The U.S. was involved with many wars during the twentieth century. Many times, these wars were fought to defend the U.S. against foreign aggression. The two major wars in the twentieth century were the Vietnam War and the Gulf War. The United States had the right motives to fight in the Vietnam War and the Gulf War. The Vietnam War and the Persian Gulf War are examples of wars fought over foreign aggression.
The Vietnamese War started in 1964 when the U.S. entered into the war. North Vietnam was controlled by Ho Chi Minh, and he wanted control of the democratic South Vietnam. South Vietnam begged to the U.S. for support against a strong North Vietnamese army. The U.S. Military entered the Vietnam War, due to an incident at the Gulf of Tonkin. It was allegedly reported that U.S. ships were attacked by the North Vietnamese ships. President Lyndon Johnson declared that North Vietnam acted in an aggressive manner towards the U.S. He accepted the South Vietnamese request and authorized U.S. troops to be sent to South Vietnam.
In contrast, the U.S. entered the Gulf War as a response to the actions of the dictator Saddam Hussein. Saddam Hussein abused his power by invading the neighbor region of Kuwait in August 1990. He had attacked the oil fields. The U.S. had an interest in defending the oil fields for their own pride and the global community.
During the Vietnam War, the U.S. used the strategy called Military Assistance to Command. Vietnam. The goal of Military Assistance to Command Vietnam was to draw out the North Vietnamese from their escape routes systems, and cause a high death toll. Many people were killed because of bombs and shells. In Vietnam there were high rates of birth defects because of Agent Orange and other chemicals things. The North Vietnamese responded with guerilla warfare, or hit and run attacks. In other words, the North Vietnamese figured out the moves of the U.S. military and kept the Americans off balance. Eventually, American frustration led to a change in strategy, and mass bombings by the Air Force was the new strategy. In the Gulf War, the U.S. coalition had a better plan to defeat Hussein. They had better weapons, such as tanks and missiles. The coalition defeated Hussein’s troops in one hundred days. In this short time, Kuwait was freed, and the oil field was protected.
The main Reason for the Vietnam War was to stop the spread of Communism. It was during the Cold War and the U.S. was scared that they could lose the Eastern Section of the world to communism. At first, the soldiers thought they had a duty to stop communism. When the war went on, they lost that belief. Eventually, the U.S. withdrew their troops from Vietnam in 1973. Vietnam became a single communist country in 1975.
On the other hand, the U.S. and allies worked together to win the Gulf War. Western observers felt the victory of the Gulf War was diminished, even though Saddam Hussein was weakened, because he remained in power. Although they won the war, the Western powers did not remove Saddam Hussein and this many felt was a failure of the Gulf War. The fighting had unresolved issues which had included the Iraq and the UN Sanctions which hadn’t ended the war. A security council had laid a demand to end sanction on April 2, 1991. The demands were to accept the liability charges, destroying their chemicals and the weapons and also demand that Iraq not have a nuclear weapons program and accept international inspections. Western Powers wanted a rebellion so they could overthrow Saddam Hussein. In a short amount of time, they defeated a dictator and freed the people of Kuwait. This worked with better weapons and better communication. A look at the military strategy of the two wars cannot be complete without looking at the soldiers who were involved in the war and people put their lives on the line. Who had an easier time of it in the Vietnam War when it came to getting the support they needed soldiers so they could fight with their enemies. In Vietnam the Vietnamese used guerilla tactics for almost the whole war. Most of the Iraqi soldiers were in the gulf war and most of them stayed in Baghdad. In the Vietnam War they had used many types of different Weapons for their soldiers. The US soldiers had used brand new weapons. In the Gulf War the Iraqi’s were better armed than the Viet Cong. The coalition forces had many superior weapons and had smart weapon technology. The coalition forces had better communications system in the 1960s and 1980s. The troops had the support in the Gulf War but the American people hated the Vietnamese War and didn’t support the troops at all. It made it easier for the gulf war troops to fight in the war.
In conclusion, these are my views of the reasons why the U.S. fought in these two different wars. The Military Assistance in Command in Vietnam and coalition were used because that what they had in those time periods. The enemy was similar in these wars. Vietnam and Gulf War were both caused by dictatorship, however they had different ideas. Saddam Hussein was not only a military leader in the Gulf War but also lead military action in killing people and destroying people’s lives. Ho chi Minh wanted to unite his country, and Saddam Hussein wanted to control his neighbors. I believe this paper has given reasons, of why the U.S. fought in wars so they could achieve freedom.
