To what extent can it be argued that the use of guerilla warfare tactics by the Vietcong against the US military was the key factor in explaining the American lack of success in the Vietnam War?

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To what extent can it be argued that the use of guerilla warfare tactics by the Vietcong against the US military was the key factor in explaining the American lack of success in the Vietnam War?

The Vietnam War has been regarded with much controversy – both during the War, and after its conclusion in 1973. America came under heavy criticism because it seemed to the world that its presence there was unjustified. Many countries saw America’s presence as purely strategic and economical rather than for the protection of South Vietnam’s people as America had first claimed. This worldwide lack of support included many protestors at home in America. This was devastating for the morale of the hundreds of thousands of young ‘grunts’. Throughout the war American losses, both financial and military were astounding. Never before had a country with America’s degree of power and worldwide influence been so unsuccessful when combating an economically underdeveloped country such as Vietnam. Admittedly North Vietnam did receive aid from both the Soviet Union and China but despite this, Vietnam has to be seen as a Third World country defending their homeland from the world’s biggest super power.

The aim of this essay is to investigate the main reason for America’s defeat. Possible reasons for failure apart from the effectiveness of the Vietcong guerrilla tactics would include:  lack of morale of US troops, inappropriate US military tactics, the shocking images shown in the media coverage, US motives for engaging in this war, their lack of consideration for and understanding of the Vietnamese people, worldwide lack of support for the US war effort, the collapse of support on the home front. All these factors will be considered in order to arrive at a conclusion as to what was the major cause of America’s humiliating retreat.

Since America first got involved, its motives for engaging in the Vietnam War have been debated among historians. America claimed that their presence in Vietnam was for the aid of the people, terrorised by the communist north. It has always been clear that the threat of communism spreading across south east Asia was a great worry for capitalist America, therefore America’s key motive has often seemed to be the fight against ‘evil’ communism. But why would communism in Vietnam be such a threat to America? First of all America prided itself on its powerful economic position, taking full advantage of her resources and the ability to free trade. Southern Asia was a major importer/exporter of/to America and one impact of communism would be a more independent people, no longer happy to be taken advantage of by America. This would cause trade prices to rise for America and any other country doing trade with S. Asia. America could not run the risk of letting spreading communism compromise their dominant position in world trade. Evidence that perhaps supports the view that America’s motives were indeed less than commendable is that the government that they set up and supported in the South was definitely not a democrat. The leader of this government was Ngo Dinh Diem, a corrupt catholic who, unlike the Communist leader Ho Chi Minh, lacked the support of the Vietnamese people. The persecution the people of the South endured under the hand of Minh created great mistrust of America. They were seen as “propping up” Diem, which created a very negative image for them. Whilst this government was set up as an independent one, they took much guidance and counselling from the US. Many times the US simply forced their will onto the South. One example of this was the prevention of free elections in the whole of Vietnam, as set down in the Geneva Convention,  as America’s  own intelligence reported that 80% of the people would have voted for Ho and therefore defeated the American-backed government in the South. The evidence that America was invading a foreign country for what appeared to be their own social and economic gain created a ‘rolling snowball’ of world wide lack of support that just got faster and larger, picking up many people around the world, including Americans.

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In fact, for the entirety of the US war effort, American troops showed very little consideration or understanding for the Vietnamese people and their way of life. They showed very little respect for the Vietnamese people’s cultural and religious beliefs and instead of attempting to educate themselves about Vietnamese society, they just tried to “Americanise” the people. US troops assumed that if they offered the peasantry small treats like Coca-Cola and candy their loyalty would be won and the US would gain their support and trust. For some of the people this would work but its effects were only ...

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