Question #1

As the United States took its vital steps in mounting the tigers back with overwhelming
confidence in guaranteed victory over the Vietcong, it became clear that as time progressed, the
quick victory grew nowhere to be in sight. Dismounting the tiger proved to be arduous as
Johnson and his administration found themselves using full force on the so called “backwards”
hypothesized to be weak. Waging wars on both the ground and the air, president LBJ and his
administration faced problems in each that strained the war to drag on, costing countless lives
and astronomical amounts of money. Using the readings of William J. Duiker and George C.
Herring, some of the main problems that contributed to ground and air warfare in favor of the
North were Hanoi’s strategic use of propaganda and knowledge of fighting a war in his own
backyard to put up a fight against one of the world’s most powerful nations during the time.
In both readings, the authors note the usage of heavy artillery and air strikes to be one of
the most beneficial means of combat during the war. Although the bombings were cheaper in
lives lost and seemed to offer a quick solution to a complex problem, it devastated north

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Vietnamese industrial productivity, agriculture, and costed countless of civilian lives (Herring,

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179-180). Doing so, using the bombings as immoral and portraying the atrocities accompanied

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by them to his people, Hanoi sparked North Vietnamese nationalism to combat air attacks in

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forms of different propaganda. The usage of inspirational literature like the story of the village of
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Hoxa to portray the call of service to the country, Hanoi used a heavy notion of patriotism in all
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aspects of society like films, books, radio programs, theater, and poetry (Duiker, 201). Doing so,
a romanticism of the war erupted where the preference of having highly motivated volunteers
was arguably the best combatant in calling forth the entire country for war.
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Results of birthing romanticism in the war by means of propaganda in the north made the
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results of the air strikes along country sides, the cities, and the Ho Chi Minh Trail to be mere
obstacles that Hanoi could overcome. The people were so spurred to be a part of the war that
civilians as well as soldiers in a sense were all expected to contribute to the cause due to the
heaviness of patriotism among all its societies (Duiker, 202). For example, although the Ho Chi
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Minh trails was devastated more than once in order to stop supplies from entering the south for
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opposing regiments, Hanoi had “several hundred thousand workers tasked with keeping the
routes open—repairing potholes rebuilding bridges, and replacing damaged camouflage”
(Duiker, 198), therefore making the initiative of the air strikes almost inefficient. With many
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serving in the home front, one strategy that was employed affecting both air and ground warfare
was the building of underground tunnels throughout thousands of miles. Farmers and schools had
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fox holes and underground trenches dug out in order to shelter for safety and the army
capitalized on the patriotic idea and had their own tunnels (Duiker, 200).
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These tunnels affected both ground and air warfare where tactically, the enemy would
hide during an attack or bombing, and when troops would come, then enemy would spur up out
of the ground and attack the forces and retreat to the tunnels for safety (Herring, 192). Posing a
tremendous problem for ground units with surprise attacks, civilians did the same thing during
bombings and raids for safety. The NLF knew there terrain so well that an image of the tunnel
system on page 194 in Americas Longest War shows how the tunnel system is so sophisticated

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 that the tunnel system allowed for underground water access, lounging, hospitals, theaters,
kitchens, accessing homes and holes to spur out and attack the enemy (Herring, 194).
It is clear the United States was involved in a sophisticated guerrilla warfare where the
U.S. was fighting in the enemy’s backyard. Several evidences show that Hanoi exploited the
means of his nation’s terrain for his advantages. Using camouflage consisted of observing the
terrain and camouflaging several vehicles during travel or pieces of artillery that were targets for
bombing attacks (Herring, 182). In all, one of the biggest advantages that Hanoi had in exploiting
his terrain was attacking and luring the enemy to their own territories and fighting in dense
heavily jungles. For example, the North Vietnamese relied on hit and run and ambush operations
using close quarters combat to fight in the jungle (Herring, 192). Additionally, in Hanoi’s
backyard, deep swamps, fire ants, leeches, and booby traps made the enemy elusive and very
deadly for ground troops (Herring, paraphrased, 194).
In all, waging wars on both the ground and the air, president LBJ and his administration
faced problems in each that Hanoi strategically made and caused straining for U.S. progression

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in the conflict. Although the country was aided by other communists’ countries with weapons,

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ammunition, and troops, Hanoi’s strategic use of propaganda to stir of feelings of romanticism

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and knowledge of his own terrain put up a fight against one of the world’s most powerful nations

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during the time. Hanoi’s tactics were efficient and “U.S. officials could not conceive that a small,
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backward country could stand up against them” (Herring, 174) and repercussions of such
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assumptions led to thousands of casualties and economic strife for the United States.
Work Cited:
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Duiker, W. (1995). Sacred War: Nationalism and Revolution in a Divided Vietnam (1st ed., pp. 185-208).
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Boston [etc]: McGraw Hill.

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Herring, G. (2014). America's Longest War: The United States and Vietnam, 1950-1975 (5th ed., pp.
177-231). New York: McGraw-Hill.
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