's.
It became very unpopular. 
Finally, in 1975 the Americans signed a peace plan with North Vietnam and left the
country.
Here are the resulting facts of this war.
This was the longest war the American's ever fought in.
As I told you over 2 ? million American's fought in Vietnam. Over 58,000 of them were
either killed or wounded.
The war cost America more than $110 billion dollars.
More than 200,000 ARVN were killed and another 5000,000 were wounded.
More than 1,000,000 South Vietnamese civilians (people like you and me) were wounded.
North Vietnamese casualties were even higher, with as many as 1,000,000 soldiers killed
and another 3,000,000 wounded.
It is estimated that the total war cost is over $500 billion dollars.
So because of food and the American's worried about Dominos, you remember, other
countries becoming Communists, millions of people suffered and died.
Who won and who lost? That's an easy question to answer for some and not so easy for
others. I think all the people involved lost. Sure some say the North won because now
Vietnam is united as one country and the American's had to run away. But actually, the
American's won every major battle that they fought.
So what do you think? Well everyone has to decide for himself.
I hope you have learned something important today. Thank you.