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Vietnam Essay
This is a base essay for the Vietnam War essay found in History paper 1. It has all the required content for a guaranteed A. Please use this document along with other class notes. Good luck for Matric!
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America had underestimates the seriousness of the war in Vietnam. A long extended war had hadexposed Americas weakness not their strength as with all their military might they were unable to
defeat an army of North Vietnamese peasants. This essay will argue that the uses of various
programmes operations, and tactics used by the USA was not successful and was able to be defeated
by the Viet Cong’s superior tactics, thus proving the weakness of the united states of America.
After the first Indochina war in 1954 the country was divided into two separate countries at the
Geneva Convention with the north being under the communist control of the Minh and the south
controlled by Diem who was elected in an election rigged by the CIA. In 1959 the national liberation
front had formed also known as the Viet Cong with the intent of unifying the north and the south
under one communist state. The South was supported by the USA who had the objective
surrounding the containment policy thus wanting to prevent South Vietnam from falling under
communist control form the North.
In 1962 the United states launched operation ranch hand which was the use of chemicals such as
napalm and agent orange to destroy the forest which the Vietcong hid in, in South Vietnam. This
damaged the environment and hurt many South Vietnamese which contributed to them losing
support from the South Vietnamese. This failed operation proves Americas weakness to be evident.
In 1962 the United States CIA advised Diem to implement the strategic hamlet programme. They
removed South Vietnamese from their ancestral land and placed them in fortified villages to be able
to better distinguish the villagers from the enemy. This programme was a failure as the South
Vietnamese resented this causing the USA to lose their support. The Vietcong also operated inside
the villages. This proves Americas weakness to be evident.
In 1964 the USS Maddox in the gulf of Tonkin claimed to have been fired upon by the North
Vietnamese. President Johnson used this as an excuse to pass the gulf of Tonkin resolution which
allowed full scale military intervention to prevent such attacks from happening. This allowed large
number of US troops to become directly involved in the war. This shows that the USA had no good
reason to invade which contributed to their weakness later on.
The USA launched operation Rolling thunder in 1965 which aimed at destroying the infrastructure of
the North Vietnamese particularly the Ho Chi Minh Trail. This was however a failure as the USSR and
China supported Vietnam and helped rebuild this infrastructure after the widespread bombing over
this 3-year period. The bombing created Vietnamese Nationalism against the enemy in the sky. This
proves that Americas weakness is prevalent.
The United states made use of search and destroy missions however they were not successful as
they were met by the guerrilla tactics of the Viet Cong and were unfamiliar with the jungle terrain.
They tried to gain the support of the of the South Vietnamese by winning over their hearts and
minds but this was unsuccessful as they could not speak Vietnamese and they couldn’t change the
political views of the South Vietnamese population. These failed tactics prove that Americas
weakness is evident.
The Viet Cong used guerrilla tactics and took advantage of the terrain which was unfamiliar to the US
soldiers. They effectively attacked the USA with these tactics. They moved undetected, sprang
ambushes and laid booby traps. They would appear from nowhere and disappear. The booby traps
inspired fear in the US soldiers which in turn led to low morale. It was impossible to fight an enemy
they could never find. The Viet Cong had the support of the local population and and used this to get
information of the whereabouts of the US soldiers. This proves Americas weakness to be evident.
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