Vietnam War Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Vietnam state of war - Research Paper Examplewill become mired in other strange personal business quagmires which again will weaken the military, economic strength and its political status within the world community. This same lesson was never learned by the long defunct Roman Empire. A similar outcome looms for the States if it continues to replicate the mistake that was Vietnam. A result of justifications emanating from refrigerating War, anti-communism sentiments, Vietnam became the standard by which American military source limitations can be measured. Following the allied defeat of Japan in 1945, the U.S. became embroiled in a battle over military power and political ideology with the former Soviet Union that was showcased on a world-wide scale for more than four decades, the Cold War. Communism was Americas declared opponent during this era. The U.S. drew a symbolic line in the sand in to the southeast Asia after the Soviets built the Berlin Wall and continued in its a spirations to dominate other Eastern European nations. The fiasco that was Vietnam triggered anti-military reactions for the majority of Americans whose subsequent response contributed to the Cold Wars end. Vietnam also forced America to rethink the fundamental get of its military power and heading the scope of its capability to force its will in foreign nations whether, for example, in the deserts of the Middle East or the jungles of Southeast Asia. In addition the U.S. was forced to question its general foreign policy viewpoint and subsequent strategies. (Hogan, 2006) U.S. foreign policy, from its abandonment of isolationism at the ending of the nineteenth century to its status as the sole remaining superpower, has always been centered on the promotion and conservation of its own hobbys and the advancement of civilization, the exercise of power to assert itself beyond the bounds of the American continents in the interest of civilization and of humanity and its own selfish inte rests. (Olney, 2004) This re-evaluation phase lasted about 40 years, from the mid-1970s until early 2003. The U.S. enjoined the Cold War period, Vietnam War and invasion of Iraq to ostensibly spread democracy to subjugated peoples of the world (the official explanation) and with ample confidence of victory. Both military conflicts offered a comparable paradigm the capability of the U.S. to utilize its armed forces as a political, social and ideological tool is limited. indisputably, America entered Vietnam with somewhat of a arrogance assuming the labor union Vietnamese would bow to the powerful American military and that the South Vietnamese would gladly accept and chasten to a western nation style of democratic governance. Former U.S. national Security Advisor at a lower place President Nixon and Secretary of State (1973-1977) Henry Kissinger stated America entered Vietnam with a brash confidence in the universal applicability of Americas prescriptions. (Kissinger, 2003) The i ronic epilogue to the U.S. involvement in Vietnam is that America entered into this fearsome and bloody and enduring conflict believing it to be the knight in shining armor for the South Vietnamese people. Its leaders did this without appreciating that the South Vietnamese were fighting to be free from a North Vietnamese government that symbolized the same colonialist, imperialistic ideology as did the American government. (Ignatieff, 2003) This lack of military success in Vietnam was not because the U.S. lacked fire-power. It was due to a failure to understand the opponent. Although