Which do you think was the most pointless war, WWI or Vietnam? (60s, European)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
If you read closely in depth the event of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the assassination and out brake of war. I bet your response would be..."What the ****".
When he was assinated, most of the Europeans did not care. Franz Joseph was said that Fredinand death saved the family ruling of Austria-Hungary. And life remained normal weeks after the assassination. It was just a few people (none who where rulers but advisors) who lied and twisted information between England, France, Russia, Germany and Austria-Hugary.
I voted WW1 because it was none of our business what went on in Europe. After all what do americans know about european history? Nothing now or back then.
Now the Vietnam war was different because Ho Chi Minh was a cut throat marxist Stalinist dictator. When he was elected nearly 1 million people fled to the south. He was out to conquer the orient and I believe that he had to be stopped because he would have had millions of people killed. The question isn't whether or not he had to be stopped but who was going to be the ones to stop him.
define pointless war? all wars are pointless if your side loses and have high casualties.
I'm looking at it from the point of view of the common people that have to fight and die in wars....the ELITES in government hardly make any sacrifices so any war they decide to fight is not pointless to them.
World War I marked the final chapter of the European blue blood elitists. One last grand twisted fight to knock everyone down to the ground and make them grow together. I think the cost was terrible, but to set the seeds for aligning Europe to end her great wars was a worthy end outcome. Of course, reparations to France and the UK from Germany weren't contained to render the war pointless and sow the seeds of the next conflict, but the struggle itself wasn't pointless.
Vietnam could have been avoided with a bit of diplomacy. Ho Chi Minh didn't start as a communist. The US armed him to help in the fight against the Japanese. After the war, Vietnam wasn't given her independence, she was handed back to France. The US was not about to back Ho Chi Minh against France even as the Communists were spreading through China. If the US wouldn't back him, the Communists were more than happy to take up the fight. Vietnam could have been an American ally, but America chose to protect France's colonial interests instead.
So my vote is that France rendered the struggles of each conflict pointless. Not fighting hard enough diplomatically was the squandering of/requirement for sacrifice.
Now obviously WWI had a lot more deaths and participants but aside from that speaking in terms of the overall goals and lack of achievement which do you think was the more pointless and unnecessary war?
WWI is the father of the 20th Century. Bastard child came screaming and kicking into the world. It's a very important event in the 20th Century chapter of Europe's endless civil war.
Woodrow Wilson should have paid attention to Ho Chi Minh's letter to the League of Nations, pleading for Vietnam's independence, written in the 1920s, and the Vietnam war would not have happened.
Now obviously WWI had a lot more deaths and participants but aside from that speaking in terms of the overall goals and lack of achievement which do you think was the more pointless and unnecessary war?
Woodrow Wilson should have paid attention to Ho Chi Minh's letter to the League of Nations, pleading for Vietnam's independence, written in the 1920s, and the Vietnam war would not have happened.
The US should have fought France on the side of Ho?
The US should have fought France on the side of Ho?
No, the US should have gotten France to agree to Vietnam's request for self-governance. No fighting, or Communists, needed.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.