The Vietnam War

I can't pretend that I know a lot about the Vietnam War. I have heard about it in the past, but except for that I couldn't provide many facts about it if anyone asked me. Before the discussion we had in class all I really knew about the Vietnam War was that it was fought in Vietnam, the U.S. military was involved, and that it certainly was catastrophic. I didn't know much about it and didn't have many relevant questions, though, as we started discussing the topic in class and we had to write down things or facts that we were interested in knowing, I started wondering about how many casualties there were, what was the cause of the war, what impacts did it have, and what other people thought about it.

Many facts that I learned were based on others' inputs and knowledge. I had no great facts to contribute, though listening to the rest of the class I learned many interesting information. I learned that the war was fought because of communism, that America supported (paid) for the war, and that it was the first "living-room war". The Vietnam War resulted in 304,000 casualties, the death of 58,000 Americans, 61% of which were 21 or older, and that 75,000 people were severely disabled. Learning about all these facts, I realized that the war was a catastrophic event that scarred all those who were a part of it, who lived, and whose lives were taken.