Vietnam War Vs Revolutionary War Essay

“When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw.” Said Nelson Mandela. Despite the Different Opinions on guerrilla warfare against American troops in weaker countries, but these opinions are all based on different perspectives. Some people judge things based on biases and relationship to who is being attacked or to that who is attacking. In comparing the American Revolutionary War, which was the beginning of the great and most powerful country we live in today (America) to the Vietnam War, we see that both of these wars had a lot in common. They both were fought for similar reasons and under similar conditions. Also, same fighting tactics were used in both wars. If Americans had the

right to fight the American revolutionary war, then the Vietnamese also had the same right to fight against American troops in the Vietnam War.

In the American Revolutionary war, Britain was at the peak of its power. However, after having a long war with the French, the British Empire was in an economic deficit. According to William S. Price, Jr, “by 1774, the year leading up to the Revolutionary War, trouble was brewing in America. Parliament had been passing laws placing taxes on the colonies in America, and a variety of other laws that were meant to get money from the colonists for Great Britain. The colonists did not like these laws.” These laws and regulations put upon the Americans made them feel oppressed and wanted to rebel. According to Arthur Schlesinger, primarily the American Revolution represented the rejection of independent people to permit their natural and normal energies to be confined against their will, either by a negligent imperial government or by the ruling minorities in their midst. (Schlesinger: 76) So, Americans felt that the British oppressed them and their freedom was taken away from them. Therefore, the rebelled and fought the British using Guerrilla fighting tactics; and because these tactics were new to the British, the Americans won the war against the British army, which was one of the strongest armies in the world around that time.
According to Andrew Mack, the first thing Americans have learned from the Vietnam War is that superiority and having strong military forces doesn’t assure victory in war. (Mack: 177) so, it does not matter how powerful the invader’s forces are, it is the motivation, and the determination of fighters to defend their country and to gain their freedom from any outer powers trying to control the will of the people. Looking at Vietnamese Guerrilla warfare, it was the Northern Vietnamese willingness to sacrifice for the sake of their freedom and independence that helped them win their war against the strong, more advanced American troops. Also, According to George Hopkins, “northerners dedicated to reuniting their country under one government] practiced "people's war””. (Hopkins: 105). So, the Americans wanted to help the southern Vietnamese, but at the same time, they were causing damages to the northerners and oppressing them. Because the Vietnamese were fighting to gain freedom and later unity, they had a great motivation in fighting which led to the U.S lost and withdrawal.

Looking at both, the American revolutionary war and the Vietnam War against U.S, even though the guerrilla warfare was one of the main reasons the weaker side and the one with fewer fighters won, but it was more importantly that the Guerrilla fighters fought to achieve a goal that relates to their own lives as well as their people.

On the other hand, big forces like U.S in Vietnam, and British in the U.S during the Revolutionary War were fighting to gain more control and gain resources from the land they were fighting in, which is not a strong reason to motivate soldiers to sacrifice as much as their enemies did. In the Vietnamese war, and the American Revolutionary war, we see a lot of similarities. First, in the American Revolutionary war, British were the invaders who were far more powerful than the Americans. Americans had the motivation to fight for their freedom and independence. Since Americans were weaker then British, they used guerrilla warfare, which was new to British and cost them a lot of casualties. On the other hand, in the Vietnamese War, the Americans were the invading force, and the Vietnamese were fighting on their own soil. They were fighting to kick out the invader and gain freedom and independence of their country. The Vietnamese used exactly what the Americans used in their fight in the revolutionary war against the British, guerrilla warfare. These tactics lead to the defeat and withdrawal of U.S from

Vietnam.

In conclusion, people might have different views on wars and who is right and who is wrong. However, people must have the right to gain their freedom and independence from oppressors by using any means such as guerrilla warfare, or direct fight. Therefor, guerrilla warfare against American troops in Vietnam was defensible like it was for the American Guerrilla warfare against British troops during the American Revolutionary War.