Post War History-Vietnam
"America's postwar troubles pale in comparison to conditions in Vietnam, which I revisited in early 1981. I rediscovered a land not only raveged by a generation of almost uninterrrupted conflict, but governed by an inept and repressive regime incompetent to cope with the challenge of recovery. Rebuilding Vietnam would have been a stupendous task under the best of circumstances. The war shattered its economy, disrupted the social texture, and exhausted its population in both the north and the south."(Karnow,27)
Prime Minister Pham Van Dong's take on the conditions in which Vietnam faced after the war was "Yes, we defeated the United States. But now we are plagued by problems. we do not have enough to eat. We are a poor, underdeveloped nation. Waging a war is simple, but running a country is very difficult."(Karnow,27-28)
"The Vietnam War devastated that nation in many ways, but the horrendous death toll often overshadows its other effects. One long-term effect that is seen now and will persist is the ecological damage. Many point to Vietnam, where dense jungles were another enemy to subdue, as one of the clearest examples of environmental damage during warfare." (Lanier-Graham, xxvii). Within the Vietnam War many new technologies were inroduced some of which contributed to Vietnam's ecological change from a once-pristine habitat to an almost apocalyptic state following the war. These technologies included, chemical deforestation techniques, Rome plows and new, more destructive bombs. Many effects of the Vietnam War on the environment within Vietnam were evident that they could not be changed or reversed. Many species of animals and vegetation were greatly reduced and, in some cases, became extinct. In these situations, little can be done to amend the problems that the war created for the ecology of Vietnam.
A survey points out the numbers for those who died from the "U.S., South Vietnamese, and countless thousands in Laos and Cambodia, and it is estimated that a third of the population of South Vietnam have become refugees in the course of the past seven years. But those figures merely hint at the vast destruction of the social fabric and economies of Indochina wrought as a consequence of this tragic war. There is no measuring the ture cost of a shattered social structure, lost opportunities for development, persistent inflation, black marketing, corruption, and prostitution."(Williams,300)
For both the U.S. and Vietnam the war was a tragedy on both sides. The effect this war had on the two countries was their leadership was weakened, the people were angered with the outcome being that no specific side technically won the war, and they both lost lives that resulted in the thousands and millions. In communism attempting to be stopped and a democracy being put into action, the result of the war never reached this goal; shortly after the Vietnam War, communism gradually gained control.
Karnow,Stanley. Vietnam A History The First Complete Account of the Vietnam War. Penguin Books:New York, 1983
Williams A. William, McCormick Thomas, Gardner Lloyd, and Lafeber Walter. America in Vietnam. W.W. Norton and Company: New York, 1985
Prime Minister Pham Van Dong's take on the conditions in which Vietnam faced after the war was "Yes, we defeated the United States. But now we are plagued by problems. we do not have enough to eat. We are a poor, underdeveloped nation. Waging a war is simple, but running a country is very difficult."(Karnow,27-28)
"The Vietnam War devastated that nation in many ways, but the horrendous death toll often overshadows its other effects. One long-term effect that is seen now and will persist is the ecological damage. Many point to Vietnam, where dense jungles were another enemy to subdue, as one of the clearest examples of environmental damage during warfare." (Lanier-Graham, xxvii). Within the Vietnam War many new technologies were inroduced some of which contributed to Vietnam's ecological change from a once-pristine habitat to an almost apocalyptic state following the war. These technologies included, chemical deforestation techniques, Rome plows and new, more destructive bombs. Many effects of the Vietnam War on the environment within Vietnam were evident that they could not be changed or reversed. Many species of animals and vegetation were greatly reduced and, in some cases, became extinct. In these situations, little can be done to amend the problems that the war created for the ecology of Vietnam.
A survey points out the numbers for those who died from the "U.S., South Vietnamese, and countless thousands in Laos and Cambodia, and it is estimated that a third of the population of South Vietnam have become refugees in the course of the past seven years. But those figures merely hint at the vast destruction of the social fabric and economies of Indochina wrought as a consequence of this tragic war. There is no measuring the ture cost of a shattered social structure, lost opportunities for development, persistent inflation, black marketing, corruption, and prostitution."(Williams,300)
For both the U.S. and Vietnam the war was a tragedy on both sides. The effect this war had on the two countries was their leadership was weakened, the people were angered with the outcome being that no specific side technically won the war, and they both lost lives that resulted in the thousands and millions. In communism attempting to be stopped and a democracy being put into action, the result of the war never reached this goal; shortly after the Vietnam War, communism gradually gained control.
Karnow,Stanley. Vietnam A History The First Complete Account of the Vietnam War. Penguin Books:New York, 1983
Williams A. William, McCormick Thomas, Gardner Lloyd, and Lafeber Walter. America in Vietnam. W.W. Norton and Company: New York, 1985
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