Reasons why the USA lost the Vietnam War Flashcards
1
Q
Reasons why the USA lost the Vietnam war introduction
A
- BK: The Vietnam war took place between 1955 and 1975. The USA was allied with South Vietnam- led by Ngo Dinh Diem- and fought against the Viet Cong and Ho Chi Minh’s North Vietnam.
- BK: President Nixon withdrew the USA from the war in 1973 due to their large numbers of casualties.
- Factors: Weaknesses of South Vietnam, difficulties faced by the US Army, strengths of North Vietnam, international isolation of the USA (Changing public opinion in the USA)
- LOA: The most important reason why the USA lost the Vietnam war was the weaknesses of South Vietnam
2
Q
Reasons why the USA lost the Vietnam war
Weaknesses of South Vietnam
A
- KU: The Leader of South Vietnam, Ngo Dinh Diem, had a corrupt government which divided the country. Although 70-90% of the country was Bhuddist, he only allowed Catholic flags to be flown, and did not let Buddhist people celebrate their holidays.
- KU: The South Vietnam Military was also divided. The ranking officers were often corrupt upper class men while the regular soldiers were ordinary people who were demoralised. 113,000 deserted the army in 1965
- A: the high number of deserting soldiers made it much harder for remaining soldiers to pick up the slack, paired with the low morale of both the US and South Vietnamese troops, a loss was inevitable
- A+: the South Vietnamese army still had 40,000 more soldiers than the North Vietnam forces, so they should have been able to defeat them.
- E: the ordinary people who lived in South Vietnam did not support the South Vietnamese government or the US army. This made them agree to hide Viet Cong members, making it easier for the Communist forces to defeat the demotivated Capitalist forces.
3
Q
Reasons why the USA lost the Vietnam war
Difficulties faced by the US Army
A
- KU: The army was mostly young men who were drafted into a year long tour of duty in Vietnam. the average age was 22, so the army was largely inexperienced and demotivated
- KU: The US military was designed to fight the USSR in a temperate European climate, and lacked experience and equipment for jungle warfare. For example, American troops were not trained to use the Colt M16 rifle, it was hard to clean, and its overall poor design led to fatal jamming incidents.
- A: inexperienced soldiers and poor equipment caused the US to lose the war in Vietnam because they were fighting jungle warfare experienced opponents, using guerilla tactics, and they had no chance of winning against them
- A+: US soldiers were still more experienced than the Viet Cong, who had no official military training so US troops should have been able to defeat them.
- E: The USA did change their tactics in order to fight the Communist forces, for example using ‘tunnel rats’ to locate the North Vietnamese bases and eliminate them. should have been able to win the war in Vietnam. Weaknesses meant that the US’s main ally wasn’t able to help them beat the USSR, so they lost.
3
Q
Reasons why the USA lost the Vietnam war
Strengths of North Vietnam
A
- KU: Ho Chi Minh, popular because he removed French control of the country and introduced land reforms which reallocated land and made it more affordable, soldiers in the North Vietnam Army were very loyal and motivated to fight for communism.
- KU: The TET offensive in 1968 involved 85,000 communist soldiers attacking 100 locations, killing or injuring 25,000 US soldiers.
- A: the TET offensive terrified US soldiers, and made the US public think that the war couldn’t be won for the US soldiers, demoralising them even further
- A+: TET offensive also seriously damaged the Viet Cong, 50,000 of their soldiers were killed in the attack, weakening their forces and making it possible for the USA to overcome them.
- E: North Vietnam would not have been able to defeat the US without the extensive support of the USSR and China, but the USA’s ally of South Vietnam was weak, causing them to lose the war
4
Q
Reasons why the USA lost the Vietnam war
International Isolation of the USA
A
- KU: US was backed by South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand and the Philippines, NATO countries refused to be involved in the war, partly because of the anti-US media propaganda
- KU: USA had to fund the majority of the war themselves, which was far too expensive for them to fight well enough to win the war. Harold Wilson, the UK prime minister, and France refused to send military support
- A: Britain and France had experience of fighting in jungle climates because of their empires in Asia, and the USA had no experience and couldn’t receive advice from other countries.
- A+: some US soldiers and Commanders had recently fought in the Korean war in a similar climate, should have been able to fight in the Vietnamese jungle
- E: South Vietnam, South Korea, and the Philippines could all have helped the USA to fight a jungle based war, but South Vietnam’s demoralised and corrupt army wasn’t helpful, causing the USA to lose the war.
5
Q
(EXTRA) Reasons why the USA lost the Vietnam war
Changing public opinion in the USA
A
- KU: from the mid 60s onwards, the Public opinion was against America’s involvement in the war and held protests like marches, songs, or public statements.
- KU: The media coverage of the Vietnam war was anti-USA, images of the My Lai Massacre and other atrocities turning the public against their military.
- A: anti-war protests in America lowered the morale of soldiers in Vietnam and made American men less enthusiastic to join the Army. This led to the draft being introduced in 1969.
- A+: 1965 a Gallup poll showed that the majority of Americans did still support the war, it was only by 1969 that 52% of Americans were against it.
- E: there were still 500,000 US soldiers in Vietnam in 1969, despite the sentiment of the US public. The US should have been able to defeat the Communist forces, however the weakness of the South Vietnamese government made sure this wouldn’t happen.
6
Q
Reasons why the USA lost the Vietnam war
conclusion
A
- OJ: The most important reason why the US lost the war in Vietnam was actually the weaknesses of South Vietnam, because the ordinary public in South Vietnam were divided against their government, and therefore helped the Viet Cong to defeat the US military.
- RJ: The weaknesses of South Vietnam were more important than the strengths of North Vietnam because without the help of the USSR and China, North Vietnam could never have overcome the USA, but the support of South Vietnam was so weak that it allowed the US to lose the war.
- RJ: The weaknesses of South Vietnam were more important than the international isolation of the USA because the US did have the help of countries which had experience of fighting in a jungle setting, and should have been able to help the US win, but the weaknesses of South Vietnam made it so that their experience in the climate was useless because of the low morale and corruption in their army.
