Truong Nhu Tang Vietnam War Summary

The Vietnam war was a long, costly armed conflict with the communist regime of North Vietnam and its Southern allies known as the Viet Cong, against South Vietnam and its principle ally the United States. The divisive war, which was increasingly unpopular at home, ended with the withdrawal of U.S forces in 1973 and the unification of Vietnam under Communist control two years later. Truong Nhu Tang provides invaluable insights into the opposing side in the Vietnam War. Tang is a dedicated nationalist who was never a communist but was willing to work with the communist to achieve national independence – the kind of Vietnamese the French and the Americans never sufficiently understood.

The Americans losing the war can be due to several reasons, right from the beginning when they entered the war they were already tainted with a stench of colonialism with their support of the French military activities. The U.S government’s decision to support Diem was

They were trained with the three “withs” : eat with, live with and work with peasants. Used great deal of self discipline, respect to values of village, and that earned them respect of the people they tried to win over. They were trained politically and were painted in nationalistic glow and earned the respect of the people. Even when they used violence and coercion, they were successful rationalizing and explaining violence to the peasants. The South in contrast, the unrestrained irresponsibility and incompetence of the generals had led to apathy and disgust among people at every level. “South Vietnam was a society without leadership and without direction – and these essentials the Americans couldn’t provide”. (Tang pg. 53). The southern troops were mere mercenaries as South had trouble recruiting troops. Even the troops that they could get a hold of would bribe the commanders to leave, there were lots of troops on book but not in