A Look At The Photo And Video Images From The Vietnam War

A look at the photo and video images from the Vietnam War reveals a confusing picture. On the one hand, there are South Vietnamese soldiers, members of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN), cheerfully working with American troops and often commanded by American ‘advisors.’ In contrast, other South Vietnamese men and women attacked any Americans that they found vulnerable; these were the Vietcong, the freedom army that fought in alliance with North Vietnam for ‘liberation’ of the South from ‘imperialism.’ So, the War in South Vietnam was politically a complex one, with many opposing factors and interests. In consequence, the relationship between the South Vietnamese people and the American population in the country was a complex†¦show more content†¦The Vietnamese people fought a bitter war to free themselves from French imperial rule, and saw the war end with the division of the country into the Communist North and the free South. Later, when American people came to Vietnam in large numbers, the Vietnamese saw rich, technologically advanced white people intruding into their country. They saw another version of the French, another white imperialist, and this contributed to feelings of resentment against the Americans that they encountered. In addition, the average South Vietnamese person had a longing for the reunification of Vietnam, for the joining of North and South. Since the North was fighting for the reunification of the country (under its rule) many South Vietnamese sided with the North, for the sake of reunification. Others sided with the North for the communization of the South. Some sided with the North for both reasons. These people opposed the American presence, and thought to harm any American that they saw, for the simple reason that the policy of America was to prevent both communization and reunification with the North. Those who felt most strongly about reunification or communization, or both , joined the Vietcong, a freedom organization that among other things killed as many Americans --- civilian or military --- that they could. On the other hand, many South Vietnamese feared communist rule, and did not want reunification with the North at the price of being communized and ruled by a