The surprising link between political strategy and health policies
The Vietnam War spanned just over two decades, becoming one of the United States' most unpopular conflicts among Americans. Nearly 60,000 US soldiers died in the conflict, with thousands more dying of illnesses in its aftermath. Between two and three million Vietnamese soldiers and civilians lost their lives and the horrid consequences of prolonged violence, such as mass famine and disease.
The American military used Agent Orange, a chemical used as part of tactical herbicide to eliminate vegetation, to defeat a Vietnamese war strategy. The use of this chemical not only caused horrid deaths among veterans, but also left Vietnam with a trail of horrific cancer rates and birth defects stemming from the chemical's use.
Want to learn more about the Vietnam War? Click through the gallery to find out more.
The Vietnam War continues to be a time of great interest for history buffs and wartime enthusiasts. In the US, there are over five million Vietnam War veterans still alive.
The political turmoil was extremely divisive among the American public during the War. The mistreatment of veterans following the war created even more feeling around the topic. Pictured are Vietnam veterans protesting the war.
So what happened? What conditions facilitated the eruption of the Vietnam War? What shaped the evolution of the war?
The Vietnam War joins an extensive list of conflicts that can be considered American proxy wars in the context of the Cold War.
The Korean War (1950-53), the Afghan-Soviet War (1979-1989), the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962), and the Suez Crisis (1956), among other military conflicts, are some additional examples.
The United States strategically positioned itself against any and all Soviet Union’s allies. The nation poured hundreds of billions of dollars into its military activities, overseas and at home, as part of its Cold War efforts.
Before the Vietnamese war officially began, the Vietnamese were already knee-deep in an escalated anti-colonial struggle against more than two centuries under French rule.
French colonial rule created stark socio-economic disparities between French settlers (and their elitist Vietnamese apologists) and the mass Vietnamese population.
France’s war efforts to reinforce their rule were supported by funding from the US military, as their strategic efforts to squash any Soviet alliances were clearly a national priority.
The ever-worsening conditions for the Vietnamese unified poor workers under an anti-colonial vision for the nation’s future.
Forced labor practices, scandalous working conditions for those working in dangerous professions, lack of civil liberties, and extreme poverty among the working poor, among other factors, gave rise to a resistance movement.
While guerrilla groups had existed since the beginning of French rule, the anti-colonial resistance movement had been subjected to violent repression by the French.
The Vietnamese resistance fostered a new strain with the emergence of the communist movement by its most prominent leader, Nguyen Ai Quoc, more popularly known as Ho Chi Minh, founder of the Indochinese Communist Party.
Ironically, Minh was revolutionized in France. He left Vietnam as a young man, making his way to Paris, where he joined the French Communist Party.
Minh’s nationalist aspirations clashed with French attempts to reestablish colonial rule, birthing two Vietnams; the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) and the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam).
This partition became official through a treaty issued during the Geneva Conference, in which Vietnam was split along the “17th Parallel” (17 degrees north latitude).
The Democratic Republic of Vietnam was led by Minh and backed by Soviet forces. As part of a broader strategy to suffocate communist movements throughout Southeast Asia, the US, under the leadership of President Dwight Eisenhower, and its allies supported the Republic of Vietnam.
By the mid-1960s, over half a million American military personnel were stationed in Vietnam, while the Soviet Union and China continued to provide military support to Minh’s leadership.
In the South, dissident voices were brutally suppressed. Well over 100,000 communist-sympathizing Vietnamese living in the South were arrested, and many ultimately tortured and executed.
This violent oppression gave rise to a resistance movement within the South as well, and it wasn’t just communists. Resistance to the Southern regime included a myriad of political ideologies.
Under the subsequent leadership of John F. Kennedy, the United States furthered its war efforts in the early 1960s, providing extensive aid across the region for anti-communist interventions, hoping as one regime fell, the next would follow.
Following Kennedy’s assassination, his successor followed suit. Then-US President Lyndon B. Johnson escalated war efforts by piling more American troops into the country. At home, an anti-war movement was pressuring the government to end the war, with hundreds of thousands protesting around the country.
Peace talks were well under way, as the American government could not justify its efforts much longer. That is, until Nixon was elected.
Nixon was completely uninfluenced by the anti-war movement and instead sought to appeal to those who still supported the war, who he referred to as the "silent majority." But the number of causalities wasn’t something he wanted on his plate.
Instead, Nixon withdrew on-ground troops and instead conducted mass aerial bombings. Those still stationed in the country conducted unbelievable massacres, stoking the flames of the anti-war movements in the US.
Unwilling to serve in a war that seemed futile, many of those who were to be drafted into the military evaded the draft by fleeing to neighboring Canada. Pictured is an anti-draft protestor.
The subsequent, brutal invasions of Cambodia and Laos, also part of the regional plan to undermine and destroy communist movements, fueled the anti-war movement even further.
By 1973, the United States and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam signed a peace agreement. In 1975, South Vietnam experienced a full invasion by the North, preparing for its unification under a single sovereign nation.
By 1976, Vietnam was unified under the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, leaving a trail of trauma in both countries and beyond. Pictured are Vietnamese refugees returning home.
Sources: (History) (Britannica)
A history of the Vietnam War
One of the most unpopular American wars of the 20th century
LIFESTYLE Conflict
The Vietnam War spanned just over two decades, becoming one of the United States' most unpopular conflicts among Americans. Nearly 60,000 US soldiers died in the conflict, with thousands more dying of illnesses in its aftermath. Between two and three million Vietnamese soldiers and civilians lost their lives and the horrid consequences of prolonged violence, such as mass famine and disease.
The American military used Agent Orange, a chemical used as part of tactical herbicide to eliminate vegetation, to defeat a Vietnamese war strategy. The use of this chemical not only caused horrid deaths among veterans, but also left Vietnam with a trail of horrific cancer rates and birth defects stemming from the chemical's use.
Want to learn more about the Vietnam War? Click through the gallery to find out more.