Procrastination is successful!0

Neulich, also vor ca. drei Monaten, hatte ich eine Hausarbeit (Mischung aus Hausaufgabe und Arbeit) über den Vietnam-Krieg bekommen. In Geschichte. Ich grübelte, welche Punkte ich behandeln sollte und musste und konnte und begann. Irgendwann wusste dann selbst ich nicht mehr weiter und fragte den genialen Peter Pan um Hilfe. Er half.
Jetzt bedanken ich mich dafür. Ich hab’s eben etwas aufgeschoben. Prokrastination betrieben. Gewissermaßen.
Und hier ein Geschenk an alle, die in meiner Geschichts-Klasse sind, Deutsch können und die Hausarbeit immer noch nicht abgegeben haben:
Man hätte mehr aus dem Thema herausholen können, ich weiß.
What was the „Domino Theory“?
The Domino Theory was put into words by Eisenhower in the 1950s. It was used during Cold War to explain the American interventions all around the world. Eisenhower wanted to express by this term, that if a country was influenced or taken over by communism, then surrounding countries would follow in a domino effect. The domino effect means that an action, small in itself, will cause a reaction nearby, which then will cause another similar re-reaction, and so on. This process happens in a linear sequence of actions and each step is based on the previous, which is based on the first action. Just like pushing the a first domino, which will hit the second etc.
Why did the Vietnam War become increasingly unpopular with the people of America?
In the beginning, Americans were very enthusiastic on the Vietnam War. The superpower has never lost any big war and were sure in defeating communism in North Vietnam. No event in American history is more misunderstood than the Vietnam War. It was misreported then, and it is misremembered now. The war began 1959 and ended 1975. In the late 1960s began the hippie-movement and people began caring for peace and freedom. The war was the first to be completely reported on TV: People followed it live, watched interviews with soldiers and documentations. The Americans have seen all those images of killing and killed men, the bombardments, the use of Agent Orange (powerful herbicide, that affected 5 million Vietnamese) and the napalm burning everything down. People saw, that much more black or foreign men were recruited. With the increasing number of killed people in Vietnam, the number of oppositions against the war raised. Plus, the war became very expensive for the American population and as the the war didn‘t really go further for the US, there were more and more demonstrations. The highest peak of demonstrations was in October 1967 with more than 100.000 people. One point was also, that the whole war stagnated: soldiers‘ moral dropped and the „battle against communism“ didn‘t show anymore success.
„The USA was unsuccessful in Vietnam because of the opposition‘s use of guerrilla tactics.“ How far do you agree with this statement? Explain your answer.
The Vietnamese attacked the Americans in surprise and without any obvious tactic. This confused the American troops and made it almost impossible for them to act. The USA used a lot of napalm, inflaming and killing thousands of soldiers. The guerrilla were advantaged in the Vietnam war: They were used to the warm climate, knew the local area, took a profit from the jungle. The main difficulty for the US was to differ Vietcong-soldiers from civilians: The Vietcong had no normed uniform and everyone, young or adult, could be a soldier. The Guerrilla often used a „hit and run“-tactic or assassinations, they were very flexible and mobile. But it is not just because of the guerrilla-tactics that the US were unsuccessful in Vietnam.
As Kennedy said: „Peace does not rest in charters and covenants alone“. To bring peace to Vietnam, the US had to convince people that they also wanted to bring peace to „the hearts and minds of the people“.
The US were also unsuccessful because of the high costs, the pressure from the media and the soldiers moral to fight for people who don‘t even appreciate the US involvement in Vietnam.
Who were the Vietcong?
The Vietcong were South Vietnamese communist (mostly) militaries who fought the South Vietnamese government and the US using guerrilla tactics. The Vietcong was made out of people from both South and North Vietnam. There were also many Khmer soldiers (from Cambodia).
The group was founded in the 1950s by the founders of the Viet Minh acting on orders from Hanoi, who gave the military training and sent them to South Vietnam.
The most-known action of the Vietcong was the Tet Offensive: a large attack on 100+ South Vietnamese urban centers in ’68 with an assault on the US embassy. This offensive attracted the world’s media for several weeks, but also over-extended the Vietcong. The group was dissolved when North and South Vietnam were officially unified under a communist government in 1977.
Why did the USA get involved in the war in Vietnam?
The involvement of the US in Vietnam has a lot of reasons:
Since the existence of Communism, America is fighting against it‘s spreading. The south of Vietnam was terrorized by the communist Vietcong. When France got involved to help, it had serious problems in Indochina. Especially the defeat at the battle of :Điện Biên Phủ. (1954) At this point, the US already had sent commandants to Vietnam to train army. Originally, the US wanted to re-unify South and North Vietnam.
Johnson wanted in any circumstance that Vietnam doesn‘t end up like China did: Becoming communist. He wanted to finish as quick as possible with the war, so that he could win votes for the presidential elections (1964). He stated that he won‘t be the first US president to lose a war.
Also, the US feared an inverse Domino Effect: If more countries become Communist, the spread would rapidly increase.
The US had already installed some soldiers in Vietnam to train, before the war escalated and attracted the media. The US had no major involvement in the civil war at that point, but were attacked: The Vietcong held an assault on 100+ South Vietnamese urban centers and an assault on the US embassy.
Peace out.







