Why Did The USA Withdraw Their Soldiers From Vietnam?

The USA withdrew from Vietnam for a variety of reasons. The very fact that the largest super power of the time withdrew from this largely unheard of region proves that there can be no substitute for careful planning prior to a major conflict including money.

The Failure Of American Tactics

There were many ill thought out and sometimes barbaric tactics used by the USA which all contributed to withdrawal and the failure of American tactics in Vietnam.

One of the major contributing factors for this was that right from the very start the American government believed that it could succeed in its mission in this campaign, simply by ploughing billions of dollars of the US tax payers money into what eventually proved to be a worthless cause, as a pose to spending time in careful preparation planning necessary action that could have been taken before committing countless young prosperous American lives to the on going conflict.

This however, was by no means the only failing of the U.S government during the Vietnam conflict. The government was not honest to its people. They referred to the thousands of armed forces personnel and vehicles that had been deployed in Vietnam as ‘advisors’. President Lyndon .B. Johnson appeared to turn the war into more of a personal vendetta for himself as he was even quoted as saying that he ‘don’t wanna be the first president in America to loose a war’ proving that he was thus more interested in his own political survival in his capitalist society than the lives of thousands of his fellow American service men and women. As well as this the American government went to Vietnam with the belief that ‘the power to destroy is the power to control’. This later proved to be an extremely naïve judgement that the American government had made as this only made the determination of the Vietnamese people increase. This occurred as for example when a fellow Vietnamese soldier was killed by the American forces, the surviving soldiers feelings of grief would turn to a feeling of much anger and bitter resentment towards the Americans.

The American military often used inhumane tactics against their enemies in Vietnam. They would use a killing technique called ‘napalm’ which burnt any person’s flesh that came into contact with this dangerous substance. The Americans believed that such atrocities would force the Viet Cong into submition however this only strengthened their resolve and determination to drive the Americans to withdraw from Vietnam.

The U.S military also used extremely old what could even be described as ‘medieval’ style tactics during this campaign. For example their soldiers would often easily be seen following the course of small rivers and streams for basic navigation. Streams and rivers always flow through open spaces in the landscape. The very fact that American soldiers used this method as a source of navigation made them extremely vulnerable to ambush by the Viet Cong and therefore proved to be another flawed tactic put to use by American forces. The American forces often moved Vietnamese civilians away from their homes and into U.S controlled ‘strategic hamlets’. At the time the Americans were quoted as saying that they were doing this for the civilians safety although after the conflict it was brought to light that the true reason for this was to try to disestablish a connection between the V.C and the civilians as the civilians would take in soldiers fighting for the V.C and would hide them away from the American military. A V.C commander referred to this event in his notes by writing ‘the people are the water, our armies are the fish.’

The U.S did not make the task of locating them a hard one for the V.C, as for one they were careless. They would leave a trail of litter where ever they went and would ware aftershave so they also therefore smelled and the soldiers often smoked which made there positions highly visible for the V.C, who could also judge how close they were to the Americans by how ever strong the sent of smoke was.

Another reason for the failure of American tactics was that on March 16, 1968 the angry and frustrated men of Charlie ...

This is a preview of the whole essay

Another reason for the failure of American tactics was that on March 16, 1968 the angry and frustrated men of Charlie Company entered the village of My Lai. "This is what you've been waiting for search and destroy and you've got it," their superior officers told them. A short time later the killing began.

As the "search and destroy" mission unfolded it soon degenerated into the massacre of over 300 apparently unarmed civilians including women, children, and the elderly. Calley ordered his men to enter the village firing, though there had been no report of enemy fire. According to eyewitness reports after the event, several old men were bayoneted, praying women and children were shot in the back of the head, and at least one girl was raped, and then killed. Calley was even said to have rounded up a group of the villagers, ordered them into a ditch, and mowed them down with machine gun fire. The U.S military during this event put no value on human life and showed more interest in the statistics that would follow containing an unusually high body count for the enemy. For this the U.S lost much support from the civilians of Vietnam who then sided with the V.C. This was another incident contributing to American withdrawal from Vietnam.

The Experiences and Conditions Suffered by the American Soldiers in the War.

Furthermore another large contributing factor to the withdrawal of American forces in Vietnam was the experiences and conditions suffered by U.S forces in the war. This alone was crucial to a U.S victory however after some of the atrocities witnessed by American forces, troops found it difficult to talk about these incidents as they were laden with guilt and remorse. As a direct result of this moral was dinted and troops pride was forever tarnished. The American forces found it increasingly difficult to operate under the ever-worsening circumstances. U.S forces participated on a daily basis in unjust tasks that had no positive impact for the U.S during the war. Horrific events such as the Mai Lai massacre, as it is now known shows that the Americans placed no value on the lives of the very innocent civilians they claimed to be protecting. Many soldiers suffered themselves after witnessing this particular event from trauma as a result of seeing such a loss of life and such awful casualties.

The average age of each soldier in Vietnam was just 19 years of age. Many service men fought along side brothers and witnessed them dieing in pain helplessly staring at the scenes of devastation that lay before them. If it was not family that surviving American soldiers lost they would have definitely have lost many friends through such acts of carnage.

Many American soldiers admitted that ‘they’d rather die than be taken prisoner by the V.C’ as they would at least in combat die with what they believed to be dignity than otherwise be emotionally, mentally and physically tortured by their enemy. The V.C enjoyed using prisoners as participants for ‘Russian roulette’. If prisoners as it were, unlucky enough to survive Russian roulette they would be taken down to a bamboo prison which would lie in the dirty rivers of Vietnam. Soldiers would be put in these prisons well before dawn and would be left waiting for the tide to rise, which would eventually suffocate the prisoner.

Another thing that the American forces had against them was the weather. They were not used to the humidity and heat of East Asia. Also they were not prepared for the terrain of Vietnam it has a moist environment and is very over grown and jungle like. The V.C however were the best in the world at dealing with this, their native climate.

Soldiers became home sick and moral was always low. Many suffered mental and physical sickness. These problems too, contributed to the withdrawal of American forces from this region. After the war the suicide rate of America is said to have increased among the armed forces by as much as ‘40’%

The Success of the V.C and the Tactics They Used.

The tactics used by the V.C against the U.S was a causal factor for America’s withdrawal from this conflict. The Vietcong, were the military branch of the National Liberation Front. For arms, ammunition and special equipment, the Vietcong depended on the Ho Chi Minh trail. Other needs were met inside South Vietnam.

Main force Vietcong units were uniformed, full-time soldiers, and were used to launch large scale attacks. There were other forces that were also full-time, but operated only within their own areas. When necessary, small regional units would unite for large scale attacks. If enemy pressure became too great, they would break down into smaller groups and scatter. A tactic that the Americans were not familiar with.

Unlike the main troops who saw themselves as professional soldiers, local Vietcong groups were usually much less confident. For the recruits were usually young teenagers, men and over a third of the V.C were women . These soldiers were incredibly unique in that they used ‘gurilla warfare’. This meant that they would attack quickly then hide, camouflaged in the surrounding forests and swamps or they would hide in the vast underground tunnel complex.

By the mid-1960s, most main force Vietcong troops were armed with Chinese versions of the Russian AK-47 submachine gun. They also used effective Soviet and Chinese light and medium machine guns. Machine guns were often used against American helicopters. For destroying armored vehicles or bunkers, the Vietcong used very effective rockets and grenades and rifles. Mortars were also available in large numbers and had the advantage of being very easy to transport. Many weapons, including booby traps and mines, were made in villages. The materials ranged from tin can to wire, but the U.S provided the most important ingredients without knowing it. Viet cong soldiers would supposedly work in the U.S bases cleaning shoes but would steal weaponry and would have advanced warning of American tactics.

Local forces also designed traps. "Punji traps" had sharp spikes hidden in pits could easily disable an enemy soldier. Punjis were often deliberately contaminated to increase the risk of infection.

The Vietcong, following the example of ‘Chinese guerillas’, had always given the highest priority to creating safe base areas. They were training grounds, logistics centers and headquarters. They also offered secure areas for times when the war might go badly.

Hiding the base areas had always been a high priority for the Vietcong. However with American spotter planes everywhere, it was more important than ever to protect them. In remote forests, there were few problems, but nearer cities, it was much more difficult. The answer was to build enormous systems of underground tunnels. Tunnels were not treated as shelters. They were fighting bases capable of providing continuous support for troops. Even if a village was in enemy hands, the NLF beneath were still able to conduct attacking operations. At first the American forces were oblivious to these tunnel systems and it would be incredibly difficult to access them so this played a major part in the success of the V.C tactics and was another reason for U.S forces vulnerability and eventually for their withdrawal from Vietnam.

The Role of the Media.

The Vietnam conflict many say was a ‘media war’ meaning that this was the largest factor in which the international public would look upon for their source of information. To a certain extent the American government tried to censor every broadcast involving the subject of Vietnam so that it would be seen as if a country 9000 miles away from the U.S was a threat to their society.

This was a modern war and was broadcast 24 hours per day 7 days per week. American politicians exaggerated the body counts of the V.C and decreased their own numbers so that it looked like they were achieving something with the ‘limited spending plan’ the government had made. According to news sources during 1970 America had ‘lost only 26 000 men’ in the conflict when in actual fact the true body count was heading to over 50 000 dead. The government claimed that it had spent ‘$50 billion’ when in actual fact at the time over $125 billion had been spent. As the body counts increased by day gradually moral decreased among American society their pride had been tarnished. Many millions of people began to question American involvement in the conflict and to where billions of taxpayers dollars was ending up and why. The government at this point was walking a tightrope of political struggle and survival. But still they tried to justify their mass spending using the theory of containment or the domino theory, which in their view would wipe out the threat of communism. However the public responded to this with mixed feelings on how a country so far away could possibly pose any threat to America. Something had to be done at this point. The government knew that the dint in public moral could have knock on economic effects and therefore the U.S government was under immense pressure to withdraw from Vietnam.

The Growth of the Peace Movement

The Johnson administration wanted to fight this war in "cold blood." This meant that America would go to war in Vietnam with little noticeable impact on domestic life. A limited war called for limited change of resources, material and human, and caused little disruption in everyday life in America. Of course, these goals were never met. The Vietnam War did have a major impact on everyday life in America, and the Johnson administration was forced to consider domestic consequences of its decisions every day. Eventually, there simply were not enough volunteers to continue to fight a protracted war and the government introduced a draft. As the deaths mounted and Americans continued to leave for Vietnam, the Johnson administration was met with the full weight of American anti-war demonstrations. Protests erupted in colleges and in major cities at first, but by 1968 every corner of America had been touched by the effects of the war.

All across America erupted chants to the president such as ‘Hey! Hey! LBJ how many kids can you kill today?’ There were many similar chants from protester similar to this, which refers to so many young soldiers loosing their lives for no more than a political coup.

Many middle to upper class usually white people suddenly joined college during the time when ‘the draft’ was introduced. They did this as this was one of the few ways in which people could avoid being called up for national service in America during the Vietnam conflict. These were often referred to as ‘draft dodgers’ the most famous of all being Bill Clinton. The very fact that it was largely black people fighting in Vietnam shows that there was still racism in society at the time of the Vietnam war. Black people were therefore risking their lives for liberties that the U.S government prides itself on, that the black community cannot enjoy themselves at home. Veterans of the conflict began to return home and they would tell the truth of what was happening. The American government could no longer censor information and was forced to withdraw.

To conclude it could be argued that it is pointless that America fights in a world war to prevent massacre and condemns it as a war crime and then itself participates in the massacre of over 300 innocent people at Mai Lai. It appears that America has taken nothing tactically nor morally from previous wars and as the saying goes ‘history has a habit of repeating itself’. Vietnam serves as ever-conclusive proof of this statement.