VIETNAM WAR ESSAY
“The tactics and strategies that the United States of America used between 1963 and
1975 against the Vietcong during the war in Vietnam was a dismal failure.”
Do you agree with the statement? Use relevant evidence to support your line of argument.
The tactics and strategies that the USA used between 1963 and 1975 against the Vietcong
during the war in Vietnam were indeed a dismal failure. In the USA’s tactics of Operation
Rolling Thunder, Operation Ranch Hand and Operation Linebacker, their brute force and
conventional military power. However, the Vietcong’s unorthodox methods of guerrilla
warfare , with the help of the South Vietnamese peasants, North Vietnam and weapons
supplied by China and the USSR, allowed them to always be one step ahead of the USA.
They knew the Vietnamese terrain very well which allowed them to always know of the
USA’s whereabouts, to attack from behind and to set traps in the thick terrain. The
Vietcong’s tactics reigned supreme over the USA’s in the Vietnam War.
In 1954 after the defeat of the French by the Viet Minh, Vietnam was divided into two.
communist North Vietnam, backed by the USSR and China, and South Vietnam, supported
by the USA. South Vietnam was initially led by Ngo Dinh Diem who was a corrupt leader that
embezzled the government funds and was known for kleptocracy, thus making him very
unpopular. The bloody conflict had its roots in French colonial rule and an independence
movement was driven by communist leader Ho Chi Minh. Vietnam was a battleground in the
Cold War, when the United States and Soviet Union grappled for world domination. The US
sent money, weapons and advisers to South Vietnam as they wanted to strengthen the
South Vietnamese government to prevent the ‘Domino Effect’ - the spread of communism
throughout South-east Asia. The Gulf of Tonkin incident in 1964 marked the formal entry of
the United States into the Vietnam War which they expected they would easily and quickly
win. President Johnson sent the first American troops to Vietnam in 1965 which became the
beginning of the Vietnam War. Historians argue that this was the first war America had lost in
history and that Johnson made a detrimental mistake.
The USA launched multiple operations that all failed to make the Vietcong surrender.
Operation Rolling Thunder was a massive bombing campaign that aimed to heavily bomb
strategic military targets in North Vietnam and the Ho Chi Minh Trail to try to stop the supply
of weapons into South Vietnam but as the jungle was so thick, the bombs ended up missing
their targets and landing in the jungle. Furthermore, they bombed Laos and Cambodia
causing a large number of deaths and damage to infrastructure. Operation Ranch Hand
aimed to destroy the vegetation which hid the supply routes, causing lasting environmental
damage. The USA sprayed 20 million gallons of herbicide, a defoliant called Agent Orange,
in an attempt to both destroy the Ho Chi Minh trail and the Vietcong’s supplies in the
process. However, these methods of fighting were rendered useless as the Vietcong hid
their supplies underground and were helped by the peasants to rebuild the trail.
“The tactics and strategies that the United States of America used between 1963 and
1975 against the Vietcong during the war in Vietnam was a dismal failure.”
Do you agree with the statement? Use relevant evidence to support your line of argument.
The tactics and strategies that the USA used between 1963 and 1975 against the Vietcong
during the war in Vietnam were indeed a dismal failure. In the USA’s tactics of Operation
Rolling Thunder, Operation Ranch Hand and Operation Linebacker, their brute force and
conventional military power. However, the Vietcong’s unorthodox methods of guerrilla
warfare , with the help of the South Vietnamese peasants, North Vietnam and weapons
supplied by China and the USSR, allowed them to always be one step ahead of the USA.
They knew the Vietnamese terrain very well which allowed them to always know of the
USA’s whereabouts, to attack from behind and to set traps in the thick terrain. The
Vietcong’s tactics reigned supreme over the USA’s in the Vietnam War.
In 1954 after the defeat of the French by the Viet Minh, Vietnam was divided into two.
communist North Vietnam, backed by the USSR and China, and South Vietnam, supported
by the USA. South Vietnam was initially led by Ngo Dinh Diem who was a corrupt leader that
embezzled the government funds and was known for kleptocracy, thus making him very
unpopular. The bloody conflict had its roots in French colonial rule and an independence
movement was driven by communist leader Ho Chi Minh. Vietnam was a battleground in the
Cold War, when the United States and Soviet Union grappled for world domination. The US
sent money, weapons and advisers to South Vietnam as they wanted to strengthen the
South Vietnamese government to prevent the ‘Domino Effect’ - the spread of communism
throughout South-east Asia. The Gulf of Tonkin incident in 1964 marked the formal entry of
the United States into the Vietnam War which they expected they would easily and quickly
win. President Johnson sent the first American troops to Vietnam in 1965 which became the
beginning of the Vietnam War. Historians argue that this was the first war America had lost in
history and that Johnson made a detrimental mistake.
The USA launched multiple operations that all failed to make the Vietcong surrender.
Operation Rolling Thunder was a massive bombing campaign that aimed to heavily bomb
strategic military targets in North Vietnam and the Ho Chi Minh Trail to try to stop the supply
of weapons into South Vietnam but as the jungle was so thick, the bombs ended up missing
their targets and landing in the jungle. Furthermore, they bombed Laos and Cambodia
causing a large number of deaths and damage to infrastructure. Operation Ranch Hand
aimed to destroy the vegetation which hid the supply routes, causing lasting environmental
damage. The USA sprayed 20 million gallons of herbicide, a defoliant called Agent Orange,
in an attempt to both destroy the Ho Chi Minh trail and the Vietcong’s supplies in the
process. However, these methods of fighting were rendered useless as the Vietcong hid
their supplies underground and were helped by the peasants to rebuild the trail.
