Why does everyone think we lost the Vietnam War?

Question

Why exactly does everyone beleive we lost the Vietnam War? We invaded, destroyed 100's of acres of land... killed milions of vietnamese, and made them loose milions and milions of dollars... we only lost 50,000 troops how is that a loss? Yeh we dindt get anything accomplished... but when ever does a war accomplish anything other then complete slaughter of the other country or freeing a country..? Please explain this to me why everyone beleives we lost vietnam... because i personally beleive we kicked their as ses for a while n got sick of it so we left... we didnt get forced to leave or anything... give me your thoughts

Answer 1

Probably the general lack of parades, and speeches and stuff.

Also the battle to get off the roof of the Embassy played badly in the Media, with all the Liberal spin about it being all panicky, when anyone can see that it was very orderly and had been planned to be that way for months.

The plan to rid them of Chinese influence worked very well as the Chinese had to invade again to get it back, and our years of training the Viet Cong in ways to fight a larger army proved very effective when they threw the Chinese army out pretty promptly.

We also managed to eliminate the domino theory by creating such a mess in Cambodia, that Viet Nam had its own Viet Nam and spent 20 years bleeding itself there, while we built up Bin Laden so he could make Afghanistan ungovernable

Answer 2

We lost the Vietnam war because it was our destiny to lose that war, no matter how smart the reasons most people says now or will say in the future. That's a fact of history and nothing can ever change that anymore.

Mistakes in any war are only realized long after the war is over, when historians look back and analyze the events that took place and the impact of the decisions the leaders had made on the outcome.

The Germans would have won World War II if they never made the mistakes they made. But then, that's how history unfolded. Nobody can ever change history because what happened already happened.

Answer 3

Because the North ended up gaining control of the whole country?

Wars aren't won by whoever killed the most people. In many cases people are the cheapest resource that a country can give up in battle, look at Russia in WWII. They lost almost as many people as every other Western country combined.

It doesn't matter that we killed more than we lost. The amount of money that developed country puts into training and equiping their troops make the loss of a single one of them worth many, many more of the enemy's troops.

We've killed a lot more Iraqi and Afghan insurgents than we've lost, would you say that we're running things over there? Grow up and try learning stuff instead of posting rediculous comments like this.

Answer 4

For the same reason everyone is saying we are losing the Iraq war they are only seeing what the media wants them to see and not doing any research. Evryone has the impression when you go to war everything will end peacefully right away that always never happens even after WWII was over there were still some factions of the Nazi party trying to blow up jeeps and buildings. If you look at the truth Vietnam was unable to threaten any of its neighbors for over 50 years the same way in Iraq even if we leave and they fall into civil war while that would be tragic it wouldnt be a loss Iraq no matter who will take over there wouldnt have any power to attack anyone for a very long time.

Answer 5

We pulled out. Plain and simple. That is the only reason we lost. All military strategists understand exactly what routing an enemy means. Typically, more warriors are killed once they have been routed then at any other point in a battle. In the case of an overwhelmingly more powerful force vs a much smaller one, withdrawal is the only way to loose. Look up Guerrilla warfare. It is a type of struggle used against one is better equipted and has greater numbers and resources. The point of Guerrilla warfare is not to defeat the enemy but to subvert. By hiding and picking at the stronger foe, you can prolong your own existence while angering the civilians on both sides. Guerrilla tactics include gaining local support and disrupts foreign support for the war eventually forcing the enemy to withdraw. Although from every militaristic point of view, the supperior force is not only winning but CANNOT loose, Guerrilla warfare has been effective in causing the enemy to withdraw. We saw it in Vietnam, Korea, and now we see the beginnings of it in Iraq. The US spends more money on its military then any other country in the world (and by a lot). So far in the Iraq war, we have seen a few thousand american deaths and hundreds of thousands Iraqi deaths. In this, the media can misrepresent. The few american deaths we hear about everyday on the news are not just a sampling but rather, most of the deaths altogether. On average american deaths occur at about none to a dozen daily. For a comparison, look at the 2nd world war where at its height 10s of thousands of Japanese were dying on a daily basis. Frankly, what it comes down to is this. It is impossible for the US to loose the war. Even if we cut US effectiveness down to 10% and multiplied the enemy numbers by 100 and gave them all more weapons, they still could not win. They just do not have anywhere near the technology. You cannot win a war if you cannot fight out in the open. But fortunately for them, they do not have to win the war. They simply have to foil the enemy long enough to annoy the home front until they withdraw. Sadly, this seems to be working like it has in the past.

Answer 6

Hmmmm, let me think here...because they still turned out to be a Communist country which we were fighting against? Just a thought. And, tell that to the South Vietnamese. They didn't want us to leave because they didn't want to be part of a Communist country. Oh, and let's not forget all the South Vietnamese war heroes who were sent to "re-education camps" and came out completely demoralized.

And, to win a war does not necessarily have to involve complete distruction. That does not make a war winnable. What makes a war winnable is to go obtain the objective of the war. Unlike Iraq, where the objective changed from month to month.

Answer 7

put it this way, if we won the Vietnam war why would anyone, let alone everyone think we lost it?

But more to the point, we lost Vietnam because we couldn't break them. They were too united as a people. They worked together and looked after each other. It was a pointless war to begin with because the Vietnamese themselves didn't want what everyone else wanted for them. As far as they're concerned, why fix it if it ain't broken?

Answer 8

Find the old TV pictures of the NVA entering Saigon and the panic stricken Americans being airlifted off the roof of the American Embassy while their South Vietnamese allies try to break down the gates to go with them.
Then you'll see who lost.
All that technology and military might beaten by peasant farmers in flip flops.

Answer 9

Americans don't really understand war and sometimes they don't even understand the fights we get into so willie-nilly.

The purpose of war is to use force to change an enemies' will.

The purpose of the Communist Vietnamese in the north and south was to reunite their country--which they accomplished.

Americans fought to demonstrate to the USSR and PRC that we would meet treaty obligations even to the sacrifice of our young men. We made the sacrifice for 20 years and decided to pull out of a pointless fight that consumed 58,000 lives (young men drafted against their will to fight an imperial war and lost with no gain).

The Russians and the Chinese supplied the Vietnamese throughout the fight and appeared to be amused we would fight such a fight as Vietnam.

The thing you have to remember is that you can win battles but unless you use your power to change their will, you haven't won anything. Just like in the American Revolution, the British won nearly all the battles, but lost the war.

Answer 10

Well, if you had to go through and see the same things that those guys did in the Vietnam War you just might have a 2NT thought on all of this.