Why did we lose the Vietnam War?

Question

Dinesh D'Souza says the US lost the Vietnam war because they didn't know what they were fighting for. I've heard others say that it was because of our Military's lack of experience in the terrain, and lack of Military tactics. Any opinions or evidence for either claim?

Answer 1

Dinesh D'Souza doesn't know what he's talking about.

The military was NOT losing... anything. The US military was clobbering the VC and NVA at every major encounter and probably 99% of the minor skirmishes. We had the will and the technology to turn everything north of the DMZ into plowed earth from South Vietnamese farmers... no land mines, no cities, no towns, no people... just plowed, fertile earth.

However, back home there were dumb and incompetent politicians and diplomats being influenced by what was called the "vocal minority." Most of these were long-haired, drugged-out hippies from UC Berzerkeley.

Here's an example of their intellect. Whenever the enemy was about to be wiped out, the enemy would wave a white flag and ask for "peace negotiations" predicated upon a ceasefire. Our troops were ordered to fall back and stand down. The politicians and diplomats would do a little victory dance and pat each other on their backs and complement themselves on their brilliance. They'd troop to the negotiation table with visions of godhood.

Out in the field, the enemy was making use of the ceasefire by moving in fresh troops to replace those who were killed or injured, resupplying them, and repairing his defenses and digging them in deeper, or preparing for another abortive offensive. When they were ready, they'd start shooting. When we shot back the North Vietnamese diplomats would stomp out of the "peace negotiations" complaining we'd broken the ceasefire. And the dimwit diplomats and politicians, and the media, and the folks back home... at least the vocal minority... believed them.

We weren't just fighting North Vietnam. We were fighting the USSR and China... and we were still winning. We were also fighting the South Vietnamese Army. They were cowards who refused to fight. They also took the weapons we issued them and would sell them on the black market... to the enemy.

We were also fighting ourselves... at least at the start. Our intelligence was terrible. It was inaccurate. And often the enemy got wind of our missions and was able to move or reinforce before we got there. And the media figured out that bad news sold better than good news, so, no matter how well we were doing, they only published bad stuff. There was a plane that was shot down. The media took a few shots of it to show the public how our aircraft were shot down at the whim of the enemy. When the public lost interest in that story, they took some more shots of the same plane... from a different angle... and reported it again... and the public believed it. And they did it again... and again... until the plant life covered the darned thing.

Were it not for the hill people, we'd have been fighting the war by ourselves.

Some posted that it wasn't a war because it wasn't declared. Whatever you call it, US troops died. Some of us were wounded.

Dinesh D'Souza was born in 1961. All he has to go on is what he's been able to gather from the reports from that time... and most of those reports... from the press... were erroneous. While he was splashing around in his pabulum and messing his diapers, I was up to my butt in brown water and rice paddies. I was there. He wasn't.

Answer 2

The US lost their no argument with that, Here the facts -The US fail to complete many of its political objectives -The US didn't get support from the Vietnamese not even the south Vietnamese -The US did have control of some major cities, but overall the whole Nation of Vietnam was under the Communist -And last but not least the whole goal of going to Vietnam was to stop Communism, something the US fail to do as Vietnam is united under a Communist government. That here till this day Vietnam has a Communist Government. No a loss a war is when you don't complete your objectives. Your definition of loss of war is completely wrong, the British weren't conquered nor totally annihilated during the American Revolutionary were they now? Yet they still lost the War. Just like Americans use guerrilla tactic during the Revolutionary war and won against the British, the Vietnamese did the same thing to the Americans and won against the USA.

Answer 3

Come on people...admit it..When the us first invaded Vietnam .. It was terriblely a big mistake.The us must stop creating these stupid wars and hundred of massacre That killed million of innocent people..Why always sing the chorus : we all want the world to live in peace while they're fighting with a much smaller country just want to have Vietnam as own land?
I was in pain with this war like I was a victim . My grandfather and uncle died in this war..I felt terriblely when I was travelled to Vietnam and found out that a 93 year old mom who lost all of her children ( the soldiers ) and she is living alone in poor, hurt
i think the Vietnamese are very brave and they love their country!!!
So let this all behind and live in peace it was already gone far away!

Answer 4

First answerer got it right, militarily we were not defeated, American forces were rarely, if ever, defeated on the battlefield. We pulled out of Vietnam because 1) The war was extremely unpopular in the United States and public opinion had turned against it. 2) total victory could not be achieved without winning the popular support of the Vietnamese people, who just wanted to be left alone to their farming by the Americans AND the communists. And I don't care about technicalities regarding weather or not war was DECLARED, Vietnam was most definitely a WAR, as is the WAR in Iraq and the WAR in Afghanistan. To say otherwise is to disrespect the men and women who fought and died there.

Answer 5

The Vietnamese were such good guerrilla fighters, as in they knew how to hide in trees and lay ambushes and things, that the US didn't know how to deal with them. The US soldiers didn't know what to expect and they didn't have proper jungle warfare training. The US also lost the support of the public when the US army started using Napalm which burned people horribly (including children) and agent orange which was a chemical that cleared huge areas of jungle. When photos of burnt, ruined expanses of jungle and badly injured babies and children got back to the public, they were pretty outraged. Also, the US soldiers killed a lot of innocent Vietnamese villagers as they didn't know who was hiding a weapon and who wasn't.
The US were badly organized, ill-prepared and fighting a war that they couldn't win (but they kept going anyway and made it even worse).

People, stop saying the US didn't lose. You did. You pulled out of Vietnam and the situation was worse than when you went in. More US soldiers died than Vietnamese fighters and nobody else in the world supported your decision. In fact, many other countries felt that the war was illegal in the first place and that America were acting as "world police".

Answer 6

We didn't.
The military didn't lose, the politicians who had no idea what warfare was decided to quit because the media a**holes portrayed the troops badly and that put pressure on them from the people.
According to a USMC Brigadier General who was in Vietnam I've had the opportunity of interviewing, within 8 months more the war would have been won.

Answer 7

Legally, there was no Vietnam war. War was never declared.

Yes, the military was involved. Yes, many died in action. No, it was not a war.

The U.S. "lost" because the citizens didn't really want to win. Compare to World War II. If the U.S. invested as much energy as a nation during the Vietnam conflict, things would be much different.

War is "messy". Too many U.S. citizens don't want to do any dirty work. There is little room for politics in a successful war effort. Politics is for peace-time.

Answer 8

We were never allowed to win the CONFLICT.... Our purpose was not to defeat the North but to stop them..If America really wanted todefeat them at the time allwe had todowas invade N. Vietnam..We didnt. Instead all we did was send troops to stop them from coming into the South..... We pulled out bc we needed to. The public was getting rowled up about it and many many Soldiers and Marines were getting killed...

Answer 9

America lost because:

1. Its military was openly walking out through villages, while enemies would hide and snipe them off
2. They recieved alot of discouragement from back home.
3. Almost 600000 of its army died.
4. Morale became low whenever they were told of torture by Vietnamese North, and from seeing each other die!
5. Vietnamese nationalism

Answer 10

America did not lose the Vietnam War, it was not allowed to win. America would have won if it were allowed to invade the North, but the politicians kinda, you know, screwed it up a bit and then pulled out.