Military Tactics Used by the USA and the Vietcong in the 1960s As war progressed the military tactics became increasingly important. Both sides first tactic was to try and win the hearts and minds of the people. Most Vietcong had strong relationships with the peasants who they helped, working in the fields in return for shelter. The Americans tried to win the people by providing aid but they couldn’t tell the peasants from the Vietcong and any good work they did was cancelled out by their association with the hated Diem. They set up strategic villages, trying to separate the peasants and Vietcong. They were very unpopular, moving people away from their homeland and ineffective as the Vietcong had been moved into the mistaken as villagers Once the Strategic Villages had been over-run by the Vietcong, America launched operation rolling thunder to limit supplies from the north and then used the minor excuse of an attack on Pleiku an American airbase to justify war to the American public and deployed ground troops. The Vietcong’s Guerrilla tactics were almost impossible to counter, they used their knowledge of the jungle very effectively. Demoralising the soldiers by setting booby traps like the punji trap. A unit could loose half of their soldiers and never see the enemy. Unable to keep the Vietcong out of villages the U.S told the troops to search and destroy. But the Vietcong didn’t wear uniform and could be children to old women. The soldiers in desperation resorted to torture, destroying property and random killing making them even more unpopular. The real Vietcong were often down the tunnels disappearing and reappearing wherever they wanted. The Americans blanket bombed the rainforest using cluster bombs and chemical weapons like Napalm to chase out the enemy and destroy the rainforest but the Vietcong moved in small groups, well spread out and so the bombs would only hit a few people, mostly civilians. the Americans tried to destroy the Vietcong cover with defoliants, agent orange removed cover and agent blue to destroy crops which
In the early 1960s the U.S. began sending military advisors to South Vietnam beginning the Vietnam War, arguably the most controversial war in United States history. This incident followed Vietnam gaining its independence from the French Empire’s Indochina in 1954. The nation soon split, creating a communist North Vietnam, and a noncommunist South Vietnam. In fear of communism spreading the U.S. supported South Vietnam and sent troops. As the incident dragged on it caused a huge anti-war movement and a lot of political turmoil.The troops were withdrawn in 1973, the whole country fell to communism, and the U.S. failed. How did a superpower such as the U.S. take defeat from a small country like Vietnam? Many have wondered and continue to wonder
Freedom Rides, Vietnam, and Social activism among the youths of America have left the 60’s with a very profound effect on our society. Without question, the decade of the 1960’s was one of the most controversial in American History. Throughout this period of social unrest, anti-war attitudes were gaining prevalence in a peace-loving subculture, and individuals began to question certain aspects of governmental policy and authority. This was the decade of peace and war, optimism and despair, cultural turbulence and frustration.
they have some similarities and differences between Vietnam and the US, such as education, food and social rules. The education system in the United States put the students as the center, efforts and ensure student needs are supported. Food processing in Vietnam is an important indispensable in daily life, but Americans do not spend a lot of time to cook. Society in Vietnam many prejudices and have strict than Americans, they respect ism of personal freedom more than other countries.
The Vietnam War was the longest war in America's history of involvement. Twenty years of hell, land mines, cross-fire, and death. Vietnam was divided by the Geneva Accord. The north being communist run by Ho Chi Minh. The south being anti-Communist run by Ngo Dinh Diem. Before Vietnam was separated, it was run by France. France had ruled most of Indochina since the late 1800s. The Vietnamese were unhappy with the way the French were controlling, therefore, many of them took refuge in China. When in China, they began to follow the lead of Ho Chi Minh, who wanted to model the Vietnamese Declaration of Independence as that of the U.S. version. In the 1940s, Japan had taken over Vietnam which upset Ho Chi Minh and his revolutionaries when they had returned a year later.
It has been known that the Vietnam War affected many American soldiers who were involved in the war physically and psychologically. The Vietnam War was one of the most memorable wars in history. Many Americans’ lives lost for no objective at all. Chapter 10 informed us about how the Vietnam War started and what really happened during that time. It also gave us background information about Vietnam Veterans and nurses who were involved in the war and what they went through during the war. I had the opportunity to interview a Vietnam Veteran also.
When comparing the belligerent forces of the Second Indochinese conflict it is clear that the anti-Communist forces in the South held the major advantages over their Communist counterparts in the North. Based on personnel strength, the anti-Communist forces, known as the Free World Military Forces, outnumbered the Communist forces, composed of the North Vietnamese Army and the Viet Cong by more than 2:1; a force of almost 2 million against one consisting of less than 800,000.1 In addition to a trained military personnel edge, the Free World Forces boasted the modern military machine that was the US Armed Forces. Finally, the powerful American economy which again, supported the South, could not be matched by the North. Given these, how could the North possibly stand a chance at conquering the South and defeating their capitalist ally, the United States?
What Different Tactics Did Both Sides use in an Attempt to Win the Conflict in Vietnam Between 1956 and1968? Both sides used different tactics and had to adapt strategies in response to the conditions they had to meet. Vietnam has some of the harshest conditions possible in which to fight. From the swamps, paddy fields and the Mekong delta in the south, to the mountainous jungles in the north; it was all alien to the Americans. The geography in Vietnam was so different to what the American soldiers had been trained in, that they found it difficult to exploit the landscape and make good use of it.
It is understandable that some Americans strongly opposed the United States getting involved in the Vietnam War. It had not been a long time since the end of World War II and simply put, most Americans were tired of fighting. Mark Atwood Lawrence is one of the people who opposed our involvement in the Vietnam War. In his essay, “Vietnam: A Mistake of Western Alliance”, Lawrence argues that the Vietnam War was unnecessary and that it went against our democratic policies, but that there were a lot of things that influenced our involvement.
Military Tactics Used in Vietnam War Our study has shown that both sides used different tactics in the Vietnam War and as the war progressed and intensified during the 1960's. Each side changed and altered their tactics. The first tactic, USA, started off with was economic aid and general. support.
In fact, the Tet Offensive broke out on the Tet's Eve - in the early
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 took place on 1st November 1955; it was a war between north and South Vietnam. This war also included America, which was on South Vietnams side. The events that took place during the Vietnam war- in 1960 the Vietcong was formed by north Vietnam, this was led by the following events of operation chopper(January 12th 1962)- operation chopper was the first combat mission for America against the Vietcong. American helicopters transported over 1,000 South Vietnamese paratroopers for an assault on a Vietcong stronghold, around 10 miles west of Saigon. The Vietcong were not ready for the attack, and were easily defeated. A year after this attack the battle of Ap Bac commenced on 2nd of January 1963. This battle was fought
In the Vietnam War, an uncounted number of soldiers were young and unexperienced add this to an unknown environment and the inability to distinguish the Vietnamese to the Vietcong. The Vietnam War was a significantly difficult war to fight in. Soldiers had to fight in a dense, bug infested, booby trap ridden forest with dangerous animals and because of this harsh environment soldiers were exposed to the elements and a copious number of soldiers went M.I.A. The Vietcong were resilient and well supplied this proved to be a problem to the American soldiers as the U.S government viewed the Vietcong as inferior. Continuing, another problem that Americans faced were that they had trouble telling who the enemy was whenever they would enter a village.
Due to the violence, anger and idealism in 1968, it is considered the most pivotal year in recent American history. Pivotal is relating to, or constituting a person or thing that is central or important to someone or something else. In 1964, the domestics opposed war in Vietnam with their only focus on ending the U.S. presence in the war that was caused by the United States.
The official era of the second Indochina war initiated on August 5, 1964, to May 7, 1975. Making it the longest war in both New Zealand and American history. The 1964 defeat of the French in the first Indochina war against the Viet Minh, spurred both New Zealand and British- American beliefs of the Viet Minh being a threat and a pivotal point in the expansion of communism in Southeast Asia. American President at the time, Dwight Eisenhower subscribed to the domino theory, which claimed that if one nation fell to communism, the rest would fall, like dominoes, in which the 33rd President of The United States, Harry S. Truman, believed in the policy of containment which is the concept of preventing the expansion of communism. This initiated the