Reasons For US Failure In Vietnam War

Reasons for US failure in Vietnam War
The US initiated a war which was based on; speculation, misinformation and pride. The US felt obliged to do something based on what they assumed and speculated, and this would have a big impact on the entire nation. The US would need to use every resource which was available to them to be able to defeat Vietnam in their evident uphill battle.
Speculation could be seen as one of the reasons the US started the war and also why they lost it. There was great speculation around the spread of Communism and this was a frightening concept for the Americans. The war was driven by the speculation that Communism would spread through the entire South-East Asia. Vietnam was permanently split in two in 1956, two leaders
The ‘attack’ on the S.S. Maddox was what triggered the series of events that lead to America losing and joining the war. They could be seen as over eager in the sense that they didn’t hesitate to retaliate. The US weren’t always as informed as they would like to be. Psychological warfare was utilized by the Vietnamese to mislead the Americans situated in certain Vietnamese areas. Psychological warfare was the idea playing with your opponents head by feeding them the wrong information or making them feel home sick but the main concept was to make the opponent question their actions and to basically want to stop them from fighting, to knock them off their game. The misinformation didn’t just affect the American soldiers but also the American Citizens. The Vietnam War was well documented and footage would be broadcasted in homes all over the US and around the world. The fact that the US government tried to hide certain things from the public only to be later uncovered in the broadcasted footage caused them to loose support. Seeing the footage of the war and then being lied to by the US government would be enough for anybody to question the war and to also question the actions of the Soldiers and government. The public was outraged and this would lead to multiple protests throughout the US and in certain countries around the world. Misinformation is a key concept in modern warfare because when you have an advantage over your opponent you have a better chance of defeating them no matter your skill level. The Vietnamese were seen as underdogs and they had to use psychological warfare along with misinformation to give them a chance of defeating the Americans. In the US the protest were becoming more frequent and the protest went from being outraged to pleading to remove the troops. The deaths of the American soldiers were televised and it was said that everybody knew at least one person who had died in the war, which is a harsh