There are several different reasons to why Vietcong had gained support in South Vietnam, some of these reasons include; the attraction of Communism, winning the hearts and minds of the people, unpopularity of the Diem’s regime, Operation Phoenix and many more.
One of the key explanations as to why the Vietcong gained support was down to the attraction of Communism. The Vietnamese peasant’s lifestyle fitted with the concept of Communism. Communism was all about equality and fairer distribution, since majority of the Vietnamese population were farmers, harvesting was done communally. The people of South Vietnam could easily adapt to the principles of Communism therefore the support for Vietcong increased.
An alternative reason as to why the Vietcong gained support was because of the brutal and corrupt Diem regime. Diem was a Catholic but majority of the Vietnamese population was Buddhist. The Diem regime mistreated the Buddhist; they were not able to freely practice their religion. Many took part in protests and even died as martyrs. The unpopularity of the Diem regime resulted in many South Vietnamese resulting to Vietcong for help.
Another reason for why the Vietcong gained vast support in South Vietnam was due to Operation Phoenix, the CIA interrogated tens of thousands of VC. They used different methods of torture in the hope of neutralizing the NLF. This Operation was unsuccessful because the US was unable to differentiate a Vietcong with a normal Vietnamese civilian. This resulted in innocent Vietnamese suffering from suspicion and brutal torture. This attitude of the Americans led to more Vietcong sympathisers, gaining them support.
Additionally, another reason that gained Vietcong support was their behavior towards the Vietnamese peasants. They were respectful towards all of them and promised them an equal distribution of land. This was appealing to the South Vietnamese people and as a result they resorted towards Communism
Furthermore, another reason for why the Vietcong were successful in gaining the support from the South Vietnamese was because the U.S failed to win the hearts and minds of people. The US troops found it difficult to identify the difference between a Vietcong soldier and a normal civilian. As a result, they assumed everyone was their enemy; one suspicious villager led the US wanting to bomb the entire town. These tactics were greatly unpopular and again helped in South Vietnamese gaining support.
Overall, the Vietcong gained support not only for the appeal of Communism but for a whole range of factors which includes, the tactics of the U.S and their inability to win the hearts and minds of people, brutal methods of torture carried out by the CIA in Operation Phoenix and the Vietcong’s behavior towards the South Vietnamese.
You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
-
The Americans called the NLF guerrillas the Vietcong, and supported Diem with military advisers and money.…
- 500 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
4. So much people supported the US in Vietnam because of communism. The US wanted to prevent the communist takeover in Asia and South Vietnam was in trouble of being taken over…
- 590 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
North Vietnam was strongly supported by the communist power houses; Peoples Republic of China and the Soviet Union, which despised America because of it “corrupted Imperialist nation”. South Vietnam was supported by France and finically aided by the United States through Eisenhower’s presidency. By early 1954, America’s aid accounted for the lions-share of the French war effort.…
- 687 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
The Vietnam War was started based on the Domino Theory. This theory was adopted by President Eisenhower; it concisely stated that if South Vietnam fell to communism, many other South East Asia countries would become more accepting of communism and eventually adopt it (vietnamawbb 1).…
- 1601 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
In the field of external affairs, the Viet Nam Laodong Party recommends: 'The Viet Nam people must . . . actively support the national liberation movements of oppressed peoples; unite closely with the Soviet Union, China and other people's democracies; form close alliances with the peoples of France and the French colonies so as to contribute to the anti-imperialist struggle to defend world peace and democracy!…
- 1939 Words
- 8 Pages
Good Essays -
In the early 1960’s JFK sent in the Special Forces (Green Berets) to South Vietnam. They landed right by the Hmong villages. Right after they landed, the American soldiers started to recruit the young men in the villages to help them fight the North Vietnamese. They agreed to do this not because they had love for the South Vietnamese, but because they thought that the United States would be a good replacement for protection since the French had left them with no protection. The United States also recruited young Hmong men who lived in Laos to form a “Secret Army”. The Hmong people were dedicated to help the United States in the war and would do whatever it took to have the United States protection from the communist…
- 808 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
The Vietcong were a communist movement in the South who were against the South Vietnamese government and the USA's involvement with the civil war. The use of tactics (the plans, weapons and battle strategies used in war) were prime in minds of the Vietcong and they went to all means to gain the upper hand in the conflict. For example the use of booby traps, tunnels and trails. Some like the Ho Chi Minh trail were a huge success among the Vietcong whereas things like booby traps had less of an affect on the opposition.…
- 983 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
The resistance against French rule was launched by Ho Chi Minh, a communist who had benefitted from French assimilation. Ho Chi Minh founded the Communist Party of Vietnam, and began his work, but he was forced to flee when the Japanese began to occupy Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh, upon his return to Vietnam, formed a guerilla group called the Viet Minh to fight occupation. Eventually, the Viet Minh became a large and effective army that made the war a difficult fight. To gain aid in the war effort, France reworked the Indochina War as a war on communism, not a war to maintain the French Empire.…
- 685 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Even in the south there were procommunist supporters because ho chi minh was a very popular leader he was a man of the people and his leadership seemed to be gaining support in the south. Third, the United States wanted to destroy Vietcong industrial bases and supply roads. Fourth, the United States wanted to cut off Vietcong’s supply lines to the south. Their goal was to starve out the Vietcong so they could no longer continue their…
- 1197 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
In the course of the Vietnam War, there have been many different factors why the USA became increasingly involved. One reason included how they believed it would be a ‘simple’ war to fight and for that reason, they would have the ability to easily win plus the war would not continue on for too long. Additionally they desired to contain communism as they believed they might be capable to stop the growth of communism within Asia. In order to help retain communism, they believed in the ‘domino theory’.…
- 687 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
The United States entered the war to stop the spread of Communism in Southeast Asia. American leaders feared that Communist forces would gain control of Vietnam. After that, nation after nation might fall to Communism. Communism is a political and economic system that the United States strongly opposed. Vietnam had been split in half in 1954, after fighting a war to gain independence from France. When French forces withdrew, Vietnamese Communists gained control of North Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh was the leader of the North Vietnamese Communists. South Vietnam had a non-Communist government. This government was believed to be weak but the United States supported it in order to keep the Communists from taking control of all of Vietnam thus preventing the alleged domino effect.…
- 303 Words
- 1 Page
Satisfactory Essays -
North Vietnam helped the vietcong to overthrow the government. In 1965, the U.S. sent soldiers to Vietnam. The U.S. troops had better technology and weapons. The Vietcong fought in small groups that hid in the jungle and controlled most of South Vietnam.…
- 177 Words
- 1 Page
Good Essays -
The Vietnam War is viewed by the majority as one of the worst periods in American history. The Americans moved into Vietnam in 1954 under the pretence of fighting against an "evil and aggressive Communist regime"1. The government stated the Domino Theory as a reason for involving themselves in someone else's war, whereby if America did not stop Vietnam from falling to Communism then other countries would follow, and American liberty, free enterprise and security would be put at risk. It is hard to define one important reason for the American's defeat in Vietnam. There are many factors that explain it: restrictions on the military and tactics that the American army employed, coupled with the strength of the North Vietnamese Army. The war also cost a lot of money, which meant inflation, tax rises and America's economy suffering. The collapse of the home front and the lack of support from the media was cause for the presidents to retreat and was another reason for the undermining of the war effort. This information from home often leaked to the front line and caused the deterioration of troops' morale, also, the government was often criticised for not understanding the political nature of Vietnam, where no-one really understand or cared about the term democracy.…
- 3124 Words
- 11 Pages
Powerful Essays -
The vietnam war was a great war that was tough and had many struggles there was many obstacles in the way to beat the vietnamese many argue that we won because we backed out of the war but a lot of people think we lost the vietnam war and here is a few reasons the united states lost the vietnam war . The united states of america lost the vietnam war because of lack of allied support, lack of support at home, lack of ballistic or nuclear bombs and finally the lack of real military objectives . The first reason why the united states lost the vietnam war was because of lack of allie support.the leader of the south was president diem…
- 564 Words
- 3 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
How significant was the ‘Domino Theory’ as a reason for US involvement in the conflict in Vietnam?…
- 765 Words
- 4 Pages
Satisfactory Essays