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
The Vietnam War was one of the most deadliest wars in America, many were killed and even more injured. The war began because of America’s efforts to stop the spread of communism. The Vietcong may of won the war but America showed that we will not let communism spread, the domino theory come into effect, and America’s faults in our war program and way to attack the Vietcong. The war was lost but from a overview of the war America learned from their lose.
For the sake of conciseness, and in order to focus the bulk of the content on the main topic, this essay will make certain assumptions. Most importantly, the essay assumes that the conflict in Vietnam was, indeed, lost by the US. It also presupposes that � due to the political climate in the US � the war itself was unavoidable. Finally, the essay takes for granted
Many soldiers have been lost in the different wars that the United States has been involved. Although there have been many wars only one is unique from the others, it is known as the war that was never won or lost. The Vietnam War started out as a conflict but soon escalated into a full-fledged war. Many soldiers have been lost in the Vietnam War. The United States sent many soldiers into the jungles of Indochina trying to stop the spread of communism from the North Vietnamese. It all seems clear-cut, with the motives and sides easily seen but as the war lagged on, it seemed that the United States became involved, and essentially needed a draft. The United States involvement in the Vietnam War became
soldiers were fighting because they had been drafted. They just wanted to survive and go home. They would not have to face any direct consequences of losing the war. The Viet Minh, however, were fighting for a cause, and used much the same tactics as the United States in their war for independence. The American Revolution used guerilla warfare tactics to defeat the superior power of the British army. The U.S. could have taken from this experience, and perhaps fared better in Vietnam.
According to Tim O 'Brien, the Viet Cong 's and United States ' fighting tactics were a waste of people 's lives. The Viet Cong used guerrilla warfare tactics which resulted in Americans being killed and in turn caused innocent civilians to die. The Viet Cong planted mines along the paths and in the jungles to injure American soldiers. The Viet Cong were never out in the open and had the sympathy of the Vietnamese living there. Many young Vietnamese children and women planted mines, spied, and killed American soldiers. The American soldiers could not tell the difference between the enemy and the innocent, so the soldiers indiscriminately killed everybody. The American strategy was to find the Viet Cong and kill them. The American soldiers walked from village to village in search of the Viet Cong. As they went from place to place, soldiers would
The Vietnam War was one of the most influential wars in American History. The United States did not actually lose, but ending with a cease fire was considered a loss. When all of the troops returned they were looked upon by the American public scornfully. This caused both the troops and the American citizens to dislike the government. Many riots took place and many public displays happened. "...in response to a drive by the North Vietnamese forces into the South, President Richard M.
The Vietnam War was the first major war American’s had suffered defeat. The Vietnam war was a war of confusion, competition and biasness. The outcome of the war was far greater than an upset American nation, but a severe breakdown of the Vietnamese culture, economy, environment and government. It also had a tremendous impact on American society even up to present day. It was unclear from the beginning of the war if the American’s should even be involved. It was a war between Northern and Southern Vietnam but the U.S saw it as an indirect way to challenge the USSR’s sphere of influence in Southern Asia and to prevent the domino effect and the further spread of communism. The Vietnam War completely changed the way the United States
The Vietnam War was a conflict, which the United States involved itself in unnecessarily and ultimately lost. The basis of the conflict was simple enough: Communism vs. Capitalism, yet the conduct of the Vietnam War was complex and strategic, and brought repercussions which had never been seen before. The struggle between North and South had an almost inevitable outcome, yet the Americans entered the War optimistic that they could aid the falling South and sustain democracy. The American intentions for entering the Vietnam conflict were good, yet when the conflict went horribly wrong, and the resilient North Vietnamese forces, or Viet Cong' as they were known, refused to yield, the United States saw they were fighting a losing battle.
The Vietnam war brought many changes to the United States in the 1960’s and the 1970’s. Some of the changes were for the better of the country, take the rediscovered Women’s Rights movements and the ever growing Free Speech movements inspired by New Left, while most of the other changes brought on tensions between government and their people. The Domino Theory pushed our leaders to the edge. In order to stop the Domino Theory in Vietnam, the U.S. invaded. The war was useless for the American government to get involved with. Even Robert Kennedy described our presence in Vietnam as ‘... sending a lion to halt an epidemic of jungle rot.’ (Doc E) From new groups forming to rebel, to inflation and loss of trust in the Government, from 1960’s to
The war in Vietnam waged by America was unwinnable through the type of warfare that was used by the US . If they had concentrated on certain key aspects they may have prevented the spread of communism to South Vietnam and achieved their ultimate goal. Americas inability to obtain the “Hearts and Minds “of the Vietnamese led to a continual supply of fighters. The US was unable to fight against an ever-increasing civilian army. In Vietnam the US relied tremendously on their advanced and superior firepower to defeat the Vietcong and the ARVN. There technology and training was inadequate in the foreign Vietnamese terrain. The Vietnamese were allied to other communist nations, if their defeat was too humiliating
“If the tiger ever stands still, the elephant will crush him with his mighty tusks. But the tiger does not stand still. He lurks in the jungle by day and emerges by night. He will leap upon the back of the elephant, tearing huge chunks from his hide, and then he will leap back into the dark jungle. And slowly the elephant will bleed to death.” This quote by Ho Chi Minh emphasises his belief that Guerrilla tactics would be what would result in a win for the Vietcong. The Vietcong made use of tunnels, known as the Cu Chi Tunnels , which was a network of underground tunnels that the Vietcong resided in, and used to store supplies and care for the sick and injured. The use of underground hiding places meant that the US was unaware of the Vietcong’s whereabouts from ground level, allowed them to be
US policy during the war was weak and not nearly aggressive enough to beat the North Vietnamese. For example, President Johnson was unwilling to order a full scale invasion of North Vietnam. His reason for this was it passed through the territory of countries not involved in the war This was due to fears that it would also provoke China into entering the war directly. Another example would be Johnson’s refusal to cut off the Ho Chi Minh Trail. As a result, supplies would continue to flow uninterrupted. The reasons for not cutting off the trail were mainly political. These political reasons include not wanting to breach Laotian neutrality, especially since the North Vietnamese had no qualms about breaching, and that US
What did the United States lose in Vietnam? The United States lost many valuable resources in Vietnam , examples being people, their mental health, money. We lost respect, reputation, and pride from the war or “police action”. The United States did not leave the war without sacrifice, though we deserved most of what happened for our stupid decision in entering the war through police action. Losing people, money, respect among many other things is not anyone else's fault.
The takeover by the North Vietnamese and the South Vietnam Communist forces were in part the faults of the US. If we had stayed and better assisted the South Vietnamese, which the US government called Vietnamization, South Vietnam might still be in existence today. Vietnamization was in a sense the process of preparing South Vietnam to be able to take care of itself mainly by building up South Vietnam’s military defenses and was supposed to prepare South Vietnam for the long term defense it needed to hold up to the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. Vietnamization included the giving of heavy artillery and military supplies to South Vietnam, but some South Vietnamese referred to Vietnamization as a "U.S. Dollar and Vietnamese Blood Sharing Plan” (“Vietnam War”). A South Vietnamese military general accounts the events leading to the takeover in his journal and writes: “To give an idea of our abominable condition, a unit of rangers there had no communications equipment and thus had to abandon their positions; a battery of 105-mm howitzers could not shoot because they had no sights for the guns; and the aircraft had no bombs available to drop on readily identifiable targets” (Van Don). This proving the state of confusion the South Vietnamese military was in. They were
The Vietnam War was always seen as a failure for many reasons. The United States, a known powerhouse country felt the need to get involved in the Vietnam War in order to stop the spread of Communism influences in areas of the world. The Vietnam War was a failure as it received very little public support and causing the government to force citizens into the war involuntarily. The US dealt with many troops being wounded and killed and suffering from psychological disorders such as post traumatic stress disorder. South Vietnam who were our allies were losing the war and north Vietnamese government who were our enemies ended up taking control of Vietnam. “Our objective is the independence of South Vietnam and its freedom from attack. We want