To what extent was Ho Chi Minh(TM)s leadership of North Vietnam the reason why the Vietcong was able to defeat the US Army in the Vietnam War?

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To what extent was Ho Chi Minh’s leadership of North Vietnam the reason why the Vietcong was able to defeat the US Army in the Vietnam War?

The Vietnam War lasted until 1973 before the US began to finally withdraw their armed

forces from Vietnam. The Vietnam War began when America was fighting in the Cold

War against the USSR, and the threat of wide-spread Communism was evident. It was

decided at the Geneva Conference that Vietnam would be temporarily partitioned, and

North Vietnam would become Communist under the rule of Ho Chi Minh. This worried

the US as they feared that this would lead to Eisenhower’s Domino Theory, in which

every country in South East Asia will fall under the ruling of Communism due to the

overwhelming influence of both China and the USSR. The US became involved in

Vietnam when it became clear that Ho Chi Minh would continue his Communist regime.

Many believe that, under Ho Chi Minh’s political and military leadership, the Vietcong

was able to defeat the Unite States’ Army, thus winning the Vietnam War. However,

there is equally enough belief that suggests that there were other reasons why the

Vietcong won the war, or why the US Army lost. These reasons include: military

mistakes made by the US Army, a lack of public support for the US Army, and

the fears of the US Government and the mistakes it made.

Ho Chi Minh’s leadership was the reason why North Vietnam won the Vietnam

war as he was able to guarantee the help from strong and powerful allies- Soviet

Russia and the People’s Republic of China. But a problem that Ho Chi Minh

Faced in gaining the help from these Communist superpowers was that due to

“ideological, strategic, national and even racial differences”,  Russia and China

were involved in a bitter quarrel, and were only concerned with helping Vietnam

in order to exploit their own interests. Despite this, Ho Chi Minh guaranteed  

help by “trying to patch up the quarrel and shifting to the side that best suited

their goals”, thus showing that Ho Chi Minh was willing to alternate aid in

order to gain the necessary help that Vietnam needed in order to win the war.  

In addition to this, the Vietcong, under the command of Ho Chi Minh, used

guerrilla warfare tactics, such as Punji pits, Side Closing traps, trip wires and

landmines to fight the US Army. He also started the Ho Chi Minh Trail, which

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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 ...

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