How did USA lose the vietnam war?

Question

would rather here in your own words, no cut/paste please

Answer 1

I can some it up simply the Rules of engagment.
First the ground forces were limted to South vietnam very few operation took place in laos and Cambodia until the end of the war. As a result the North sent their men and equipemtn through these countries. Next the Airforce and navy couldn't hit with in 30 miles of the Chinese border or with in 5 miles of downtown hanoi or haiphong resulting in the North vienamese geting a place to stash their suff.
These two factors resulted in one thing the North vientamese were able to supply and arm soldiers they were sending down south with little interuption and they had a place to hide when things got to hot. most of the war the VC and NVA were basicly infantry with light artilery-
what bombing was done against the north was limited due to poilicat considerations so overal despite the tonage dropped the targets had little impact. I've heard one Vietnam veteran say Johnson was more concerned about a Russian advisor getting killed than a US airman. the event that is listed as the turning point - the tet offensive of 1968 in reality was a faliure militarily for the communist forces -the VC was basicly wipped out as the communists were brutal on South Vietnamese civilans. The North took some time to recover from the attack many Americans got the perception that the war was unwinable. Then came Vietnamification where Nixon was pulling out us ground forces. The first major test of this policy came in the 1972 easter invation where the North invaded the south with a force that included over 14 divisions and 500 tanks this was biggerthan the ardense offinsive of WW II that reuslted in the battle of the buldge. this invation was stopped in part due to the US airpower being used in the linebaker I campaign as well as the allied forces on the ground. This failure and the Linebaker II campaign, which was the unrestricted bombing of North Vietnam, crippled north vietnam for 2 years. Then end came when congress cut off funding and the Norht Vietnamse corectly guessed in 1975 that Ford would not launch Line baker III to fight off their offinsive which resulted in the fall of saigon.

Answer 2

Vietnam War Lost

Answer 3

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The U.S. lost in Vietnam for the same reasons that it has lost in Iraq & Afghanistan: the people of Vietnam did not support the puppet governments of the U.S. China did not "win" in Vietnam. Its army did not reach Hanoi. Even if it had, capturing the capital of a country is not synonymous with military victory. If it were, we would have left Bagdad and Kabul a long time ago. In February 1979 China attacked along virtually the entire Sino-Vietnamese border in a brief, limited campaign that involved ground forces only. The Chinese attack came at dawn on the morning of 17 February 1979, and employed infantry, armor, and artillery. Air power was not employed then or at any time during the war. Within a day, the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) had advanced some eight kilometers into Vietnam along a broad front. It then slowed and nearly stalled because of heavy Vietnamese resistance and difficulties within the Chinese supply system. On February 21, the advance resumed against Cao Bang in the far north and against the all-important regional hub of Lang Son. Chinese troops entered Cao Bang on February 27, but the city was not secured completely until March 2. Lang Son fell two days later. On March 5, the Chinese, saying Vietnam had been sufficiently chastised, announced that the campaign was over. Beijing declared its "lesson" finished and the PLA withdrawal was completed on March 16.

Answer 4

Militarily the USA was never beaten in a large scale battle. The USA withdrew from Vietnam due to domestic political pressure over the morality and casualty rate of the war. The USA lost because they did not have the politcial will to finish the job.

Plenty of people will I suspect mention the determination of the vietnamese guerillas etc but this is a red herring. South Vietnam Only fell to the communists following a huge North Vietnamese Blitzkrieg involving massed tanks and artillery two years after the USA had withdrawn

Answer 5

The big reason is political pressure from so call intellectuals and the media giving the war bad press. Many historians are looking back and studying the impact the press had on the impact of the war and noticing that militarily the US won, but at home with the media and civilians they lost. Many same tactics are now at use with the current war with Iraq, body counts (which really doesn't determine if a war is being won or lost), protests, but a clear lack of understanding of the future by the media and protesters of the events they cause.

Many hippies of the time, intellectuals and media press of the 60s will tell you the reason was because of flawed governmental policies, which is actually false simply because these people don't want to told, or actually live up to the reason that they were responsible for the loss of Vietnam and the reaction of many around the world in how the US was viewed.

Answer 6

You can easily argue that the US lost the war from the very beginning. Vietnam could or should have been left alone to determine its own future. The supposed argument that if we let the communists take over it would spread eventually to our own country can be seen in historical hindsight to be without any merit -- Communist Vietnam is becoming more capitalist & democratic every day; as is Russia, China, and many others.

I personally decided that it was not right for us to be there. Nonetheless, the soldiers that fought in that war were patriots doing what they felt was their duty.

Answer 7

The US lost the Vietnam War the same way they are going to lose the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.. The was no overall plan - just get in there. In both cases Vietnam and Iraq the US were used to get rid of a communist power and Saddam but they overstayed their welcome - just like Iraq. Consequently, thousands and thousands of people were killed on both sides for nothing. Nothing was achieved except hatred for the US and a a lack of support at home - "bring the boys home".

Because the US is isolationist and is terrified of extremists, they rush headlong into war without any plan on how it will end - except the blind belief that they will win. But sometimes they don't win because they don't understand their "enemies " culture and the fact they they are being used.

The Russians invaded Afghanistan and stayed for 10 years - but left eventually having achieved nothing except loss of life.

The US is too great country to be used in this way by the politicians.

Answer 8

its rather simple.
public distrust and marches in USA, like the Kent State University shooting incident
The soldiers were fighting in un-known terrain
most of them were not trained for defending against guerilla warfare
too many traps and mines
helicopters were the only way to travel, and often were shot down.
boats were another way, but soldiers were ambushed
the Viet Cong (VC) were able to travel everywhere, even behind US lines. They had the support of the Vietnames, and the US lost it through their brutal massacres and bombings.
yeah, thats all i can think of.

Answer 9

The USA were routed in Vietnam, just like the bellends lost the 1812 war - annihilated

Answer 10

I was there, for two hellish years in the Northern highlands with the Hmong. I was a seventeen year old Ranger and scared to death.
It was for survival and survival only. The politics were a no end, they should have been there. Hill after hill, men after men being killed and maimed. Only to give the same hills back again, go rest and, then do it again.

We won the battles but, they gave the wars away, they tied our hands, they held us back.We could have gone to China if necessary.