Michelle Lieu #15

Mrs. Potts
English Honors P. 2
17 November 2014

The Enlightening Side of the Vietnam War

In present day, everyone views the Vietnam War/Cold War as a humongous disaster
or for people who were there, an unspeakable memory, but there were some positive views that
impacted humanity. One positive effect of the war was, The earlier war was very conventional
and traditional in that it involved the usual confrontation between opposing armies. "From the
American G.l.'s point of view, the enemy was the North Vietnamese army whose members
could be easily recognized and thus killed legally. The G.l.'s could relate easily to Vietnamese
villagers, talk to them, and eat with them (The Psychological Effects of the Vietnam War). G.I.
in this quote stands for government issue. The reason this quote is proven positive is that
people can be recognized as friend from foe so there isnt much to worry about shooting
someone who was on your side at the time. Also if a soldier was wounded or needed food, they
could ask for help from a friendly village. A second positive result was, Vietnam had succeeded
in evicting the United States(SparkNotes). This quote is believed to be positive because during
the war, the U.S. had dropped many bombs which lead to many battle scars. By forcing out the
U.S., Vietnam had prevented any more destruction or explosions that could have killed more
people than the accounted deaths already. The third concrete development was, Vietnam
completely changed the way the United States approached military action and helped define the
role of the United States within the new world order(SparkNotes). The war had taught the U.S.
a lesson about the way they should operate their military. That lesson had come to a whole
different view of the world for the eyes of Americans in the U.S and no one will be looking at the
world like they once did. A fourth decisive reaction was, many good refugees who found
themselves coming to America. The people that came here knew what communism was all

about and made a conscious decision to leave their homeland. In many respects they were as
important to America as any other group of immigrants before them, and they made a blind
effort to come here in order to escape oppression(Were There ANY Positive Outcomes of the
Vietnam War?). According to my sources, this was the greatest outcome of the war. There have
been people who dont agree with every method their leaders choose for them so they try to do
something about it such as it says in the quote. People have the right to choose and if their
leaders try to stop them, that could be the spark of another war. Humanity can be viewed in
different point of views including the Vietnam War, but in this case there are not many positive
facts on the Vietnam War.

The Ugly Side of the Vietnam War

According to historians, the Vietnam War was a very catastrophic time in history that
left scars in humanity today. A negative aftereffect of the war was, The War was a personal
failure on a national scale. From its covert beginnings, through the bloodiest, darkest days and
finally to the bitter end, this ten-year period of American history is a national disgrace (The
Psychological Effects of the Vietnam War). In simpler words, the war was a very terrible time
where no one in their right minds would want to live in. The war had dragged on for a long time
and I cant imagine lives of the Vietnamese people there. From my own knowledge, the people
must have suffered and lost a lot because of the war. Another adverse consequence was, Fiftyeight thousand were killed, two thousand captured, and three hundred fifty thousand; maimed
and wounded, almost everyone in this country still feels the effects of this conflict. Today, the
young people of this country cringe in response to the senselessness and waste of this
struggle(The Psychological Effects of the Vietnam War). The casualties of this war were costly
for everyone, including the U.S. even though they had withdrawn from the war before it had
even ended. However, the death tolls dont lie and many people had put their lives on the lines

for an unvictorious war. There is an additional unfavorable aftermath which was, The guerrilla
warfare had booby traps and mines planted by an invisible enemy, or it seemed like to the
Americans."4 These traps caused a lot of casualties among the American troops. At this stage
of the war, Americans began to view all Vietnamese soldiers and civilians as the enemy and as
racially inferior(The Psychological Effects of the Vietnam War). In this quote, it explains how
there was a large number in casualty. Also it seems that at a certain time in the war, the
Americans have made a grave mistake by jumping to the conclusion that all Vietnamese people
were their enemy. It doesnt make sense to me but even so, wars can cause people to forget
their purpose or whats worse, who we are. The final pessimistic conclusion of the war was, In
neighboring Kampuchea (as Cambodia was now called), Communist dictator Pol Pot and his
Khmer Rouge forces began a reign of terror in the hope of creating a pre-industrial utopia,
murdering around 2 million people in so-called killing fields(SparkNotes). There are times life
when citizens superiors or leaders can go astray or try to rule in an absolute monarchy world. It
is the reason why the Enlightenment philosopher, Baron de Montesquieu had created a method
called, separation of powers. If there ever was a time when a societys leaders had ever done
something out of their power, it is a citizens duty to question their leaders authority to keep
them honest. The Vietnam War had driven Vietnam towards a saddening age of time and is
leading towards a type of rule that we, Americans, try to abolish.

Works Cited
"The Psychological Effects of the Vietnam War." The Psychological Effects of the Vietnam
War. Web. 12 Nov. 2014.

<https://web.stanford.edu/class/e297c/war_peace/media/hpsych.html>.
SparkNotes. SparkNotes. Web. 12 Nov. 2014.
<http://www.sparknotes.com/history/american/vietnamwar/section10.rhtml>.
"Were There ANY Positive Outcomes of the Vietnam War?" Yahoo! Answers. Yahoo! Web. 13
Nov. 2014.
<https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100608183832AAnKdnI>.