Another major reason for the US withdrawing their troops from Vietnam was failure of US tactics. Although the public support for the war was very low, the fact that the Viet Cong were in fact terrorising the US army would only have escalated the public’s hatred for it. AS we can see from previous wars, the American’s had a lot of pride, and liked to show off their army, and another easy win would have let the anti-war feeling in America die down. The United States went into the war with the totally wrong tactics. A major flaw in their tactics was under-estimating the strength and will of the Viet Cong. The Viet Cong were not just a bunch of bare-foot guerrillas, but a highly trained, fiercely determined and well armed fighting force, which was at its best in small unit actions. The Viet Cong knew they couldn’t match the massive firepower of the United States, so they therefore avoided large-scale battles and adopted guerrilla tactics instead. These ‘Hit and run’ tactics devastated the American forces, which suffered major casualties without even seeing their opponents. The American also under-estimated the Viet Cong’s armoury. They believed them to be merely peasants with guns, but infact they were being supplied much military equipment by China and the Soviet Union to keep the Viet Cong going. Equipment supplied included valuable Soviet Anti-aircraft guns and missiles. Later on in the war, Soviet tanks also played a major role in the Viet Cong’s success. The guerrilla tactics used by the Viet Cong also meant that the US air force was essentially taken out of action, as their bombs were of no use. Due to their constant movement, there were no distinguishable major bases to bomb, which meant the supply line to the Viet Cong never stopped. An attempted solution to the jungle bases of the Viet Cong was the use of the chemical Agent Orange, which was used to kill the leaves off the trees, to make bases more visible from the air. This tactic not only didn’t work, but also lowered South Vietnamese support for the US army. The major advantage that the Viet Cong had over the US army was their knowledge of the local surroundings. They knew the ins and outs of the jungle, and knew what to do and when. The US troops on the other hand had no experience in this terrain, which often led them to be killed by the plentiful booby traps the Viet Cong laid on the ground. All of these reasons as to why the US tactics were infact so poor only lead to more casualties, and this then indirectly affected public opinion of the war, who hated seeing their own people die.
Nevertheless, one of the biggest reasons explaining why the US troops were withdrawn from Vietnam would be Morale. The communist forces opposing the US army were much more committed to their cause and they fought with a much greater desire to win. The allies of the American army, the South Vietnamese were not able to match the Viet Cong in either fighting ability or determination. Although the Americans could arguably compete with the Viet Cong’s fighting ability, they definitely did not have any commitment and had no belief in their cause. Many of the US troops had abused the easily available hard drugs from neighbouring Laos and Cambodia. A later estimate put use of heroin at 30% between US soldiers, which again lead to depression and inferior fighting abilities. News of the growing opposition to the war from US citizens would have reached the soldier and only lowered their morale. As the old saying goes, it is not the dog in the fight, but the fight in the dog, and the Viet Cong certainly had more fight, irrelevant of the fact they were warring against arguably the greatest military power in the world. The US army knew they could not carry on fighting with unwilling soldier against the Viet Cong with superb morale, high discipline and great leadership from the lowest to the highest levels. This would have definitely made the US consider withdrawal the only option.
Finally, another factor that the US would have definitely taken into consideration would have been the support of the South Vietnamese peasants. From the start, America realised that the only way a war would have been won would have been through winning the support of the people they are fighting for. This policy was often referred to as winning the ‘hearts and minds’ of the people. However, the problem was that the Americans totally misjudged what the South Vietnamese wanted and the government currently in place, which the United States itself set up, didn’t want to convert to the ways of the peasants. Many of the peasants hated the Americans even before they started the war. The government they set up was not only corrupt, but the government looked upon peasants with contempt and was Christian, showing little respect from the majority of the peasant’s religion Buddhism. The peasants linked this government directly towards the United States and therefore hated him for it. Even if the peasants of South Vietnam disliked the Viet Cong aswell, it would have been more so a lesser of two evils to support the Viet Cong. Another key issue to the lack of support was land reform. The Viet Cong were the ‘robin hood’ figures among the peasants, who took the land they control off of rich landowners and gave them to the poor, which was very popular among the poor peasants. However, the rulers of South Vietnam like Diem was rather selfish, and didn’t wish to repeat the same policy of the Viet Cong, and as long as the South Vietnamese Government were strongly anti-communist, the Americans were certainly not going to force them. The Americans tried many tactics to win the hearts of the South Vietnamese people, but all of them failed. One major one was the Strategic Hamlet programme. The Americans essentially took the peasants away from the area’s where the Viet Cong were strong, and offered them food for information passed upon about the Viet Cong. This operation involved moving entire villages up to 2km away, to Viet Cong protected area’s, where the peasants were to build their own houses. Nevertheless, the whole operation completely un-done itself as the peasants were forced to pay the government for building materials, and even for the barbed wire to protect themselves from the Viet Cong which the US had supplied for the families involved, which totally undermined the whole policy. The American’s were also extremely frustrated towards the lack of corporation with the South Vietnamese peasants, and with the US failure to break the support for the Viet Cong. The lack of support made it so that the Viet Cong were essentially in disguisable from the Vietnamese peasants. This led to such massacres as the My Lai massacre, where over 300 civilians were killed. All of this lack of support from the South Vietnamese people was crucial to the US success, and without it they knew they had no chance of winning the war. Although the lack of support was brought upon them, it would have been a major reason as to why the US would have withdrawn their troops from Vietnam.
As you can see, there were many reasons as to why the United States might have withdrawn their troops from Vietnam. Although the real reasons could have been all of these put together, which directly put great pressure upon the United States, I believed there to be a strong reason as to why I think the United States withdrawn their troops. Personally, I believe that the lack support of the South Vietnamese people was the most important factor as to why the United States withdrawn their troops. I believe that if they did infact have the support of the South Vietnamese people, although it might seem small on its own, it would have affected the arguably bigger reasons as to why the troops might have been withdrawn. If they had the support, the morale of the troops would have increased, due to both the fact that they could root out any Viet Cong soldiers within the peasants villagers and also they would be more determined with the country they are fighting for backing them. The strength of the Viet Cong would have also decreased, as they increasingly relied on the support of the South Vietnamese people in order for them to have success, and finally, the attitude towards the war would have gotten a more positive light as the American citizens would actually realise they was a reason that they were fighting such a horrific battle. If the South Vietnamese people actually wanted the United States to help them fight communism, it might help the war effort through showing how bad communism for the South Vietnamese people would have been, and given them a clear goal for their nation to achieve. Nevertheless, I find it cynical how the US generals thought they could actually win the war, with all these reasons building up preventing them from doing so. The main reason they came to war was the public support of America to prevent the spread of communism, and when the public support diminished surely the will to keep on fighting would have gone. In my eyes, the United States should have withdrawn far before when they actually did. The only viable reason I can see why they stayed would be that they believed they could salvage something from the war; otherwise all of the effort put in previously would have been wasted. But what did the United States achieve in the war against Vietnam? They went in wishing to stop the spread of communism, but infact the communist spread got bigger, as south Vietnam fell 2 years after the end of the war. Who is to say that the spread of communism wouldn’t have stopped as it did at South Vietnam, without all the death’s and casualties. Personally I believe that the only reason that the United States pulled out was for their own pride. If they pulled out in 1973, they could still say that they didn’t lose to the communists, without further damaging their reputation as the world greatest power, and also without further damaging the negative reaction to the war occurring within America itself. In my eyes, it was only America’s arrogance and their wish to keep their famed military prowess which was the reason why they didn’t withdraw their troops earlier which ultimately cause more lives.
