Essay On My Lai Massacre

656 Words3 Pages
The most memorable moment from my trip to Vietnam was the deeply saddening visit to the village My Lai. Committed by Company C of the U.S army, hundreds of innocent civilians were slaughtered. As the survivors spoke I watched in dismay and considered how it is possible for humans to cause such pain and suffering to one another. In that moment, history became more than just a subject you learn in a classroom, but a fundamental way to understand how we as humans have interacted in the past and how this has shaped our current ethos. Events such as the My Lai massacre have enabled us to see the flaws we possess and the mistakes we have made, giving us an opportunity to correct them in future events. For instance, The Vietnam War thoroughly changed the way the United States approaches military actions. This demonstrates how historical events are closely tied in with the global affairs of today and has ignited within me a deeper interest in politics, giving my study of History a true context and a desire to enhance my knowledge further.…show more content…
Whilst in Vietnam, I was also exposed to the lasting effects the war had had on the Vietnamese economy. This war crippled the Vietnamese economy, however today Vietnam is considered one of the fastest growing economies in the world. In 2005, it had the second largest growing economy in Asia only trailing China. This illustrates how although there was a communist victory in the Vietnam War, their weak socialist economic model led to years of economic collapse. Conversely, today their economy is booming due to its capitalistic ideologies, but corruption and inequality are on the
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  • My Lai Massacre Argumentative Essay

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    this massacre increased the amount of support given in favor of the Vietnam War. The massacre in My Lai can also be related to events that have occurred in present day. Forty years after, there was a shooting in the southern Kandahar province which is located in Afghanistan (Carter). The shooting that was conducted by American soldiers such as Robert Bales, and took the lives of 16 people, had evident similarities with the My Lai Massacre (Carter). The relation this attack has with the My Lai Massacre

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