This report will analyze the book “My Lai” by the historians Olson and Roberts. To look at the different issues that surrounded the My Lai massacre, it is necessary to look at the specific situation of the area at the time. The Vietminh emerged in 1941 with the aim of obtaining independence for Vietnam. The Japanese occupation ended with their defeat in 1945. That year, Ho Chi Minh, leader of the Vietminh and founder of the communist party of Indochina, proclaimed the autonomy of Vietnam.
France refused to accept Ho Chi Minh's declaration of independence, and sent troops to Indochina in an attempt to regain its control of the area. Different commentators have identified a wide range of factors and hypothesis as the reasons for the direct involvement of the United States in Indochina during the sixties. Most accounts about the Vietnam War identify two factors as crucial in order to explain the American participation in Vietnam.
These two factors are the domino theory and America's need for maintaining its credibility. Herring argued that the fall of Vietnam into the area of influence of the Soviet Union would have not provoked the automatic spread of communism to other parts of South East Asia. He argued that, driven by nationalistic sentiment, other countries of Southeastern Asia would have probably opposed to Chinese or Communist Vietnamese intentions, since ‘nationalism has proven to be the most potent and enduring force in recent history' (Herring: 462).
By providing military aid to South Vietnam, the United States were supporting the authoritarian regime of Ngo Dinh Diem. American forces and advisers trained the police force of South Vietnam, which at that point became Diem's principal instrument for the elimination of dissidents. As Robert D. Schulzinger affirmed, this became subject to controversy (90).
Buddhists organized protests against Diem's regime. Buddhists demanded to have the same rights as Catholics and requested the right to fly the Buddhist flag. Corruption and despotism did not end with Diem's fall. Even after his assassination during the coup of 1963, corruption continued being a significant feature of the Southern Vietnamese government.
[...] The Vietminh originated as a response to colonialism. In Herring's opinion, government advisers overestimated the importance of a hypothetical spread of communism to Vietnam and this is why they did not learn from the atrocities of the war that took place in My Lai and many other locations. McNamara agrees with this argument, stating that one of the main reasons for the defeat of the United States in Vietnam was the exaggeration of the threat that the Communist winning in Vietnam could have had in the United States. In Anatomy of a War, Gabriel Kolko challenged the common assumption that the domino theory or the need for the maintenance of America's credibility can explain the decisions of the U.S. [...]
[...] Examination of the My Lai massacre, one of the most infamous events of the Vietnam War, Review of the book "My Lai: A Brief History with Documents" (James Stuart Olson, Randy Roberts) This report will analyze the book “My Lai” by the historians Olson and Roberts. To look at the different issues that surrounded the My Lai massacre, it is necessary to look at the specific situation of the area at the time. The Vietminh emerged in 1941 with the aim of obtaining independence for Vietnam. The Japanese occupation ended with their defeat in 1945. That year, Ho Chi Minh, leader of the Vietminh and founder of the communist party of Indochina, proclaimed the autonomy of Vietnam. France refused to accept Ho Chi Minh's declaration of independence, and sent troops to Indochina in an attempt to regain its control of the area. Different commentators have identified a wide range of factors and hypothesis as the reasons for the direct involvement of the United States in Indochina during the sixties. Most accounts about the Vietnam War identify two factors as crucial in order to explain the American participation in Vietnam. These two factors are the domino theory and America's need for maintaining its credibility. Herring argued that the fall of Vietnam into the area of influence of the Soviet Union would have not provoked the automatic spread of communism to other parts of South East Asia. He argued that, driven by nationalistic sentiment, other countries of Southeastern Asia would have probably opposed to Chinese or Communist Vietnamese intentions, since ‘nationalism has proven to be the most potent and enduring force in recent history' (Herring: 462). [...]
[...] J., ed., Major Problems in the History of the Vietnam War, 3rd edition (Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2003). McMahon, R. J., ed., Major Problems in the History of the Vietnam War, 2nd edition (Lexington: D. C. Heath, 1995). McMahon, R. J., ed., Major Problems in the History of the Vietnam War, 3rd edition (Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2003). McMaster, H. R., Dereliction of Duty: Lyndon Johnson, Robert McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Lies That Led to Vietnam (New York: HarperCollinsPublishers, 1997). [...]
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