Aiming to win back support from the American’s, as many people did not support the Vietnam war due to the bad media that was publicised. This was the first War to be so publicised and it shocked many of the people back home. This lead to Anti-War protest, which became one of the US governments aims to stop. However they still stuck to the aim to try and contain Vietnam from the spread of communism and supporting the SV defeat the VC in nearby country Cambodia. On the other side the aims of the NV government and their terrorist organisation the VC did not alter as they still aimed to persuade the SV government to vote for Vietnam to become a communist country.
It had also failed politically. Not only did the USA fail to stop South Vietnam going Communist, but the heavy bombing of Vietnam's neighbours Laos and Cambodia actually helped the Communist forces in those countries to win support. By 1975 both Laos and Cambodia had Communist governments. Instead of slowing it down, American policies actually speeded up the domino effect in the region. It was also a propaganda disaster.
The idea of “containment” and not letting the Soviet Union gain influence and control of the region was perhaps the biggest and only factor for the United States assistance in South Vietnam. In its quest for world supremacy, the US felt it had to do anything in its power to ensure that they would remain on top, even if it meant fighting the Soviets in proxy wars like that of Korea and Vietnam. From a strategic and political view, the war was an absolutely necessary and even though many feel the US had lost, they were better off than had they just remained passive and allowed Communism to spread. More than anything, the Vietnam War was a message to the rest of the world that the US could, and more importantly would, engage in conflict in attempt to ensure that democracy remain the prevalent political and economical ideology existent across the
This had a massive impact on the country as it had successfully stopped civil and political unrest which had previously been threating the harmony of the country. As it had been seen as a progressive force on behalf of ordinary people it received strong support from peasants and workers alike throughout the country. It also proved to the country that Chiang was an able diplomat resulting in higher public support. Nevertheless they were unsuccessful in entirely removing the warlords which meant there was always a constant threat of the warlords reforming and taking power once more. Although there failure of completely vanquishing the warlords there can be little doubt that Chiang was fairly successful in solving this domestic problem and the effects it would have on the country as it is probably that without him stabilising the political and social unrest civil war would have broken out in the country much early than it did.
However it would have had a tremendous and awful impact on the United States society as it did represent the war as evil and criminal. The US Army always denied that the bombs they let off never hit civilian casualties; they stated that there was not many of them. The journalist's reports broadened, which was still furthering the credibility gap'. This is the state or condition of being dissimilar or unlike between the American military and government and what the American people had confidence in. The broader the gap is, not as much the people will believe.
The VC were found where they wanted to be found” This was not the conventional war that the Americans were used to. The Viet Cong knew they could not beat America using their own tactics as their resources would not sufficiently match those of America. However, very significantly, even when the Viet Cong did use
Thus the French were at a major disadvantage as they failed to effectively gain political control of Indochina. The tactical and strategic blunders the French military suffered ultimately proved to be the most devastating of all. The military’s inability to adjust into the unique situation combined with Vietminh mastery of, “hit and run ambush tactics… embracing Mao’s strategy of wearing the enemy down while building conventional abilities” ultimately led them to stalemate. The political and economic limitations
I suppose British General Cornwallis was quite engaged with the constant French attacks and for a second in this brawl, he forgot about us. From what I had heard the French had successfully blocked Cornwallis’s supplies and were preparing to attack. Upon hearing this news we immediately celebrated even though we had not even begun the battle. I soon began to feel grief for us American and could comprehend the reason for the French’s behavior. They merely wanted to win the battle to go home but, they felt this would not be possible with an unorganized, uncivilized, and brutal American army fighting alongside them.
Even if the US-planes bombed North Vietnam they didn’t really damaged the North Vietnamese Military so much and the poison gases weren’t so effective against them but it was probably less good for the civilians of North Vietnam and the US-soldiers fighting the Viet Cong. Also the antiwar propaganda taking place in USA at that time used pictures were you could see American soldiers burning down small North Vietnamese villages. This had two main effects, the first one was that the people of USA didn’t support the war so much and the fact that many soldiers died in North Vietnam decreased the support even more. Also there weren’t any hopes on victory in a long while since the war was going pretty badly and the US-government always sent more and more troops to North Vietnam but the Vietnamese didn’t want to surrender to the US. The second more direct effect these had was that the Viet Cong did get more support from the civilians and the more support you get from the civilians the more likely it is to win the war because the civilians are prepared
The South Vietnamese Allies had poor morale, they were badly paid, and they exploited US aid for financial gain. The US military had poor leadership from officers, they were frustrated because they had a lack of knowledge of the area and they had an inability to identify their enemy. These are the main reasons that the US failed to defeat the North Vietnamese Communists. The US became gradually involved in the war in Vietnam. Truman supported the French in the battle against Ho Chi Minh and the Vietminh.