Vietnam War

[DruRZS]

Ok Vietnam War is kind of a touchy topic for me, can anybody tell me why did the U.S help out the French against North Vietnam? And then can you tell me why we actually joined in the war... cause one of our ships were attacked (which turned out to be a false statement) But Years before that "ship attack" there was 1 solider of the U.S was killed. I know the U.S sent French and S. Vietnam like trainers out to teach them how to fight, and what is Gorilla Warfare, i know thats now how you spell it but, what is it and why did it help so much in helping out N. Vietnam to win the war even though we had hellas troops and so much more money? Please somebody answer that

 

[The Sandman]

From what I understand, it was out of a combination of a fear of Communism, a sense of obligation towards France, a need to uphold national pride once we did get involved, and worries about Chinese intervention.

As for why we lost, my opinion is that it was due to our failure to recognize that the Communist world was actually split between Soviet and Chinese influenced areas and because we backed the wrong side in a civil war. South Vietnam was not a democracy by any means; it was a corrupt dictatorship who ran their country and its military into the ground, and whose policies ensured that its people would, at best, consider it the slightly lesser of two evils.

 

[Hyperion]

The US did far more damage to the North, but communist sympathizers were all over the South, and the Southern government was corrupt. Also US policy in waging the war, specifically having certain targets and areas in the North declared off limits, made fighting the war much harder. Hanoi and Hiaphong(sp) couldn't be bomber by the B-52s because they were afraid of reactions to large civilian casualties. Cargo ships in in the port of Hiaphong(sp) couldn't be destroyed and the port couldn't be mined, because most of the transports were from Russia and China. Radar sites couldn't be bombed while they were still under construction because of fear that Russian or Chinese engineers building them would be killed.

 

[Ward]

The Goverment over managed the war from the white house .
The people back in the states end up against the war .
Some thing to rember is we won the battles but lost the war .

 

[Yellmic Wigwawa]

Ok Vietnam War is kind of a touchy topic for me, can anybody tell me why did the U.S help out the French against North Vietnam?

Basically to fight the spread of communism



And then can you tell me why we actually joined in the war... cause one of our ships were attacked (which turned out to be a false statement)

I think you refer to the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution there.

But Years before that "ship attack" there was 1 solider of the U.S was killed. I know the U.S sent French and S. Vietnam like trainers out to teach them how to fight,

They are called "military advisors" and they help arm, train & teach the army.


and what is Gorilla Warfare, i know thats now how you spell it but, what is it

Guerrilla (also called a partisan) is a term borrowed from Spanish (from "guerra" meaning war) used to describe small combat groups. Guerrilla warfare operates with small, mobile and flexible combat groups called cells, without a front line. Guerrilla warfare is one of the oldest forms of asymmetric warfare. Primary contributors to modern theories of guerrilla war include Mao Zedong, Wendell Fertig, and Che Guevara. While "asymmetric warfare" is the military term for guerrilla tactics, it is often referred to in the pejorative as "terrorism."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guerrillas


and why did it help so much in helping out N. Vietnam to win the war even though we had hellas troops and so much more money? Please somebody answer that

There are many many viewpoints as to why the US were unsuccessful in Vietnam. I could list some, but there are so many books on the subject, they could fill a library. Many people say the US could have won if they'd done this thing or that thing - they may well be right - who knows?

I hope this has helped somewhat.

 

[Raymann]

Lets make this clear, we wern't there to help the French! They left NATO and were mostly against us being there. We were there to stop the damn commies from expanding but not to destroy the North Vietnam state. If that had been out goal, you would have seen American tanks rolling down the streets of Hanoi. Why do you think that didn't happen? Because we wern't committed to the war as we should have been. The communists couldn't have stopped an armed invasion and that would have been the best way to end that war.

 

[eschaton]

One of the most ironic things I think is that Ho Chi Minh was pro-American up until the Vietnam war. I honestly wonder if we could have pulled a 'Yugoslavia.'* on Vietnam if we had not gotten militarilly involved. Geopolitcally, it would have worked out better for the U.S. anyway.

* By this, I mean how Yugoslavia, despite being Communist, ended up more or less allied with the West.

 

[Bulgaroktonos]

I attribute our defeat to Washington tying the Army's hands behind its back, and being unwilling to beat the hell out of North Vietnam even more than we did. Mining Haiphong, would have been a good start. However, had we not lost the small war doctrine we had worked out during our time in the Caribbean, I think we might have one even with a handicapped army.

Basically, our strategy was terrible in every sense.

 

[Yellmic Wigwawa]

One of the most ironic things I think is that Ho Chi Minh was pro-American up until the Vietnam war. I honestly wonder if we could have pulled a 'Yugoslavia.'* on Vietnam if we had not gotten militarilly involved. Geopolitcally, it would have worked out better for the U.S. anyway.

* By this, I mean how Yugoslavia, despite being Communist, ended up more or less allied with the West.

That's a myth. Ho Chi Minh was a Comintern agent and had been since he was a student.

Besides, what happened to Yugoslavia in the 1990s?

 

[Raymann]

Yugoslavia was never our ally, hell they started the non-aligned movement

 

[wkwillis]

Well, you could always call up the Vietnamese Embassy and ask them.

 

[Tielhard]

"That's a myth. Ho Chi Minh was a Comintern agent and had been since he was a student."

I suggest you read some history, at the close of WWII Ho although a Communist was desparate for closer relations with the USA.

"Besides, what happened to Yugoslavia in the 1990s?"

The USA colluded in the breakup of the state to punish the Jugoslavs for being unaligned and to threaten other states in a similar position, toe the line or else. The resulting civil wars involved much bloodshed and mass murder. The successor states to the old Jugoslav states are far more ethnically homogeneous, about the size of Wales and of questionable economic viability.

 

[MerryPrankster]

Yugoslavia was never our ally, hell they started the non-aligned movement

In practice they were aided by the West in various ways. Ironic, since they, not the Russians, were the main benefactors of the Greek Communists during the civil war there.

 

[David Howery]

The USA colluded in the breakup of the state to punish the Jugoslavs for being unaligned and to threaten other states in a similar position, toe the line or else.

uh, the USA colluded in it?! What exactly does this mean? If you're saying we caused the breakup... wrong wrong wrong wrong. If you're saying we helped the new states stay independent... of course we did; so did most of Europe. As for 'punishing the Jugoslavs for being unaligned'... huh? This was after the cold war.. alignment of Yugoslavia was unimportant by then...

 

[Tielhard]

Caused is too strong a word but only just, encouraged, assisted and facillitated.

"As for 'punishing the Jugoslavs for being unaligned'... huh? This was after the cold war.. alignment of Yugoslavia was unimportant by then..."

By any standard this is naive!

 

[Jus Pau Hib]

How about...
What if the Vietnam War didn't take as long and Vietnam was divided so China gets the northern bit and the rest can be free.

 

[David Howery]

Caused is too strong a word but only just, encouraged, assisted and facillitated.

"As for 'punishing the Jugoslavs for being unaligned'... huh? This was after the cold war.. alignment of Yugoslavia was unimportant by then..."

By any standard this is naive!

?!?!?! why the hell would the US care in general about the alignment of Yugoslavia after the cold war ended? AFAIK, the US didn't bother much in Yugoslavia at all until the atrocities started up in Bosnia... I clearly recall quite a few people wanting us to get involved even though it really wasn't our affair. To be honest, the whole idea that Yugoslavia's breakup was a 'punishment' inflicted by the US because of their unaligned status smacks of conspiracy theory....