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Reasons Why America Lost the Vietnam War

Decades have passed since the Vietnam War ended, the utmost controversial war in

America to have participated. The Vietnam War, according to Raja, Shahid Hussain, was fought

between North Vietnam and South Vietnam (Raja n.p). Although the Viet Cong, a South

Vietnamese communist army aided by the North, fought a guerrilla war contrary to the anti-

communist troops within the South, the North Vietnamese soldiers participated in conventional

combat, putting enormous troops to war. This essay discusses the reasons why America lost the

Vietnam war.

Unclear objectives and purposes of the fight. As Raja, Shahid Hussain notes, even though

at the strategic level America knew the reason for engaging in the war, such as preventing

communism from getting strong positions in Asia, the United States never articulated the precise

goals and aims at the tactical level (Raja n.p). Thus, there was a misunderstanding regarding the

anticipated military involvement outcomes. America entered the war without appropriately

considering any concrete goals as well as purposes concerning military accomplishments. This

issue caused unpredictable strategy and plan design by the Pentagon (Raja n.p). However, The

North Vietnamese were conscious of their goals and objectives of the involvement in the war.

Foreign support. According to the BBC website, the passionate China support for North

Vietnam was among the utmost essential grounds for the American downfall. China supported

North Vietnam of strategic security fears besides the support being driven by a global
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responsibility sense to assist brotherly comrades. The backing also facilitated the anti-imperialist

revolution. Additionally, by then, China reflected itself as “a natural friend of the oppressed

individuals of the world in their fight for national freedom,” which justified China's struggles to

aid North Vietnam (BBC n.p). The relationship between Ho Chi Minh, the Vietcong leader, and

the Chinese leadership was additional to this unwavering backing. Ho Chi Minh became familiar

with the Chinese leadership when working for the French Communist union in Paris. After a

while, Ho Chi Minh acted as a Comin-tern agent in Canton, aiding the labor as well as peasant

drives in Paris.

Vietnamese troops’ dedication. According to BBC website, North Vietnamese armed

forces were focused on fighting for communism together with independence. These soldiers

were faithful to their administration, which had generated land restructuring within the North.

Besides serving extended duty tours, the Vietnamese army was also recruited (BBC n.p). For that

reason, the Vietcong or the national liberation front (NLF) became skilled and conversant

regarding American strategies. THE SLATE GROUP LCC argues that the Vietnamese needed to

emerge victorious compared to the Americans. This is because the Americans were an “attacking

soldier, while the Vietnamese were fighting on their territory” (THE SLATE GROUP LCC n.p).

Additionally, the Americans were not prepared to make an extreme commitment to triumph. The

Vietnamese, which was also the North Vietnamese Army (NVA), together with Viet Cong (VC),

were fiercely dedicated to winning the warfare, while the Americans were never inspired enough

(GASKILL n.p). In the mid-twentieth era, many people within the West were tired of constant

battles while the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) and the Viet Cong (VC) were fighting an

apparent distant attacker. Thus, with the nationalism and communism uniting philosophies, the
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North Vietnamese Army (NVA) and the Viet Cong (VC) felt they were on the edge of having a

united country for the first time prior to the French entrance in the 1800s (GASKILL n.p).

Fighting on the conversant territory. According to Raja Shahid Hussain, ground plays a

pivotal part in any confrontation. Since Vietnam was a land of jungles and swamps, it favored

Vietcong soldiers to hide after attacking. Although American troops made numerous bombing

operations counter to North Vietnam, the effort only divided the residents; the bombarding failed

to “degrade the Vietcong’s fighting force” (Raja n.p). As the author maintains, it was the same as

the Japanese assault by America; despite bombarding the whole of Japan to ruins, Japan still had

more than five million Kwantung armed forces on the mainland and ten million more within the

reserve in the native land (Raja n.p). After the Soviet Union’s Red Army overpowered its

Kwantung defense force, Japan only gave in.

The central intelligence agency (CIA) failure. The central intelligence agency is a

glorified body that did not succeed at levels-strategic and tactical, a definitive instance of “an

intelligence agency lacking foresight" and a precise direction (Raja n.p). The agency also

neglected the importance of intelligence collection. CIA failed to assess the Vietnamese war

range and underrated the Vietcong’s power. Besides, the CIA was intensified by the

misperception of classifications, figure fudging, and defective accounting practices (Raja n.p).

Therefore, concentrating on technology rather than Human Intelligence (HUMINT) led to a

disconnect that hindered the information incorporation and combination from attaining effectual,

correct intelligence evaluations.

The Tet Offensive. As the BBC website notes, in early 1968, throughout the Vietnamese

New Year’s celebrations referred to as Tet, North Vietnam, aided by South Vietnamese

Vietcong, initiated a planned attack on cities as well as towns within the United States South
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Vietnam held regions (BBC n.p). The armed forces overthrew regions of Saigon and the rest of

the capitals, and they had the most accomplishment within “Hue, Vietnam's ancient capital”

(BBC n.p). The South Vietnamese Vietcong blew holes in the walls surrounding the American

Embassy in Saigon. However, The Vietcong never held onto any of the regions conquered for

long. North Vietnam and South Vietnamese Vietcong suffered unnumbered wounds and

fatalities, and “the Tet Offensive was an armed forces’ downfall for them” (BBC n.p). Although

The offensive did not triumph, it has been observed as a decisive moment. The Tet Offensive led

to significant impacts such as the killing of the American troops, the Vietcong attack’s

willpower, and fierceness, and the ruthless reaction coverage led numerous American people to

believe that they could not succeed in a confrontation counter to such a devoted and extensive

rival. It would take more harm to noncombatants and American troops than America was

organized to endure.

The United States troops were disadvantaged by the engagement rules. The united states'

armed forces were barred from the North of the demilitarized zone (the DMZ) of the seventeenth

Parallel that divided South from North Vietnam (Gaskill n.p). as the author notes, breaking that

“rule” would make Communist China intervene into the combat, and this is the same thing that

occurred in Korea. In mid-1965, to intensify that threat, China was equipped with weapons of

mass destruction besides being led by the progressively unpredictable Mao Zedong (Gaskill n.p).

One more problem in the participation rules happened after the American armed forces were

found to be operating in Cambodia against what the Nixon Government promised. Following

Assembly, which was interested in but not limited to the war's extent, opposition in America, and

expenses learned about the invasion; it “threatened to end much of the army capital for the

Vietnamese warfare” (Gaskill n.p). The only thing, as the authors argue, could the American
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troops could do was bomb the “Ho Chi Minh Trail,” the source road stretching from “North

Vietnam into the Southern region, on its western territories” (Gaskill n.p).

Rich supplies of food and military assets for the Vietcong. According to Boylan, Kevin,

regardless of America's best efforts, there were constant and rich provisions of food and military

equipment for the Vietcong from China, which heightened its support to Vietcong following the

divisive Tonkin occurrence Gulf in late 1964 (Boylan n.p). In reaction to America’s irresistible

air attacks, Ho Che Minh asked Mao Ze Dong for Chinese backup. Besides, the People’s

Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers commenced entering North Vietnam in mid-1965 to safeguard

Hanoi and its key transportation structures (Boylan n.p). According to the author, in mid-1965

and early 1968, more than 320,000 Chinese armed forces arrived in North Vietnam.

This paper has discussed essay the reasons why America lost the Vietnam war.

According to the essay, even though at the strategic level America knew the reason for engaging

in the war, the United States never articulated the precise goals and aims at the tactical level.

Besides, the passionate China support for North Vietnam was among the utmost essential

grounds for the American downfall. North Vietnamese armed forces were focused on fighting for

communism together with independence. For that reason, the Vietnamese needed to emerge

victorious compared to the Americans. Lastly, since Vietnam was a land of jungles and swamps,

it favored Vietcong soldiers to hide after attacking.

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Works Cited

BBC. Why the USA Lost the War in Vietnam, Aug. 2022,

www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/z342mp3/revision/4.

Boylan, Kevin. Why Vietnam Was Unwinnable, 22 Aug. 2017,

www.nytimes.com/2017/08/22/opinion/vietnam-was-unwinnable.html.

Gaskill, Matthew. The Frustrating “Loss” in Vietnam: What Are the Reasons That the US Lost the War?

30 Sept. 2018, www.warhistoryonline.com/instant-articles/frustrating-loss-in-vietnam.html?

chrome=1.

Raja, Shahid Hussain. Why Did the United States Lose the Vietnam War? 9 Aug. 2019,

https://shahidhraja.medium.com/why-did-the-united-states-lose-the-vietnam-war-e9bfc4096724

The Slate Group LLC. Why Did the U.S. Lose the Vietnam War? 16 Nov. 2014,

https://slate.com/human-interest/2014/11/why-did-america-lose-the-vietnam-war.html