Why did the US lose the Vietnamese war?

Answer 1

We lost because the war was never winnable in the first place. The South Vietnamese regime was corrupt, Ho Chi Minh was a national hero, having fought the Japanese and the French, and most of the population supported the Vietcong. The US invasion of Vietnam was a useless misadventure, born of Kennedy's and Johnson's fear of being seen as "soft on Communism."

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Most of the South Vietnamese were trying to avoid the civil war, while the entire population of North Vietnam was pressed into involuntary war service. Civilians in the South were caught in the middle, and the US could not turn the ARVN into a self-sufficient force. Given the restraints of "limited war" the US could barely contain the continuing incursions by the North. Inevitably, the departure of the US forces in 1973 sealed the doom of the South.

Answer 2

There is no single answer as to why the Vietnam War was lost. It was a combination of the following factors.

Guerilla Warfare

With a smaller and less well equipped army the Vietcong (VC) could never have defeated the US in pitched battle, however the VC were very capable of carrying out sneak attacks using their superior knowledge of the jungle to effectively take on the larger US patrols. The VC also targeted US soldiers in major cities through the use of covert operations where they would infiltrate cities like Saigon and carry out what we today may consider to be similar to attacks happening in places like Afghanistan.

The US Misuse of Technology

It is certainly the case that the USA could bring to bear superior fire power and technology during the war. They controlled the skies without question and used various aircraft to support troops on the ground. One major weapon was Napalm. In cases such as the village of Trang Bang it was dropped on civilian population centres causing horrendous injuries. Often these were captured by photographers or TV crews. Also the US Air Force used chemicals such as Agent Orange and Agent Blue to try and ensure the foliage of trees fell off. These chemicals then leaked into the water sources and killed off areas of farmland leaving everyday Vietnamese civilians with polluted land. It is also worth pointing out these chemicals are still causing birth defects today in Vietnamese children.

The Media

Vietnam is often thought to be the first war to be beamed into the worlds homes. As a result many of the problems soliders faced were made clear to the US public, images of the many US casualties returning home would have appeared on TV each night. As a result of this public opinion in the US turned against the war, it was seen as pointless. Also US attrocities in places like My Lai and Trang Bang made it onto the US news. This further increased the support for the anti-war movement. This movement was able to put pressure on US Presidents that eventually helped end the war.

COnclussion

Overall these three factors combine, because of the US inability to cope with the VC's Guerilla Warfare they had to start treating Vietnamese civilians with suspicion as they had no idea who was VC and who was a Vietnamese citizen. As a consequence of this mistrust massacres and napalm attacks became more common and this in turn made the Vietnamese civilians turn against the US therefore givng the VC more support and aid. These massacrs and napalm attack also helped the anti-war movement persuade the US population at home to help protest the war. It was probably the US public at home in the USA that did as much to end the war as the VC in Vietnam.

It is also worth pointing out that the US Military did not lose one major set piece battle during the Vietnam War, this normally would have ensured a US Victory, however the VC were able to operate continously and grind down the US in small unit actions spread throughout the Vietnam War