Treating civilians well is what helped the communists to gain their success. The South Vietnamese peasants were used to supply food for them; they were also used to provide information, shelter and to trick the Americans. The Ho Chi Min trail also played a key role in the communist’s success. The trail was an intricate network of jungle trails, paths, and roads leading from northern Vietnam into the border provinces of southern Vietnam. It was used as a supply route from the peasantry to the communists. The communists offered the peasants a fair distribution of land and troops had to abide by rules to keep the relationship between themselves and the peasants. Whilst the Communists succeeded to win the hearts and minds of their people, The Americans found this much more difficult, partly due to the huge difference in their ways of life. Because of this they viewed the peasants as almost subhuman and treated them with brutal force, further pushing the Vietnamese people away, towards communism.
In January 1968, the Tet offensive was launched by the north, its purpose was to cause the Saigon government to collapse or at the least to demonstrate such strength that America would give up. However, this didn't happen and it turned out to be a battle lost by both sides. The Tet offensive damaged the VC's claim to be a liberation force. US intelligence had failed to notice clear warnings and so their confidence was shaken.
The media also influenced the outcome of the war. Vietnam was the first televised war and the first and last uncensored war. The news reports from Vietnam were blunt and truthful. The public were being shown the true horrors of war on their TV sets and this led to anti-war protests across America. The impact of the media lowered the morale of troops and this limited their fighting effectiveness. There was such a lack of public support and in 1967 there were thousands of protest marches in American cities against the war. This lack of public support further hindered their confidence and success.
The social factor involved in the withdrawal from Vietnam is important. Perhaps one of the most key problems in the war was that American troops were mentally unprepared. Drug abuse became a big problem. In 1970, an estimated 58% of American troops smoked cannabis and 22% were on heroin. These factors all lowered morale within the troops which had an effect on the soldiers performance and contributed to America being unsuccessful which in turn, led to their withdrawal in 1973. Whilst the low morale of the Americans hindered their success, Communist determination helped to boost morale. This can be seen in a quote from Giape, “We were not strong enough to drive out half a million American troops, but that was not our aim. Our intention was to break the will of the American government to continue the war”. This strategy was an important factor in American defeat as American strategy never took determination into account.
The low morale of American troops was an important factor concerning the lack of success. The American forces short term of service of 1 year, meant there was not sufficient time to become an efficient soldier, it also meant that new recruits were coming in all the time which created a lack of team work. There was much disunity within American forces different units especially between African-American and white soldiers. Disunity between troops and officers was also a problem and 'fragging' was not uncommon. This means meaning to assassinate an unpopular officer. In the time of the Vietnam War, there are documented cases of at least 230 American officers killed by their own troops and as many as 1,400 other officers' deaths could not be explained.
The economy of the US suffered during the Vietnam War. The cost of the war was starting to cause concern for America; it was so high that Johnson didn't go to congress to get more money, as this would cause increased taxes which would cause further opposition amongst American people. The total cost of the war is an estimated
The Vietnam War was responsible for a heavy strain on the financial resources of the US economy. Due to the war Factories which were manufacturing consumer goods had to shift their manufacturing towards catering to the demands of the military. A war never benefits anyone; this statement proved right to America too.
Due to excessive military spending and diversion of funds overseas, the dollar weakened. There was no equivalent amount of funds coming into the country. The government earned dissatisfaction from the general public as the interest rates rose.
When Johnson became president in 1963 he and his advisors were confident that America could 'win' in Vietnam. However by the time Johnson's presidency was coming to an end, most of his advisors believed that the war was ‘un-winnable’. This lowered the confidence of troops; they wouldn't want to risk their lives fighting a war which was supposedly ‘un-winnable’. Johnson showed very little understanding of the situation in Vietnam.
American forces finally withdrew from Vietnam in 1973 but it took a long time for them to get out of the war. The main reason for this was because although Nixon (president at the time) wanted to end the war, he wanted to do it without America or himself loosing face. He wanted it to seem as though America was withdrawing from Vietnam of its own accord, having achieved its objectives. For this, the Communists would have to be persuaded to accept the continued existence of the South Vietnamese government and Nixon used great military and diplomatic pressure to achieve this end. Nixon used Vietnamization which involved using more South Vietnamese troops to defeat the communists. The Vietcong conducted a guerrilla warfare campaign; the jungle was ideal for this but was a disadvantage to the Americans. Along with their underground tunnel systems, the jungle was very effective for hiding, the Americans used their tactic 'Search and destroy' to try and combat this.
To conclude, the main reason for the withdrawal of American forces was their inappropriate tactics compared to those of the communists. The media also played a big part in their defeat, it was the first television war and this clearly had an effect on there success, lowering the morale and confidence of American people as well as that of the American forces. America was clearly not prepared for war and they went the wrong way about it, using brutality and force rather than trying to win the hearts and minds of the people. The Communists played a major part in determining the outcome of the war. Their determination, tactics and ingenuity greatly contributed to the defeat of America.
Lauren Anderson
