How far was the weakness of the army the main reason that the US failed to win in Vietnam?
The loss of the Vietnam War came as a surprise to the US as they were the more powerful side in terms of size, money and military equipment so they had been expected to win. In all of these aspects the US out performed Vietnam, for instance, in its peak the US army had reached 543000 men in 1968 against the highest membership of the Vietcong (VC), 245000. The US was also stronger economically, managing to spend $28 billion per year on the war, supplying high-tech weapons and machinery. There were a number of reasons that the US failed to win in Vietnam, namely, the weakness of the American army, the strength of the VC and NVA, the US’s overreliance on technology and, finally, economic problems that they faced. While these factors interlink to give the overall reason why the US lost the Vietnam War, it’s more likely that the main reason was the weakness of the army.
The weakness of the US army was a significant factor in the loss of the Vietnam War because, though they were bigger in numbers and in weapons, they failed to win. Soldiers had been accustomed to conventional warfare and were trained to use machinery and weapons like bombs, tanks and helicopters. The terrain, mainly dense forest and jungle, made it impossible to fight a conventional war, however, the US came up with a solution to find VC soldiers called ‘search and destroy’. These missions usually involved aerial bombing to overcome problems, for example, the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Unfortunately only 1% of the ‘search and destroy’ missions were a success mainly because it was difficult to distinguish between VC members and civilians as they wore the same ‘pyjama’ clothes. This led to extreme brutality against innocent Vietnamese people from US soldiers, consequently increasing the support for the VC. The paradoxical circle that the US army was stuck in was crucial to US losing the war because the VC got stronger as the war and the US brutality continued. The VC contributed to this as they would taunt US
The weakness of the US army was a significant factor in the loss of the Vietnam War because, though they were bigger in numbers and in weapons, they failed to win. Soldiers had been accustomed to conventional warfare and were trained to use machinery and weapons like bombs, tanks and helicopters. The terrain, mainly dense forest and jungle, made it impossible to fight a conventional war, however, the US came up with a solution to find VC soldiers called ‘search and destroy’. These missions usually involved aerial bombing to overcome problems, for example, the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Unfortunately only 1% of the ‘search and destroy’ missions were a success mainly because it was difficult to distinguish between VC members and civilians as they wore the same ‘pyjama’ clothes. This led to extreme brutality against innocent Vietnamese people from US soldiers, consequently increasing the support for the VC. The paradoxical circle that the US army was stuck in was crucial to US losing the war because the VC got stronger as the war and the US brutality continued. The VC contributed to this as they would taunt US