Why Did The Vietnam War Not Support

The Vietnam War is different when compared to other wars that the U.S has been involved in. It is different because it was not widely supported across the nation, it was physically different war, it was also lost because of government policies.
One reason why the Vietnam War was different compared to other past wars is because it was not widely supported by the nation. There are many reasons why it was not supported, one of them being that the war was considered the first ‘television war’. The Vietnam War was the first war to be televised and watched from ordinary citizens homes. They would witness the horrors of the war from the confines of their home and often opt to not support it because of the brutal fighting they were seeing. Another reason why it was not supported is because of the Anti-War marches and protests. People had began to question the government’s reasoning on why they were fighting a democratic war to rid of communist aggression in North Vietnam. The reasoning to
become involved in the war was to stop the spread of communism. The U.S feared ‘Domino Theory’ would come into effect from the surrounding countries if Vietnam were to fall to communism. The drafting system recruited more than 40,000 young men (the drafting age was 18) every month and the amount of casualties were only becoming greater. The war was long and drawn out, lasting about 20 years. After the North Vietnamese had won the Tet Offensive, it showed the war was not going to be ending any time soon. Another reason why it was different is because the physical environment was different compared to other past wars.
Vietnam is a jungle filled terrain, while the other wars were open in plains. The weather in Vietnam is vastly different compared to the weather in Europe and the United States. Southern Vietnam specifically experiences hot and humid weather, and are densely populated with rainforests, green vegetation and rice patties. Another season that Vietnam experiences that we do not is the monsoon season, which brings lots of rain and heat. American soldiers were at a disadvantage because of these unfamiliar climates. For example, bacterial and fungal infections from the hot and wet weather were common in the feet, leading to disabilities and skin diseases. One disease was called ‘Jungle Rot’, which is when scratches or cuts would become infected because of these climates. Other diseases like Malaria were common and there were about 40,000 cases of it from the American
troops. The last reason why it was so different is because the war was lost by government policies. After a long and drawn out war, the war was lost and the Vietnam became a unified communist country under the control of Ho Chi Minh. President Richard Nixon proposed ‘Vietnamization’, which was a process that aimed to reduce the number of American soldiers in Vietnam. The United States would leave the fighting to the South Vietnamese. At the time, the United States negotiated a peace treaty with the North Vietnamese leaders. They settled and agreed that that if the United States left the country, that the North Vietnamese would cease fire, return prisoners of war, and submit any further disputes to an international commision. North Vietnam broke this treaty and invaded South Vietnam. Without the help from the United States, South Vietnam were unable to keep fighting and were eventually defeated and became unified with North Vietnam. Arguably, if it weren’t for the United States pulling out from Vietnam, they could have continued to fight against the communist country. As one can see, the Vietnam War is different when compared to other wars the U.S has been involved in. It was different because of reasons such as the red scare, media coverage, environmental differences, and vietnamization.