Why the U.S. Withdrew Its Forces from Vietnam in 1973 The USA’s involvement in Vietnam started in 1954, for a few reasons. Firstly, the Americans were, as always, concerned with the spread of communism. They wanted to stop communism spreading through south-east Asia. They were worried that if one country were to fall to a communist leader, so would neighbouring countries. This was known as the Domino Theory. These reasons for joining the war in Vietnam and the fact that the United States did not want to appear weak were the main reasons that the USA withdrew forces from Vietnam so late, as it took from 1968 when peace talks were made with North Vietnam until 1973 when the majority of soldiers had been withdrawn from Vietnam. There were many reasons for the USA withdrawing its forces from Vietnam: the tactics of the two armies, the strong anti-war movement in America, the change in public opinion and the one-sided media coverage. The major turning point for most members of the USA public and government was the Tet Offensive in 1968. Before this event, the US army believed they were winning the war because their casualties and deaths were a lot less than the north-Vietnamese army, who had lost 100,000 soldiers during 1967. The US army had fed the government information that the war was going well and that they were much closer to winning than in reality. In January 1968 the Vietcong and the NVA attacked towns and bases of South Vietnamese troops all over South Vietnam. Thousands of troops died during the attack and it came as a complete shock to America who thought that they had been close to winning the war. The USA go... ... middle of paper ... ...roduced ‘Vietnamization’ which meant withdrawing troops from Vietnam, whilst at the same time continuing to fight and provide money and equipment to the South Vietnamese. This meant that the withdrawal from Vietnam took more time than was perhaps wanted but the public. The main reason for the withdrawal of troops from Vietnam in 1973 was the one sided media coverage providing the US with information on the tactics of the South Vietnamese army. This led to public opinions changing and wanting war to end. Demonstrations were then held all over USA and pressure was put on the government. The huge cost of lives and money was too much. Americans were shocked by the determination of the Vietcong during the Tet Offensive and the government knew that an end must be made to war and therefore withdrew from Vietnam in 1973.