Writing a Vietnam War Essay

Vietnam War is a rather ambiguous topic – there is no generally accepted point of view that would explain all its aspects in a manner satisfactory for all the conflicting parties. It has been the reason for a great social upheaval while it was happening, and still it has a lot of potential for analysis using different approaches. As you may see, writing a Vietnam War essay can be, on the one hand, not prohibitively difficult – the information on this topic is readily available to everyone, there are lots and lots of works by celebrated specialists proving this or that point of view, and you can choose any and each one of them without being afraid of not finding anything to support your theory. On the other hand, the memory of it is still very much alive and when writing such a work one has to be considerate enough not to tread on other people’s sore spots.

 

Possible Vietnam War Essay Topics

The first step in writing an essay is always choosing a topic; and the right choice may save you a lot of trouble. Generally it is better to make your topic rather neutral – you will have a lot of possibilities to express your point of view in the course of writing, there is no need to shout about it beforehand. Decide what aspect of the war you are going to study, e.g.:

• Political background and consequences.
• Strategic aspect.
• Reasons why the war came to exactly this outcome.

 

Vietnam war essay topics are numerous, you just have to think a little bit and try to choose something not very trite.

 

Relating the History of the Vietnam War

Let’s say you’ve decided to write about the history of the war proper, not its geopolitical consequences and suchlike. You may describe the way it went in general, without paying any special attention to specific episodes, but it is most likely a no-win variant, because an essay is a small piece of writing and you won’t have enough time and space to give anything more than a very superficial account of the war. A better approach is to look at the history of the Vietnam War and choose a separate episode, for example, the Tet Offensive, and speak at length about what makes it special, in what ways it influenced the outcome of the war and so on. The narrower the topic is, the better.

 

Hidden Pitfalls of Writing a Vietnam War Paper

Vietnam War is a very controversial issue, and different people will have diametrically different opinions about it, including your tutor or professor. Although we don’t suggest that you should try to ingratiate yourself with your tutor and write what he wants to read, it is always a good idea to know who are you writing for. Some people like when students show spirit and are ready to stand up for themselves, some are annoyed by it. Finding out beforehand will make your Vietnam War paper all the more successful.