Fall Of Saigon Analysis

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Introduction & History
The Vietnam War was an evolutionary time for our nation and our concept of warfighting. As the Korean War draws down, the United States has again taken to the world stage in Vietnam to attempt to arrest the spread of communism. Some lessons learned in the Korean War were applied, but many new lessons loomed ahead. The United States faced a challenging climate, terrain, and political environment in Korea. We will see these challenges again in Vietnam and add arguably more complex social and information environmental components to them. The intent of this analysis of the fall of Saigon is to explore the immense impact of these operational variables, and how they changed the outcome of a war that appeared to have a rather assured victor from a military perspective.
As in many conflicts in which the United States has participated, most notably Afghanistan, the lineage of Vietnam is …show more content…

South Vietnamese President Thieu resigned and fled the country, condemning the US for abandoning him, describing it as “an inhumane act by an inhumane ally” (as quoted in Karnow, 1984, p. 668). General Minh was his successor because the North declared that they would negotiate with him. The US engaged in a massive evacuation effort as refugees poured through the streets of Saigon. Mobs of panicked Vietnamese citizens fought for spots in aircraft. The NVA stopped their advance and let this occur (Karnow, 1984, p. 668). This was a good move because they hoped to reunify the country. Additional blood shed would only increase the difficulty of taking over. By 30 April, the evacuation was complete and NVA tanks crashed thru the gates of the presidential palace. General Minh surrendered and declared to the country, “Only the Americans have been beaten,” and declared that the war for the country was over (as cited in Willbanks, 2009, p.

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