[BurningBlade]

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We lost the Vietnam War, but we won the Cold War.


Vietnam is a country located in Southeast Asia. The country takes the shape of a dung bell. Vietnam is also located on a large peninsula. It's south of China with neighbors of Laos and Cambodia. Those three countries make up Endochina. France ruled Endochina from the mid 1800's. During the Second World War, Japan easily conquered all three countries because the French put up little resistance due to France's defeat by Germany. At the end of World War II, most Japanese left French Endochina. The Vietnamese acquired a lot of weaponry from the surrendering Japanese army, especially North Vietnam. This is when Northern Vietnam declared independence from France, led by the communist party, headed by Ho Chi Minh.

The French attempted to regain control in their previous colonies. The French met little resistance, except in North Vietnam. There was a truce in fighting that took place and after about one year, elections were supposed to be held in Vietnam. The French did not allow the elections because they thought they'd lose. So fighting went on between France and North Vietnam between 1946 and 1954. A gorilla type fighting was introduced, so there were no pitched battles. The Vietnamese became very adept at Gorilla Warfare, which they carried forward when the US entered the conflict. After the French defeat in 1954, the country was divided at the 17th parallel latitude, becoming North and South Vietnam. The southern half was anti-communist and the northern half was pro-communist. The US government had a worldwide policy of containing communism. So the US started assisting the South Vietnamese with equipment and military advisors. Once the country was divided, millions of refugees poured to South Vietnam, escaping the communist rule. Most of these refugees were members of the Catholic Church. United States President Kennedy, who was also catholic, gave lots of support to Catholic refugees. However, 80% of the Vietnamese people were Buddhist. South Vietnamese General Ngo Dinh Diem seized power and received lots of support with his gorilla war against the Vietcong. The Vietcong were gorilla fighters in South Vietnam.

Dictator of South Vietnam, Ngo Dinh Diem as his army grew to put down the Vietcong, so did the number of US advisors. So by 1961, we had 2,000 military advisors and trainers in South Vietnam, no actual fighting forces yet. The Vietcong Gorillas in the south were gaining victory after victory. So that by the second year of Kennedy's term as President, US forces in South Vietnam had grown to 15,000. Including US combat forces known as the Green Berets, who were actually fighting against the Vietcong. The US was building up forces in Vietnam. His own generals assassinated the General of South Vietnam, Ngo Dinh Diem in 1963. About the same time, President Kennedy was assassinated; there was no connection between the two. President Johnson took over the oval office and rank as Commander and Chief. President Johnson succeeded in getting the US more deeply involved in the Vietnam War. Up to this time, the President had no authority from congress to wage an all-out war against the Vietcong. July 1964, American Destroyers were reported fired upon by a North Vietnamese patrol boat. Another attack reported August 3rd in the Gulf of Tonkin. So then the President went before congress and pleaded for authority to go to war. Congress allowed Johnson to go to war. By the end of 1964, the US had 25,000 fighters and advisors in South Vietnam. March 8th, the US sent in the marines, followed by the paratroopers. So at this time, we had 125,000 men in South Vietnam and more troops arriving daily. President Johnson was determined to win the war at all costs. He bluntly told the American public, "I will not be the first American president to lose a war!"

The Vietnam conflict was America's first teenage war. The average age of soldiers was 19 as opposed to 26 years of age in World War II. The average term of a soldier in Vietnam was 1 year. Men were replaced in a platoon or company, 1 man at a time, which turned out to be bad for morale. The best estimate for enemy strength was 250,000 Vietcong, but they only fought in very small groups, 10 or so men. But they had the support of all the villagers; the Vietcong were able to win over the support of the villagers by showing patriotism, anti-foreigner and fear.
The Americans tried to use firepower and technology, saturation bombing, spraying of defoliant and Napalm bombs. The American strategy was to engage the Vietcong in battle, but the Vietcong refused to engage in any standing battles, only using quick, hit and run tactics. The Vietcong received their supplies through North Vietnam, China and Russia. They supplied them with small arms, rifles, machine guns, grenades, mortars and small artillery. All of which could be broken down and carried by foot. They were using 250,000 to 500,000 people carrying supplies on their backs through the jungle from North to South Vietnam.

American casualties disheartened more and more American people, 58,000 dead and over 200,000 wounded and even the slaughter of the Vietnamese themselves was heart breaking. The feelings of the American people turned against the war effort. From 1965 to 1970 many large demonstrations against the war in the US were held in major cities. With the elections of Nixon, he promised to end the war and end the draft. At the peek of the war, military strength was at 500,000 soldiers. By 1972, Nixon reduced it to 162,000 soldiers. As we were reducing our troops, the Vietcong were going on the offensive. The last big act of the war was a big bombing campaign, 1972, around Christmas time by the US, and then peace talks began in Paris and Ernest. January 27th, 1973, a peace agreement was signed in Paris. So by the spring of 1973, all remaining troops were returned home. The military draft officially ended June 1973. The Vietcong finally captured the rest of South Vietnam and the war ended by the capture of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, April 30th, 1975. Thus ended the American involvement in Vietnam. The US lost the Vietnam War but we won the Cold war.

The End...

[Timmay]

Read flags of our fathers. You'll have a better understanding about why we lost in one but won in another.

Look at all the propagana spewed in the cold war. James bond, spy movies, all sorts of crap making us look like heroes in a war that wasn't truely violent. Go to the vietnam war. Once we saw the picture of the north vietnamese guy blowing the brains out of some poor southern vietnam officer, we couldn't fight anymore. It was done. no such pictures were produced during the cold war.

You can't win a war that isn't your's to begin with. lookat iraq