Another reason for the initial involvement of the U.S was the fact that they felt it was their duty as ‘moral guardians to the world’ to protect other countries. They had previously been saviours in the first and second world wars by helping Britain and her allies to victory which increased their self belief significantly.
As the war progressed the U.S found that they weren’t able to win against the North Vietnamese army – commonly known as the Viet Cong. The tactics used by the Viet Cong were extremely different to those used by the American soldiers meaning U.S troops found it incredibly difficult to adapt. The Viet Cong preferred the use of guerrilla warfare to the traditional methods which the American soldiers had been trained in. Ambushes, booby traps and mines were common and the difficult terrain made it even more difficult for U.S troops to navigate and fight in. Tunnels such as the Ho Chi Minh trail were built by the Viet Cong to transport supplies and provide defences against the American bombers, they were particularly effective as the American soldiers were unable to see were they were or navigate around them due to their complex layout. However, the greatest weapon the Viet Cong had was the media, Vietnam was the first war in which images and news reports were sent directly home to be viewed by the American people. This led to widespread outrage and many protests took place in objection of the Vietnam War.
The Viet Cong were used to the rough terrain and paddy field areas of Vietnam whereas U.S troops had no experience of this. The Viet Cong were not trained military soldiers like the U.S were, they were ordinary civilians armed with weapons which made it difficult for U.S soldiers to distinguish between the peasant population and Viet Cong soldiers, as a result many civilians were killed.
However, the U.S could not back down and send their troops home as this would have meant the mission had been a failure, they were already committed and as a result of this America began to pour even more advisors, troops and money into the area. This also links to America’s idea that they were the ‘moral guardians of the world’, if they backed down they would not only have failed themselves they would have failed the rest of the world. The Gulf of Tonkin incident where an attack on two U.S destroyers allegedly took place allowed President Johnson to increase the military involvement in Vietnam even further and by 1965 the first U.S marines where sent to South Vietnam.
Dense forest and jungle meant that it was impossible for the Americans to see the enemy on the ground and in the air; it was for this reason that chemical warfare was first introduced. Agent Orange was used to defoliate trees which allowed troops to see exactly what was beneath and around them. Due to the fact that traditional war methods didn’t work against the Viet Cong chemical warfare was also introduced as a tactic against the people themselves, which did not benefit the Americans into trying to win the ‘hearts and minds’ of the Vietnamese people. Napalm was used to devastating effects and many people were killed as a result of the effects caused by it.
Because it was so difficult to distinguish between ordinary civilians and the Viet Cong soldiers U.S troops were instructed to carry out ‘search & destroy’ ground missions with the aim of killing as many Vietnamese people as possible regardless of whether they were military or not. The U.S troops aim was to win the ‘hearts & minds’ of the Vietnamese people however this proved impossible when they were continuously bombing villages and killing innocent civilians.
In conclusion, the United States became increasingly involved in Vietnam for a number of reasons, the fear of Communism; the Domino theory and their own self belief being just few. However, the most important reason for the increased involvement was the American fear of Communism and their idea of ‘containment’. The increased U.S involvement was due to the fact that they could not bear the thought of Communism taking hold of the West, so when U.S troops began to fail in their mission The U.S felt they had no other choice but to increase the amount of troops and money they were putting into the area.