Vietnam War: Important Events 1962-1969 (1) - Essay Example

Vietnam War: Important Events 1962-1969 It was with the direct support of US that General Lon Nol took over the reins of the Cambodia (Karnow, 1997, p.623-625). The weaknesses of this ruler were what gave US an easy entry into Vietnam. Karnow (1997) has put this situation rightly when he observed, “the inept and ailing General Lon Nol, shrank into the security of Phnompenh, the capital, as American aircraft bombed the Vietnamese communists and the Khmer Rouge” (p.55). It was a total submission of the nation’s sovereignty to a foreign force.

The most important thing that has to be remembered about Vietnam war is that it was a “human tragedy” for both the civilians of Vietnam as well American soldiers (Karnow, 1997, p.12 of the preface). But still the war had a kind of historical inevitability because Cambodia and Vietnam were in globally strategic positions coveted by America. But the brutality of the war came back to America as media reports and caused the public outrage. The increased frequency of missing soldier reports also stirred American from patriotic slumber to protest against the inhumanity of war.

But the post-war analyses on the Vietnam War were divided on the role that media played. For example, Summers (1982) has strongly condemned the role of the media by saying that “ the free an open American media acted as a kind of deception device” (p.192). Anyway, the result was that Vietnam war became “ “Johnson’s war”, or “Nixon’s war” or “the Army’s war” rather than the American people’s war” (Summers, 1982, p.5). The “fragging” that marked the discontent among American soldiers in Vietnam war manifested itself in violent ways- “soldiers not only disobeyed their superiors but in numbers of cases actually murdered them with fragmentation grenades” (Karnow, 1997, p.31). Such a reaction from a disciplined soldier force was unbelievable for American military authorities.

China’s declaration of support to Vietnam was a great blow for US. Soon the war ended with an armistice and the acknowledgement of defeat by America but the negative image that this war gave to America still lingers. It took away the charm of being a new powerful nation from America and also defamed it before the eyes of the world. Incidents like My Lai massacre stayed in the memory of the people as a symbol of war crimes and imperialist atrocities. ReferencesKarnow, Stanley. 1997. Vietnam: a history.

New York: Penguin Group. Summers, Harry G. Jr. 1982. On Strategy: A Critical Analysis of the Vietnam War. Novato, CA: Presidio Pre.