Elizabeth

Liz Van Beek

Mr. De Groot

English 7

March 5, 2024

The Vietnam War

There is some debate as to whether or not the Vietnam War was a War for the United States to win. Some people believe it was just like any other war and it could have gone either way for the win. Others believe that the Vietnam War wasn’t our war to win.

The Vietnam War wasn’t our War to win. American forces were sent to South Vietnam to help them defend its territory and keep it noncommunist, not to conquer North Vietnam. The United States failed to keep South Vietnam independent and noncommunist but it had not been a defeat for the US military itself. The Vietnam War was a war between North Vietnam and South Vietnam, Communist and noncommunist. America was just trying to help South Vietnam to remain non communist.

The US had many disadvantages. The US was an invading force to North Vietnam even though they were helping defend South Vietnam. The US was not fighting on their own land. The US had good weapons but were no match for a country that had guerrilla tactics and used the jungle as a cover. Guerilla tactics are surprise attacks and effort to limit enemy troops movement. History.com says, “From air power to infantry to chemicals, the weapons used in the Vietnam War were more devastating than those of any previous conflict.” The US and South Vietnam relied heavily on their air power. They used B-52 bombers and used planes to drop explosives on North Vietnam. The US used mostly American weapons but North Vietnam used mostly weapons from the Soviet Union and China. North Vietnam also made many booby traps to help slow down the US troops. The US and South Vietnam used many chemicals too.

The US was not fully invested in the war. The Americans didn't want to win as much as the Vietnamese. The US was in this war to help defend South Vietnam. The US was not protecting their own homes or families. The Americans were not willing to make a full commitment to win because of this.

After a long time the Vietnam War finally came to an end. The US had withdrawn most of its combat troops almost 2 years before the end of the Vietnam War. The US removed it's combat troops because President Richard Nixon signed the Paris Peace Accords and ordered for the US to remove their troops in 1973. Richard Nixon signed the Paris Peace Accords because it was an agreement for ending the war and restoring peace in Vietnam. He removed the US troops thinking it was going to help end the war. This however did not work. South Vietnam surrendered in 1975 ( 2 years after the US removed their troops) and South Vietnam became communist.

The Vietnam war was a long war. It lasted almost 20 years.The Vietnam War took place from November 1, 1955 to April 30, 1975. The Vietnam war was a hard and costly war. History.com says,”More than 3 million people including over 58,00 Americans were killed in the Vietnam War, and more than half of the dead were Vietnamese civilians.” That's a lot of people that died.

The US wasn't able to pull out the win for South Vietnam but it showed its willingness and its loyalty by helping South Vietnam. Still today the US is loyal to 37 different countries. This shows that even though the US didn't win it still tried and was loyal until the end. What a great country!












Work Cited







American soldiers are dropped off by U.S.Army helicopters to join South Vietnamese ground troops to advance in an attack on a Viet Cong camp 18 miles north of Tay Ninh, northwest of Saigon near the Cambodian border, in March 1965 during the Vietnam War. Horst Faas, AP