Vietnam War: Marilyn B. Young's In-Depth Analysis - Essay Sample

Introduction

The Vietnam War article by Marilyn B. Young is a masterpiece that talks about the Vietnam war that also involved other countries such as China, France, the British, and the United States of America. The author's War between different countries and regions roots from unique aspects and reason. Marilyn B. Young had witnesses and could recall several wars in which the United States was involved in Asian communities. She was a teacher and later dedicated her life to societal issues of American relations with foreign countries. Vietnam war is said to root in colonialism and imperialism, which was impacted by the French government. Vietnam war id recalled as the biggest War that the USA has ever got involved itself with. The main agenda that the USA had was self-determination and wanted to set Vietnam free from the colonial government. The author includes several individuals engaged in advocacy and in their bid to get the French government to discuss national matters related to peaceful coexistence. However, as it was for Asian counties, they could not retreat quickly Vietnam divided into two, and the USA decided to support the side that didn't support communism. This study seeks to explore the beliefs and influences evident in the Vietnam War, as addressed by Marilyn B. Young.

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Aspects of Fatal Illusions

Young illustrates how illusions lead to negative consequences between and with the country(s) or individuals. She shows the French imperialism as an illusion towards its colonies and Vietnam in general. Initially, French wanted civilization in Vietnam who were already comfortable with their culture and tradition they didn't want to abandon. The author shows the greatness illusion by the USA to support South Vietnam in crushing North Vietnam, which influenced communism. Young says that "North Vietnamese torpedo boats attacked the American destroyer U.S.S. Maddox and were readily repulsed," showing the magnitude of the War and losing America. Several people lost their lives in the War, including sixty thousand Americans, to Young, this was an unwinnable war. The USA was not directly and actively participating in the War but pushed their anti-communist or neutralized state interests.

Self-Determination

The author addresses the general public as she tries to show the influence of self-determination in the art of War. Several aspects of the War were influenced by the self-determination of individual countries and specific patriots. For instance, Nguyen Thanh was a young patriot determined to speak with the French empire to maintain the sovereignty order; he has managed to talk to American president Woodrow Wilson who promised independence of countries and Vietnam from colonial rule. The state of sovereignty was already known to every country; Young says that "In 1919, President Woodrow Wilson identified the United States with the goal of self-determination for all nations..." With all the determination to set people of Vietnam free, it was all in vain since countries allied later to form a stronger bond.

Activist and Scholars Influence

The Vietnam war had many scholars who aired their views and feelings through writing for distinguished purposes. Activists and scholars such as Phan Boi Chau played a significant part in showing Vietnamese life lessons that they ought to learn from War. Young describes Boi's thought as an ideological and behavioral aspect; the letter praised George Washington as the leader who fled the USA. Young says that everyone relied on Washington in the USA, she portrays Phan Boi as someone who wanted Vietnamese to respect the decision of their leader Nguyen and accepts the USA to aid then in restoring their independence. The letter is descriptive since it told people what happened in the past. However, Young's thought and the feeling were prescriptive as she tries to address the public that the where was meaningless and unplanned.

Economic and Military Aid

Both France and the USA supported Vietnam in economic and militarization activities, which did not bear expected fruits to both in the end. Young shows illustrate the two-sided nature of people of Vietnam as the colony of France; she shows the benefits of economic development and language and learning and compares it to the Vietnam ideology of being a sovereign state. Further, the USA deployed many military troops in Vietnam for "aid" purposes and wanted the communist rule to end in North Vietnam. The authors show the consequences of USA participation and the ideological difference in the War as she explains why the USA didn't support Nguyen's idea of national election for president. The author makes a reader figure out the influence of different ideologies and support in warring countries. This article is significant since it shows that the USA failed to honor the Franklin D. Roosevelt policy of independence. Instead, the USA wanted to end communist states by supporting the opposition South Vietnam leader Ngo Dinh Diem.

Communism Influence

Political influence led to communism's influence in Vietnam as the parties were formed in collaboration with communist influence. Vietnam always admired the sovereignty of the USSR as they knew that communist states had identified the issues affecting the colonized nations. Young states that "The Soviet Union presented itself as a model for how a country might develop a modern industrial society and practice social justice at the same time." However, the USA supported anti-communism, which led a split of Vietnam into two, namely South Vietnam and North Vietnam. Nevertheless, Vietnam also admired the independence of the USA against their colonial masters, the Great Briain. Young shows the influence of communism as the French government wanted Vietnam to split into communism and anti-communism states and the influence of the USSR; this was then triggered by Japanese defeat in 1945. Hon Chi Minh (or Nguyen Thanh) oversaw the military superiority of the USA, although it supported the anti-communist group.

Conclusion

Conclusively, The Vietnam War is an article that extensively explores the art of War encompassing beliefs and influences of leaders, states, and individuals. The author uses this article to show that a country can be divided into two different regions with distinguished ideologies but not two different countries. Young showed how military and economic support can be used to gain other countries' resources and general imperialism. The authors tell a story where American is seen to exercise divisive activities related to historical and modern War. She uses leaders like Diem, Viet Dinh, and John F. Kennedy in her article to show the influence of leadership in instilling ideologies in people's minds. The author provided reliable data since she has already done comparative history and several other tasks related to foreign relations such as the Chinese and Russian Revolution.

Bibliography

Herzog, Tobey C. Vietnam war stories: Innocence lost. Routledge, 2017.

Young, Marilyn Blatt, John J. Fitzgerald, and A. Tom Grunfeld. The Vietnam War: A history in documents. Oxford University Press, 2003.