Road to Failure in Vietnam: Why America was Defeated

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Road to Failure in Vietnam: Why America was Defeated Why did America Fail to Defeat its Vietnamese Enemies Between 1965 and 1969?

There were a number of problems facing US forces when fighting the war

in Vietnam. Possibly, I think one of the major problems that they

faced was the fact that the Vietcong were fighting using guerrilla

tactics.

Other reasons include; The Vietcong were able to remain well hidden

with their extensive underground tunnel system. These tunnels made it

increasingly difficult for the US forces to find the Vietcong. The war

was made difficult due to the uniform of the Vietcong. This led to a

great lack of trust among the Vietnamese and the Americans, as they

were unable to distinguish between real Vietnamese civilians and

Vietcong soldiers in disguise.

Then the Americans started carrying out “Search and Destroy Missions”

The Us lost the heart and minds of the Vietnamese people through these

missions.

The terrain also made life more difficult for the US forces, as a

great deal of Vietnam was covered in jungle, swamp and paddy fields.

The Vietcong used Guerrilla Tactics against the Americans. Guerrilla

warfare was on a small scale, taking independent, irregular actions.

This proved very effective against the Americans because it was very

demoralizing for them because they couldn’t see who were attacking

them. This was called having an “invisible enemy” because the

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