Welcome to this blog about the similarities between the Summertime War in the novel Shatterpoint by Matt Stover and our own Vietnam War.

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Here is a little background on both of the wars:

For those of you that don't know, the Summertime War was a fictional conflict that took place on Haruun Kal. Haruun Kal is a jungle planet and is also the home of Mace Windu and his race of force-using Korunnai. The immigrant Balawai people and their capital city Pelek Baw used Haruun Kal's jungles to turn out a profit by selling its unique products. But the Korunnai needed to use their grassers to plow through the jungle and find safe places to go for the winter. Eventually, open warfare broke out and Balawai air strikes came in and Korunnai guerillas massacred passing steam crawlers.

In the Vietnam War, North Vietnam wanted to unite the country under one banner and have a Communistic type of government. The South however, wanted to stay independent and be apart from North Vietnam. The war broke out when North Vietnam invaded South Vietnam.

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When I think about it, the Korunnai people represent the National Liberation Front (aka Viet Cong). The Balawai people represent the Republic of Vietnam (aka South Vietnam). Now from there the CIS seems most like the United States and the allied forces in the war. Surprisingly enough the Republic fits into the shoes of the Soviet Union and China.

Both wars were fought in a third-world type of area surrounded by a thick, steamy jungle. Guerillas in both wars struck anything and everything, even civilian targets. The CIS was eventually forced to retreat just like the United States was forced to retreat near the end of the war. The guerillas on both sides ended up winning the war. In North Vietnam, the NLF won and united the country. On Haruun Kal, the Upland Liberation Front (aka the Korunnai), also won the war and liberated Haruun Kal. One last note, the NLF and the ULF are quite similar names once you think about it.

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Thank you all for reading this blog and you can feel free to leave any comments or suggestions. Also, voting closes soon for the Ultimate Army: Final Four.


And remember, in the end, we're all just guerillas.