Quick: History help needed

Rabbitandcavy

What kind of things should I write about for this question: Why did the US become involved in arm conflict in Vietnam and why did they eventually withdraw

Rabbitandcavy

Please, please help

randylonghorn

Off the top of my head ...

1) The US saw the war in Vietnam as part of their ongoing resistance to communism, in particular to prevent South Vietnam becoming communist territory.

2) - The US were in a war they couldn't win, as it was for the most part a guerilla-style war in unfamiliar territory which suited such tactics. It had been dragging on for years, and no end in sight.

- Anti-war sentiment at home was by now extremely strong; the Vietnam War was bleeding America of both its sons and its taxes; many American lives had been lost for a cause most people didn't understand, in a country most Americans couldn't find on a map.

- The resistance at home had been accentuated by reports of atrocities such as the Mai Lai massacre which horrified most Americans. The use of Agent Orange and napalm bombing were also very controversial.


Surely you should have a textbook with this stuff, and probably a lot more that I don't remember?

theowen

I can throw a million paragraphs at you for the latter part of the question:

• Cost, it was takin a crap load/destroying Johnson's Great Society Programme;
• They simply wern't winning. Explain the tactics used and why they were useless;
• Tied in to that, how those tacticts turned the Vietnamese against them, Randy's My Lai Massacre e.g.!;
• The General, forget his name, said he'd need a lot more troops to win the war. The Pres' feared the problem being compounded (I'm sure there's a handy quote from the general in question there);
• They wanted to improve relations with China, Detente etc;
• The public backlash;anti-war movement.
• Black civil right's movement made African American's question their involvement in the war. More Black men were being killed than whites etc.

And that's all I can remember! (Just realised Randy stuck down most of my points already...) :P

Wolfe Tone

Containment.