proved to be invaluable during the war as it added to the strength of the North
Vietnamese troops against the US Army. The Ho Chi Minh trail was a system
that ran from North Vietnam to South Vietnam through the neighbouring
countries of Cambodia and Laos. The system provided support in the form of
manpower and materiel to Vietcong troops situated throughout the country
during the war. “The trail was not a single route, but a complex maze of truck
routes, foot paths and bicycle traffic, and river transportation systems”, which
made it difficult for American troops to find and destroy the entirety of the trail,
despite numerous attempts. Even if they did come across part of the trail, and
destroyed it, the trail would be quickly repaired and the route changed to
conceal it. These tactics, along with the Ho Chi Minh Trail, guaranteed that the
Vietcong would win the Vietnam War, especially as Ho Chi Minh as leader.
Furthermore, the Vietcong wore similar clothing to the South Vietnamese
peasants, which meant that they were able to ‘blend in’ with the peasants and
spy on US militants. This hindered the performance of the US Army as they were
unable to identify Vietcong members from innocent peasants, which resulted in
the killings of innocent civilians. This also caused an outcry in America, where
opposition soon grew as the number of killings increased.
Although Ho Chi Minh was successful in leading the Vietcong against the US
Army to win the Vietnam War, there are other reasons which can be suggested as
the main reason why the US Army lost the war. One such reason is opposition
faced by the United states. During the US's involvement in the Vietnam War,
opposition existed within the United States itself. Polls conducted both by the
government and the press found that the wordings of the question had dramatic
effect on answers and what respondent states in a hypothetical situation as
opposed to a real situation can be very different. The answers showed that in
1967, the percentage of people who supported the war rose by 28%, but in 1970,
this figure fell by 46% .This downhill trend demonstrates how public support
for Vietnam fell from 1965 to 1971.
As the Vietnam War was the first war to be media broadcasted, the American
public were able to witness to events occurring on the other side of the world.
Pictures taken of monks protesting, one even setting himself on fire, showed the
public the horrific extent of the war. Pictures and footage taken of the My Lai
massacre were used as evidence by opponents of the war that America had gone
too far in their regime. Neil Jamieson states that “acts as cruel as the My Lai
massacre cannot be tolerated in society. How America can stand back and watch,
I don’t know”. My Lai is an important turning point of the Vietnam War as it
“generated a lot of civilian recriminations and bad publicity for the military” .
This in turn lowered the morale of the US Army.
The main opponents of the Vietnam War were the under 30s, with over 66% of
the under 30s population publicly opposing to the war in 1968 . To illustrate
their opinion, protesters held demonstrations, with one major protest held in
Ohio on November 5th 1970, where 4 students were shot dead by the National
Guard. As a result of the huge outcry that the shootings caused, Nixon declared
that American troops would start retreating from Cambodia in June 1971. This
demonstrates how public opinion was able to influence American politics and the
decisions it made.
Another group who opposed to the war were the African-Americans.
Throughout the war, there was resentment to the disproportionate number of
African-Americans on the front line and the high number of casualties. Martin
Luther King became openly critical in 1967, highlighting “the cruel irony of
watching Negro and white boys on TV screens as they kill and die together for a
nation that has been unable to seat them together in the same school's”
Another reason why the US withdrew from the Vietnam War was due to the
corrupted state of South Vietnam. One of South Vietnam’s key weaknesses was
the corruption and decay, most importantly in Saigon. As early as 1965,
Ambassador Taylor stated it was hopeless to expect the South Vietnamese to
improve. As a result, Taylor believed there were two possible options, either
ultimate withdrawal or to introduce a new element. This demonstrates how the
lack of strength in South Vietnam, both politically and socially was a factor as to
why US could not progress in South Vietnam and therefore contributed to the
eventual withdrawal. Sanders highlight's how the corruption and miss-
management of South Vietnams government naturally filtered through its armed
forces, thus linking to the many military problems that existed between US
soldiers and the ARVN (the ARVN was the Army of the Republic of Vietnam
and was the South Vietnam's army )
Nixon’s presidency can also be seen as the reason why the Vietcong won the
Vietnam War. Despite claiming that he would end the war if elected as president
during the presidential campaign of 1968, he is accused of escalating the war
even further due to the bombings of Cambodia and Laos. Nixon hoped that he
would gain `peace with honour' by using the Madman theory and
Vietnamisation to achieve this. By 1972, however, Nixon's freedom was limited,
with Congress cutting off funding in early 1973. This shows that Nixon was
unable to competently lead the US Army to victory. Military tactics used by
America was also a reason why the US Army were unable to defeat the Vietcong
and were forced to withdraw from Vietnam. One aspect of the military campaign
was bombing Vietnam, most famously Rolling Thunder, which was one of the
first steps in the campaign against Vietnam in 1965. However Stanley Karnow
states that in 1966 the “bombing campaign was having no measurable direct
effect on military activities, mainly because North Vietnam was an unrewarding
target with a large agricultural economy” .Despite bombing increasing from
315,000 tons in 1965 to 1,388,000 tons in 1969, the Vietcong were able to
increase the Southward flow of supplies and manpower, with Ho Chi Minh's
determination as strong as ever. This showed that there was little or no
progression was being made in defeating the Vietcong.
There were also other reasons why US troops withdrew from the Vietnam War,
one being the economic issue which suggested that US troops had to withdraw
from Vietnam. The Arab Oil embargo of 1973, “destroyed the US economy...the
price of oil was far too high to continue the war effort”. The lack of oil meant
that the US Army was unable to fuel their air and land campaigns against
Vietnam, which can be seen as the reason for their withdrawal-they could not
fight without their weapons and so had no other option but to retreat under the
guise of Vietnamisation.
Although Ho Chi Minh was undoubtedly an important factor in the Vietcong
defeating the US Army, as he organised aid from both Russia and China, as well
as planning guerrilla warfare tactics, such as the pits in the jungle and the Ho
Chi Minh Trail. However, Ho Chi Minh was not the main reason for the defeat
of the US Army in the Vietnam War, but the lack of public support. Though
there was initially more support for the war than opposition at the beginning of
the war, opposition soon rose as the brutalities of the US tactics, as well as the
conditions of the soldiers, soon arose. The media aided to the opposition by
broadcasting images and video footage of the war in newspapers and news
bulletins. By showing the images and footage, the American public were made
aware for the first time of the extremities of war. During the Vietnam War,
American were shown how innocent Vietnamese people were being massacred,
like at My Lai, or burned and disfigured due to the effects of Napalm and Agent
Orange, and how US soldiers (many of whom were family or friends to those
watching) were physically or psychologically damaged, killed, Missing In Action
(M.I.A), or Prisoners Of War (P.O.W). The horrifying images sparked the
opposition ‘movement’, leading to mass protests, campaigns and demonstrations.
Without the lack of support from the American public, plus opposition to the
war with other countries, the US Army would have remained in South Vietnam,
and continued fighting against the Vietcong, without any further progress and to
even bigger consequences.
Word Count: 1, 827.
Bibliography
∙ ‘Rolling Thunder In A Gentle Land’, Edited by Andrew Wiest.
∙ ‘The Vietnam War, the History of America’s conflict in South East Asia’, Edited by Bernard C. Nalty.
∙ ‘America’s Longest War, the United States and Vietnam, 1950-1975’,Third Edition, George C. Herring.
∙ ‘Understanding Vietnam’, Neil L. Jamieson.
∙ ‘The Vietnam War’, Edited by Peter Lowe
∙ ‘Vietnam A History’, Stanley Karnow.
∙ ‘The Communist Road to Power in Vietnam’, Second Edition, William J. Duiker
Page 344, Vietnam A History, Stanley Karnow
Page 344, Vietnam A History, Stanley Karnow
Page 171, Rolling Thunder in a Gentle Land, Andrew Wiest
page 103, America’s Longest War, George. C. Herring
Page 342,Understanding Vietnam, Neil L. Jamieson
Page 459, Vietnam A History, Stanley Karnow
Page 95, Understanding Vietnam, Neil Jamieson