The reasons why the Vietnam War lasted so long is a very controversial subject among Americans. There is no simple answer to as why the war lasted so long. Many factors have to be considered when analyzing the war. The first factor that has to be considered is whether or not the U.S. really belonged in the Vietnam War in the first place. The initial reason that the U.S. became involved in Vietnam …showed first 75 words of 900 total…

…showed last 75 words of 900 total…the people of the northern provinces. Ho became a “symbol of nationalism and the struggle for freedom to the overwhelming majority of the population” (12). The U.S. underestimated Ho’s revolution. They got involved in a civil conflict which probably made the Vietnamese nationalists even more determined to win. Because the U.S. thought they were preventing the spread of communism, they ended up prolonging a civil conflict, which ended up with enormous human costs.