Categories of Music Essay

1. What is a symphony? A symphony is an elaborate musical composition for full orchestra, typically in four movements. 2. What is a sonata? How is it related to the sonata form? A sonata is a large-scale composition that is played rather than sung. 3. What is a coda? A coda will use music from the movement, typically doesn’t does not add anything to the â€Å"argument†. 4. What are the three different parts of the sonata form? Describe each part. The three parts off sonata are Exposition, Development, and Recapitulation. Exposition is the first part of the sonata, where the composer will bring in or â€Å"expose†all of the music ideas. Development is the second part of the sonata, it is where the composer builds on the two themes from the exposition. Recapitulation is the third part of the sonata, it is where exposition is repeated. 5. What are the three different periods of Beethoven’s work? Describe each part. Critical Thinking Questions 1. What are the characteristics of the music of the Classical period? 2. How does the music of the Classical period differ from the music of the Baroque period? Baroque music tends to be for small chamber orchestras and is usually very  intricate, with many layers. Classical music tends to be for larger orchestras and for showing off virtuoso talents or entertainment rather than for praising God or presenting solemn tunes to kings, as much Baroque music was. 3. Choose one of the composers discussed in the lesson and listen to some of his work. Which pieces did you listen to? How would you describe these pieces of music? What makes the music characteristic of the Classical era? 4. What social and cultural influences impacted the music of the Classical period? Do you think today’s music is influenced by social and cultural factors? Why or why not? Both art and politics were great composers who knew what they were doing and their composings had amazing hits. 5. What was important about Vienna during the Classical period? Vienna was important during the Classical period because great civilization was developed in the past and actually in classical period.

How to Add Rocket Fuel to Your Job Search Strategy

How to Add Rocket Fuel to Your Job Search Strategy Finding a job like everything else in life requires a plan. When you buy a new car, you probably look at different car makers, models and reviews. You learn about the vehicle’s handling, braking distance and gas mileage. Once you have acquired a knowledge base, you might visit showrooms, check classified ads or go online. Finding a job is not very different. The parameters might be, but the basic research, knowledge acquisition and plan execution are not. Pick  a Job That Is Right for YouThe first order of business is to look at your strengths, interests and experience. You need to identify the job that best suits you. Once you have established that, it is a good idea to check who is hiring in the area. Job classifieds may detail local openings. Online job sites, such as TheJobNetwork, provide multiple listings and send email alerts when a job opportunity surfaces.Companies and Hiring ProfilesOnce you have chosen the type of job you want, it is important to search for compan ies who offer that type of work. Companies are often specific about the type of candidate needed. Whether written directly or not, companies put forth a hiring profile. Deciding if you meet the criteria is a good first step. If so, checking into company preferences concerning resume style and other information the company may want is advisable. Use the resume to set yourself apart and provide categorization of your strengths and achievements while staying within the company job description.Creating the Resume and Extraneous ProfilesPotential employers often check out applicants on LinkedIn. Having a profile that is well written and provides an accurate presentation of your skills, employment history and connections is important. In addition, knowing about a company will help to set you apart later on during the interview process. This shows attentiveness to detail and curiosity, qualities that are highly valued. Researching the company and its beliefs and value system, as well as it s product or services, indicates that you have taken the time to learn about the company.Checking Your Resume and Cover LetterWriting a generic cover letter and resume is a good idea. Your resume should succinctly chronicle your experience and training as well as education. Modifying the resume and cover letter to fit the job makes sense. It is obvious to employers when the resume is not job specific. Letting a mentor or friend review your resume and LinkedIn profile helps give you fresh perspective.Job OutlookThe job outlook has seen an uptick since 2010, and statistically this growth is strong. The number of jobs in each sector varies. By using labor statistics, it is possible for a job seeker to determine which category has the most jobs at any given time.Finding Jobs Depends On Where You LookLooking online for jobs every day helps you catch a new opening as soon as it is announced. TheJobNetwork finds opportunities and alerts you by email as soon as a job is available. Signing u p for this service is free and easy. Once you upload your information, this job recruitment network searches its database and others for new job opportunities.

ACT English for Math and Science People

How to Ace SAT Writing/ACT English for Math and Science People SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Are you a math or science person who feels intimidated by SAT Writing or ACT English? Do you think that your natural abilities will prevent you from doing well on the Writing and English sections? This article should alleviate your concerns. I'll let you know how you can excel on Writing or English even if you're more skilled in math and science. Furthermore, I'll provide you with important tips and strategies that will enable your success. Why You Shouldn’t Worry If you're worried that you can't excel on the SAT Writing/ACT English section if you're not a published novelist with superlative reading comprehension and writing skills, let me ease your fears. With the right studying and ample practice, you can do well even if you're not a naturally gifted writer. Maybe you're worried that you won't be able able to understand the passages well enough. Not a problem. Even though the questions come from longer passages, most of the questions pertain to specific sentences or paragraphs. None of the questions require more than a superficial understanding of the passage. Perhaps you're concerned because you have a limited vocabulary, and you're not familiar with the big fancy words that have become associated with the SAT. Don't fret. Most of the vocabulary isn’t extremely complicated or abstruse (an old SAT world). The SAT has done away with very difficult vocabulary words. Do you feel like you struggle with grammar? Do you have no idea when to use a comma? Are you clueless about the difference between "there" and "their?" You can overcome these obstacles. The grammar questions are based on rules that can be learned fairly quickly. You don’t need to have a strong intuitive grasp of English and writing to correctly answer most of the grammar questions. Are you scared of the organization or transition questions that test your knowledge of writing style? The majority of the writing style questions can be correctly answered by using logic and employing basic strategies. 3 Awesome Strategies for Success I recommend using these strategies to do well on SAT Writing/ACT English as a math/science person. #1: Rely on Grammar Rules Instead of What Sounds Right For all grammar questions, try to identify the rule that's being tested. Keep in mind that some questions will test multiple rules. Keep in mind that some questions will test multiple rules. If there’s a grammar error, select the answer choice that corrects the error without creating any additional errors. Often, the SAT and ACT provide answer choices that sound right to many people, but they contain subtle grammar errors. By relying on your knowledge of grammar rules, you’re less likely to overlook errors and make careless mistakes. ACT Example Here's a question taken from an actual ACT. If you’re not familiar with the grammar rules for the ACT, this sentence may sound fine to you. You may not detect any obvious grammar error and select A. However, if you study ACT grammar rules, you’ll know that the shortest answer that doesn’t contain a grammatical error and conveys the same information as the original sentence will be the right answer. Also, you’ll know that the word â€Å"being† often indicates a wordiness error. The correct answer is C. SAT Example You'll see the importance of following grammar rules on this question from an official practice SAT. If you rely on what sounds right, you may miss the grammar errors in this sentence. Whenever you see a verb underlined, you need to ensure that the verb agrees with its subject and that the correct form of the verb is being used. Also, whenever a pronoun is underlined, you need to check to see that the pronoun has a clear antecedent and that the correct form of the pronoun is being used. In this sentence, the singular verb â€Å"was† corresponds with the plural subject â€Å"Harvey Houses,† and the singular pronoun â€Å"its† refers to the Harvey Houses, too. Both the verb and the pronoun should be plural. The correct answer is B. #2: Use A Systematic Approach for Reading the Passages Before taking the SAT/ACT, you should have a tested approach for reading SAT Writing/ACT English passages. There are multiple approaches you can take to reading the passages: sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph, answer as you go, or passage first. Read the article on how to approach ACT English passages or how to approach SAT Writing passages for more information explaining the various approaches and how to decide which one will work for you. Once you settle on the approach that works best for you, you’ll be able to maximize your efficiency and make the best use of your time. #3: Review Examples of Questions Related to Each Grammar Rule and Type of Writing Style Question The SAT and ACT use the same types of questions on each test. Reviewing each type of question will increase your familiarity and understanding of all of the different questions. You’ll be more comfortable with the content on the SAT/ACT. Create a study guide of questions from real ACTs/official practice SATs. Check out our articles in SAT Writing and ACT English to learn about all the different types of questions and for examples of each question type. Key Topics to Study If you’re not a reader or extremely proficient with English, you may struggle with questions that don’t conform to specific rules, like word choice and idiom questions. However, there are a number of topics you can study that are relatively straightforward and conform to rules that you should be able to understand. For a breakdown of the grammar rules you should know, check out my articles on the most important grammar rules for the SAT and ACT. Here are some of the most often tested topics that, even as a science/math person, you should be able to master with a little practice. I’ve linked to the related articles which thoroughly explain the rules you need to know and provide example questions. Punctuation SAT Writing and ACT English both emphasize punctuation rules. You need to know when and how to use commas, semicolons, colons, apostrophes, and dashes. While you may have no idea how to use punctuation right now, the punctuation rules tested on the SAT and ACT aren’t overly complex. Read our articles on punctuation, possessives, and commas. We break down all the rules and provide example questions. Transitions Transitions are more heavily emphasized on the SAT, but they're tested on both SAT Writing and ACT English. You need to know which transition word to use in a given sentence, and you need to be able to select the sentence that will most logically connect ideas in a passage. While transition questions can seem difficult to students who aren’t strong in English, there are some rules you can learn to simplify transition questions. Make sure to review our transition articles. Transition questions rely on logic, and I assume that’s a strength for all the math and science people. Wordiness and Redundancy As I mentioned previously, the basic wordiness rule is that a sentence should be grammatically correct and concise. The shortest grammatically correct sentence that conveys that same information as the original sentence will be the correct answer. On both the SAT and ACT, all else being equal, shorter is better. Review our wordiness and redundancy articles for example and practice questions. Verb Forms Verb tenses and forms are tested on both the SAT and ACT, but verb questions are more common on the ACT. If you know how different tenses are used and keep verb tenses consistent, you should be able to correctly answer the verb questions you encounter. Organization/Macro-Logic Both the SAT and the ACT test you on how to organize a passage. Macro-logic refers to knowing where sentences and paragraphs should go in a passage. You’ll be a asked where a sentence should be placed in a paragraph, and you’ll be asked where a paragraph should be placed in a passage. Basically, you need to remember that each sentence should logically connect to the sentence that follows, and each paragraph should logically transition to the next one. Owen Moore/Flickr Key Tips to Help You Correctly Answer SAT Writing/ACT English Questions Here are some important tips that will help you eliminate wrong answer choices and improve your score. Read the Whole Sentence This tip is extremely important for the SAT Writing and ACT English section. Most questions will ask you how to change the underlined portion of a sentence. Don’t just read the underlined portion. You need to read the entire sentence. For some questions, like transition questions and verb tense questions, you often need to read the surrounding sentences as well. If Two Answer Choices Are Functionally the Same, Both Are Wrong If two errors are functionally identical, both must be wrong. You may see this on redundancy, punctuation, or transition questions. Here’s a transition question from SAT Writing to illustrate this point. This is a transition question. You need to read both sentences to determine the relationship between them and select the correct transition to use. In looking at the answer choices, C and D are functionally identical. They can be used interchangeably; therefore, both answer choices must be wrong. Now, you only have to choose between A and B. Because the second sentence is illustrating the opinion expressed in the first sentence, the correct answer is A. â€Å"However† is used to indicate contrast. Don’t Fear No Change Some students think the NO CHANGE option can’t be right, but sometimes NO CHANGE will be the correct answer. In fact, on ACT English, NO CHANGE tends to be more common than expected if all the answer choices were distributed evenly. If a sentence doesn’t seem to contain an error, look at the differences between the answer choices to determine what concept is being tested. Then, look at the original sentence to ensure that there is no error pertaining to that concept or rule. Review: Key Takeaways To sum up the important points I've previously mentioned, here are the most essential things to remember on your quest to get a wonderful SAT Writing/ACT English score You Can Do It! This is the most important thing to remember. Even if you're a math/science person, you're capable of doing exceptionally well on the SAT Writing/ACT English section if you're diligent in your preparation. Grammar Can Be Your Friend There's no reason to think you have to be a professional grammarian to get a top score. While some of the grammar questions can be challenging, most of them apply to rules that can be learned fairly quickly with proper studying and practice. Targeted Practice Will Lead You to Your Target Score If you study and understand each type of question from real ACTS and the official practice SATs, you'll do well on test day. Again, make sure you're familiar with all the differenct concepts that are tested on SAT Writing/ACT English, and know the proper steps to take to correctly answer each type of question. Review our SAT Writing and ACT English articles for content instruction, example questions, and strategies. What's Next? If you're feeling very confident and want to strive for perfection, find out how to get perfect scores on ACT English and SAT Writing. Also, learn 8 crucial ACT English tips and 5 tips for SAT Writing. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points? Check out our best-in-class online prep programs. We guarantee your money back if you don't improve your SAT score by 160 points or more or your ACT score by at leat 4 points. Our program is entirely online, and it customizes what you study to your strengths and weaknesses. If you liked this Writing and English lesson, you'll love our program.Along with more detailed lessons, you'll get thousands ofpractice problems organized by individual skills so you learn most effectively. We'll also give you a step-by-step program to follow so you'll never be confused about what to study next. Check out our 5-day free trial:

Ethical Theories Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Ethical Theories - Assignment Example However, most of the time a decision taken for the interest of an individual usually affects the interests of others. In such a case, other people may regard such actions as unethical. A critical evaluation of such a situation is likely to lead to a conclusion that every person is an egoist because an offence usually occurs when their interests are not achieved. According to Cecily and Payne (1990), â€Å"the free market economy operates under such philosophies†. This kind of market devoid of government influence through regulations generates a society in which each individual seeks to satisfy personal interests, and if everybody is successful, then the society will benefit as a whole. So long as each individual in business will be capable of making profits legitimately, then he/she will have fulfilled the moral obligation of the business. However, it is important for people to distinguish between egoism and selfish interests. It is most likely that selfish interests will cause an imbalanced society whereby some individuals will be deprived. Export of capital is significant in fulfilling economic goals. It facilitates growth of foreign direct investments and businesses in foreign countries grow. This helps in increasing the profitability of capitalists who would otherwise suffer a reduction in profits due to lack of opportunities for investment despite the surplus capital. In the less developed countries, there is scarcity of capital while the market remains unexploited, and there is availability of cheap land. On the other hand, there are cheap labour as well as cheap raw materials. Export of capital is also significant in the maintenance of a balance of trade (Tone 1991). This is because if a country liberalizes its market for foreign investors, which is the case in the United States, it also needs to find market for its domestic products, which helps in increasing exports so that the imports do not exceed the

Usability Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Usability - Essay Example Therefore, for the Web, usability is a necessary condition for survival.† (Nielsen, 2010). Five basic criteria were selected from a number of criteria provided by other comparable websites for this purpose. Each criterion was compared or correlated with other criteria used by other websites. If parameters of a criterion were found encompassing with the other sites’ criteria on a more broad range, then this was taken as a major criterion. Each criterion was applied while doing actual access and navigation of the given sites. The five chosen and listed criteria for this purpose were: a) aesthetic page design; b) organization and functionality; c) content coverage and accuracy; d) effectiveness and relevance and finally, e) client satisfaction. Given these criteria, the three cited websites were assessed accordingly indicating their areas with low or high usability and the corresponding recommendations how to improve their usability, if found low. The succeeding process of evaluation was also based on first hand experience on actual navigation, exploration and access of the given sites. It is expected that with this exercise, this study can provide an initial assessment whether these sites have high or low usability and if low, what are the best recommendations to improve their usability. (Benbunan-Fich, 2001) defined the concept of usability as â€Å"how well and how easily a user, without formal training, can interact with an information system of a website† (Wang, J. and Senecal, S. 2007). Succeeding discussion delves on brief descriptions of each selected criterion and how each was related to the evaluation. As the user opens the website, his visuals land first with its homepage and the first that are stimulated is his aesthetic senses. The first criterion relates to the impact of the aesthetic page design. The strength of the visual design usually adds value to the users’ aesthetic

Ford Motors and Its Leadership Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Ford Motors and Its Leadership - Term Paper Example The term paper "Ford Motors and Its Leadership" talks about the productive efficiency that makes an organization successful and also the leadership style that directs the organization towards a unified organization goal. Henry Ford introduced a structure whereby employees and workers were only responsible for the tasks in their job description and the decision making was highly centralized: only the top management could do that. Though Ford’s production line was perfect, it only made sales in the USA and Canada in1999. Jacques Nasser, Ford’s CEO in 1999 believed that there was an urgent need to relax the rigid and slow structure and he recommended ‘nimble leaders at all levels’, in order to speed up decision making. Only when lower level employees were allowed to make decisions, they could feel confident and trusted. This improves efficiency and performance of the overall workforce. Ford’s present ideology is that to start a revolution, one has to train revolutionaries. This was not the case back in 1999. To develop leaders, Ford sent around 2500 of its managers to Leadership Development Center. These programs were not only aimed at defining good leaders but they also taught the skills and strategies to become good leaders. At Ford’s New Business Leader Program, Janine Bay retorted: "How many of you feel comfortable being here? About half. Okay. Well, I hope to change that this week. I want all of you to be uncomfortable. Because if you're comfortable, you can't re ally be a revolutionary, can you?" (Hammonds, 2000). Only when managers work outside their comfort zones, they can learn different new tasks and bring about innovations and revolutions. Leadership at grass root level made Ford a more nimble entity. It instills risk taking ability at lower levels of the hierarchy. If employees at grass root wait for instructions from the top management, there can be hold ups in the whole production process. Ford encourages leaders to be teachers because it makes them stronger and insightful leaders. Teaching transforms managers into leaders who can strike a balance between work and family (Hammonds, 2000). In 2009, General Motors and Chrysler filed for bankruptcy and agreed to government bailout. The year 2008 was the worst period for Ford as it incurred a loss of $14.6 billion in sales. It had made $24 billion which was less than the $25.8 billion debt. In spite of this blow, Ford turned down government help because it wanted to save it for times wh en the economy worsened to the greatest extent. Ford also experienced declining sales the following year: and its sales in February 2009 were 48% lower than its sales in February of 2008. But Fords did not follow the footsteps of General Motors or Chrysler. The crisis that it faced did not shake its integrity as an organization. It stood strong in times of economic trouble and refused government loans in order to bounce back. The reason why Ford survived even after refusing a government bailout was that in 2007, Ford had raised $23.6 billion by getting loans against its North American assets (that served as collateral). The idea as per the then chief executive Alan R. Mulally was that this loaned money will protect Ford’s in times of recession. Unlike Chrysler and General Motors, Ford’s was protected in recession by this loaned money. Planning for contingencies by its top management gave Ford the security and stability it needed in recessionary period. In 2009, Ford tu rned out to be the only automaker survivor, when most automakers filed for bankrup

Introduction To The Vietnam War History Essay

Introduction To The Vietnam War History Essay The Vietnam War remains today to be one of the most memorable and long-standing conflicts in recent history in which the US involvement has played a huge role. This paper shall discuss and highlight certain points in the course of the development of the Vietnam War, from its beginnings and up to the present-day implications that it has brought about in the political life of the country and the balance of powers in the international community. The researcher has also chosen to include visual images of the devastation and the ramifications of this dispute in order to further underscore the fact that even if the Vietnam War happened more than half a century ago, the effects of this conflict live on today and has in fact brought attention to the consequences of a states intervention in the domestic (especially political) affairs of another. The Vietnam War was, as we shall see throughout this paper, caused not by any one factor that was escalated to the level of an international dispute. The fact of the matter is that the war was caused by a number of factors that have come together to push the issue into the arena of international politics and therefore warrant the attention and subsequent intervention of other states. However, one thing remains clear: the Vietnam War was primarily a consequence of the US anti-Communist foreign policy in the 1960s. This in itself merits scholarly interest in the involvement of the US government in the war, and a look into the real reasons why the US chose to engage itself in the local political conflicts of this country to the extent that it did. Years of bitter guerrilla warfare in the rugged jungles and villages of Vietnam eventually resulted in a North Vietnamese victory and the reunification of Vietnam.   Hundreds of thousands of people, American and Vietnamese alike died in the war, and the country today still struggles to re-establish itself after the damages on its economy, land, and people the war caused. The researcher has employed systematic review methodology for searching online academic journals and electronic databases for relevant literature on the subject as well as graphics and photographs. It is the primary tool for determining how far US involvement in the war went and the different courses of action that it had undertaken to support its advocacy. Systematic review methodology is more typically applied to the primary data on health care technologies such as drugs, devices and surgical interventions (Green and Moehr, 2001, p.315). But there is a growing tendency to apply this kind of review methodology to other topics such as policy-making and social research. The Cochrane Collaboration has taken the lead in this type of application, which consists of a regularly updated collection of evidence-based medicine databases. Systematic review methodology allows the researcher to have a wider look at the question at hand by looking at the various perspectives offered by previous research, and then synthesizing them to come up with a coherent answer as to the what, how, why and so what of the topic. However, care should be made in choosing the right electronic sources that can offer us with the most number of relevant researches, as well as in establishing the key words that will be used exhaustively for turning up previous findings on the topic. For the purpose of this paper, several key words were used to search Google, Questia and other suitable online sources for information on the development of the Vietnam War and the role of the US government in it. The keywords used for the research are US involvement in Vietnam War, development of Vietnam War, US anti-Communist policy in the 1960s and US and Vietnam War. Other formulations of the main research topic yielded the same results and so only these three major key phrases were considered for the review of related literature. Body of the paper This paper shall look into five main points of the war, but these are not by far the only important topics or questions that the conflict has raised for the US, for Vietnam and for the international community at large. Specifically, the researcher shall focus on the following: 1. The reason why the US entered into the Vietnam War 2. The beginning of US intervention in the war 3. The US anti-communist policy in the 1960s 4. The war at home 5. The long term ramifications of the war The US governments role in the war Vietnam was split into two in 1954, as part of the Geneva accords in order to pacify the different stakeholder nations who were nervous to begin another large-scale conflict after Korea (Vassar College, n.d.). It had a communist government in the north and a democratic south which were due to be reunified after a national election was held.   A series of events led up to a full scale war between the two countries which included not only the Vietnamese, but people from America, Australia, and other nations.    The Americans supported the widely unpopular southern regime, and although in the beginning they attempted to keep their involvement limited, they sent millions of soldiers to war in Vietnam to prevent the spread of Communism. The US was unwilling to make any major commitments in the war, but it soon became apparent that the French troops needed help battling an enemy who was willing to willing to absorb tremendous losses in terms of manpower in order to protract the war while waiting for the French to tire (Weist 2003). As Frances ally in the war, the US was in a difficult position in order to protect the interests of France by helping out in its campaign against the Northern guerrillas, but it was not ready to commit itself to something that could potentially become the Third World War. It was a dangerous situation insofar as it was beginning to look like France was not capable of crushing the Communist guerrilla forces (Mintz 2007). The financial support coming from the US was not enough to help the French troops in the war and it looked like something had to be done, which was first started by President Harry Truman in 1950 to help France retain control of its Indochina colonies, covering Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam (Nelson 1999). The US was also very much opposed to the idea of having Vietnam split at the seventeenth parallel to accommodate the different political views governing the separate sides of the country. It was at this point that the US consolidated its hold over the Southern portion of the country and to exercise direct control over the government there, and thus heralded the beginning of actual US involvement in the conflict (Nelson 1999). It put Ngo Dinh Diem at the help of the Southern Vietnamese government, which was supposed to rally support for the anti-Communist sentiment in the country (Vassar College, n.d.). The start of actual US intervention in the war According to Nelson (1999), the US involvement in the Vietnam was vastly different from the others that it had participated in because it had no definitive beginning. The US actually entered the war gradually, from 1950 to 1965. It even experienced transition in the terms of support that it was willing to provide France, starting from mere financial and economic aid to its European ally and moving towards actual military occupation and engagement with the guerrilla forces there. In a little less than ten years, the US had given France $2.6 billion for recovery and rehabilitation of its Indochina colony, but it was scarcely enough to cover the escalating costs of the war and the losses in manpower that the French experienced (Mintz 2007). The losses for the Northern government and for the people of Vietnam are by far greater because of the sustained military offensive against the South and the subsequent participation of the US. It must be noted here that the US did not even give a formal declaration of war against Vietnam, it just started sending out troops to the Southern portion of the country, beginning with 2,000 soldiers deployed by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 (Nelson 1999). Jones (2003) noted that the intensification of the Cold War only prompted Kennedy to put the Vietnam situation higher up on his list and employ more stringent counterinsurgency efforts against the guerrillas. It was President Lyndon Johnson who, after serving the unexpired term of the assassinated John F. Kennedy and being elected to the presidency in 1965, brought the country to war. Under his administration, the number of American troops deployed in Vietnam increased and became more involved in supervising the Southern governments movements against the guerrillas (Pike 2005). The total number of Americans soldiers sent to serve in Vietnam was 2.7 million, and the costs of the war amounted to more than $140 million. This is probably the most expensive war that America has ever seen, and the reasons for its participation in the first place still remain suspect. There are a lot of doubts as to the veracity of the claims and beliefs made by the US government in terms of protecting the interests of the free world. The US anti-Communist policy in the 1960s The different presidents who oversaw the US military campaign in Vietnam all had one thing in common-they considered the northern faction in the country to be agents of global communism and therefore an opponent in terms of aspiring for the very opposite of all that America holds dear (Nelson 1999). US policymakers were of the opinion that Communists were opposed to human rights, democracy, and free trade especially to capitalist countries. They thought that communism as a contagious disease in the sense that once it took hold on a nation, neighboring states can easily become infiltrated with the Communist ideals and turn into such a state as well. For this reason, America joined the fray and waged its war against what it perceived to be the growth of Communism in Asia by fending off the Communist movement in northern Vietnam. It created some sort of puppet military government that was under its direct supervision and control. As already stated, the overarching geopolitical goal of the US in its act of participating directly in the Vietnam dispute was its conviction that the spread of communism must be stopped. However, the real commitment to holding back Communism was soon forgotten (Nelson 1999) as US administration after administration realized that the war might simply never end for the reason that their enemy troops are not getting any smaller or easier to fight. The guerrillas were good at employing tactics aimed at confounding American soldiers who were more efficient at face-to-face combat. Moreover, the Northern Vietnamese forces received tremendous support from the Soviet Union and the Peoples Republic of China that enabled them to carry out the offensive for as long as they did (Pike 2005). At the same time, serious doubts as to the authenticity of the US governments reasons for intervening in the war also became apparent. Yet presidents were afraid to pull out from the war and admit to the faults of his predecessor, knowing that such an act would create a huge political backlash in the home country (Nelson 1999). First of all, even though the US governments first step into the war was only financial and economic in nature, it still belied the that they were staunch believers of the idea that the problem in Vietnam was largely military in nature, and not economic or political. Secondly, to put it bluntly, the US government was already in too deep in the Vietnam conflict that any sign of wavering belief in the campaign could easily be read as admitting to defeat. This was unacceptable to the administrations that waged open war against the Northern Vietnamese forces, so the offensives dragged on for years and years. The strong anti-Communist sentiment of the US may have been the first to trigger its adversarial reaction to the spread of communism in Vietnam but it was certainly not the only thing that made the war last for far longer than it should have. The war at home Even as the US administration was facing serious difficulties that were compromising its military campaign in Vietnam, it was also faced with real domestic challenges, particularly the increasing opposition from the American public with regards to continuing the war. One of the most deeply-felt consequences of the war was that it was siphoning off taxpayers dollars to a conflict that seemed impossible to win. The 1966 local and state elections in the US showed just how much public dissent has gathered around the issue of the wars costs on the national treasury (Pike 2005), even as the government was claiming that its troops were gaining against the enemy in Vietnam. Johnson wanted an all-out war that will not be felt across the Pacific Ocean and will not be felt in the everyday life of the Americans (Vassar College, n.d.). Unfortunately, this goal was never met because the repercussions of the war were widely felt even in the homeland. For example, during the start of the war, the American army had very little or no manpower problems at all and was able to send troops to Vietnam regularly. However, as faith in the military campaign waned, the number of volunteers decreased dramatically until the administration instituted a draft for the war. As more and more soldiers died, more and more Americans felt that it was wrong to continue sending people to what was becoming a hopeless and no-win situation in a distant country. Nelson (1999) noted that the movement attracted different factions from across the country-college campuses, labor unions, middle-class suburbs and government institutions all erupted in anti-war protests as the war continued on. Defense of civil rights also became an issue towards which Americans gravitated, and they were concerned not only for their fellow citizens who were getting injured and dying abroad, but also for the Vietnamese who were suffering intensely from all the conflict being waged in their land. The war ended in 1973 when President Richard Nixon announced the withdrawal of US troops because of the popular sentiment against it and the unsustainability of the war effort. The ramifications of the war As we have already seen, the Vietnam War is the longest time that the US has been involved in hostile action. It is also a highly debated topic because people continue to question the propriety of entering into a war that is being waged by an ally and the wisdom of Americas taking it upon herself to become the number one defender of democracy. It must be recalled that the war was not really Americas problem, but Frances. It only entered the picture when France began to falter and America feared that what was happening in Vietnam would spread to other Southeast Asian countries. The war cost so much in terms of human casualty, damage to infrastructure and economic loss to both sides that the general idea is that no one really won when the war was over. The losses sustained by the Vietnamese forces and the US troops cannot be fully appreciated in pecuniary terms, because the war also did damage to the national spirit of each country. Moreover, the subsequent reunification of Vietnam under the communist regime seemed to defeat the very purpose for which the US had entered into the war. From an economic standpoint, the war brought about a mean cycle of inflation because of Johnsons unwillingness to impose taxes to pay for the costs of the military campaigns (Mintz 2007). It was also thought that the military did a little inflation management on its own by increasing the actual number of enemy casualties to show that the war effort was getting better and better, when in fact the guerrilla numbers were not as badly hurt as the American troops during the latter part of the conflict. The war also created grave political consequences for America. The public began to suspect the honesty and integrity of incumbent officials because of their prior experience with the manufactured war statistics and reports on the Vietnam situation. This slow dissolution of faith likewise weakened Americas image of herself as a world superpower. If the countrys well-trained, well-supplied and well-compensated military could not defeat a ragtag group of guerrilla fighters not even trained in military tactics, what could it do? This doubt in American supremacy was carried over as the US tried to intervene militarily in other international conflicts such as the Iraq war. Conclusion This paper has traced the development of the Vietnam War, beginning from the socio-political context from which it emerged and the subsequent involvement of the US government in the effort to prevent the spread of communism. While the actions of the US troops may be seen as noble and warranted by the situation, the fact that the war cost so much in terms of lives and money makes any semblance of victory in it seem insignificant. There is indeed no true winner in this war because of the incredible losses that each side had sustained over a decades worth of fighting. America withdrew its troops and ended the war of its own accord when the public furor against the Vietnam War escalated to such a degree as to make continued military campaigns futile. The Paris Peace Accord also gave Vietnam a new lease on its own political life, but it cannot erase the destruction and suffering that the war had brought upon the people and the land. It was a fight that could have been shortened and made less dangerous if only each side was able to negotiate matters peacefully instead of launching military attacks against each other as the primary course of action.