The vietnam war was one of the wierdest wars in American history, because it is on of the few wars the United States did not win or come out on top. In my opinion the Vietnam war was lost because of political and military flaws. I think there was changes we could have made to make the final outcome in our favor.
There were many military flaws durning the Vietnam war. The main one being the attack stratagey and attack plans used to fight the viet cong. Unlike previous American victories against Japan and Germany, massive American bombing of enemy cities would not be as effective. The Viet Cong used a guerrilla, hit-and-run style of attack, which didn't allow the use of American artillery and bombs to kill them. The dense jungle fighting created low visibility from the air, which made it hard
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Most of these flaws came from the President and Congress lying about the war and doing a poor job to end it. What also hurt the political system was the news channels and the tet offensive. With the President and Congress saying for years and reassuaning them that the war was being won it did little to the American people after the Tet offense. The news channels were getting very graphic and gruesome images and videos and showing them to the American people which brought down moral and urge to keep fighting.
What might have changed the outcome of the war is if they would have conducted counterguerrilla activities. Instead the U.S. Army adopted tactics intended for warfare in Europe. The U.S. tried to defeat North Vietnam by sheer firepower, but superior numbers and materiel lose their advantage against a determined guerrilla enemy. A second reason is the man power. When the North Vietnamesse needed troops people from all over would join in the fight and try to win the war, but when General Westmoreland asked for troops he was denied them which meant the viet cong had more troops and choose the playing
The Americans were inexperienced with the terrain and tactics used in Vietnam. Their inability to adapt could have easily lead to their downfall. As described by a Vietnamese soldier (Source F) the Americans were “well armed but slow and clumsy …they were elephants“ in an environment where such things as traps and ambushes were utilised against them and their unfamiliarity led to many
The Vietnam War was the most publicized war during its era; moreover, this was the most unpopular war to hit the United States. All over the country riots began to rise, anti-war movement spread all over the states begging to stop the war and chaos overseas. This truly was a failure on the political side of things. For the public, all they saw was a failed attempt in a far away country. Events such as the Tet Offensive where the North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong established an all out attack on key locations around Vietnam, and although the Viet Cong was virtually wiped out, this still had a large affect psychologically on the troops as well as the populist back in the United States.
In conclusion, I think that the United States became increasingly involved in the Vietnamese War because of the policies they had made as a promise to fight communism, and because they had sorely underestimated Vietcong’s ability to fight back using Guerrilla warfare. They refused to pull out of the war in fear of losing face before the world, but this pride factor scored them massive losses in the war. In the end, with both side sustaining heavy losses, the US were still seen as mutilators in the war, with advanced showing what their intervention had costed, and Vietnam was still fully taken over by Communism – they had achieved nothing and lost a lot.
The Vietnam War was one of many. One reason some people argue the US should have been in the Vietnam War is because of the belief the US was trying to help establish a democracy there. The Vietnam war helping America win the cold war was another reason people believe the US was justified in the Vietnam war. Others believe that the US should not have been there because they were supporting a corrupt government, another reason is that American warfare was excessive and abusively killed many innocent civilians and ruined the land. While it appeared that the US was trying to spread democracy and win the cold war, but in truth, the US was supporting a mini Hitler, and our strategy had little chance of
The failure came from inside the United States. There were a lot of protests against the war. Those protests included moms who had their sons on the battle field, the people who found war was a waste of their tax revenue and the people who favored peace. That was too much for a president to calm down his citizens, and be in charge in a war in another country at the same time. The war did not get enough support from the Americans. Another matter was that the United States did not have the right strategy in this war. They took actions slowly and indecisively. Instead of fighting North Vietnam andVietcong by itself, which might lead to victory, the U.S wasted their effort on the weak Saigon government. The failure in the Vietnam War proves that the power and influence of the United States is not limitless. The United States has its steady place in the world order, but there is nothing for sure in this world of diversity. Therefore, the United States has to adapt itself to the development of the world not as a flawless country, but as a developed
The Vietnam War took place in between 1947- 1975. It consisted of North Vietnam trying to make South Vietnam a communism government. The United States later joined this conflict because of the stress North Vietnam was putting to South Vietnam to become a government that America did not want. The main reason why America joined was because of a theory called the Domino Effect. America and Russia were going through what has been dubbed the Cold War. The Domino Effect is the theory that communism will spread form one country to another. United states does not want this because our government is a democracy and communism opposes everything we stand for. America fearing communism was growing, stepped into Vietnam with America’s interest in mind, instead of Vietnam’s. There are several reason why American should have not gotten involved with this war. The most important reason was that America government officials made to much of a big deal about communism. This might sound cynical, but America to a certain degree did over react. Let it be said that it is much easier to say this after the fact. By looking back at McCarthyism, we can see the silliness of this fear. There is a serious side though. Thousands of people dies for a government that has no impact of their daily life. What regime Vietnam was going to change over to had no effect on the every day cycle of the United States. So truly, one can say, this can not one thing to do with America, its government and people.
The United States was not capable of winning the War because they realized too late that the real war in Vietnam was not a military one but a political one. Beginning with Eisenhower, They were fully aware that the only way South Vietnam would win is with the support of the United States troops. Kennedy restricted the U.
During the Vietnam War the reality of warfare brought many soldiers back to a home that didn't want them. Their feelings torn by atrocities, the loss of friends, and the condition of loneliness only made the experience worse. Did the issues on the home front affect the issues on the frontline? The novel Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers is a perfect example of the conflict and diversity among other soldiers during the Vietnam War. It shows the reality many soldiers faced and how they dealt with conflicts back home while they were alone and afraid of death creeping up on them. With the reality of war taking its toll, soldiers coming home to a world they didn't know, a world that had changed and left them in Vietnam to fend for themselves. They slept with wives who didn't know even the smallest of their problems. From nightmares to remembering bad memories, Vietnam veterans suffered it all from extreme depression to the worst, suicide. The real world didn't know how to deal with them and just left them alone. The U.S. they left had changed on them. From people to the ways of life everything had changed and they didn't know how to deal with it.
The Vietnam war has been referred to by many names, one of the longer ones was 'the cornerstone of the free world southeast Asia'. It was called that by John F. Kennedy. He was talking about Vietnam being and essential country in a non-communist world. He believed that if Vietnam became a communist country, all of the surrounding countries would also become communists. This is the main reason America was involved in the Vietnam war. Another reason was that America wanted to spread their “political ideas around the globe”. They wanted to do this so that their anti-communism stance was clear. The public also wanted to keep communism from spreading. To soldiers, the war was like a crusade, a great journey to purge the communists from Vietnam. Sadly, this is not what happened. The Viet Cong (VC) had far better tactics than the US. The VC was told to 'nibble at the enemy' so that he could 'neither eat or sleep'. This worked very well. Another demoralizing tactic the VC used was their landmines; they were designed to blow the limbs off the soldiers without killing them. This tied up hospital beds and meant the soldiers had to carry the wounded back to the base.
Have you ever wondered what events, conditions, and leadership decisions caused America to be unsuccessful in the Vietnam War? The way that the war was fought favored the Northern Vietnamese and was a big factor in giving the Viet Cong an edge over the Americans. The tactics that the Northern Vietnamese used, the number of soldiers that the United States sent over plus the conditions they were put into, and the changing of US Presidents part way through the war all play vital roles in making Vietnam unachievable.
The Vietnam War has had its effects on America, both good and bad. We can ridicule it, we can deny it, we can say it was for the best, we can say we shouldn't have even gotten involved, but the one thing we can't do is ignore it. Because it's become an unforgettable part of history, and we all need to remember Vietnam.
In retrospect, it’s clear that the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese ability to combine both methods of warfare played a major role their victory. Their strategy provided them the tools they needed to win. In the end, they recognized that each type of warfare complimented the other to achieve their strategic goals.
The war in Vietnam wasn’t a necessary war, because any war is wrong, but there is usually a little "rightness" involved. Vietnam started at a time when communism. needed to be stopped. The Cold War has started and communists made no secret of the fact they wanted to spread their agenda worldwide, using force if necessary. We had just faced this issue in the Korean War, just over a decade earlier. In fact, it was argued that it was the Korean War that set the pace for the Vietnam War and lead to its eventual political failure. During the Korean War President Truman fired General MacArthur whose flaw was believing that there was no substitute for victory. Truman and his cronies introduced the "political solution" to War, which amounted to political
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 approached military action and helped establish the role of the United States within the new world order.
Vietnam was a struggle which, in all honesty, the United States should never have been involved in. North Vietnam was battling for ownership of South Vietnam, so that they would be a unified communist nation. To prevent the domino effect and the further spread of communism, the U.S. held on to the Truman Doctrine and stood behind the South Vietnamese leader, Diem.