The domino theory, thought up by an American, stated that countries would fall to communism one by one, until America itself fell. What the Americans conveniently forgot, is that in order for a communist party to succeed, it must have some support within the country. It was therefore impossible that the domino theory would continue to work after the Far East had fallen, because both Australia and America did not support communism. In fact, cynics might say that the Domino theory was compiled only to frighten western countries like Australia to enter the Vietnam war alongside America, which they did.
In 1961, whilst the American-controlled South Vietnam was being badly run by a corrupt government, who were distributing forged documents, President Kennedy was set on expanding the South Vietnamese forces. Shortly after this decision, he was assassinated. Diem’s government began to discriminate against certain religions, and a Buddhist monk, Thich Quang Duc, made the ultimate sacrifice. He burned himself in protest to the government’s attitude. This lost Diem a lot of support, especially as he offered to buy petrol for any more suicidal Buddhists.
After America had started to occupy South Vietnam, US ships were being blown up by the communists. America decided to bomb Vietnam. This was the start of the Vietnam War.
America, although not prepared to admit it, was out of its depth whilst fighting in Vietnam. This sort of war had never been fought with the western world before, with Guerrilla tactics meaning trapping and ambushing American soldiers. The guerrilla fighters were told all they needed to know - no more. This way, Vietnam’s tactical secrets could not be given away, and they automatically had an advantage because of this.
The Vietminh became known as the NLF, or National Liberation Front, after Diem, the corrupt southern leader, had refused to hold elections which were an obligation stated in the agreement with the North.
Not only did the NLF fight, but they had a good relationship with the people in Vietnam, especially peasants. They educated the peasants, and gave them any land won. In return, the NLF required total support of the peasants; they were the sea in which the NLF needed to swim. The NLF only picked a fight if it had a chance of winning, and often did.
America inadvertently reinforced the Vietnamese loyalty to Ho Chi Minh, in the belief that every peasant was an NLF supporter. Peasants were moved away from their homes in a plan known as the Strategic Hamlet Programme, so they could be watched by American soldiers. This cut off the peasants from other communities, so the NLF had no access to them. The peasants hated this scheme. American soldiers also took out their anger and frustration on the peasants. They knew there was an enemy, yet they could not see it. Everyone was the enemy.
Because of the poor tactics among American Soldiers, guns were often left after a man had died, and many bombs failed to explode. The NLF used this to their advantage, making booby traps and arming their side of guerrilla warriors. Any other supplies were brought in through Laos and Cambodia, along a route known as the Ho Chi Minh Trail. This was tactically excellent, because the destruction of this trail would mean America going to war with two more countries. It was struggling to fight one.
Another inadvertent mistake was actually assisting the domino theory to slowly happen. Towards the end of the Vietnam War, in the early 1970s, America began to get desperate, and tried bombing Laos and Cambodia in one final attempt to cut the supply line. These countries didn’t declare war, but the inhabitants began to strongly favour communism, and they actually fell after America lost the war.
There are many reasons why America lost the war in Vietnam. There was a lack of team spirit and ambition in the US army. This led to many squabbles among soldiers, and even a few soldiers killing men on their own side. Frustration could not be contained by the US soldiers, so they were prone to being violent towards innocent Vietnamese civilians.
The Americans also brought things from the western world which were very common in the 1960s. Many soldiers were permanently stoned, some by the Vietnamese drugging them, others by taking drugs such as cannabis, and even heroin, to overcome their frustration. Some soldiers had diseases which were passed on to Vietnamese prostitutes, infecting huge numbers of people.
Morale was low because the soldiers didn’t feel as if they were fighting for anything. They were supporting a corrupt government which no-one liked, and fighting for something that nobody wanted. They were also thousands of miles from home, in a climate and environment they weren’t used to. The whole situation was totally new to the men, and they knew the NLF had a strong advantage, and so began using ways of changing this strange environment.
Napalm was a chemical capable of causing fifth degree burns. It was petrol-like jelly, which burned through to the muscle, and could wipe out communities at a time. A rude awakening to the American public at home was seeing film of children horrifically burned by napalm. Agent Orange was another chemical used. It was a defoliant, which basically destroyed trees upon contact. The idea behind its use was that without the vast areas of dense rainforest, the enemy could be seen and killed. Perhaps one of America’s tactics made sense. It had a huge, unbelievably horrific consequence though - it caused deformities in children. Vietnamese children may be born with 3 knees, or no arms. This was another powerful image sent home to the people of America.
There was no respect within the ranks of the US army. Soldiers grew to despise each other, and squabbles turned into killings. Each soldier was so scared for himself that he had no time to show respect to his superior.
The peasants didn’t support the US army. They were set to benefit from communism, after all. Since the NLF educated them, they could see through the lies they had been told in the past, and supported Ho Chi Minh. If one peasant failed to obey US soldiers’ instructions, it was likely that the whole Vietnamese community would be killed.
American public opinion was mounting up, with more people protesting for peace. This protest intensified after the killing of John Filo at Kent State University. He was a protestor, with similar beliefs to the majority of Americans. They were able to empathise with people like Filo, and began to call for a peace treaty.
Each of these factors played a part in America losing the Vietnam War. Without one of them, things may have been different, but they were all in place, and the consequences for America were humiliating. Despite not technically losing the war, America withdrew, and would have lost otherwise.
The most important reason why America lost is that they weren’t fighting for anyone. The government selected by the west was corrupt, they had no support from the peasants, and really the American mission objective was a lost cause. In the Second World War, whichever side won, someone would have benefited. This was not the case here. It was Vietnam vs. America, fighting in Vietnam. None of the US soldiers wanted to be there, and stood to gain nothing from fighting.
The supposed reason for fighting was that communism would spread around the world. This was based on a prediction. As this essay pointed out earlier, communism can only exist if it has support. In developed countries, it has no appeal. Neither America nor Australia were likely to fall to communism. If communism was such a threat to America, why did it ignore its closest neighbour, Cuba, which was (and still is) communist? The truth is that America wanted to show the world that it meant business, by starting irrational wars, but really got more than it bargained for, when ancient tactics and poorly equipped soldiers left the world’s most powerful country in a humiliating predicament.
