Why did America withdraw its forces from Vietnam in 1973?

The first 200 words of this essay...

Why did America withdraw its forces from Vietnam in 1973?

After 30 years of war, the capital of South Vietnam, Saigon, fell into communist hands. Two years earlier, the US army left Vietnam defeated. Three factors account for the withdrawal of US troops. The 'war factors' included: the failure of US military tactics; differences in experience between US and opposition forces; and poor morale of US troops from the experiences of the war. The 'social factors' included: opposition to war particularly in America; unpopularity of South Vietnamese government; and the cost of war. Finally, 'international factors' included: support for VC forces from Russia and China.

Amongst the US tactical errors was 'Operation Rolling Thunder' the bombing campaign over North Vietnam. It was supposed to last 8 weeks but lasted 31/2 years. More bombs were dropped in this campaign than were dropped in the whole of the Second World War. North Vietnam had very few factories, so bombing was ineffective. Another US tactic was called 'Search and Destroy' which was to find the enemy and destroy them. This was ineffective because the enemy was often too hard to find. The Vietcong wore peasant clothes. They hid in tunnels for