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Contents 1 Introduction 2 The Renaissance 3 Timeline 4 English Civil War 5 An Interview: The Vietnam War

[edit] Introduction

In my career, I am making reports of several different events or time periods. I have compiled all that information here, on this page. Please, don't copy it as it is here for my friends' reference needs and to help them in their journeys.

Please have some happy reading, and please don't edit. This is my own work, and it isn't expected to be completely accurate.

[edit] The Renaissance

[edit] Timeline

This Timeline will not be revealed until the end of this school year.

[edit] English Civil War

When James I died in 1625, after his struggles over money with the parliament, Charles I took the throne. After immediately taking to the throne, Charles I requested money from the Parliament. He needed so much money because he was always at constant war with France and Spain. When the Parliament would refuse to hand over the money, he dissolved them. Charles I was obligated to bring back the Parliament in 1628 due to his excessive need of money. When the Parliament came back, they forced him to sign the Petition of Rights. The Petition of Rights was generally a set of laws used by Parliament to lower the power of the king. Charles, not caring what he had to do to get the money, signed the Petition of Rights. He then abided by the four listed laws:  He would not imprison subjects without due cause.  He would not house soldiers in private homes.  He would not levy taxes without Parliament’s consent.  He would not impose martial law in peacetime. Charles did not notice that these laws limited his powers; therefore he continued on with his reign. In 1629, he realized that the Parliament had limited his powers; therefore he dissolved the Parliament and rejected its authority. Charles I was now on a gradual incline of money issues. With no money and only one reasonable way to get it, of course from the Parliament, he forced all kinds of fees and fines on his people. He was losing his reputation and was sent into demise. In addition to his money issues, he tried to get the Presbyterian Scots to accept a version of the Anglican prayer book. All he wanted was for two kingdoms to unite under one religion. They furiously rebelled with a mighty army threatening to invade England. Charles again needed money, which could only now come from Parliament. Parliament realized that this was a good time to take Charles down; therefore he called them back into session. Parliament again passed laws to limit his power in 1641. He got upset with them and tried to arrest its leaders in January 1642, but failed as the leaders escaped. Charles now realized that he was with nothing to resort to, so he fled to raise an army in the North. People in the North became loyal to him. He gathered a group of followers who were then called Royalists or Cavaliers, as too did the Parliament with their Roundheads. The war between King Charles’ supporters and opponents fought from 1642 to 1649 was called the English Civil War. Charles’ supporters were Catholics, whereas Parliament supporters were Puritans. This was the main reason why there was always a feud between the King and the Parliament; they both had different religions; King Charles wanted to impose his religion on the country and Parliament didn’t think that was appropriate. Neither side really took any leads in the war until The Roundheads discovered a general who could win—Oliver Cromwell. In 1645, he took power and started the Puritans’ long lead in the war. The Puritans did so well that they took the king prisoner in 1647. They put Charles on trial for treason against Parliament. They easily found him guilty and condemned him to death. This death was revolutionary; never before had there been a public execution of any one person, let alone a King. Cromwell now ruled with power. He abolished the House of Lords in 1649. Parliament had its own type of government. There were two houses. The leading house was the House of Lords, like the United States’ House of Senates; the second house was the House of Commoners, like the United States’ House of Representatives. He then established commonwealth. This was a republican form of government. He then sent home the members of Parliament he didn’t use in his new government back to their homes in 1653. His final form of reform for the time was his drafting of a constitution. He ended up not liking it and destroyed it to become a military dictator. Oliver Cromwell continued to rule and reign as a military dictator until he died in 1658. When he left his people, the government caved in, leading to a new Parliament. Sick of military rule, Charles I was invited back to the throne by the Parliament in 1659. When Prince Charles came to London in 1660, people praised and bells sounded throughout the city. He took to the throne and became known as Charles II. His time of reign when he restored the monarchy is called the Restoration. The English Civil War left a lot of impressions on today’s society. It greatly impacted our government styles today. In the English Civil War, Cromwell established a commonwealth, which is common today. The House of Lords and House of Commoners reflects the United States’ House of Senates and House of Representatives. This kind of government is common throughout the world today.

[edit] An Interview: The Vietnam War

An unnecessary war; a waste of money; the out-of-control war; a propaganda for war; a waste of time; a threat to the United States of America; the longest war in American history, yet never needed to take place. This is just the tip of the opinions many Americans who lived during the Vietnam War have for the war. It doesn’t take a scholar to realize that most Americans’ feelings about the Vietnam War were of disgust, hatred, and low-life wants. The Vietnam War; a seemingly endless and avoidable war, lasting sixteen years. Just a simple interview can explain a lot about history, especially on a subject as involving as this, but despite the views of an “unnecessary” or “avoidable” war, it takes a lot to fully understand it, including some pre-war intent knowledge. Upon beginning my interview, I immediately received the “unnecessary” views on the war; but what was the cause? Communism. To 3rd world countries’ people, it was the sparkling Holy Grail of life; for everyone to be socially equal; to be guaranteed food; to be assured a job; to receive an income; to make a future; these are just some of the benefits of communism. To those with authority and the never-ending fantasy to gain total control and power, it was the almighty goal. Communism was able to spread like dominos, from country to country to country. If one country was led to believe that communism was the best way to live, they could become communist. By time, other countries could convert their ways to communism. This theory was the Domino Theory. Major power-holding countries such as Spain, France, England, and the United States looked down upon communism and realized that 3rd world people didn’t know how treacherous it was. This was what led the major world leaders to agree that if a country attempted to take on communism, they would intervene and take them down, for fear that the Domino Theory would take place. And so, we delve into the pre-war history.

The Vietnam War had an intricate past that led to its beginning. To start off, the rise of the war ultimately began from the eight-year war between the Vietnamese and the French. This was a war in which the Vietnamese fought for their independence from the French. In 1954, the Vietnamese won their independence; the North becoming communist and the South becoming Democratic. The North’s society, ruled by the powerful dictator Ho Chi Minh, was immediately improved and strong; however, the South’s society and living conditions were much of the same as when the French ruled the territory, being led by a small ruling class. In 1954 when the war was over, the U.S. President Dwight D Eisenhower sent over millions of dollars and many military advisors to South Vietnam to help them train an army. With the added support of South Vietnam from the U.S., the Soviet Union raised its support for the North. Soon, battle broke out and the North was sending its supplies to the Viet Cong fighters in the South over a network of supply lines called the Ho Chi Minh Trail. This network was fed by North Vietnamese women and children. At this point, the isolated Civil War between the North and South Vietnam turned into a Cold War struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union. Also at this time, all communism events that took place by the Soviet Union were seen as plans to make the world communist, by the United States. This led to the Domino Theory. In fear that the Domino Theory would happen, the U.S. decided to do everything in its power to support the South Vietnamese government, which was led by Ngo Dinh Diem. Ngo Dinh Diem was an unpopular ruler and had little support from the Vietnamese in the South, and he also was not restrained from using torture to find his enemies. Diem’s enemies wanted him out of office, so at the next national election meeting, in Geneva, they planned to vote him out of power. Diem, with the support of the United States on his side, decided to end the Geneva elections to keep them from happening so that he could continue to protect South Vietnam from North Vietnam. This revoking by Ngo Dinh Diem only fueled the rise of the Viet Cong, or the self-made army of the North. This rise of the Viet Cong led to the increased attacks on South Vietnam’s countryside, which gave control to Viet Cong in the country areas. John F. Kennedy’s election win in 1961 gave him power over the war in Vietnam. As the war intensified, he raised the number of active troops in battle from several hundred to several thousand. Kennedy forced Ngo Dinh Diem to change South Vietnam to a Democratic state, but he said no. This led him to be overthrown by his own military, and to later be assassinated. In 1963, John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Following Kennedy’s run, Lyndon B. Johnson won the 1963 election, and held office until 1969. As soon as he took office, he was encouraged to take firm actions to help the South Vietnamese, but he needed confirmation from Congress to send more troops to their aid. In August 1964, at the Gulf of Tonkin, U.S. naval destroyers reported being fired on by North Vietnamese patrol boats. When explanation came of the fire, the North accused the naval ships of spying on them. Lyndon B. Johnson replied to this by declaring it an ‘open aggression,’ and asked Congress again to confirm the increase of troops in South Vietnam. Overwhelmingly, this Tonkin Gulf Resolution was passed by a landslide vote of 88 to 2. This Resolution signaled to future U.S. involvement. Six months later, in February 1965, Johnson created and approved of an operation entitled “Rolling Thunder,” which was a large bombing campaign of the North. Not only were air forces increased, but ground forces too. In the beginning of 1965, 25,000 troops were in South Vietnam. By the end of 1965, that number had increased to nearly 200,000. At this time, the United States had better fire power than the North, but the North had more personnel. As the war continued to grow ever more intense, the U.S. began using more than just bombs; they used chemical arsenal. This chemical arsenal consisted of different types of bombs that spread chemicals through the bombed land, primarily jungle. A heavily used chemical dropped on jungles was a bomb that, once exploded, sent a vast majority of sticky gasoline through the jungle, which would later be burned, making it harder for the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese to hide in the jungle. This chemical arsenal was part of a secret campaign to continuously weaken the North’s forces. They would eventually become so weak that they would surrender. Sticking to the campaign, the reality was that the North did receive heavy losses; however, the Soviet Union became more determined to fight. According to the CIA, a newly founded large bombing campaign had little effect on enemies; therefore they asked Johnson to expand the bombing area, who said no, for fear of growing sentimental repercussions in the United States. The North Vietnamese launched an all-out-attack called the “TET Offensive” in January 1968. Twenty cities, urban areas that were considered safe from the Viet Cong, including Saigon, were the victims of the TET Offensive. The military turned out to be a costly failure, as the North army suffered heavy casualties. The Viet Cong were relatively eliminated, almost entirely. At this time, television news reports formed opinions among Americans from the TET Offensive that the North was so powerful that it could attack anywhere that it wanted to in South Vietnam. This led people to believe that the war could go on much, much longer, which caused anti-war protests. It was constant coverage. It wasn’t where you turn on your TV and there it was, but they could film things and you could see it the next day. Every war always had reporters there. It wasn’t as fast as today’s media coverage. Back in WWII, telephones and televisions weren’t there. There were a lot of protest marches. There was strong opposition to it. People fled to Canada, because they didn’t want to be part of the war. Hippies were associated with pot. Hippies made up songs, being anti-war. They smoked pot because they were peace people, against any kind of violence. They would have marches, sit ins, and protests, but they wouldn’t be violent. One of the biggest anti-war marches gathered tens of thousands of protesters, in which they also burnt draft cards. Men wouldn’t just stop at this, but they also began claiming physical disabilities so that they wouldn’t have to go to war. At the time, and as today, much detail about and from war was covered up. If you find out somebody is going to attack Iola, and you let it known that you know that and set your defenses in Iola, and you say “Bad guy, attack away, we’ll get you!”, then they’ll attack Chanute! You don’t let the enemy know the defensive, because it can defect you. If you tell someone “Twenty people were killed by a bomb” versus “Twenty people were distributed in 1-inch pieces across an acre”, it has a better effect. The news covers up a lot of detail. The war was gruesome to most soldiers. The North Vietnamese knew their land and how to get around it; they were used to the terrain. Americans, however, weren’t used to the thick jungle and therefore struggled in the war, in terms of battles. The North used a lot of civilians for their battle methods. If we [Carl and Barbara] were together in a house, they could go hide bombs in our house and send little children out into the streets with bombs attached to them. The little kids didn’t know any better. The North Vietnamese would also booby trap soldiers’ bodies. For example, if a man came to help a wounded soldier, a bomb underneath the wounded soldier’s body would blow up when the man tried to help the wounded soldier up. It wasn’t very pleasant. He [Ken, Carl’s brother who fought in the Vietnam War] had several details. They were very displeasing. He signed up for a longer period of time just to get out of there. He was one of the soldiers that was with doctors. He was responsible for making sure that there weren’t any soldiers or bombs in the medical tents. At one time he was in the infantry, at the front of a caravan of supplies and he was the guy behind the gun. The enemies would be glad to take the trucks over for food and supplies. Body counting, where they find dead soldiers and they would pick them up and put them in a bag and take them back to central burial places, was extremely displeasing. Most of the deceased American military men were then shipped back to the United States for proper burial. In 1968, Richard Nixon announced a plan to end the Vietnam War. It was secret for some time, but the plan was to make the South responsible for fighting their own war, and then slowly deliver the troops home. When he won the Presidential election of 1969, he put the plan into action, and he did deliver his promise of returning American soldiers back home. Though the land war slowly fell, the air war raged on. Nixon limited nearby countries from being bombed by American planes, and then the neighboring countries soon became safe havens for the North Vietnamese. Nixon, still wanting to not bomb neighboring countries, decided to return with a secret campaign to bomb military bases in North Vietnam. Throughout the war, there were many attempts to make peace. However, in January 1973, North and South Vietnam and the United States of America signed the Paris Peace Accords. The Paris Peace Accords declared immediate cease fire and the U.S. withdrawal of troops completely within sixty days. The North would keep control of large areas of the South, would release American Prisoners of War, and agreed not to invade the South. If the North did invade the South, however, the United States assured the South that they would come to their aid. Ten months later, battle ensued, and the Americans were unable to intervene, as promised, due to troubles with Watergate. With the South left to defend themselves, they were helpless against the North. As a result, the North made a massive offensive to the cumulative takedown of Saigon, South Vietnam’s capitol, in the spring of 1975. By this time, the South stormed the United Embassy to get the remaining Americans from the building. American helicopters continuously flew in to evacuate American troops along with South Vietnamese. This proved to be the largest helicopter evacuation in U.S. history. There were an estimated one thousand Americans and six thousand Vietnamese ferried to Aircraft carriers in the Gulf of Tonkin. The following day, The North’s forces entered Saigon, and the war altogether ceased. There was an estimated death toll of 58,000 American lives and 2 million Vietnamese lives. The war made Americans more worried about future decisions of war with other countries, which was one of the few causes of why the soldiers who fought in the war returned home to bitterness, few parades, and disrespect. Eventually, the nation had to face up to its actions. I don’t think anything came from the war. So many lives were lost. The soldiers never got any respect. They lost their jobs. It was terrible. We felt horrible for the troops, as we did not disrespect them, but instead felt their pain.