Why Did America Fight the Vietnam War? | 5 Minute Video
Why did America fight the Vietnam War? The military suffered over 58,000 casualties, and America withdrew in defeat. What for? Historian Victor Davis Hanson explains.
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Script:
The Vietnam War lasted ten years, cost America 58,000 lives and over a trillion dollars, adjusted for inflation. It brought down a president, stirred social unrest, and ended in defeat.
No one in hindsight believes fighting a losing war is ever worth the cost. Consequently, the Vietnam War is usually written off as a colossal strategic blunder and a humanitarian disaster.
Yet, historical appraisals might have been much different had the Vietnam War followed the pattern of the Korean War, which the United States fought for almost identical reasons: the defense of freedom in Asia.
The U.S. had military advisors in Vietnam during the 1950s, but didn’t become involved in a major way until 1963. President John F. Kennedy firmly believed in the “domino effect,” the foreign policy theory that vulnerable nations without help would fall, one after another, like dominos, to external communist aggression.
Kennedy thus hoped to stop Soviet- and Chinese-backed communist invasions in the manner President Harry Truman had in Korea by taking a stand in Vietnam.
As with Korea, it was a war the United States did not seek. As with Korea, Vietnam presented no “imperial” advantages: no natural resources, or resources of any kind, that the United States needed to protect or wished to obtain. As with Korea, the aggressor was a communist government in the North intent on taking control of the South, and its military crossed an internationally recognized border to do so.
Following Kennedy’s assassination in November of 1963, President Lyndon Johnson vastly escalated America’s role in 1964. But even as he did so, Johnson prosecuted the war with deep ambivalence, authorizing significantly more troops and money for the war, but never pushing for total victory. In contrast, the North Vietnamese never wavered. They ignored every one of Johnson’s many offers to negotiate a settlement.
By 1971, the war was at a stalemate, neither side able to establish a clear advantage. The president, Richard Nixon, pursued a two-prong strategy — to turn over combat operations to the South Vietnamese, and to bomb North Vietnam. The effort brought the communists to the Paris Peace Talks. And by 1973, the North agreed to a general settlement, establishing two autonomous Vietnamese nations – one communist, one non-communist—in the manner of North and South Korea.
However, the Watergate scandal, the subsequent resignation of President Nixon, and the Democrats’ sweeping congressional victory in the 1974 mid-term election all helped to convince the North Vietnamese that America would not enforce the peace agreement.
They were right.
Without U.S. air support and material aid, the South Vietnamese had no chance against the North. Well supplied by the Soviet Union and the Chinese, the communists gained full control over the country in April 1975.
The war proved far more costly than Korea because the geography and landscapes of Vietnam were far more conducive to insurgency operations. There were also far more restrictions placed on American commanders than during the Korean War. And the United States in the 1960s was a far less conservative and cohesive country than America of the 1950s.
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The war was pointless imo. It should have never happened.
Imagine how peaceful the world will be if US stopped interfering in other country's political affairs and focused own their own
Although there’s no chili in the video, I can still smell the US spicy 🌶️
The US were invaders. Period. You all will do the same as the VC if another country goes to your land and "help".
Lyndon Johnson, Robert McNamara and so many more (CEO's)etc. Made millions by continuing this war. When i was sent to VietNam to "fight", i had no idea where that country was or why i was being sent there. Same today. Democrats live to conduct wars and use naive young Americans as cannon fodder. A VOTE FOR A DEMOCRAT IS AN ACT OF TREASON !!
US doesn't give a sh*t about freedom anywhere, even in their country. As an extreme capitalist country, they only care about their profits.
Once i liked America then i didn't like it, & now atleast i don't hate america.
What I know is … " One Sided " anything is wrong, like SiCKularism, socialism, communism, democracy, etc. even capitalism.
It supposedly made the U.S. Govt hunks of money. Put a good hunk in LBJ's pockets. It was and is their war.
The Vietnam War and the Korean War happened because Joseph Stalin & the Soviets from the U.S.S.R wanted to bring Communist Aggression to these weaker East Asia countries.
Now you have civilians in the West supporting and hoping for Communism.
vietnam is too complex an issue to address with a 5 min video, ig
evil america wants to control everything
your forgot to mention the CIAs spread of propaganda in the north prior to the war and Frances colonization of vietnam, The Vietminh who fought against Japan in WW2 the war crimes committed by the US South Korea and The Vietcong the French-Indochina war and Ngo Dinh Diem the dictator of South Vietnam who had a frothing at the mouth hatred of Buddhists. And also the same Communist Vietnam actually liberated Cambodia from the Khmer Rouge.
I don't get these people who say that the vietnamese wanted their freedom. So being a soviet-chinese backed communist regime is the same as being free for you? It is that you mean?
Rubber trees
and lost, all of those advance military might, still lost.
Nowadays, almost all northern Vietnamese by origin realizes the US is actually a good guy deep inside, all they were trying to do was to free us from communism. But the way they achieved this goal is absolutely wrong. Ho Chi Minh always considered the US as the first and most preferred choice when it comes to liberation from the evil French colonizer (don't get me wrong, France is a good guy now, but back then they were really evil). Ho was really obsessed with the US democracy and ideologies, especially the US Declaration of Independence. He asked the US for help to gain independence from France, but the US completely ignored him with no reply at all (probably because they need France in Nato?). So the France could then do whatever they want to us — the Vietnamese. So Ho had to ask for help from the devil USSR and our two-thousand-year enemy China to fight for independence as the last resort. We chose communism out of desperation. Now most of us wish Vietnam had the same democracy and the same federal government the US currently has. The US has always been the creator and protector of the free, prosperous world (just look at South Korea and the occupied Japan and Germany after WWII).😥😥
Ah yes, somehow the commies and socialists always happen to be the aggressors. Every single time. How naive does this guy think we are?
My God I couldn't have found a more biased video
The Americans went to Vietnam and stole rice to brew Budweiser beers
It's simple really, " People are no damn good" according to my late friend James P. McGary… USMC…0300…
Ho Chi Minh asked Woodrow Wilson to not recognize French Indo China as the colonial master, Wilson denied the request. Ho recited America’s Declaration of Independence. He never reviled America’s capitalist system. Gulf of Tonkin was based on a lie to escalate a war. The use of Agent Orange and Indiscriminate bombing of the north is when U.S had let a war get out of hand. U.S only needed to negotiate with Ho. Even when Ho and his Troops enter Cambodia, he realized America’s bombing of Cambodia gave rise to the Khamer Rouge and Pol Pot. The U.S bear much responsibility for recognizing France as the true government in Asia. Communism is bad but Colonialism is evil. I think George Washington felt the same about the British.
Don't forget that we promised Vietnam their freedom after World War Two but the French didn't let that happen.
The fight for „freedom“ and then they got occupied by the American imperialists
Why? Because men in suits told a bunch of stupid kids to go die for them
short answer : ''There are four major natural resources in Vietnam Coal, Bauxite, Oil, and Gas. Vietnam is a significant coal producer. In 2020, Vietnam produced 48.4 million metric tonnes of coal (Dogan et al., 2020b, Dong, 2019).''
Communists are, simply put, control freaks. Reality doesn't affect their belief in their Own self importance.
superficial…
I’d bet there’s only one reason Vietnam was invaded. It has nothing to do with freedom and everything to do with controlling a coast south of China.
cambodian genocide was caused by american boming the country, radicalising the socialsts, and having a US backed coup that massacered alot of people. So, no US, no cambodian genocide.
To nie apacze
Having been in that conflict complete with combat, we should have never gotten involved. It was a civil war. It was not about stopping communism. The big C is going the way of the Dodo bird. It has no economic basis for success. That is why it failed.
intersting but I still do not know why the usa was so involved in vietnam??? of ALL the communist countries WHY DID WE NEED TO FIGHT FOR S VIETNAM????
💜
Les dernières pensées d'un soldat mourant.
À la mémoire de nos proches. "Mon très cher bien-aimé, aujourd'hui, ni tous nos demains… Je ne rentrerai pas à la maison, mais mon amour rencontrera tes larmes quand le soleil brillera, quand la pluie tombera à la rencontre de tes larmes et que la brise soufflera doucement sur ton dos. … mon amour sera toujours avec le tien…'