why nations do go to war. The chapters read about the Vietnam War and Kosovo explain why these nations went to war and what mistakes hurt each nation. Stoessinger explains that some problems, such as political and economical issues, have hurt the outcome of each war.

The war in Vietnam started out as a struggle between France and Communist leader, Ho Chi Minh. President Truman was the first of five presidents to lead the United States through Vietnam. At first, the president thought of the war as France's problem, but soon wanted France to stay in the war with the help of an aid program. President Truman would end up not sending committed combat troops into the war, but would end his presidency with America paying almost one-third of the total cost of the French war effort.

President Eisenhower picked up the presidency, but had China on the side of Ho Chi Minh. Eisenhower increased military aid to France and had America paying over one-half the cost of the war. The Battle of Dien Bien Phu was France's last chance in Indochina. Eisenhower was informed that, without American intervention, Indochina would be lost. French involvement

Why do nations go to war, is a question many people have thought about throughout the twentieth century. Stoessinger uses eight cases that occurred throughout the twentieth century, which explain why certain nations went to war. The Vietnam War was a struggle of misperceptions brought about by bad leadership of the Americans. President Kennedy started the American influence in Vietnam, but it was his predecessor who brought America too far into the war, to back out. Lyndon Johnson made the one mistake of not thinking about the territory and people, he was fighting. Johnson thought a great increase in troops and bomb raids would bring the enemy to a close, but in reality, hurt the Americans more. Johnson "misperceived his enemy, misled his people..." (Stoessinger, PG 95) Once America was in the war, they were too far to turn away and withdrawal. This war started because of poor leadership on the Americans fault. The North Vietnamese won the war for two reasons, Ho Chi Minh and Vietnam. First, Ho Chi Minh was loved by his people and this strong sense of nationalism hurt the Americans. Second, Vietnam was not a good place to fight this war. The Americans were not used to the land and this was a big cause of the loss of the war. Milosevic took his "Greater Bosnia" campaign into effect because he thought that he was "invincible" and no one could stop his terror.

Stoessinger has helped us with the idea of why nations go to war, but this question will be a mystery to nations all over the world. Can war be prevented? War can be prevented if smart war tactics are used by a country's leadership. America joined the war because of the misperception of the Vietnamese leader and of the land. America should have withdrawn from Vietnam many years before the war ended. The whole goal of the war was to end Communism in South Vietnam, but this was not accomplished. After all the casualties and debts due to war, America did not gain anything from the war. The war in Kosovo could have been prevented if Milosevic was prevented from gaining so much land, during his terror campaign. Since Milosevic gained so much land, he had a greater sense of being unstoppable. No one will ever no the entire reason for why nations go to war, but through looking at Vietnam and Kosovo, mistakes made hurt America in the chance of beating the Vietnamese; Kosovo would not have happened if internal struggles of religion were ceased. Through future struggles and wars, maybe, we might figure out more cases to solve the issue of why nations go to war.

Lyndon Johnson took the presidency and started action by sending "massive" combat troops into war, taking America deeper and deeper into the war. Johnson started the bombing raids on North and South Vietnam, plus the advancement of a half of million troops. Johnson thought that this advancement would bring an end to the enemy, but "As a consequence, he misperceived his enemy, misled his people, and ultimately deceived himself." (Stoessinger, PG 95) Johnson would soon find out that bombing the land would not hurt Ho Chi Minh. "Hanoi had two formidable pillars of strength: the nationalist component of unity and the Communist component of control, which made for a well-organized, unified modern state. Bombing would not affect such a regime. On the contrary, it might even strengthen it." The American barracks at Pleiku were attacked by the Vietcong and thus stated a "relentless" bombing campaign on North Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh would defeat all purposes of the bombing campaign,

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Approximate Word count = 2386
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)