The USA had very good chemical weapons because they had developed a really powerful chemical weapon called the Agent Orange. This was a highly toxic weed killer. This was used to kill and destroy the jungle where the Viet Cong were hiding. The Americans had used about 82 million litres of Agent Orange to spray thousands of kilometres of the jungle. This chemical weapon was very good to kill the Viet Cong in the jungle. The Americans had also used the Napalm this was also used to destroy the jungles were the Guerrillas were hiding. This chemical weapon burned through the skin to the bones. Many civilians and soldiers were killed by these chemical weapons. From source 42 I can see children running they all look as they are screaming. I can see a Vietnamese girl who is running naked after tearing her burning clothes from her body this was caused by the napalm attack. This was photo was shown over the whole world, especially the Americans because this is their fault of what is happening to the children. I think this links up with the media because the US public have seen this picture which had weakened the support for the USA.
They were unable to beat them because in 1968 the communists had launched a major offensive the Tet Offensive. Viet Cong fighters attacked over 100 major towns and cities in South Vietnam. Even the American embassy in Saigon was attacked; some of the fiercest fighting of the war took place. The city of Hue was nearly flattened by intense fighting. Around 4500 fighters tied down a much larger US and South Vietnamese force in Saigon for two days. In some way the Tet offensive was a disaster for the communists because they hoped that the people of South Vietnam would join and help them but this had back fired. This had badly weakened the Viet Cong because they had lost around 10,000 experienced fighters. Tet is a defeat for the communist but it is also a major shock to the American military and the public who thought the war was almost won, the US had suffered heavy losses. This is another reason why they withdrew because they were suffering heavy losses.
There was a trail called the Ho Chi Minh trail, this was the main supply route for the Viet Cong fighters. Most of their equipment was coming from China and USSR. Their equipment was good but they were not as good as the USA. The USA had use planes and chemical weapons examples napalm and the Agent Orange. The US were attacking on the trail regularly but when the bombing stops 40,000 Vietnamese people especially the women peasants were working to repair the damages caused and keep the supplies moving.
The Viet Cong could afford to lose men during the war but the Americans weren’t. The Viet Cong losses are much higher than the Americans losses. The Viet Cong are prepared to accept heavy losses but the American public are not because innocent civilians are being killed. This links up with the cost of the war because too many people are being killed. This happened because the American search and destroy missions were supposed to kill the Viet Cong fighters instead ordinary peasants were being killed by mistake. This massacre was very shocking to the American public. This had weakened the support for the war, that’s why they withdrew because they were not getting enough support from their own public.
The cost of the war made them pull out of the war because it was costing too much. It cost $20 billion a year and they were fighting for about 8 years so that’s why they withdrew because of how much it was costing. By 1968 the war was costing 66 million dollars a day. This had made the president increase the income taxes and also he cut back on his programme to deal with poverty. This had made them withdrew from the war because they were spending a lot of money due to the fact that this contrasted with the amount of lives that were being taken. By the end of the war the USA suffered over 200,000 dead and wounded.
The mass media was a really good example of why they withdrew because it was down to them and the American public because from this the USA was losing their support for the war. The Viet Cong could not get rid of the Americans from Vietnam but the American public could. There was a magazine called the Life Magazine and this showed photographs of 242 US soldiers killed in the Vietnam War, this had shown people killed in one week. Every night on coloured television people saw pictures of dead and wounded marines. This had shocked the American public because this was what the US army were doing to the Viet Cong. There was a biased report made saying that the Americans were about to lose in the Tet Offensive, so the only option was to withdrew from Vietnam. The real truth was that the US army was winning but the media lied and that’s why the American public weren’t supporting the US army. The media had filmed the effects of chemical weapons used by the USA especially the picture of the girl who was running naked because her clothes were burnt off. This had scared American public because the US army were doping this to innocent people in Vietnam so this had lessened the support for the US. There were also pictures of dead American bodies in body bags; this had weakened the support aswell because the public didn’t like their own people being killed in the war. The media had made them withdrew aswell because of the lack of support they were getting from the public.
The My Lai massacre was also another reason why they withdrew because on March 1968 The American army found out that the Viet Cong guerrillas were staying in My Lai and they had a headquarter there aswell. The US soldiers were told to destroy all the houses, dwellings and livestock. Most of the soldiers thought that they had to kill everyone who was found in the village. About 300 to 400 civilians were killed they were mostly women, children and old men. Some were even killed while they were working and some were mown down by machine gun fire. The army thought that this was a success. Until in September 1969 loads of the people in Charlie Company were charged with murder especially William Calley because he was charged for murdering 109 people. There were pictures put on magazines and television about the My Lai massacre, these photos were taken by an official army photographer. This massacre deeply shocked the American public this was the clearest evidence that the war had gone wrong. In source 9 I can see a picture of Vietnamese civilians massacred by the American troops. It shows a row of dead and wounded people, this was shown to the US public and this had weakened the support for the war even more and this made them the US withdrew because there wasn’t support from the American public. In November 1969 around 700,000 protesters marched on Washington DC, this was the biggest political protest ever made in American history.
The protest movements encouraged the US army to withdraw because of many reasons. First reason is when the war started only a small percentage of the American public opposed the war, but those who objected fell into three broad categories, people with left-wing political who wanted an NFL victory, pacifists who opposed all wars and the liberals who believed that the best way to stop the spread of communism was by encouraging democratic. The first demonstration to Washington took place in December 1964. Only 25,000 people took part but it was still the largest anti war demonstration that was taken placed. As the war was continuing more and more Americans turned against it, people weren’t happy because of the use of chemical weapons e.g the Agent Orange and the napalm. The US was found guilty of using the weapons against the Vietnamese that were prohibited by the international law. The US army were also found guilty of torturing captured prisoners and innocent civilians.
In November 1965 Norman Morrison from Baltimore followed the example of the Buddhist monk and he publically burnt himself to death. In the following weeks two other pacifists also did the same thing. The introduction of conscription for the war also increased the level of protest especially among young men, students were not called up. About forty percent of American troops are conscripted; they only served a year so they are inexperienced. In contrast the Viet Cong fighters are usually experienced they are on their home ground and they are totally dedicated to their cause. However students throughout America protested because they thought that it was the peoples right to decide for themselves whether they wanted to fight for their country. In 1965 David Miller publically burnt his draft card and he was sentenced for two and a half years to prison. By burning his draft card he inspired others throughout America, there were meetings where large groups of young men burnt their draft card aswell. They did this so the Americans will pull out of the war.
Students in American universities held demonstrations all over the country. Many of these became draft dodgers; they refused to serve in Vietnam. In November 1969 around 700,000 protesters marched on Washington DC, this was the biggest protest ever made. The National Guard troopers shot dead four students and this had caused public uproar. Not only students protested in October 1969 about one million Americans joined a nationwide anti war protest. Not all Americans supported the peace movement but it was obvious that the USA was not united in support of the Vietnam War.
Mohammed Ali was one of the many protested against the war, there were several reasons why the ethnic minorities felt strongly about Vietnam. The main reason was the expense of the war. By 1968 the Vietnam War was costing 66 million dollars per day this links up with how many people were killed during the war. The protest movements brought together all sorts of reasons for wanting the USA to get out of Vietnam.
I think that all these reasons had made the USA withdraw from Vietnam but the main reason I think was the lack of support from the American public and this links up with the media and protest movements because they held demonstrations for USA to pull out of the war. The public made them leave because they were shown pictures of what was happening in Vietnam and this had scared the American public, and some people were losing their own family in the war. They probably felt guilty because the American troop’s, were killing innocent people for no apparent reason. That’s why this links up with the protest movements because they both made the US government to change their minds about the war.