The Vietnam War cost the United States 58,000 lives and 350,000 casualties. It also resulted in between one and two million Vietnamese deaths.
Between 1945 and 1954, the Vietnamese waged an anti-colonial war against France and received $2.6 billion in financial support from the United States. The French defeat at the Dien Bien Phu was followed by a peace conference in Geneva, in which Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam received their independence and Vietnam was temporarily divided between an anti-Communist South and a Communist North. In 1956, South Vietnam, with American backing, refused to hold the unification elections. By 1958, Communist-led guerrillas known as the Viet Cong had begun to battle the South Vietnamese government.
To support the Souths government, the United States sent in 2,000 military advisors, a number that grew to 16,300 in 1963. The military condition deteriorated, and by 1963 South Vietnam had lost the fertile Mekong Delta to the Vietcong. In 1965, Johnson escalated the war, commencing air strikes on North Vietnam and committing ground forces, which numbered 536,000 in 1968. The 1968 Tet Offensive by the North Vietnamese turned many Americans against the war. The next president, Richard Nixon, advocated Vietnamization, withdrawing American troops and giving South Vietnam greater responsibility for fighting the war. His attempt to slow the flow of North Vietnamese soldiers and supplies into South Vietnam by sending American forces to destroy Communist supply bases in Cambodia in 1970 in violation of Cambodian neutrality provoked antiwar protests on the nations college campuses.
From 1968 to 1973 efforts were made to end the conflict through diplomacy. In January 1973, an agreement reached and U.S. forces were withdrawn from Vietnam and U.S. prisoners of war were released. In April 1975, South Vietnam surrendered to the North and Vietnam was reunited.
It was the longest war in American history and the most unpopular American war of the twentieth century. It resulted in nearly 60,000 American deaths and an estimated 2 million Vietnamese deaths. Even today, many Americans still ask whether the American effort in Vietnam was a sin, a blunder, a necessary war, or a noble cause, or an idealistic, if failed, effort to protect the South Vietnamese from totalitarian government.
附录,对照对象:
Kennan was also a prominent critic of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. Vietnam, he would say, is not our business. He argued that the escalation of the war made a negotiated settlement much less likely
上一篇: SAT作文中间段修改实例讲解(二)
下一篇: 一篇SAT作文的实例讲解
体坛英语资讯:Olympic champion Kipyegon wins womens 1500m title at athletics worlds (updated)
国内英语资讯:China, Indonesia to enhance cooperation
体坛英语资讯:Olympic champion Kipruto claims 3000m steeplechase title at worlds
The dark ages?
国际英语资讯:Sisi reiterates need for Qatar to respond to Arab quartets concerns
国际英语资讯:Syria urges UN to dissolve U.S.-led coalition over crimes against civilians
国内英语资讯:Former senior legislator sentenced to life imprisonment for graft
国际英语资讯:Russia reserves right to retaliate against new EU sanctions: foreign ministry
国内英语资讯:77 telecom fraud suspects returned to China from Fiji
国际英语资讯:Indian army says five militants killed on Kashmir LoC
国际英语资讯:Syrian army captures last IS stronghold in Homs province
国际英语资讯:China continues to see slowdown in luxury goods spending: report
体坛英语资讯:Czech Spotakova lifts second javelin throw world title (update)
体坛英语资讯:Olympic champions triumph, China gets 1st medal at London worlds
国内英语资讯:Chinese, British foreign policy chiefs discuss Korean Peninsula issue by phone
国际英语资讯:Venezuelas constituent assembly names interim prosecutor general
Echo chamber 回声室效应
体坛英语资讯:Frenchman Bosse crowned mens 800m world champion (updated)
国际英语资讯:Young versus old, new divide in Brexit Britain
体坛英语资讯:World record holder Lavillenie happy after taking mens pole vault bronze
国际英语资讯:Spotlight: Chinese Americans divided on Trumps new immigration bill
体坛英语资讯:Walsh wins mens shot put champion at worlds
体坛英语资讯:Dutch soccer women honored in Utrecht for winning Euro title
体坛英语资讯:Gong wins Chinas first gold medal, surprise victories for Warholm and Francis
国内英语资讯:China calls for mutual respect in strengthening relations with U.S.
国际英语资讯:ASEAN foreign ministers commend Chinas regional role
体坛英语资讯:LA residents concerned over city councils decision on 2028 Olympics
任职64年,96年的菲利普亲王终于退休!
国际英语资讯:Poverty, illiteracy responsible for security challenges in N Nigeria: governor
国际英语资讯:Britain denies agreeing to multi-billion under Brexit divorce bill