Americans have fought multiple wars from 1900 to 2000, some were lost, and some won. The most critical wars were the first and second world wars that saw the Americans emerge victorious. The United State of America has taken part in wars with Arab countries like Vietnam and Iraq. The Vietnam War did cost the federal government billions of shillings in paying soldiers and reconstructing the country. The wars in Middle East faced resistance from the inhabitants of the country and from other super power nations. The different wars that the America participated led to the need of using new type of weapons like nuclear powered weapons.
One of the main causes of the failure in the Vietnam War is the metamorphosis of weapons from the time of fighting the First World War to the cold war period. The American upon releasing a deadly nuclear weapon in Japan won the Second World War. The nuclear weapon saw the Japanese government surrender eventually leading to end of the war (Henretta, James and Rebecca 212). The Vietnamese war could not be fought using nuclear weapons because of treaties signed after the second war that countries would not use nuclear weapons to win a war. The Americans were left to fight using guns and planes, the same type of weaponry used by their Vietnamese counterparts. The Russian were blamed of supplying the Vietnamese with weapons because they thought the Americans wanted to eliminate communism while introducing capitalism in Vietnam. During the World War 2, the Russians were in support of the Americans making it easier for America and the allies to win the war with minimal resistance.
The lack of knowledge of terrains for the army during fighting time contributed to failure in Vietnam War. The terrain in Vietnam was mostly characterized by lack of roads and mountainous regions that were hard to access. The Vietnamese guerilla fighters had good knowledge of the terrains making it possible for them to win any encounter with the American foot soldiers (Documentary). There were beliefs that some countries like Russia sponsored mercenaries to participate in the war in order for the United State army to lose the war. Europeans on their own terrain fought the World War 1 and World War 2 in Europe. The Americans came to the war to offer support to British and French soldiers against the Nazis. The support from the foot soldiers with good knowledge of the terrain made it easier for the Americans to win the war with minimal resistance. The American role of providing logistical and weapons to the fighters ensured less American soldiers lost their lives during the war period. The large number of American soldiers who lost their lives during the war early 21 century war led to demoralization of the soldiers in Iraq and Vietnam. The demoralization would lead to soldiers not performing effectively in the war as was in World War1 and World War 2.
The war in Afghanistan, Vietnam, and Iraq was characterized by religious propaganda among the Muslim communities living in and outside these countries. The religious protagonists encouraged young Muslims to take part in the war awaiting rewards of twelve virgins from heaven when they die. The young who headed the call decided to take part in terrorist attacks in any place they would see the American soldiers. The terrorist attacks sometimes killed many soldiers in cities during patrols. The terrorism act usage in war was a new thing that American soldiers had to overcome. The soldiers would not identify genuine locals in villages from terrorists who were waiting to attack. The terrorist attacks sometimes caused death to the locals within the different villages making the locals resist the existence of the American soldiers in their soil. The World War1 and World War 2 had a defined enemy with defined uniforms making it easier to identify an approaching enemy. The enemies in the World War 2 included the Germans and the Japanese who had defined army basis. The defined army basis would allow the American soldiers to bomb them as part of their strategy to win the war. The non-defined enemy in the Afghanistan and the rest of the Middle East countries posed a challenge to the military on areas to attack without inflicting pain on the innocent civilian population.
In conclusion, the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Vietnam were hard for the Americans because of the political, economic, and religious propagandas instilled on the occupants of the country. The challenges of getting support from locals from these regions made it harder for the American soldier to survive or learn the terrain in these regions, which was different from the support the Americans received from citizens of the Allied countries. The Vietnamese and Afghanistan war metamorphosing from a military-to-military war to military to civilian war made it impossible to be won by the American armies because of lack of well-defined enemy. The readily availability of arms in the world made it easier for civilians to acquire weapons which they used to attack army men protecting them demoralization soldiers in the fields to retreat from battle field.
Works Cited
Documentary. American Take Charge. Retrieved 26 March 2013 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaVCEgJxxbI. Web.
Henretta, James A., and Rebecca Edwards. America : A Concise History. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2012. Print.
