THE VIETNAM CONFLICT

VIETNAM CONFLICT

• In the Vietnam War — which lasted from the mid-1950s until 1975 —
• The war was the second of two major conflicts that spread throughout Indochina, with Vietnam as its focal point
• The First Indochina War was a struggle between Vietnamese nationalists and the French colonial regime aided by the United States
• Each side viewed the Cold War as a battle between civilizations; in the worldwide clash between American capitalism and Soviet Communism
• more than forty years, the Soviet-American conflict hung heavy over global affairs

CAUSE OF VIETNAM

• Neither the Soviet Union nor the United States could risk an all-out war against each other, such was the nuclear military might of both
• In Vietnam, the Americans actually fought
• Vietnam War revolve around the simple belief held by America that communism was threatening to expand all over south-east Asia.

U.S.A.

A central function of the U.S. government is to conduct relations with the almost 200 other nations in the world. A nation is a sovereign country, and as such, possesses the highest authority over its territories. All sovereign states are theoretically equal.

Foreign policy determines how America conducts relations with other countries. It is designed to further certain goals. It seeks to assure America’s security and defense. It seeks the power to protect and project America’s national interests around the world. National interest shapes foreign policy and covers a wide range of political, economic, military, ideological, and humanitarian concerns.

America’s foreign policy has changed over time reflecting the change in its national interest. As a new nation after the Revolutionary War, America’s prime national interest was to maintain its independence from more powerful European countries. Protected by the Atlantic Ocean, its major foreign policy, as typified by the Monroe Doctrine, was to limit European attempts of further colonization of the Western Hemisphere.

Through the 19th century, America concentrated on creating a nation that spanned the continent, and it avoided foreign entanglements. Once industrialized and more prosperous, it began looking for foreign markets and colonies.

By the turn of the 20th century, the United States had become a minor imperial power, fighting a war with Spain for Cuba and the Philippines and annexing Hawaii and several other territories. World War I engaged the United States in European affairs, but after the war, a wave of isolationist feeling swept the country. Refusing membership in the League of Nations, America turned inward once again. Absorbed by the prosperity of the 1920s and the Great Depression of the 1930s, America let its military strength erode. It was not prepared for war when the Japanese struck the U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor in late 1941.

Emerging from World War II as the most powerful economic power on Earth, the United States changed its foreign policy dramatically. It took the lead in founding the United Nations. It invested billions of dollars through the Marshall Plan to help strengthen war-devastated European democracies. It created a system of alliances, including the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).