Impact of the Vietnam War on International Relations

Running head: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
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1INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Answer 1
Human history has been dotted with innumerable wars and conflicts that have
historically left undeniable negative impact on humanity. The two world wars and the nuclear
attack during the second world war has convinced the people across the globe about the
futility of wars, and that it only contributes to human devastation and no permanent solution
to political and social issues. The Vietnam War which is also known as the second Indochina
war was one of the wars in the last century that changed the course of the history and the
political course of the world.
This war was known as the “Resistance War against America” in Vietnam and the
Vietnamese people whole heartedly supported the cause of this particular war (Short 2014).
The Vietnam War was fought primarily between North Vietnam and South Vietnam. The two
sides of Vietnam was supported by the two political blocks of the world, the Communist
block headed by Soviet Union along with its communist ally nations, and the Liberal or
Western block headed by America. North Vietnam had the support of the Soviet and China
while South was catapulted by USA and other western powers. This can be called one of the
many proxy wars that were going on around the world as a consequence of the Cold War.
Within South Vietnam was a guerrilla faction that was supported by the North Vietnam who
fought a guerrilla war from within the country against the allied military of South Vietnam
and the USA. There was a huge military might that was involved from the USA’s side who
were using air power, artillery and heavy fire power to counter the guerrilla warfare of the
Viet Cong, the communist guerrilla faction that was fighting the war. The allied military
force of South Vietnam and America ad to defend the formal military of North Vietnam
known as “North Vietnamese Army”, or “People’s Army of Vietnam” at the border and the
Viet Cong from within the territory of South Vietnam.

2INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
The political forces involved in the process therefore consisted of the two blocks of
political power of the cold war. The communist blocks constituting the members USSR,
China, some countries of Eastern Europe and Scandinavian nations had been on a policy of
spreading communism in more number of countries. However the liberal block of the western
countries consisting of United States of America, United Kingdom, France, Australia and
many other Western countries had been on a containment policy that was aimed at stopping
this spread of Communism across the world. Japan however had been encouraging a
settlement through dialogues (Havens 2014). Therefore the Vietnam War was seen as the
Communist effort of spreading communism on the other hand the western effort of
containing that policy by the Domino Theory.
The proxy wars of the Cold War gad been the cause of many of the conflicts within
many nations. The Asian and African countries were also affected by the cold war, as the
colonial powers were using their colonies to supply military might at the proxy war zones.
John F Kennedy was the American President during the Vietnam War, whereas Ho
Chi Minh was the leader of the North Vietnamese faction who led the revolution and wanted
the unification of Vietnam under a communist umbrella. During the long drawn war which
happened in several instalments across 20 years, from 1955 to 1975, four Presidenst served
the United States of America among whom John F Kennedy and Richard Nixon played
important role in shaping the conflict. Post 1970s the United States of America started to
withdraw from South Vietnam and encouraged the process of “Vietnamisation”. Within the
United States of America, a counter culture developed in view of the atrocities at the Vietnam
War zone. There was rise of a section of people within America who started living a life of
rebel by not following norms of the society and the government standards.