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‘the Usa Lost the Vietnam War Because Its Military Strategy and Tactics Were Wrong’ How Far Do You Agree?

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The Vietnam War was a prolonged, costly struggle between nationalist forces. North Vietnam wanted to unify Vietnam under communism and the USA wanted to contain communism and prevent the domino effect. More than 3 million lives were lost before the end in 1975, when communist forces conquered Saigon, the capital of the South, and the North took control. The USA withdrew in 1973 and left the fighting to the South. USA advisers believed they could beat the Vietcong, a Southern communist movement, with a strong government and a well-organised, large-scale war. President Johnson said ‘I am not going to be the president who saw South-East Asia go the way China went.’ The loss was due to different factors, including their strategy and tactics …show more content…

It’s arguable that Nixon’s plan of ‘Vietnamization’, a process to remove American soldiers from Vietnam while keeping the South fighting, meant America lost the war. However, the war had already been lost at this point and if Nixon hadn’t pulled out it would’ve meant humiliation for the government and more damage economically and to their army but no difference to the result. On the other hand, there are many other reasons why America lost the war, the first one being because of the strength and tactics of NV and the Vietcong. To begin, they were on home soil, so they had the advantage of knowing the lay of the land and possible enemy hide-outs. One key strategy was to wear down the enemy and break morale. They used guerrilla tactics; ambushing Americans on patrol, setting invisible booby traps and escaping through tunnels. The Americans never saw them as they hid, and in a village they would wear ordinary clothes and mingle with peasants so the enemy didn’t know who they were. Peasants helped the Vietcong, but the soldiers didn’t know which, so didn’t know who to kill. They used women for many things, so that they could have more soldiers fighting and the enemy wouldn’t suspect the women. Unlike the USA, they got peasant support by being nice to them and by propaganda. Their primary tactics were to retreat when attacked, raid enemy camps, attack when enemy tires and pursue when enemy retreats. This was effective because it’s

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