Francis Hine-Hughes Page
Why did America withdraw its forces from Vietnam in 1973?
After 30 years of war, the capital of South Vietnam, Saigon, fell into communist hands. Two years earlier, the US army left Vietnam defeated. Many factors made the Americans admit defeat.
There are three areas, which account for the withdrawal of US troops:
War factors including: failure of US military tactics; differences in experience between US and opposition forces; poor morale of US troops from the experiences of the war.
Social factors that include: opposition to war particularly in America; unpopularity of South Vietnamese government; and the cost of war.
International factors including: support for VC forces from Russia and China:
‘Operation Rolling Thunder’ was the American bombing campaign over North Vietnam. It was supposed to last 8 weeks but lasted 3½ years. More bombs were dropped in this campaign than were dropped in the whole of the Second World War. North Vietnam had very few factories, meaning that bombing was ineffective. Another US tactic was called ‘Search and Destroy’ which was to find the enemy and destroy them. This was ineffective because the enemy was often too hard to find. This was because Vietcong wore clothes that were the same as peasant’s clothes. They also hid in tunnels for long periods this factor affected US troops’ morale making it lower because it made the enemy mysterious and scary. The American were also scared of VC troops because of their guerrilla warfare tactics. The Americans were so desperate to do something that they burnt peasant’s homes. This was to stop peasants hiding Vietcong supporters in their homes but, in fact, it made peasants hate the Americans, and support for the Vietcong increased. The US also bombed neighbouring Cambodia because there were Vietcong bases and supply routes. Chemical Weapons were used and civilians many of whom were South Vietnamese were killed. This increased the bad press for America in South Vietnam. This increased the unpopularity of both American and South Vietnamese governments. ‘Agent Orange’ was the most used chemical. It was shown to cause cancer for those who were in contact with the chemical. It also got into streams and was drunk by soldiers on both sides and by civilians. The Americans thought they could gain the peoples support but because of bombing, they were un-trustable
