Tragedy in Vietnam
When many Americans think of the Vietnam War they think of the American lives that were lost as a result of this terrible tragedy. Americans tend to think of the 58,000 American lives lost and fail to realize that the Vietnamese people lost somewhere between three and four million including countless women and children due to the ruthless guerrilla warfare of both armies. Communism is what first involved American soldiers because for some reason stopping the spread of communism was more important than saving Vietnamese lives. The events leading up to the war, America's involvement in the war, the killing of innocent Vietnamese, and the events after the war all show how appallingly horrid the Vietnamese people were treated throughout every stage of the war. From 1946 up until 1954 Vietnam had been trying gain its independence from France. After the initial war that followed Vietnam divided into North and South Vietnam (Karnow 27). North Vietnam came under communist control, which had first led them to their war for independence. South Vietnam was controlled by the Vietnamese who had been in support of the French (Goldstein 10). Before the war started Ho Chi Minh, later the leader of North Vietnam, mad
At the wars conclusion the United States not only caused the loss of many lives and innocent suffering they also lost out on their posterior motive with the return of communism throughout Vietnam. President Nixon also promised the Vietnamese $3.25 billion in reconstruction aid, which they never received (Karnow 22). After the war about ten percent of the American firepower such as bombs and shells that went unexploded continued to kill and maim people throughout Vietnam long after the final shots were fired. The estimated toll of orphans because of the war was over eight hundred thousand and this was just in South Vietnam alone. Along with over ten million of them being homeless refugees many Southern Vietnamese people were punished severely for their ties with the rebellion. Many of the people were put into reeducation camps and were deprived of their employment (Goldstein 27). The people of Vietnam were the true victims of the Vietnam War despite what any American magazine or history book says. The United States not only intervened when they were not needed, they took many innocent lives in the process. After the war, many people's everyday lives changed significantly due to reeducation camps, birth defects, and even land mines. The horrible treatment of these people goes almost unnoticed and should be recognized by more Americans. The main reason this war is considered a tragedy is the excessively vast amount of senseless and brutal killings on innocent people. Many of these
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Approximate Word count = 1014
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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