Why the United States withdrew its troops from Vietnam in 1973

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Why the United States withdrew its forces from Vietnam in 1973

The United States first started becoming more alerted over the situation in Vietnam, when the country was divided into North and South after 1954. The US government feared that this was due to the ‘Domino Theory’ of communist regimes, falling one after the other around the world, at this time surrounding South-East Asia. There were a range of factors that contributed to US withdrawal from Vietnam. The involvement if guerrilla warfare, media coverage of incidents occurring in Vietnam such as the use of chemical warfare and the great loss of civilian life, as well as mass protests against the war in America, pressured the American government and produced a difficult situation in which the United States was forced into a peace negotiation and an eventual withdrawal from Vietnam.

Guerrilla Warfare

The communists in Vietnam fought a guerrilla war that US troops were not trained for, although the US military believed its superior weaponry would bring Victory.

Despite massive investment in men and supplies, American hopes proved to be misplaced. The Vietnamese knew when it came to fighting a war with a superior military force, or a force with a higher statistic, guerrilla tactics were ought to be used.

These tactics had been proved remarkably effective since a war against the French in 1859, against the Japanese and French in the 1940’s, against the government of Diem in the 1950’s and once again decided to use these tactics against the invading American force. The technique of guerrilla warfare can be shown in the following quote by Mao Zedong ‘’The enemy attack, we Retreat. The enemy Camps, we Raid. The enemy tires, we Attack. The enemy retreats, we Pursue’’, the determination of the opposing Vietnamese forces, were an issue in why their tactics proves so effective against the minds and ability of the Americans.

In order for the Vietnamese to use their tactics effectively, they needed to gain support from local villages and communities. They had to make sure that local people accepted their presence, they made a great effort to know the local people personally and spread the word of revoloution. They managed to recruit local people to fight along side, by day they could be farmers, by night  a deadly tactical weapon in the fighting vietnamese forces, which worried US troops and gave a great psychological impact. Once vietnamese forces had gained support from locals, and established themeselves in the villages of south vietnam their campaign of guerilla warfare could continue.

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They tended to avoid major face to face confrontations, due to the fact the US had superior weaponary. A secret underground force that was hardly ever seen was what the vietcong wanted to achieve, many deadly booby traps were set around jungles and villages often causing fatal tradegies, any amount of civilians could of ambushed the americans in a split second, attacking camps with mortars or working at night to catch them off thir guard.The development of thousands of different routes around the countryside was also essential to the Vietcong for moving equipment,weapons, food and men around the country. ...

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