Political Science

The  repercussions  of  the  Cold  War  were  not  only  felt  in  the  United  States  and  the  Soviet  Union  alone  but  also  in  several  countries  of  Europe,  Asia  and  Africa.  The  ideological  divide  between  the  United  States  and  the  Soviet  Union  served  as  the  crux  of  the  tension  that  characterized  world  politics  since  the  post  World  War  II  period.  Both  the  countries  sought  to  increase  their  spheres  of  influence  over  several  countries,  especially  countries  of  the  third  world.  This  was  done  through  various  means,  sometimes  through  aid,  sometimes  propaganda  and  diplomacy  and  at  other  times  through  outright  war.  One  such  instance  was  the  Vietnam  war.  In  order  to  arrest  and  put  an  end  to  the  spread  of  communism  which  had  already  taken  root  in  Vietnam,  the  United  States  chose  to  go  to  war.  Opposition  to  communism  was,  at  that  point  of  time  declared  to  be  one  of  the  primary  foreign  policy  objectives  of  the  United  States,  as  claimed  by  the  then  Secretary  of  State,  John  Foster  Dulles.  The  policies  followed  by  the  United  States  in  its  campaign  against  communist  forces  gradually  succeeded  in  attracting  the  objection  of  the  world  at  large  and  even  the  U.S public  opinion.  Massive  bombing  of  Vietnam,  the  massacre  of  war,  especially  Mai  Lai  was  strongly  condemned  and  the  US  ultimately  had  to  pull  out  of  Vietnam  in  the  face  of  rising  opposition  to  its  policies  both  at  home  and  abroad.  Defeat  in  the  Vietnam  war  had  several  consequences  for  the  US.  Firstly,  they  realized  that  violence  cannot  be  used  a  policy  to  defeat  an  ideology  where  the  innocent  people  of  a  nation  became  the  worst  victims,  secondly,  it  was  a  moral  victory  for  the  Soviet  Union  and  thirdly,  popular  opinion  proved  its  power.
       
Guerrilla  warfare  refers  to  a  specific  method  of  combat  in  which  the  insurgents  use  military  tactics  against  a  force  or  as  in  most  cases  the  established  political  regime  in  a  state,  in a  clandestine  manner  such  as  sudden  surprise  attacks.  They  so  not  fight  in  a  concerted  way  and  therefore  do  not  comprise  an  official  body  of  combat.  The  crux  of  guerrilla  warfare is  the  fact  that  guerrilla  warfare  is  dependent  on  ambushes   and  sudden  attacks,  which  are  in  a  manner  of  saying,  their  trump  cards.  Guerrillas  are  able  to  successfully  orchestrate  such  attacks  by  being  extremely  familiar  and  well-versed  with  the  terrain  of  the  region  they  operate  in.  the  Vietcong,  during  the  Vietnam  war  used  guerrilla  tactics  successfully.  In  most  cases,  guerrillas  are  a  force  that  lie  outside  the  state  machinery.  Guerrilla  warfare  thus  relies  on  accurate  information  about  the  enemy s  whereabouts  including  information,  strategic  and  geographical  knowledge  and  precise  co-ordination  and  implementation  of  combat  action.
       
Any  particular  war  cannot  be  termed  as  immoral  because  all  wars  are.  The  immorality  of  war  is  obvious  from  an  ethical  and  humanitarian  standpoint  but  from  the  perspective  of  realism  and  pragmatic  considerations,  it  remains  unavoidable.  The  only  possible  solution  therefore  is  to  refrain  from  violence  against  civilian  population  and  also  excessive  use  of  violence.