Vietnam is a strip of land situated on the Eastern part of Indochinese Peninsula in Southern Asia, sharing the northern border with China and stretching over a thousand miles. Lying in the tropics close to the equator, Vietnam has never been peaceful, as the region was always torn by constant civil wars, where the Vietnamese people constantly fought their conquerors.
The Vietnam War refers to the greatest fight that took place between 1961 and 1975 in Vietnam against the US. This war has been given many names but where it happened, the Vietnamese refer to it as the American War to distinguish it from other international confrontations with other foreign countries during their bloody twentieth century.
Vietnam was an independent nation until the nineteenth century when the French conquered it. During their conquest, the French were aided by a policy of appeasement that was pursued by the Vietnamese Royal Court. This controversial and divisive war is one of the longest in history. It was a great struggle between the nationalist forces, communist government, and the United States. The involvement United States can be traced through five distinct phases as follows: combined French and US advisory (1950-55), US advisory phase (1955-64), combat phase (1965-67), offensive operations (1967-69), and Vietnamization (1969-73).
The United States involvement in Vietnam War came as a result of confrontation between the East and West, after the end of the Second World War. Following the spread of communism within the country, the United States turned to containment policy in order to counter the widespread communism. The United States lost the Vietnam War due to several attributed reasons. When the war began, there was misunderstanding about whether to engage in full combat or cross border aggression. The US related this war to the Korean War, which was a conventional fight where the territory taken and held was a success.
However, they were wrong in their judgment because in Indochina, the topography provided communist forces with extensive combat staging area and infiltration routes that denied the U.S forces perfect ground for war. Unsurprisingly, the French experience defeat from the communists while fighting in the same area.
According to Elizabeth Errington and B. McKercher, the US did not lose the war due to military weakness or failure; instead, it lost due to ineffective strategy. The U.S foreign policy makers’ decision to intervene in Vietnam War was calamitous, since they engaged full military aggression without proper understanding of the actual position on the ground regarding the war. At this point, Asian foes were at a great advantage to exploit their superiority against the disadvantaged United States. In addition, the influence of France as the main investor in Vietnam economy played a big role in the war.
Policy makers in the U.S misinterpreted the Vietnam War character, which resulted in conventional military responses to a revolutionary political challenge, resulting to a difficult conflict as compared to the actual stakes that were involved. The Office of the Secretary of Defense had become demoralized due to the events that had taken place; hence, it was unwilling to escalate the war further due to the decline of the army troops and operational freedom of action in Indochina.
The commitment of the U.S to an open-ended war in an area peripheral to traditional American security interests compromised the commitment of the U.S in the war, thus giving advantage to its foes and allies. The ground was limited in South Vietnam, thus providing the forces on ground little chance to effect their operation with regard to the Vietnam War. This situation limited the ability of the U.S to perform various combat operations while their foes were at a greater advantage to launch attacks on their enemy.
Conflict of interest between politicians and military in decision-making crippled the ability of the U.S to fight and eradicate communism in Vietnam. Primarily, the invasion was done without proper understanding of the magnitude of insurgence required and the actual position of the war on the ground. Under such circumstances, the military generals were to have an upper hand in planning and activating combat activities.
They were to exercise complete control over the entire warfare. In addition, U.S politicians were serving their own interests at the expense of the military troops on the ground hence sabotaging their efforts, a situation that led to their defeat and crippling of their efforts. They were handicapped in that, all the decisions to engage in bomb runs and other combat missions were decided by the office in the U.S headquarters.
The U.S did not get much assistance from South Vietnam, as it did not want to fight the war. This situation would put the U.S in front line and ensure that it had to fight the entire war, which was against its interest. However, the US demanded and sought support from the south before accepting to engage in the fight fully.
Poor adherence to the principle of objectivity based on an under-appreciation of the population resulted into a lack of a secure environment, hence inability to protect the Southern Vietnamese peasants. This would require additional troops, which would be diverted from other big wars.
The atrocities that committed by the army troops such as the massacre at My Lai where the U.S army soldiers massacred thousands of unarmed Vietnam civilians undermined moral authority of the U.S with regard to continuing to fight the war. As a result, the U.S was on the verge of losing the Vietnam War.
The entire cost of supporting the Vietnam War was digging deep into the economy of the U.S to an extent of presenting substitution options to other government programs. This would require that other important issues and missions be foregone in order to fully support the activities of the U.S military in Vietnam. Moreover, wrong and innocent people were killed by the high-tech war facilities, and this action in itself demoralized the military troops.
Vietnamese had been to war several times, including their resistant war against Japan during the Second World War. They had much experience and guerilla tactics appropriate to the conflicting nature as compared to the U.S troops who had a shortfall in terms of war experience. This worked to the advantage of the Vietnamese, especially due to the fact that they were being sheltered and supported by the native South Vietnams.
The American soldiers engaged in immoral acts such as taking drugs, which influenced them to shoot their colleagues in the force, hence lowering chances of the U.S military winning the entire war. There was poor coordination of the entire combat operation, hence weakening the morale of the troops in fighting their foes.
Given that Vietnamese were fighting in their own home ground, they had a great advantage against the U.S military troops and they were determined to fight and win the war irrespective of the cost involved. Precisely, home ground combat gave Vietnamese an advantage of being familiar with every part of the war zone including places to hide that the US could not establish.
The U.S failed in its politics regarding its involvement in Vietnam War, especially with its sense of liberalizing the South Vietnamese in terms of rights and opportunity of self-control and governance. This turned out to be a hypocritical assumption by the U.S government that would raise credibility questions from governments around the world about the involvement of the US in the Vietnam War. Some nations saw this action as an attempt by the US to take over Vietnam politically rather than eliminating the underlying causes of the war.
American military effectiveness was limited in the north where aerial fighting was prevalent. The Vietnam troops countered the attacks from the U.S troops more rapidly and dug tunnels for transportation and activity flow. Air bombings in the north had major drawbacks as they had no harmful effects, especially given the fact that the agricultural economy in the north was resistant to the bombings. All these drawbacks gave the northern troops energy and morale to fight back against the U.S forces with the determination to win over their foes.
The Vietcong were fighting to defend their country from invasion. They were fighting with motivation and clear objective of winning against their enemy. They had no shortage in terms of their ability to preserve their territory, as they were prepared for the war through training for a long time.
The surprise attack on the U.S Embassy in Saigon paralyzed the operations of the American troops. The Vietnam army commandos staged counter attack efforts to demoralize the American troops, killing many civilians and holding others hostage. The American Embassy was a strong hold for the presence of the U.S government. However, constant execution of police and military officers by the South Vietnam officers horrified the U.S army and the American public.
The American bombing was not stopping the war; rather, it was increasing the number of innocent casualties. At the same time, the war requirements in terms of ammunitions and other sophisticated machinery would require hefty capital investment, which would in turn have drastic effects on the economy of the U.S. This would mean that taxes would increase, credit restrictions would be effected, and even wage and price would be controlled in order to cater for the rising cost. This option was not readily to be accepted by the U.S government.
In conclusion, the Vietnam War is one of the bloodiest wars that the US has ever engaged in and lost. Various factors contributed to the failure of the US in the war among them being ineffectiveness of the policy makers, which led to conflict between political and military involvement. In addition, the Vietnamese were determinate to reclaim their land and eliminate any intruders in whatever means possible.
Bibliography
Allen, Joe. Vietnam: The (Last) War the U. S. Lost. Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2008.
Errington, Jane and Brian McKercher. The Vietnam War as History. Portsmouth: Greenwood Publishing Group, 1990.
Grimsley, Mark. Why did the United States Lose the Vietnam War? (Attached PDF file).
Jennings, Phillip. The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Vietnam War. Washington DC: Regnery Publishing, 2010
Lawrence, Mark. The Vietnam War: A concise International History. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008.
Levy, Debbie. The Vietnam War. Minneapolis: Lerner Publication Company, 2004.
Record, Jeffrey. The Wrong War. Why We Lost In Vietnam. Washington D.C: Library of Congress, 1998.
Willbanks, James. Vietnam War Almanac. New York: InfoBase Publishing, 2009