MD AKIF BIN KABIR

How We Oversimplified the History of the Vietnam War.

One of the most contentious and misinterpreted wars in contemporary history is still the Vietnam War. However, its story has been simplified and flattened in public discourse, media representations, and textbooks over the years. This oversimplification robs the war of the complexity required for true comprehension, distorting its causes, trajectory, and outcomes. The Vietnam War was a complicated fusion of colonialism, nationalism, ideology, and civil unrest rather than merely a Cold War proxy conflict or a breakdown of American military power. We cannot learn from its lessons if we oversimplify its past.