Ken BUrns...Vietnam

[Dove]

Starts tonight on PBS. So looking forward to this series. "We Were Soldiers" among my favorite movies...

Review: Ken Burns’s ‘Vietnam War’ Will Break Your Heart and Win Your Mind

 

[John]

Starts tonight on PBS. So looking forward to this series. "We Were Soldiers" among my favorite movies...

Review: Ken Burns’s ‘Vietnam War’ Will Break Your Heart and Win Your Mind

probably won't watch it as it's happening, but it's definitely in the strong must-watch-eventually pile.

 

[ZooCougar]

probably won't watch it as it's happening, but it's definitely in the strong must-watch-eventually pile.

Same.

 

[Dove]

Yep.

 

[ZooCougar]

As with most things that went horribly wrong in the twentieth century, it can be traced back the French and the Japanese.

 

[boba]

As with most things that went horribly wrong in the twentieth century, it can be traced back the French and the Japanese.

The British are in that mess too - Sykes - Picot agreement is the road to ruin for much of SW Asia. They also put their nose in this tent too and it didn't help.
BTW - the first episode was very good. Capably mapped out JFK's transition from being completely against involvement in SE Asia to his architect's role in the disaster.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

The British are in that mess too - Sykes - Picot agreement is the road to ruin for much of SW Asia. They also put their nose in this tent too and it didn't help.
BTW - the first episode was very good. Capably mapped out JFK's transition from being completely against involvement in SE Asia to his architect's role in the disaster.

Sykes-Picot carved up the middle east between French influenced and British influenced territories. Southeast Asia (the quagmire that lasted through the early 1980's) was primarily due to our (post WWI) public stance of being opposed to colonialism while only offering aid to our European friends who held rule over those colonies.

 

[ZooCougar]

Good grief Episode 3, Gulf of Tonkin just shows how brash extremists escalate affairs when there is no need to.

 

[ZooCougar]

Still working through this series. Haven't even gotten yet to the Nixon years.

George W. Bush and Barack Obama look like geniuses compared to Johnson, McNamara and company. What a totally absurd waste of life on all sides.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Still working through this series. Haven't even gotten yet to the Nixon years.

George W. Bush and Barack Obama look like geniuses compared to Johnson, McNamara and company. What a totally absurd waste of life on all sides.

McNamara has one hell of a legacy. Prior to being the driving force behind our participation in Viet Nam he created (for Ford in the 1950's) the model that the Big Three used in the 1960's & 1970's to destroy the US automobile industry.

 

[August_West]

Watched first couple episodes. Great.

No shock that the French surrender monkeys continue to screw up

 

[ZooCougar]

Watched first couple episodes. Great.

No shock that the French surrender monkeys continue to screw up

And later on they criticize us for attempting to clean up their mess.

Amazing how that alliance drove Vietnam to communism and the US to the wrong side.

 

[husky8273]

Starts tonight on PBS. So looking forward to this series. "We Were Soldiers" among my favorite movies...

Review: Ken Burns’s ‘Vietnam War’ Will Break Your Heart and Win Your Mind

Watched every episode. Well worth the time! Learned more than I knew before.

 

[John]

watching it now - just got through the episode (number 6) on Jan to July 1968 - Tet. Probably one of the most disturbing war documentary episodes I've ever seen. An interview with a ex-helicopter pilot is chilling and puts everything into focus when it comes to war. Powerful stuff.

 

[8893]

watching it now - just got through the episode (number 6) on Jan to July 1968 - Tet. Probably one of the most disturbing war documentary episodes I've ever seen. An interview with a ex-helicopter pilot is chilling and puts everything into focus when it comes to war. Powerful stuff.

It's tough to watch without crying when you realize that it's not a movie.

 

[John]

It's tough to watch without crying when you realize that it's not a movie.

yes - it's been very unsettling especially as I've gotten into the middle episodes. So tragic and sad. Classic Ken Burns but with a very hard edge.
edit: and the way he shows both sides of the story, it's a gutpunch. No winners there, and these vets from both sides know it.

 

[storrsroars]

Watched first couple episodes. Great.

No shock that the French surrender monkeys continue to screw up

Just remember that the only thing people care about these days regarding the French legacy in Vietnam is a delicious banh mi.

They screwed up over there, but at least they taught the Vietnamese how to make awesome bread. That's more than we can say about many of our country's dalliances.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

About halfway through it on Netflix now. What a clusterscalito. There was no good reason for the USA to be in that country. The French actually had a better strategy than we did. The French may have been able to appoint a successor government if they had realized early enough that they couldn't win outright.

By the time the US got there, there was no way for America to win. Every life lost was in vain.

 

[Dove]

Doh...I fell of the tank on this. Must resume.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I like the interviews with the former NVA and Vietcong. Their government was more selfish and self-deluded than ours was. Le Duan may have cost North Vietnam a million lives by not cutting a deal with LBJ. It was pure ego and stupidity on Duan's part.