The Vietnam War was a conflict that took many years to escalate. It was an armed war that involved two alliances, one comprising of the communist regime of North Vietnam and Viet Cong, their southern allies and the other faction consisting of the South Vietnam and their ally, the United States. Gibbons (2014) asserted that the United States got involved in the Vietnam because of the fear of another country joining the communists hence increasing the Soviet sphere of influence. This is after the U.S. witnessed what had happened with China and therefore they were determined to resist the annexation of Vietnam which was combined with two other countries, Laos and Cambodia in what was known as the French Indonicha. The war, however, ended with the U.S being on the losing end. For several years, historians, pundits and analysts have put forward various reasons in a bid to explain why America lost the Vietnam War. There are many reasons the United States lost the Vietnam War. The discussion will analyze these reasons.
First, the media was severely blamed for the failure of America to win the war. This was the first war ever where the media had a large presence. It, therefore, meant that the massive brutalities perpetrated by the American soldiers were documented to the public back at home. The media also launched an anti-war campaign that was geared towards putting an end to the Vietnam War. The media were castigated for their flawed reporting of various events in the war that gave the enemy an upper hand. Particularly, their reporting of the 1968 Tet Offensive gave a false impression that the North Vietnamese battlefield disaster was a victory to the communists. This, in turn, helped to turn the American public opinion against the war hence negatively impacting on the U.S soldiers.
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Certain individuals especially the military leaders have also received their fair share of the blame with regards to America's loss in the war. These leaders contributed to defeat due to poor tactics that led to the exposure of the soldiers to the advantage of the enemy. General William C. Westmoreland was blamed for inappropriate combat tactics in the crucial years of the war from 1964-68. The general emphasized on enemy body counts and other conventional operations instead of focusing on implementing appropriate counterinsurgency policies as pointed out by Kocher, Pepinsky and Kalyvas (2011). Such tactical blunders in the face of a tough battle were among the major reasons why the U.S. failed to achieve victory.
The South Vietnam had U.S. as their many allies, and as such, they required massive support in various ways such as military support and arms among others. However, the war became difficult to win due massive corruption and ineptitude on the part of the South Vietnam. Therefore, some Americans felt that the South Vietnamese were unworthy of their support.
Strategic judgment was another reason that was heavily implicated in the U.S. inability to win the Vietnam War. The error in strategic judgment was evident when they applied the philosophy of ‘refighting the last war.' The U.S. leaders unwisely based the bedrock of their strategy on their previous experiences of fighting for the sake of saving an Asian nation under a communist threat. The American soldiers applied the same mistakes they did in the Korean War whereby instead of having a blueprint for victory, their focus was on ‘refighting the last war' which was a recipe for failure.
Another major reason why the U.S. was defeated was down to their soldiers. In some instances, the soldiers were unmotivated and unfit for duty. Considering that the average age of an American soldier at that time was approximately 19 years, most of them were disillusioned when approaching the war, believing that they were heroic and even invincible. Although the Americans exhibited superiority regarding technology and resources, the Vietcong were cleverer in hiding in the dense forests and dressing like common people. Gradually the morale of the soldiers was affected on the realization that they were fighting a war that was difficult to win and more so against an enemy they could not see. This led to the frustrations of the soldiers especially the young ones leading to dreadful atrocities like the My Lai Massacre.
The Vietcong strategies were also crucial in ensuring America’s loss. The Ho Chi trail played a big role in ensuring victory for the Vietcong. The trail consisted of a network of paths that acted as hidden routes through the jungle that were used by the Vietcong and the Vietnamese civilians. The trails ran through Laos and Cambodia hence they were able to avoid U.S. bombing raids. The trail was relocated on a number of occasions as it was used to move troops, weapons, and supplies around the country. The trail was hidden that the American soldiers could not find it. The Vietcong soldiers also used tunnels as hiding points. Tunnels also served as hospitals, supply routes, food caches and sometimes home for the soldiers. Also, the tunnels were long and as they stretched miles away thereby frustrating the Americans as it was difficult for them to locate the hubs for their enemies. This was important in giving the Vietcong leverage against the Americans.
Hess (2015) said that the American soldiers were also poorly equipped for a war in Vietnam. Because the country was heavily covered with dense jungle, it was always going to be difficult for the American troops to find their enemy and their way around the country. The Vietcong used the jungle to their advantage as it enabled them to employ the guerrilla warfare tactics. The Americans found such tactics difficult to retaliate against. The Americans resorted to the use of chemicals to kill the thick vegetation with minimal success as it only killed the food crops and had effects on the Vietnamese children. This led to more anger and rage towards the American troops.
The failure of the American soldiers could also be attributed to their poor tactics. The tactics were mostly poor, ineffective and inhuman that only tarnished the reputation of the Americans. The Operation Rolling Thunder that was launched in 1965 included dropping of thousands of bombs in towns and villages. This, however, proved useless and they reverted to searching and destroying missions where they destroyed villages. These efforts could only kill children and innocent civilians. Prados (2009) claimed that such attacks that were meant to reduce the morale of the Vietnamese only lead to them despising the Americans even more. The American troops used flammable fluid to attack the Vietnamese bases but only managed to harm children and civilians. This leads to their failure because in most cases, they were targeting the wrong people and their inhuman tendencies led to controversies back in their homeland.
In conclusion, the Vietnam War was a civil war between the Communists north and the capitalist South Vietnam. The northerners wanted to join the south to form a united communist country. The United States involvement was through funding and supplying weapons to the south under their policy of containment. However, the war led to a humiliating defeat for the Americans. The aim of America was ‘Vietnamization' which was to give war back to South Vietnamese, but in the end, they did not achieve it. The Americans had the efforts of their military drained gradually, and the final blow came when their helicopter crashed while flying them out.
References
Gibbons, W. C. (2014). The US Government and the Vietnam War: Executive and Legislative Roles and Relationships, Part IV: July 1965-January 1968 (Vol. 4). Princeton University Press.
Hess, G. R. (2015). Vietnam: explaining America's lost war . John Wiley & Sons.
Kocher, M. A., Pepinsky, T. B., & Kalyvas, S. N. (2011). Aerial bombing and counterinsurgency in the Vietnam War. American Journal of Political Science , 55 (2), 201-218.
Prados, J. (2009). Vietnam: The history of an unwinnable war, 1945-1975 . University Press of Kansas.
