Preview

Why The United States Won The Vietnam War

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
462 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Why The United States Won The Vietnam War
From the 1950s to the mid-1970s, the Vietnam War was a conflict between North Vietnam and South Vietnam over political ideologies and imperialist beliefs. The North was communist and the South with the aid of America was anti-communist. While some may argue the US won because of pride, more infantry, more powerful weapons, I believe North Vietnam won because they came out in a better position. North Vietnam won the war because they reunited as one country, their tactics were better, and released communist ideas across the country. Even though North Vietnam took a loss in solider deaths, they still took their country and it became theirs. In the early 1950s Vietnam were having domestic issues and they had to political leaders who believed in different ideas. North Vietnam had Ho Chi Minh believing in communist ways and the leader of the South, Ngo Dien Diem, believing in a anti-communist. This sparked a conflict between both sides, one wanting traditional ways and the other wanting a nontraditional economy and government. As years progressed things started to escalate into problems were both sides feuded with each other increasing military training and being on edge. With the North being communist, South Vietnam had …show more content…
this was called Guerilla Warfare and the way they did it was by surprise attacking and running and coming back hours later weakling the U.S troops. But there was a counter just burn the forest but the north still found ways with the tunnels and rebels in the south attacking, making south sandwiched by north and Vietcong rebels. This caused panic and lots of death for both sides. One example of a tactic from north was when the north attacked the south on a national holiday of theirs and it was caught all on tape and no one suspected it because it was a treasure

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    I think the vietnamese won this conflict because they played smarter than the US army. Everything that happened with the tunnels and many more things that they did so the americans will not figure who they are. They hid as regular farmers in the day so the US soldiers would not know who they are and then in the night they attacked them. The US army did the total difference they did everything so people will know they are there. They wanted to win that conflict they shot people boombed boombs and they did everything they could to win the conflict.…

    • 567 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Vietcong were a communist movement in the South who were against the South Vietnamese government and the USA's involvement with the civil war. The use of tactics (the plans, weapons and battle strategies used in war) were prime in minds of the Vietcong and they went to all means to gain the upper hand in the conflict. For example the use of booby traps, tunnels and trails. Some like the Ho Chi Minh trail were a huge success among the Vietcong whereas things like booby traps had less of an affect on the opposition.…

    • 983 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    When Lyndon Johnson became President of the United States he was determined to eliminate the communists before they took over South Vietnam. But, before Johnson could do anything he had to wait for something to happen with Vietminh and The Tonkin Gulf resolution was just that. On August 2, 1964, the USS Maddox reportedly exchanged gunfire with the North Vietnamese boats on the Gulf of Tonkin, which is located of the North Vietnamese coast. Two days later U.S ships reported a second attack, President Johnson declared this as an act of war. Johnson went to congress and asked them if he could take military action. Congress passed the Tonkin Gulf Resolution giving Johnson the authority to take a necessary measures to repel against any armed attack on the United States. Johnson sent the first U.S combat troops to South vietnam in March of 1965. At the same time, Johnson ordered Operation Rolling Thunder, a mission in which U.S planes would do air raids in North Vietnam to disrupt the Ho Chi Minh Trail a major route that consisted of paths and tunnels. The route led from North Vietnam, through Laos and Cambodia, and then into South Vietnam. Some of the Ho Chi Trials were located in neutral countries so therefore U.S troops could not surround it on the ground. The U.S planes bombed the route, with napalm, or jellied gasoline, to kill troops and destroy supplies. Since Vietnam is covered with thick brush and trees the U.S didn't have as good as visibility from the air, so they used toxic chemicals and pesticides such as agent orange to kill the dense forests and increase visibility. By 1968 more than a million tons of explosives and thousands of pounds of chemicals were dropped on Vietnam and 500,000 U.S troops were in…

    • 763 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Once he died, the US retaliated and Vietnamese Communist forces took…

    • 503 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Beginning in 1955, during the tension-filled era of the Cold War, the Vietnam War sparked American interest due to the underlying conflict of communism and democracy clashing against one another. During this time, America’s interests were not only divided between Russian and Chinese forces of communism during this time, but South Vietnam was peaking curiosity as they were attempting to take over their nearby democratic brother, North Vietnam. For many years, the French had ruled over the two areas, and America remained repeatedly conflicted between which side is best to take with communism involved, although in the end they allied themselves with France to ensure that they had an ally during the Cold War. While the idea of the domino theory had concerned the United States about the possible spread of communism,…

    • 451 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    It was the drive to get power and stop communism. America believed all Communism was bad and should be abolished while the Soviets believed it was great and should be used everywhere. North vietnam supported the communist beliefs while south vietnam supported the democratic beliefs. This tension broke and north decided to attack south the war had begun.…

    • 950 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    troops fought a jungle war, mostly against the well-supplied Viet Cong. The Viet Cong would attack in ambushes, set up booby traps, and escape through a complex network of underground tunnels. For U.S. forces, even just finding their enemy proved to be a very difficult task. Since the Viet Cong hid in the dense brush, U.S. forces would drop napalm bombs which cleared an area by causing the leaves to drop off or to burn away. This was a tactical strategically to show the location of hidden Vietcong’s. In every village, U.S. troops had difficulty determining which villagers were the enemies. This was because the women and children could build booby traps or help house and feed the Viet Cong. U.S. soldiers commonly became frustrated with the fighting conditions in Vietnam. Many U.S. soldiers suffered from low morale became angry, and some became…

    • 1574 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Vietnam war began with the communist invasion of south vietnam and U.S. invasion just after that, which was a major conflict throughout the late 60’s and early 70’s. When Nixon entered…

    • 1396 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The policies of Nixon and Johnson during this time were heavily criticized, and many people disagreed with them. Despite the policies’ supposed benefit of controlling the situation in Vietnam, I disagree with the policies set by Nixon and Johnson as they led to increased lives lost on both sides, severely damaged the US economically, and were an overall unnecessary way to control the spread of communism, all of which has affected the course of the United States. The United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War was deeply rooted in the Cold War policy of containing the spread of communism into new places like Southeast Asia. After World War II, Vietnam separated into the North, which was supported by the Soviet Union, and the South, which was supported by the US. In 1950, the US gave twenty million dollars to support anti-communists in South Vietnam.…

    • 1245 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    North Vietnam was communist and South Vietnam and America were anti-communist. America helped South Vietnam stay anti-communist Figure 1: "End the War Now! Bring the Troops Home" which is what brought America into the war. Many Americans protested the war because of the unclear objectives, unfair draft, and no official declare of war making this the most controversial movement in the 1960s. During World War II, Japan invaded Vietnam.…

    • 1672 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Without America to rely on the South Vietnamese army were left without many vehicles and planes to fight against the Viet Cong which ultimately lead to the North’s…

    • 856 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Tactical, north Vietnam effectively offset the American firepower advantage through combat fortifications, reduce their casualties, forcing the United States can only withdraw.…

    • 441 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The South hadn’t fallen to communism and it was led by Ngo Dinh Diem. On the other hand, the North had fallen to communism and it was led by Ho Chi Mihn. Despite the fact…

    • 557 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Vietnam War was a battleground for opposing ideologies, a proxy war, and a holdover from the Second World War and the prewar conflicts. This escalated tensions between opposing the 2 opposing ideologiesof the world Capitalism held by America and the western world and communism held by the Soviets and Chinese…

    • 601 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Vietnam War started in 1955, which was few years after the beginning of World War 2. Even though War was between Northern and Southern Vietnam, the War was actually between Communism and Democracy. The Northern Vietnam was under the control of China, which was dominated by Communism. The Southern Vietnam was supported by the United States and also had many soldiers placed in there. Dwight D. Eisenhower was the president of the United States at that time.…

    • 501 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays