Another reason for the US failure to defeat the Vietcong was because they were not used to the geography of Vietnam The geography of Vietnam consisted of dense thick forest and trails and huge amounts of marsh and. Thick jungle grass. Not only did this damage the ability of the American solders to travel quickly but it also allowed the perfect places to hide booby traps which could not only physically damage the solders but mentally damage them as well. Traveling through thick marsh with heavy guns and backpacks wore down the US soldiers. Also the massive downpour of rain. Which was constant for days on end also aided to the success of the Vietcong
The Vietcong used many tactics to beat the U.S forces. The main fighting style of the Vietcong, was a type of warfare called guerrilla warfare. Guerrilla warfare consisted of sniper fire, booby traps and ambushes and to slowly weaken your opponent. It was not only physically warfare it was also physiological warfare. The purpose of warfare as source D says “the aim of guerrilla warfare is to nibble at the enemy in such a way that he can neither eat or sleep in peace”. Guerrilla warfare was unable to be defeated by the American forces because,the soldiers had never experienced this type of warfare,also open warfare which consisted of “set piece battles” and opening bombing. Did not have much of an affect on the guerrilla's, and the bombs never had that much of an affect on Vietnam's thick and dense forests. The guerrilla's were constantly laying booby traps and also using the failed U.S bombs to create more weapons. Most American soldiers in fear of being seriously injured and having their body amputated They lost the “contempt for human life”
guerrilla warfare crippled the American soldiers physically and mentally. As source C tells us “the pressure on unit commanders to produce enemy corpses was intense” the U.S soldiers were starting to crack under the pressure because of tactics such as “wherever he goes he should be attacked, stumble on land mines or be greeted by sniper fire” it were ambushes and weapons like these which crippled the us soldiers and,made the Vietcong victorious.
Also because the guerrillas, were kind and helpful to the Vietnamese peasants , this meant that the peasants, in return gave shelter, food and resources which helped the guerrillas, and it also brought a number of peasants to become guerrilla's this also hep because the guerrilla's cloths were similar to the peasants, this meant the guerrilla's were able to hide in peasants homes and could travel through villages undetected by the American forces, also the guerrilla's told the peasants why the Vietcong couldn't lose the war against the south and America, because of fear that if the north lost, that other countries would try to seize control of Vietnam, also the Vietcong were fighting for communism, which meant everyone would in terms of finance would be equal, and because the majority of Vietnam were peasants, this idea of equality seemed perfect, also source E confirms how the guerrilla's were told to treat the peasants “be fair and honest with the people. Never take even a pin from them”. The guerrilla's were told to “love the people” an because thy loved the people they were “respected and loved by the people”.
In conclusion we can say there were a numbers of reasons why the U.S.A were unable to defeat the Vietcong, such as the geography of Vietnam being an obstacle, a unique fighting style which the American's were not use to this fighting style, because it opened them up to physiological as well as physical warfare and because most of the soldiers were of a young age they could not handle it, also open warfare which consisted of the dropping of countless bombs during operation rolling thunder (which was meant to last for eight weeks but lasted for 3 years) , did not have any effect on the thick dense forests of Vietnam.
How useful are sources F,G and I as evidence of the public reaction to the Vietnam war in the mid 1960's .
source F shows that it's use is limited because, the question on the poll are ambiguous, this is because the meaning of the question is misleading “backing up the boys in Vietnam” does not necessarily show support of the war, it shows you would support our soldiers, also we are given a percentage which means we are not told an exact number of the people that took the poll, so therefore it can be said that this is only a small segment of the publics view.
Source G shows that it use is debatable, because even though it says that the main problem facing America in the mid 1960's. However we are not given the amount or a percentage of people that voted, therefore we can assume that most people might not have even voted on the poll, and again it could be said that only a small amount of people voted, so it does not effectively show the public reaction to Vietnam war.
Source I
Study sources G,H,I,J,K and L
use the evidence of these sources, and your own knowledge, to explain why public opinion about the war in the U.S.A changed between 1967 and 1970.
There are many reasons why public opinion changed between 1967 and 1970, such as
the person involvement of families going to war, because the average age of the soldier were vulnerable to psychological damage. Over 700,000 of the soldiers who served in Vietnam have since suffered from, some form of distress, and also nearly 100,000 of these soldiers have committed suicide, this connects to source H, because source H is a letter from a US soldier fighting in Vietnam, this makes it personal because it's from a soldier to his family in this letter we are told that the the soldiers were “ just kids – 18,19,” and he's upset because there dieing, this is what made public option changed because teenagers who were young and had “their whole lives ahead of them” were being killed and had their lives “cut off” and also many soldiers because of this committed suicide “I'm sick to death of it”.
The cost of the war also contributed to the change of public opinion. The reason for this was, the Vietnam war was starting cost a lot of money and this money was coming from the American citizens taxes, which meant that president Johnson increased income taxes and cut back to deal with his promise which was to set up a program, to help decrease poverty.
Also the fact that taxes were increased and the fact that a large amount of American soldiers were being killed, made the America public feel like there taxes were contributing to the death of their own soldiers.
The fact that one of the largest and richest countries, were unable to conquer one of the smallest and poorest countries on the earth. The fact that a country was spending 66 million on a day and still losing, changed the public view of the American public. The war was costing the U.S.A three million dollars an hour,which meant it was costing the U.S.A 4000,000 to kill one guerrilla, which was enough to pay the annual income of 8,000 Vietnamese.
The various forms of media was strong part of contribution to the American's public view change, these forms of media consisted of journalism, and form of song, these forms of media, theses forms of media constantly changed public opinion because news reporters and newspaper reports, were describing the shocking events that were happening in Vietnam.
Source J is a photograph taken in My Lai massacre highlights how media had an important, impact on public opinion epically photo's because there more graphical and images stick in your mind more than writing, because it's shocking and the U.S public are shocked to see there sons or daughters, committing acts of rape and murder.
Source I highlights how forms of written media, helped change the public opinion
Did television play an important role in changing people’s attitudes about the Vietnam War?
I believe that the author of source M is correct in saying that television did play an important part in changing attitudes in regards to the Vietnam War, it highlights the reality of the war it showed how people were really dyeing unlike previous images from the cinema it showed men being torn from limb to limb
Vietnam was the first "television war." Many different newspapers, television shows and magazines reported on the Vietnam War. However, the American government maintained close control of the press as long as it could. TV made a lot of people back the war whilst it portrayed the war in America’s favor as much as possible. Source M states “When the viewers get a film which shows what a mortar does to a man, really shows the flesh torn and the blood flowing, they get squeamish”. During the mid 1960’s the war intensified and increasing numbers of American troops were being sent home dead; at the same time the reality of the war was being portrayed via the media.
Television did play a very important role in shifting opinions of the war. As this war was the first war where people saw the exact details of the war and the exact ways in which it was fought, the people of America could make their own opinions about they war instead of what the government wanted them to believe.
Source J is a picture showing a distressed mother shielding her daughter during the Mai Lai Massacre. These kinds of images allowed the public to choose how to view the war, such a negative image. These atrocities were committed in the name of America causing even the very patriotic to change their views about their countries war effort in Vietnam. It was not only T.V that molded opinions about Vietnam.
Source I gives us an article published in Time Magazine in January 1970 about the My Lai massacre. My observation is that the massacre occurred in 1968 and was publicized in 1970. The fact that this evidence was presented to the public two years after it occurred would have an adverse effect on the publics view of the war. The words are of a US army reporter’s first hand experience as he was there, ensuring high credibility “Troops accosted a group of women, including a teenage girl” the word accosted gives us an impression of in which manner those women were gathered. “A GI grabbed the girl and started stripping her” this shows us the disturbance of the soldiers at this time, the Americans troops mostly hated all the Vietnamese they came across, seeing the race instead as the Vietcong as their enemy. “Then a soldier asked “Well what’ll we do with them?” “Kill them,” said another soldier”. The Quote shows how the American troops had gained contempt for all life by now; they saw all Vietnamese, Vietcong and civilians alike as the enemy and therefore felt no distinction between them.
Past wars in America had been fought far from knowledge and vision of the public. The media coverage of the Vietnam War made the war seem closer to home than usual, making the war feel more immediate. Rather than hearing war stories from their older generations the Americans had first hand accounts of the war from the television. Influences of opinion were everywhere. Source J, Source H and source K a folk song sang by Country Joe Macdonald. Other famous protest singers such as Bob Dylan were promoted further by television.
Source F is direct evidence from a reputable US magazine Newsweek “Television seems to have encouraged a majority of viewers to support the war. 64% said television had made them feel like backing up the boys in Vietnam. 26& felt moved to oppose the war.” Though the majority of those asses felt moved to back the war effort this evidence proves that television had an effect on opinions of the war in Vietnam. Previous wars had been fought far away in terms of both distance and time, the immediate presence of television made the Vietnam War seem immediate occurring at the present time and in the publics view. Publications of the time also made the war have an immediate impact for example sources J and K.
News reporting was a major passage into Vietnam, the intrusive, inquiring and inquisitive attitude that reporters have to adopt in order to obtain a story led to the American authorities being forced to reveal details that were intended to be kept secret. The exposure of these details that allowed the public to make an independent opinion on the Vietnam War rather than the opinion the government wanted them to adopt. Discoveries such as the secret bombing raid on Cambodia led to the public not viewing their government to be as credible as once believed. All the actions of the US government where then scrutinized closely, due to the television coverage during Vietnam.
n 1969, the start of the ‘Vietnamization’ took place, whereby the US soldiers were told to withdraw from Vietnam to leave the North and South of Vietnam to sort out things out between them. By 1975, the Vietnam War is over.
So television did play an important part in changing people’s attitudes towards the Vietnam War but it wasn’t the only form of media to do so. There were also other things which added to people changing their mind and this eventually lead to the US withdrawing from the Vietnam War.
