Military Tactics Used by the USA and the Vietcong in the 1960s As war progressed the military tactics became increasingly important. Both sides first tactic was to try and win the hearts and minds of the people. Most Vietcong had strong relationships with the peasants who they helped, working in the fields in return for shelter. The Americans tried to win the people by providing aid but they couldn’t tell the peasants from the Vietcong and any good work they did was cancelled out by their association with the hated Diem. They set up strategic villages, trying to separate the peasants and Vietcong. They were very unpopular, moving people away from their homeland and ineffective as the Vietcong had been moved into the mistaken as villagers Once the Strategic Villages had been over-run by the Vietcong, America launched operation rolling thunder to limit supplies from the north and then used the minor excuse of an attack on Pleiku an American airbase to justify war to the American public and deployed ground troops. The Vietcong’s Guerrilla tactics were almost impossible to counter, they used their knowledge of the jungle very effectively. Demoralising the soldiers by setting booby traps like the punji trap. A unit could loose half of their soldiers and never see the enemy. Unable to keep the Vietcong out of villages the U.S told the troops to search and destroy. But the Vietcong didn’t wear uniform and could be children to old women. The soldiers in desperation resorted to torture, destroying property and random killing making them even more unpopular. The real Vietcong were often down the tunnels disappearing and reappearing wherever they wanted. The Americans blanket bombed the rainforest using cluster bombs and chemical weapons like Napalm to chase out the enemy and destroy the rainforest but the Vietcong moved in small groups, well spread out and so the bombs would only hit a few people, mostly civilians. the Americans tried to destroy the Vietcong cover with defoliants, agent orange removed cover and agent blue to destroy crops which
The right military strategy is the key to a war. In order for the South to win the war, they would have needed to apply what is now called a blitzkrieg strategy. This would have been a quick decisive attack on the North to follow up its early victories of Manassas in the East and at Wilson's Creek and Lexington in the West.
plan of attack in case of the possibility of a two-front war. But, this plan required
because they felt it was their duty to fight for their respective side. Most who fought, however,
A war starting was really overwhelming for everybody but there was not time to complain, but to take actions the government quickly realized that with men fighting in the front line a demand had to be satisfied. Political and social leaders ...
... yet they strongly believed that they could be victorious. Despite numerous disadvantages, the South entered the war with some important advantages. The South adopted a strategy like that of George Washington in the American Revolution. The plan, known as attrition, called for a strategy of winning the war by avoiding losing. That is, the South did not have to match the North's resources, they only needed to avoid full-scale battles and prolong the war making it too costly for their opponents.
...s, yet they strongly believed that they could be victorious. Despite numerous disadvantages, the South entered the war with some important advantages. The South adopted a strategy like that of George Washington in the American Revolution. The plan, known as attrition, called for a strategy of winning the war by avoiding losing. That is, the South did not have to match the North 's resources, they only needed to avoid full-scale battles and prolong the war making it too costly for their opponents.
Grant’s strategy was to fight the war of attrition that President Lincoln was in favor of; however, Lee fought offensive-defensive war which was different from Jefferson’s idea of fighting a complete defensive war. Creating blockades on coastal lines and controlling railroads were used as well. Even today, similar tactics are used to cut off enemies from supplying their peers. Though the Civil War was the deadliest war on American soil, many tactics and strategies were learned from it and improved. Works Cited 1.
The Vietnam War was the longest war in America's history of involvement. Twenty years of hell, land mines, cross-fire, and death. Vietnam was divided by the Geneva Accord. The north being communist run by Ho Chi Minh. The south being anti-Communist run by Ngo Dinh Diem. Before Vietnam was separated, it was run by France. France had ruled most of Indochina since the late 1800s. The Vietnamese were unhappy with the way the French were controlling, therefore, many of them took refuge in China. When in China, they began to follow the lead of Ho Chi Minh, who wanted to model the Vietnamese Declaration of Independence as that of the U.S. version. In the 1940s, Japan had taken over Vietnam which upset Ho Chi Minh and his revolutionaries when they had returned a year later.
It has been known that the Vietnam War affected many American soldiers who were involved in the war physically and psychologically. The Vietnam War was one of the most memorable wars in history. Many Americans’ lives lost for no objective at all. Chapter 10 informed us about how the Vietnam War started and what really happened during that time. It also gave us background information about Vietnam Veterans and nurses who were involved in the war and what they went through during the war. I had the opportunity to interview a Vietnam Veteran also.
In Brian Orend’s book, Morality of War, he states, “War is an actual, intentional and widespread armed conflict between political communities wherein the ultimate objective is to force the other side to accept one’s will regarding governance (Orend). “ The south clear intent was to force the north to stick with their politi...
due to the differing perspectives; and who the ‘victor’ of the situations was. Finally, this paper
notion that the war wasn’t going to be an easy win, and the chances of winning the war
It is understandable that some Americans strongly opposed the United States getting involved in the Vietnam War. It had not been a long time since the end of World War II and simply put, most Americans were tired of fighting. Mark Atwood Lawrence is one of the people who opposed our involvement in the Vietnam War. In his essay, “Vietnam: A Mistake of Western Alliance”, Lawrence argues that the Vietnam War was unnecessary and that it went against our democratic policies, but that there were a lot of things that influenced our involvement.
- They believed that they were surrounded by well-organized enemies (other political parties) they felt defensive about Liberalism, nationalism and popular sovereignty
In the early 1960s the U.S. began sending military advisors to South Vietnam beginning the Vietnam War, arguably the most controversial war in United States history. This incident followed Vietnam gaining its independence from the French Empire’s Indochina in 1954. The nation soon split, creating a communist North Vietnam, and a noncommunist South Vietnam. In fear of communism spreading the U.S. supported South Vietnam and sent troops. As the incident dragged on it caused a huge anti-war movement and a lot of political turmoil.The troops were withdrawn in 1973, the whole country fell to communism, and the U.S. failed. How did a superpower such as the U.S. take defeat from a small country like Vietnam? Many have wondered and continue to wonder