Introduction
The Cold War military conflicts in Asia were significantly marked by the active involvement of foreign parties, specifically the USA. A long history of Britain’s, France’s, and the US’s actions in China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam shows how these empires pursued their economic and political influence in the East to expand their dominance. As the southern and northern lands of Korea, as well as Vietnam, were separated due to the influence of foreign landlords and communists, the populations of these countries were exposed to wars. The USA claimed its purpose in both wars to be the support of democracy in the East. However, the true reason for its active involvement in the Korean and Vietnamese civil wars was to preserve inequality and hierarchal organization of society on these territories to expand its capitalistic rule. In this paper, the readings by two authors, Cumings and Neale, will be used to draw on the similarities between the US’s actions in the Korean War and Vietnam. The discussion is organized to argue that the military actions of America were motivated not by its fighting for democracy in Asia but to impose its capitalistic rule.
US’s Actions in Korea and Vietnam During the Conflicts
With the intensification of the Cold War in the 1950-s, the chase for dominance between the Communist countries and the US was manifested by the invasion of the empires into the domestic affairs of Vietnam and Korea. Although the United States’ authorities claimed that their intentions were guided by pursuing democracy, the actions the US army made in Asia demonstrate the opposite. As the readings of both Cumings and Neale show, the US forces were experimenting with some outrageous means of destruction of cities as a way to suppress the civil fights of the locals for their countries. In an attempt to threaten North Korean civilians and diminish their resistance to landlords, the US exploited experimental techniques of destruction. Since targeted bombing was not sufficiently destructive, deliberate burning of whole cities with the help of napalm and the disproportionate bombing of civilian territories was actively practiced (Cumings, pp. 150-151). At the same time, the publically reported actions portrayed American soldiers targeting separate bombs on the enemies.
Similarly, the same means of destruction were used in Vietnam. As Neale states, “the planes dropped over 8 million tons of explosives” on the cities of Vietnam, which caused devastating lives losses (p. 75). When comparing the deaths on the two sides, 58,000 and 250,000 South Vietnamese soldiers were killed (Neale, p. 75). However, the losses are much more significant if one counts the deaths of civilians. The air war that was extensively utilized by the US forces to destroy the lands was marked by inhumane cruelty. The means in possession of the American army significantly outweighed those of the locals, thus leaving them without a chance to respond equally. In such a manner, the US’s actions in Korea and Vietnam followed the same pattern and were aimed at suppressing the civilians to force the capitalistic rule over Asia.
The motivation for active inclusion in the civil war was similar to the US’s actions in Korea and Vietnam. Due to the intensification of the tensions between the Communist North and the pro-US South of Vietnam, there occurred a threat to the strength of anti-Communism in the USA (Neale, p. 74). Moreover, America had sent its numerous troops to Vietnam and was publically committed to delivering its claimed goals to preserve democracy. This propaganda that was aimed at covering the true reasons for the US’s invasion of Vietnam and Korea was the common feature of the two wars. While Korean and Vietnamese civilian people fought for the reunification of their countries, America pursued its capitalistic dominance on their lands.
The real-life depiction of the events that took place in Vietnam and Koreaallowsw for imagining the horrors imposed on the civilians. One of the shocking aspects of America’s actions in these wars is the use of napalm as a “wonder weapon” that tortured civilians who were “drenched in napalm” (Cumings, p. 153). It is disturbing how the thing that causes horrible suffering to people can be a reason of pride for the military industry of the US. Even the sanitariums where medical help to the wounded was provided were deliberately bombed by the Americans. As Neale states, strafing and bombing were targeted at patients; “the Americans returned again and again until the sanitarium has been destroyed” (p. 77). Overall, all these actions were motivated by the US’s intention to “kill the Vietnamese until they gave up,” in the same manner as it was done in Korea (Neale, p. 85). These facts only justify the discrepancy between the publically presented democratic goals and real capitalistic ones pursued by the USA.
Conclusion
In summation, the US’s influence on Vietnam and Korea was motivated by America’s need to dominate over the Communists. The vividly observed similarities in the propaganda and real actions of the US troops in Vietnam and Korea during the two wars show how America was ready to kill millions of civilians to maintain its capitalistic rule in opposition to Communism. The people of Korea and Vietnam only suffered from America’s destructive actions, which it called help.
References
- Cumings, Bruce. The Korean War: A History. Random House Publishing Group, 2010.
- Neale, Jonathan. ‘Firepower.’ A People’s History Of The Vietnam War, edited by Howard Zinn, New Press, 2003, pp. 74-97.