Lorena Barrera

May 17, 2018

World History H per.6

The Vietnam war was in 1955 until 1975. It was a civil war at first between South

Vietnam and North Vietnam but later on it became a bigger war that included the Soviet Union

and the United States. During the war the Soviet Union supported Northern Vietnam and the

United States supported Southern Vietnam. These two countries supported Vietnam because

they wanted to both influence Vietnam politically. In the beginning of the war the United States

aided Southern Vietnam with soldiers and other military goods. However, after many years of

fighting, the war finally came to an end and the United States lost the Vietnam war. I strongly

believe that the war was lost because of lack of preparation, equipment, and because the United

States called back their soldiers. I believe that the lack of preparation was one of many downfalls

that the United States had to deal with because the US environment is very different from

Vietnam's environment and the soldiers were exposed to drastic conditions. The video

“Vietnam War in HD” showed how many soldiers were not used to all the insects, plants, and

snakes located in Vietnam and it was a challenge to fight in a jungle like area. Also, many of the

US soldiers did not know anything about Vietnam and where unfamiliar with the environment

due to this the Northern Vietnamese soldiers had a greater advantage compared the the US

soldiers. In addition, I think that the United States lost the war because of the lack of equipment.

As shown in the video “Vietnam War in HD” a group of soldiers were all almost killed because

they were caught off guard and they did not have ammunition and they were exposed to the

open. Although, the leader of the group called for back up the helicopter who had supplies for
them could not reach them and sadly two soldiers were killed. Finally, the US lost the war

because they stop sending soldiers and ended up sending the soldiers in Vietnam back to the US.

In the notebook on page 101 it was stated that “The United States withdrew in late 1960’s”

(Notebook pg101). In the notes we identified the many reasons in why the United States made

the decision to withdraw. Most importantly the United States had sent their military troops to

Vietnam and many college students disliked this because the US needed more soldiers and there

was a major draft that changed the young adults life. Overall, the Vietnam War was lost because

of many factors but in my opinion I think that being unprepared, unequipped and calling back

troops were the major keys that brought the United States down.

Lorena Barrera

May 17, 2018

World History H per.6

In my opinion I believe that the United States found itself “sacrificing democracy for

democracy” when they had to decide to keep fighting with South Vietnam against North

Vietnam. The main reason the United States joined the war was to prevent communism from

spreading because it would of led to the “domino effect”. I mainly, think that the US “sacrificed

democracy for democracy” because soldiers were dying in large numbers, many protest in the

US, and because the war was taking longer than anyone anticipated it to be. The video “Vietnam

War in HD” stated that the way to win the war was to “destroy enemies in high numbers”. The

US did not like that idea because not only were the soldiers were being attacked but civilians as

well. The US soldiers tried their best to protect the elderly and the children from the war. In

addition, I believe that the United States “sacrificed democracy for democracy” was because in

the United States many protest of retreating the war were being taken place. As shown in the

video “Vietnam War in HD” many college students protested to withdraw from war because they

did not want to join the military and drop their courses. These protesters managed to convince

the president into withdrawing from the war in the late 1960’s. Finally, I believe that the United

States “sacrificed democracy for democracy” because the war was taking many years and the US

was not prepared to fight such a long war. In the video “Vietnam War in HD” explains how many

soldiers believed they would be back from the war before summer. However, many did not come

back until the late 1960’s and were disappointed because they left their families for many years.

Overall, I believed that there are many motives why the United States “sacrificed democracy for

democracy” but these were the main motives that stood out to me and that I found highly

important.