Why Us Lost The Vietnam War Essay

1. What problems did the United States face in the Vietnam War? As the United States struggled against communism in Vietnam, it would face many problems. In the late 1950’s President Eisenhower and later President Kennedy sent military supplies and advisers to South Vietnam. Despite the American aid the Vietcong grew stronger with support from North Vietnam.

OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER -SUCCESS OR FAILURE? Operation rolling thunder was a strategic and gradual bombing campaign undertaken by the united states military and the republic of south Vietnam. The aim of the campaign was mainly to prevent the north Vietnamese from invading the south Vietnamese and spreading communism. Over Three years the USA and south Vietnam dropped 643,000 tons of bombs on the north and spent around 900 million dollars. The operation was seen as ineffective as it did not meet the initial objectives as men, North Vietnamese guerrillas and materials continued to travel from the north to the south via a sophisticated network of paths and the ho Chi Minh trail which also ran through neighbouring countries such as Laos

In using artillery and air power of weapons like the M163 Vulcan, M42A1 Skysweeper, and the MIM23 Hawk we were able to take down our enemies. There was 2.7 million soldiers that served in the Vietnam War. In this being said there were 58,000 that died or remained missing, and 300,000 that were wounded. More than one hundred forty billion dollars was spent on this war. The U.S failed to overcome its objective of preserving an independent, noncommunist state in Vietnam, now no one knows how or why we fought this war or weather the military outcome was possible for the United States.

It was 1965 and the first U.S. troops were landing in South Vietnam, there were 3,500 U.S. Marines added to the already 25,000 advisers in the country. This war would define how we view life for decades and generations. Most people thought it was a mistaken war with no purpose other than to stop the flow of communism in Asia and the fear of others would follow, and add to the strength of the Soviet Union during the height of the cold war. Some people turned the war into a racist battle ground to justify the uprising and protest against the war. The troops were poorly armed and on average fought 240 days a year when compared to WW2 with only 40 days a year for infantrymen.

During the Vietnam War, President Eisenhower placed CIA operatives and many different military advisers into Vietnam. President John F. Kennedy was the one to finally make the decision to send American soldiers over to Vietnam so that we could fight. President Lyndon Johnson announced and ordered the very first authentic combat by American troops, and finally, President Richard Nixon was the one who ended the war all together. Unfortunately for America, despite all the decades of resolve, whopping amounts of money, over 60,000 American lives and injuries, the United States had still ultimately failed to achieve all of its

This is because the USA were still unable to make a substantial breakthrough, and the Viet Cong could not overthrow the American forces. Despite the Viet Cong suffering heavy loses and the North Vietnamese Army taking over, there was no change in terms of tactical advantages or disadvantages for either side. Overall the Tet Offensive was a turning point in the war, as it led to a change in public opinion, which triggered the end of the war. Due to these factors the Tet offensive was an extremely significant event. The military significance of Tet to American tactics was not very large at all, but it was a turning point in terms of the credibility and attitude of the military.

By the middle of the 1960’s, more than 180,000 Americans were stationed in Vietnam. The Army of the Republic of Vietnam had stated that they, “cannot stand up to pressure without substantial U.S. combat support on the ground.” This statement caused Johnson’s administration to continue adding more and more troops to the war, leaving there to be about half a million soldiers stations in Vietnam by the end of the 1960’s. The war was becoming more expensive than it needed to be, causing the inflation rate to rise dramatically. By the end of 1967, Americans were split over opposing or supporting the war.

The Vietnam War was fought to stop the spread of communism that threatened the United States way of life. War strategies that were used were harsh, major battles bloody, and war opposition at home was high. The leaders of our countries decisions caused devastating effects that not only shook our country but the whole world.

However, the American military ultimately did not apply full force against the Northern combatants under the People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN/NVA) and Viet Cong (VC). Despite investing considerable quantities of human and material resources to support the South’s fight over control of Vietnam, the focus often diverted to concurrent threats such as West Germany. This notion, combined with the US’ determination to avoid a potential nuclear war that a communist defeat could catalyze, led to restraint in support and eventually its withdrawal from the conflict altogether. From the heavy casualties to a growing economic toll on the US, American citizens grew convinced that the superpower rivalry developed

Soldiers were asked to do horrific things that were against their nature and slowly it broke them. The Vietnam War is infamous for the slow moving terrain and the PTSD it caused

The Vietnam War was a war the United States should have never been involved in. The

In the Vietnam war the United States lost everything that made it a superior defender for freedom and justice. We lost money and the support of American and South Vietnam citizens, because of that we lost our confidence and power. Without having confidence and feeling powerless, it questions whether we are capable of handling our nation 's conflicts while supporting South VIetnam. During the war the United States lost around $350-900 billion total in the Vietnam war (www.the vietnam war.info, 2014).

With the US military helping South Vietnam against the North Vietnam. The South Vietnam didn’t not feel like they had support under the Western’s power, which South Vietnam didn’t because Nixon was trying to help the South Vietnam, but no involving US soldiers to fight in the war. Although, Nixon made the Vietnamization policy to stop US involvement it cause more of a uprise for the US position in the war. The New Economic policy and Nixon Doctrine both policies made by Nixon was only towards his presidency and not actually stopping the US involvement. Nixon said it would make a change in the US involvement to better but instead Nixon didn’t follow up upon his campaign promises.

Vietnam saw the war as a fight for independence while the U.S. saw the war as a fight against the communist regime, aiming to instil its capitalist approach in order to alienate the Soviets from the rest of society. This is a perfect example of numerous things in the theory of Realism, namely: the balance of power, the idea that peace and stability are most likely to be maintained when military power is distributed to prevent a single superpower from controlling the world; the security dilemma, the tendency of states to view the defensive arming of adversaries as threatening, causing them to arm in response so that all states’ security declines; and national interest, the goals that states pursue to maximize what they perceive to be selfishly best for their country (WPTT, 2011, pp.32-33). The U.S. saw the Vietnamese becoming allies with the Soviets as a security dilemma, so in order to somewhat restore the balance of power, a war was declared on the Vietnamese, all to preserve its national interest. The U.S. declared war on Vietnam even though there was no real need for one, as the Vietnamese were much too busy fighting for their independence from the Chinese in an attempt to differentiate

1. The first problem that the United States faced during the Vietnam war was that the people of the United States were opposed to the Vietnam war. Another problem was that North Vietnam kept helping the Vietcong get stronger. 2. The options that were available to both presidents were to either fight the Vietcong head on or withdraw the American troops and hold out until the other side got tired of fighting.