Failure in Vietnam was rooted in a misunderstanding of the type of conflict and a failure to adapt. US commanders continually attempted to make the war fit their understanding of operations, not a true understanding of the conflict itself.
Despite the decades of resolve, billions and billions of dollars, nearly 60,000 American lives and many more injuries, the United States failed to achieve its objectives. One factor that influenced the failure of the United States in Vietnam was lack of public support.
The Vietnam War was not simply the wrong war; it was also fought in the wrong way. Military force should only be used decisively, not gradually. Civilian officials should set basic policy but allow the professional military to run wars without micromanagement.
Basically because the Vietnamese wanted to win more than the Americans did. There were a couple of reasons for this. First, the Americans were an invading force, and the Vietnamese were fighting on their own soil. Second, the Americans were not willing to make an all-out commitment to win.
Many Americans opposed the war on moral grounds, appalled by the devastation and violence of the war. Others claimed the conflict was a war against Vietnamese independence, or an intervention in a foreign civil war; others opposed it because they felt it lacked clear objectives and appeared to be unwinnable.
As the war progressed Australians were less convinced by the original rationale that China and communism posed a direct threat. Opposition to the war also grew as national servicemen were killed and wounded in the course of their service.
Many Vietnam veterans claim that most people treated them with indifference and seemed uncomfortable listening to their stories from battle. Some people, however, saw returning soldiers as dangerous, violent symbols of an increasingly futile and terrible war—much like the individual Wowwk encountered.
America did not experience a “lost victory” in Vietnam; in fact, victory was likely out of reach from the beginning. There is a broad consensus among professional historians that the Vietnam War was effectively unwinnable.
Difficult climate and terrain
The effectiveness of American soldiers was undermined not by a lack of skill or courage but by other factors, such as local conditions, unclear military objectives, the highly politicised nature of the war and the stealth and inventiveness of their enemy.
The Vietnam War severely damaged the U.S. economy. Unwilling to raise taxes to pay for the war, President Johnson unleashed a cycle of inflation. The war also weakened U.S. military morale and undermined, for a time, the U.S. commitment to internationalism.
The United States entered Vietnam with the principal purpose of preventing a communist takeover of the region. In that respect, it failed: the two Vietnams were united under a communist banner in July 1976. Neighbouring Laos and Cambodia similarly fell to communists.
The two active ingredients in the Agent Orange herbicide combination were equal amounts of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) and 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4,5-T), which contained traces of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD). The dioxin TCDD was an unwanted byproduct of herbicide production.
Ultimately, the actions of the United States in the Vietnam War were unjust according to the Just War Theory. America failed to meet the requirements of both jus ad bellum, justice of war, and jus in bello, justice in war. The U.S. did not have just cause for entering the Vietnam War.
The longest war in history is believed to be the Reconquista (Spanish for Reconquest), with a duration of 781 years.
The Socialist Republic of Vietnam was formally established on July 2, 1976, and Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh City. Though the outcome of the war was a clear defeat for the United States, the countries surrounding Vietnam did not subsequently fall to communism, demonstrating the flawed reasoning of the domino theory.
Agent Orange was a tactical herbicide used by the U.S. military for control of vegetation. It was named for the orange band around the storage barrel. The military sprayed Agent Orange and other tactical herbicides during the Vietnam War.
The bombing campaign failed because the bombs often fell into empty jungle, missing their targets. The North Vietnamese guerrillas knew the jungle and made use of elaborate underground bases and tunnels to shelter from US bombs, and often re-used unexploded American bombs against US soldiers.
There is no doubt that some American soldiers committed atrocities during the Vietnam War. In the My Lai massacre of 1968, for example, U.S. troops raided a South Vietnamese village and killed between 300 and 400 innocent civilians (see box titled "The My Lai Massacre" in Chapter 12, "Nixon's War (1969–1970)").
Many soldiers joined the antiwar movement by producing underground newspapers and holding strategic meetings in coffeehouses. Letters from soldiers abroad often described confusion and guilt about their military service. Other soldiers expressed feelings of betrayal by their own country.
The US army had superior conventional weapons but they were ineffective against a country that was not industrialized and an army which employed guerrilla tactics and used the dense jungle as cover.
Vietnam is ranked 19 of 145 out of the countries considered for the annual Global Firepower review. The nation holds a Power Index score of 0.2855 with a score of 0.0000 being considered exceptional in the GFP assessment.
The Vietnam War divided American society. Those who served were often treated as traitors instead of heroes, and found it difficult to adjust to life back home. Although many Vietnam veterans did have success after returning home, those who did not were often left to deal with their trauma alone.
Over the years, Australian veterans have reported that they were insulted and subjected to discriminatory treatment after returning home from Vietnam.
Today, Vietnam Veterans range in age from 61 to 103 years old.
During the 11-year campaign, approximately 2.7 million American men and woman served; of those, 58,220 died and 153,000 were wounded. Today, there are fewer than 850,000 living Vietnam War veterans, many of whom who are eligible for VA benefits.