Vietnam Essay
‘The USA lost the Vietnam War because its military strategy and tactics were wrong.’ How far
do you agree with this statement
In 1963, after a long build up the USA went to war with north Vietnam in order to prevent the
spread of communism and the domino effect. This was thought to be an easy victory but
despite numerous American attacks like operation rolling thunder and search and destroy
tactics used by American general William Westmoreland, the war was an embarrassing
defeat against the Vietcong and was detrimental in the fight for capitalism. The war lasted
until 1972 and it ended due to America having lost a lot of men in the recent years, the
government feeling like they hadn’t made much progress in recent years and the
overwhelming support to end the war in back in America. Despite America’s superior
resources and superior training and army, the Vietcong had much better military tactics and
they had much more home support.
A rolling thunder
On the one hand, America’s military and tactics were the reason that they lost the Vietnam
war, they were inferior in many ways and were often rash and unjustified. The operation
rolling thunder was one of the most disastrous failures during the war period. It consisted of
America bombing huge amounts of Vietnamese land. It wasn’t the best tactic because it was
highly expensive with about 650,000 bombs being dropped and all the planes to drop the
bombs, this extreme expensive made America’s environment a lot worse and contributed to
large public outcry. It also killed 90,000 people with an unexplainable 80% of those being
civilians meaning that getting the public on their side would have been almost impossible,
which meant most civilians were on the Vietcong side which was another disadvantage of
the operation. Rolling thunder also had no clear cut objective with the so called goal to just
impress the enemy with their fancy and inefficient technology. While operation rolling
thunder probably did boost morale of the south Vietnamese and showed North Vietnam the
might and power of America it was one of the worst strategic movements in the war with
America basically losing a lot of money, a lot of home support and basically all of their
civilian support while gaining a minimal territorial advantage.
American in capabilities
Furthermore, the Americans inability to adapt was a significant reason for them making a
mess out of the combat and their loss in the war . Firstly, the Vietcong used hit and run
tactics that worked well for them, Americans couldn’t respond with anything other than just
attacking through the day, which was incredibly inefficient and limited them a lot. Secondly,
the opposition created booby traps, bombs and while experienced army men knew where to
look for these, the inexperienced ones did not. Leading to a large army rift because the
veterans obviously didn’t want to stay near the new ones. Another reason for bad morale in
the army which could have contributed to American loss. America’s tactics were not
designed to combat the Vietcong and thus they couldn’t defeat them and couldn’t make any
ground. While some of this could be labelled as Vietcong prowess, we all know America
should have done better Overall, bad military and bad tactics not only contributed to
America’s defeat on one level, their inability to handle the Vietcong lead to severe moral
defeats, which bounced them back further in the war against Vietnam
Support from home and how there was none of it
Conversely, arguments can be made that America’s military tactics were not the main
reason for their loss. The lack of support from the people at home including congress were
the reason for America’s loss. Operation rolling thunder was expensive and meant that
‘The USA lost the Vietnam War because its military strategy and tactics were wrong.’ How far
do you agree with this statement
In 1963, after a long build up the USA went to war with north Vietnam in order to prevent the
spread of communism and the domino effect. This was thought to be an easy victory but
despite numerous American attacks like operation rolling thunder and search and destroy
tactics used by American general William Westmoreland, the war was an embarrassing
defeat against the Vietcong and was detrimental in the fight for capitalism. The war lasted
until 1972 and it ended due to America having lost a lot of men in the recent years, the
government feeling like they hadn’t made much progress in recent years and the
overwhelming support to end the war in back in America. Despite America’s superior
resources and superior training and army, the Vietcong had much better military tactics and
they had much more home support.
A rolling thunder
On the one hand, America’s military and tactics were the reason that they lost the Vietnam
war, they were inferior in many ways and were often rash and unjustified. The operation
rolling thunder was one of the most disastrous failures during the war period. It consisted of
America bombing huge amounts of Vietnamese land. It wasn’t the best tactic because it was
highly expensive with about 650,000 bombs being dropped and all the planes to drop the
bombs, this extreme expensive made America’s environment a lot worse and contributed to
large public outcry. It also killed 90,000 people with an unexplainable 80% of those being
civilians meaning that getting the public on their side would have been almost impossible,
which meant most civilians were on the Vietcong side which was another disadvantage of
the operation. Rolling thunder also had no clear cut objective with the so called goal to just
impress the enemy with their fancy and inefficient technology. While operation rolling
thunder probably did boost morale of the south Vietnamese and showed North Vietnam the
might and power of America it was one of the worst strategic movements in the war with
America basically losing a lot of money, a lot of home support and basically all of their
civilian support while gaining a minimal territorial advantage.
American in capabilities
Furthermore, the Americans inability to adapt was a significant reason for them making a
mess out of the combat and their loss in the war . Firstly, the Vietcong used hit and run
tactics that worked well for them, Americans couldn’t respond with anything other than just
attacking through the day, which was incredibly inefficient and limited them a lot. Secondly,
the opposition created booby traps, bombs and while experienced army men knew where to
look for these, the inexperienced ones did not. Leading to a large army rift because the
veterans obviously didn’t want to stay near the new ones. Another reason for bad morale in
the army which could have contributed to American loss. America’s tactics were not
designed to combat the Vietcong and thus they couldn’t defeat them and couldn’t make any
ground. While some of this could be labelled as Vietcong prowess, we all know America
should have done better Overall, bad military and bad tactics not only contributed to
America’s defeat on one level, their inability to handle the Vietcong lead to severe moral
defeats, which bounced them back further in the war against Vietnam
Support from home and how there was none of it
Conversely, arguments can be made that America’s military tactics were not the main
reason for their loss. The lack of support from the people at home including congress were
the reason for America’s loss. Operation rolling thunder was expensive and meant that
