History Coursework - Vietnam Assignment

Authors Avatar

History Coursework – Vietnam Assignment

Explain why the USA withdrew its forces from Vietnam in 1973.

Vietnam is a country located in South-East Asia. During the years of 1961 to 1973 it was involved in conflict with the USA. Up to 1954 this are had been known as Indo-China and was ruled by France. Vietnam had been part of the French empire until the Vietminh at Dien Bien Phu had defeated it. The USA had a very capitalist view and had a great fear of all communist behaviour. As the Vietnamese people were mainly communists the USA believed that they would ‘save the country’ by stamping communism out. The USA believed in the ‘domino theory’, the belief that if one country fell to communism then the rest would soon be sure to follow. To keep communism out of Vietnam the USA sent out military advisors and financial aid to the French but this still failed to stop the advancing threat of communism.

        The country was split into two. North Vietnam being controlled by Ho Chi Mihn, a communist, and South Vietnam being controlled by Ngo Dihn Diem, a capitalist. The USA did not want communism to continue and so carried on sending aid to South Vietnam in the form of financial and military aid. They believed that this would help stop the spread of communism. This financial aid, and military advice soon became a full-scale military escalation, and a full-scale war.

        The USA had much superior technology to the North Vietnamese, and also a greater military force, but a combination of guerrilla warfare by the Vietcong (formally the Vietminh), and the continuing involvement of the USSR and China forced the USA to withdraw it’s forces from Vietnam in 1973. Other reasons for the withdrawal of troops included the My Lai Massacre, the Kent State University Massacre, and the election of President Nixon.

Join now!

        The Communist forces began to use guerrilla warfare against the USA military force it proved very effective. It was the only successful method fro a small nation to fight against a super-power such as America, which was vastly superior in the number of ground troops available and technology. The Vietcong were experts at this type of warfare, and easily trapped the USA military as they had been trained to fight conventional wars, which this was not. The USA never found an effective way to combat the ‘terrorist’ methods practised by the Vietcong. The Vietcong dug ditches, and booby-traps to control ...

This is a preview of the whole essay