Every single war the United States has been a part of dating back to the Revolutionary War in 1775, the U.S. has never lost. Did not necessarily won like the Korean War, but did not lose. Knowing this and also knowing that there has been at least seven other wars that the U.S. has been a part of before the Vietnam WarVietnam war, which makes it hard to believe that the U.S. could ever possibly lose a war. Thus bringing up the big question, did the U.S. actually lose the Vietnam War? Well, the northern Vietnamese military/Viet cong's usage of the Vietnamese environment, the northern Vietnamese army/Vietcong's guerrilla warfare tactics, and finally, the United States failing to stop the spread of communism into Vietnam are a few key reasons why the United States did not officially win the Vietnam WarVietnam war. One of the first key factors to why the Northern Vietnamese Military/Viet Cong defeated the Southern Vietnam Military and the United States military was because of how well the N. Vietnamese military and Viet Cong used their environment. Most of the battles taken place during the Vietnam WarVietnam war happened in the …show more content…
military was the Vietcong’s use of guerilla warfare tactics. Guerilla warfare is defined as the use of hit-and-run tactics by small, mobile groups of irregular forces operating in territory controlled by a hostile, regular force. A lot of the Vietcong's fighting was done through ambushing, booby traps and mines, use of tunnel systems, but did include some pitched combat with the Americans when necessary. The Vietcong’s guerrilla warfare also made it really hard for the U.S. military to find the enemy, especially when they blended in as everyday Vietnamese citizens. They would use their environment to attack the Americans quickly and then dip out. Whether it was through the over two hundred mile long tunnel systems, or escaping deep into the Vietnamese forests.
The Viet Minh used guerilla warfare and launched multiple surprise attacks. The North Vietnamese Troops were ruthless and would burn down small villages and kill the locals to show their brutality. This style of warfare was all new to the United States and they were unsure how to combat such a force. The United States held their own and both sides endured heavy losses. The fact that so many men were dying is why the media and public were so interested in this war, and the United States would eventually have to withdraw because of how the media affected the views of the
The United States battle tactics did not fare well against an unseen enemy, who rarely presented himself in a full-scale battle, but rather picked at units one by one. A conversation between a colonel in the U.S. army and a colonel in the Vietnamese communist army summed up the guerilla warfare tactics used: "You know you never defeated us on the battlefield," said the American Colonel. The North Vietnamese Colonel pondered this remark for a moment. "That may be so," he replied, " but that is also irrelevant." The revolutionaries in Vietnam used hit and run attacks. They would assault small groups of soldiers, by sneaking up on them. This worked well, because it allowed the Viet Minh to avoid bigger battles, which they were not trained for. They knew that the U.S. soldiers were unfamiliar with the battlegrounds and jungles, so they used this weakness to their advantage, by being able to move more quickly and stealthily than the U.S. troops. They also knew how to
The Vietnam War is one of the most disgraceful periods in American history. Not only did the greatest superpower in the world get bested by an almost third-world nation, but we lost badly. Perhaps this war could have been won, or even prevented in the first place. The United States could have and should have won this war, with a combination of better weapons usage, better tactics, and better support from their home country.
The Vietnam War was one of the most intense, stressful and exhilarating wars to fight due to the factors of fear and not knowing the surrounding environment. Vietnam’s land is a jungle filled with natural dangers. Monsoons were common on the Vietnam land, which made harsh wet and hot fighting conditions. Animals such as snakes and scorpions made it dangerous to wander blindly in the jungle. On top of all the natural dangers and conditions of the land, the communist enemy known as the Vietcong were known for their use of booby traps such as bear traps, wooden stakes applied to dangerous designs, and use of poison. American soldiers found these factors made it hard to fight a war and found it even harder to fight when the U.S Army couldn’t discriminate the enemy from civilians. The Vietcong and South Vietnamese were the same people with different views, so this made war hard to fight when it is nearly impossible to identify the enemy. The use of guerrilla warfare made it difficult to beat the enemy in a foreign jungle terrain. The Vietcong having the upper hand in almost every aspect of the war made warfare conditions very stressful for American soldiers. Most of the American soldiers were already experiencing anxiety and stress due
What did the United States lose in Vietnam? The United States lost many valuable resources in Vietnam , examples being people, their mental health, money. We lost respect, reputation, and pride from the war or “police action”. The United States did not leave the war without sacrifice, though we deserved most of what happened for our stupid decision in entering the war through police action. Losing people, money, respect among many other things is not anyone else's fault.
America has won the War of Independence, the War of 1812, the Mexican-American War, the Indian Wars, the Civil War, and are back-to-back winners of the World Wars. With the amount of victories made, Americans might try to process the question of who won the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War never had a declared victor. America got involved in the Vietnam War during the year of 1965. The United States first became involved in the war by financially supporting France in the first Indochina War. After that, Vietnam was separated from France’s control. South Vietnam and France were America’s allies. President Kennedy sent roughly 2,000 military advisors to South Vietnam for support. Soon, it became a much more preponderant number. The “Tet Offensive,”
To begin, one of the main things that the United States lost in Vietnam was our trust in the government. A lot of Americans protested the war, a lot more than others in the past. They didn't understand why we were over there, and didn't believe it was our war to fight. There was a draft to make men go to war when they didn't volunteer, which led to even more protesting and angry citizens. Americans also lost trust when President Johnson lied about what actually happened in the Gulf of Tonkin. During this time in August of 1964, the attacks by the Vietnamese have been proven to be provoked by the United States, and was all planned. It was overheard during a phone conversation between the President and Secretary of Defense McNamara what had actually happened. They tried lying and
They didn’t fight to win, they fought to stay alive and protect each other. This was not just a daytime happening, it was around the clock. The Vietcong had the advantage of knowing the terrain, therefore they were able to instill fear in the American soldiers.
The United States lost a few important things in Vietnam. They lost their support system, military, Politics, and Resources. Without these things they were pretty much helpless. Basically they had nothing left to show for. They were incapable to succeed, weak, and powerless after they lost these things.
The Vietnam War lasted from November of 1955 to April of 1975. The war was fought between the United States and South Vietnam, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, and Thailand, Canada, West Germany and the United Kingdom against North Korea, China, the Soviet Union, North Korea, and Cuba. North Vietnam won the war after 20 years. The United States had five presidents throughout the war, South Vietnam had two leaders, and North Vietnam had two leaders.
North Vietnam seemed to be winning the war, and the Soviet Union and China started to supply and backup the communist north. Then on August 2, 1964, North Vietnamese torpedo boats targeted and attacked a U.S destroyer named the USS Maddox. President Johnson asked congress to pass an authorization for him to do whatever was needed to protect the U.S or it’s Asian allies in the threat of another attack. Johnson did this to allow the United States to send troops into Vietnam without congress officially declaring war. This was a very unpopular war, and by the end of the war the casualties were heavy on both sides. The U.S lost over 58,000 troops, and the winner of such war is one debated even to this day. Many say that since the U.S lost so many troops and failed to stop the spread of communism, we lost. Others debate that because a peace treaty was signed between the U.S and Vietnam, the United States was
When the war started, North Vietnam took side with the communist party which includes China, Viet Cong, and supported by many other communist countries such as the USSR as the main supporter of armour vehicles, explosive, and weaponries such as Type 59, Type 62, T-55, T-54, T-34, however tanks such as those were proven inefficient due to jungled biome and the needs to cut down trees could jeopardise secret operations and ambushes. Guerrilla warfare was proposed by Viet Cong it helped the communist to attack or defend territory with repeat succession when fighting against the
Tactics had played major role in the Vietnam war. They were used in the battle of Ia Drang to have an impact on the battlefield. The three major tactics, History.com’s Staff said, were the U.S.’s air mobility and B-52 strikes also North Vietnamese guerilla warfare. The U.S. wanted to test their air power
The North Vietnamese Communist leadership's ability to reassess and adapt during the Vietnam War was reflected in how well they combined guerilla and conventional operations to achieve their strategic goal of unifying Vietnam under communist rule. Throughout the conflict, the Viet Cong (VC) were employed to conduct guerilla operations while North Vietnamese Army (NVA) and VC "main force" units were used to transition to conventional operations. Guerilla operations enabled Hanoi to inflict a steady flow of casualties on US forces which increased anti-war sentiment in America. NVA and VC main force conventional operations reinforced the US Army's conventional approach to the fight which caused the Americans to alienate the people of South
The people involved in this war ranged from teen boys who were uneducated to very educated leaders. The military branch of the National Liberation Front was called the Vietnamese Communists or the Vietcong. They had to depend on the Ho Chi Minh trail for their arms, ammunition, and other special equipment. One main thing that the Vietcong was